#Also trying to be a little more stylistic w the approach to their forms! It was fun!

[brolcagno]

Haunted by the living

[the-canine-king]

not to be hater on main (and also it's going here since i think i'm gonna end up rambling too long on twt lol) but i really hate a lot of artist youtube content. honestly if you're looking for basic fundamentals, look for the professional artists that has worked in the industry for years and has a book published (loomis and hampton) rather than a random 18yr old student.

i mean, at least some videos are titled "how **I** draw _____" rather than "how to draw _____" and it's a bigger bonus if they mention which artist/ resource they studied rather than throw the method's name off hand.

i'm gonna be a super hater and art snobby here but i watched a video where it was really.... wrong? and also their fundamentals are pretty bad. i have a lot i wanna say here. (idk what got over me but i get really snarky here lol, there's extra notes at the end)

their use of the loomis method. i mean, idk if this is a modification of the loomis method that i've never seen but i've seen TWO artist mention the horizontal line in the classic set up is the EYE line. if we're following the book, it's the BROW line. and then they say "oh drop the horizontal line down halfway *and a little bit under*" tf you mean "a little bit"? just drop it half way for the brow?? GAH, looking at their basic structure from drawing from references really annoy me. like. YOU'RE NOT... DOING IT RIGHT...

them and 90% of videos bashing on loomis method for "not allowing different characterization. am i insane?? did we read the same book?? he LITERALLY DRAWS examples of varied head shapes?? literally mentions how you imagine the skull like clay and you disform it into a specific shape?? i can't find the exact line but i'm pretty sure he mentions how everyone had a similar basic head structure but it's up to the artist to figure out how it varies for the specific person. while yes it doesn't show better examples of different features in terms of race, but that doesn't mean he doesn't guide you on trying to understand the basic echos of the form across everyone that lets you use it to artistically form it for the specific model/ character. like it's so weird to see everyone parroting the same "issue" w/ the loomis method when loomis' book literally acknowledges it and says to know follow the measurements for every head

the lack of understanding/ shaping of form and the planes of the head. i mean idk if it's bc they didn't know the asaro head but them tracing a portrait to fit such arbitrary lines implying the planes was so AUGH. like it's so clear they don't have a good understanding of the lips and jaw/ planes of the cheek. how do you trace the photo (AND STUDIED HAMPTON'S BOOK) but not understand the lips and chin like cmon. i get it if it was more of a gestural approach but you're literally tracing so i mean lol.

their flat ass basic forms. lol. idk, like at least be capable of drawing a circle. and then drawing their guidelines following the form of a sphere. idk i started laughing when "this is how you draw the head in different angles" and it's incredibly flat. no form. no "space". you're just arbitrarily doing the motions without considering the shape you want to draw. if you want to draw a convincing head you have to draw a convincing shape

idk like. their art is genuinely not bad at all, way better than what i can make. and i understand that everyone has a different approach and etc etc like if this is how THEY do it then it's whatever. but at the same time it's really hard to look past as this is the most popular video over 1mil views and many taking this to heart in the comments. it's also probably a stylistic choice but style should not excuse poor foundations lol. i think it's heavy handed on the fact that the artist intuitively knows what looks better and can adjust it themselves but it's terrible advice for a beginner since the beginner wouldn't know what to adjust (they wouldn't have to learn to adjust if they learned how to draw the foundation better but whatever) lol

the way that **I** want my art to look and art that appeals to me is to have a big emphasis on 3d space and form. if the construction phase (foundation) is too flat your whole drawing would look flat. i'm still studying artist that manage to make a drawing feel like it's 3d on paper but i'm slowly getting the forms down.

i think i'm also just really irritated at this new wave of artists (at least on toyhouse) so adamant on NOT learning the fundamentals. like one one hand i get it if you don't care about improving, bc you're still improving if you're drawing for fun. however if you want to draw better quickly and more effectively then yes you have to learn the basic foundation. it's even more irritating when their excuse is "i don't want to learn realism" LIKE?? where do you think art comes from, JUST your imagination? it comes from life and your experiences. your memories, you clown. you live life and then draw out what you SEE and experience in the world. how do you draw a horse if you've never properly studied one. how do you draw a convincing person if you never understand how we actually look. you're not doing "realism" you're building your understanding of the world to make a world in your art. you're building your understanding of proportions and measuring. you're building your understanding of light and shadow. you're building so many foundational stuff that's found in every single art field and art style but you're too close minded you brush it off as "just realism"

i would end it off with "how **I** draw the head" but that's pretty hypocritical lol. if you read all this and wanna know what i looked at that's actually very helpful, literally just read hampton's "Figure Drawing and Design" and loomis' "Drawing the Head and Figure" that's literally all you need. (hampton also has a youtube channel where he goes over the head in a little series of videos, worth checking out if you don't know where to get the book or you just want the head chapters explicitly drawn in real time)

loomis helps a lot w/ figuring out the basics of basic, but hampton helps a lot more w/ more clear examples and an extra guideline to help place the eyes

[jiminisnotavirgin]

Here with You

Pairing: idol!Min Yoongi | Reader

Genre: Smut and Fluff

Words: 4.1k

Warnings: oral, penetrative sex, intercourse, slight exhibitionism, buff Yoongi???, praise kink.

Description: Yoongi’s sad and his body’s in constant pain after bouncing from city to city in the last few months for the group’s biggest world tour yet. Aside from that, he doesn’t remember the last time he got a full night’s rest. You and his members plan a secret visit for you to surprise him in his hotel room after a concert. It’s been months, after all, and the two of you both have... needs that only the other can take care of ;)

Note: I live for soft Yoongi and I imagine he’d be as sweet as this (if not, sweeter!) to his significant other! We also can’t deny that he’d be absolutely delicious in bed, too. In MY OPINION, this is the BEST fic I’ve written up to date! Please tell me what you think :) I appreciate and enjoy each and every comment and response!

ALSO! I’d like to make it clear that the reader ISN’T Korean and I will let you know when they are. However, they are supposed to be speaking Korean to each other which is why I mainly use the word, “Jagi” instead of “Baby.”

Yoongi’s never enjoyed traveling or staying in hotels. For him, they don’t possess the same sense of peace or relaxation that they do for others. The only time he seeks the relief of a temporary hotel bed is after a long concert or flight when his sore bones ache and he can barely keep his eyes open. Even then, he tosses and turns all night, fluffing his pillows and kicking at his sheets until he eventually loses the fight and knocks out. At this point of their world tour, more than halfway through, the guys have noticed that Yoongi rarely leaves his room. They don’t blame him. His snippy attitude and overall mood are products of the group’s constant movement and although it takes a toll on all of them, Yoongi’s always hit the hardest. 

His members notified you of this and that’s why you, his secret, longtime partner, decided to come for a surprise visit. Your ultimate goal is to cheer him up and see at least one of his beautiful, gummy smiles. Another reason why he hates traveling is that he has to be away from you and his home. 

He’s currently sprawled out on the couch, limbs extended as he wields a pair of chopsticks in one hand and a paper carton in the other. He reaches for another piece of sweet, sesame chicken, unimpressed by the bunny documentary on the TV before a soft knock on the door catches his attention. The sound is light. Anyone else would’ve missed it but Yoongi’s music-producing ears are razor sharp. 

“Coming!” he calls out with a mouth full of food. Not caring much for his looks at this time of night, he pulls a cap on over his disheveled hair and slips on his sandals before approaching the front door. He ignores the viewfinder and opens the door with a tug, still chewing the chicken in the back of his mouth without a care in the world. The words leave his mouth before he can catch a glimpse of the person standing on his doorstep. “Jimin, I told you already. I am not giving you any more champagne—“

“Yoongi!”

You still manage to glow, even in the faint light of the hotel hallway. His mouth freezes when his eyes meet yours and his heart beats at his chest excitedly, telling him to wake up!  A tiny, polka-dot luggage stands behind you like a guardian and the situation finally makes sense in his brain. When you wrap your arms around him, excitement flutters in his stomach like millions of tiny butterflies. You smile, melting happily into the man you’ve missed for months. 

“Jagi?” he whispers, wondering if the gorgeous apparition standing in front of him is only a dream. “I... I can’t believe you came all the way here.”

“Of course, I did!” You smile and Yoongi doesn’t miss the sparkle in your large eyes. The two of you stumble backwards into the entrance of the room before he regains his balance and squeezes you back. He pulls you even closer, smelling your shampoo and feeling the smooth, soft skin of your glowing cheek under the strokes of his thumb. His senses are heightened due to your familiar presence and he couldn’t be more grateful for your spontaneous visit. He needed it, needs you. 

“I’m happy you’re here,” he continues with a smile once you pull back to take a look at his face. He twirls a lock of your hair around his long index finger, pure admiration filling his gaze as his other hand grips your waist. You don a yellow sundress with an intricate design of red roses and leaves. The colorful fabric accentuates your figure and the curvy shape Yoongi loves so much. “You look pretty.”

You glance down at your feet shyly, trying to ignore the heat rising to your cheeks as you clutch the sides of your dress. “Thank you. I almost didn’t buy the dress since it’s a little small.”

“I’m glad you did.” His large hand envelops yours before he laces your fingers together and leads you to the couch in the sitting area of the large hotel room. His metal rings feel cold against your skin but you have no desire to release his hand. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

“Yoooongi, ssssssstop,” you whine but he raises his hands in the air defensively, palms flat and arms up, a look of pure innocence on his handsome face. Your eyes dart to his broad shoulders and the way his arm muscles slightly flex with each of his movements. Has he been working out?

“How do you still get so flustered whenever I compliment you?”

Yoongi is an organized individual so it doesn’t surprise you that his room follows suit, from his shoes by the front door to his made-up bed. The one thing you notice is his dinner set up of takeout Chinese food on the coffee table, however, it isn’t the slight mess that causes your heart to sink in your chest.

“Have you been eating well? All the fried food at this table is concerning,” you admit hesitantly. It isn’t only today’s dinner on the coffee table but other nights’ as well.

“My body’s used to it by now. Liquid junk food probably flows through my veins along with airplane cookies and coffee.”

“That’s gotta be bad for your stomach.” You frown, concern filling your pretty features. He sounds impressed with himself and it’s freaking you out just the slightest bit. He wishes to kiss away the fear written on your face. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Yoongi, you could lose a foot and you’d tell me not to worry about it.”

“Hey, hey, at least I’ve been drinking only water these past few months, that’s gotta count for something, right? Replacing all the water in my system?”

“I just wanna make sure you’re taking care of yourself even if it’s hard because of touring. I really do worry about you, Yoongi. Sorry if I’m being annoying.”

“You’re not annoying. I’m grateful because you actually care about my wellbeing aside from all the idol stuff unlike everyone else.” The two of you settle into the couch as he drapes his arm over your shoulder. “But seriously, you don’t have to worry. I’m not even thinking about food right now.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“You. And sleeping next to you later. I think I took cuddling for granted.”

“Yoongi, that is uncharacteristically cheesy.”

“Well, it’s your fault. I’m excited that you’re here and now I don’t know how to express it other than cracking dad jokes like Seokjin.”

“Please, keep the cheesy jokes rolling, then. I love them but I love you more.” Your lips lightly graze his and he melts into the kiss as you arch your back and press your chest against his. Unlike before he left on tour, you’re met with a hard, sculpted chest and you draw back, holding your hands against his chest as you formulate your curiosity into a question. Yoongi interprets your actions as a recoil but you assure him that you still want him close. “Yoongi, don’t take this the wrong way but you feel... different. Have you been working out?”

“Yeah, actually. Does it look weird?” His palm grazes the back of his neck awkwardly. “I started a few months ago. The stylists want me to stop because it’s harder to pick out clothes if my size keeps changing but it helps me sleep better at night. I’ve been meaning to show you on one of our video calls.”

Once again, your eyes drift from his face to the muscular bulge of his arm. You can’t control your tongue as you lick your bottom lip. Your dry throat clenches for something—anything—to eliminate the empty feeling in your mouth. Suddenly, you’re thirsty for another mouth-filling liquid only he can give. Damn. “I love all of your different forms and shapes and sizes because I love you but—“

“But?”

“But,” you continue as you lower your gaze, your long lashes accentuating the sudden lust oozing from your dark brown eyes, “you look really fucking good. Like, I-wanna-go-down-on-you-right-now kind of good.” 

“W-What?” he sputters, caught off guard by your sudden use of obscenities. Your dirty mouth causes his cock to twitch like it has a mind of its own, straining uncomfortably against his tight black jeans. “You can’t just say that.”

“Why not? Getting a little flustered?” You flash a mischievous grin as you hop off the couch, settling yourself between his spread knees. The sight of you on the ground for him, hands roaming the expanse of his legs and the hidden space where they meet, ignites a flame of desire in the pit of his stomach, a tiny flicker that you have no intention of putting out.

“Don’t tease.” He swallows, squirming desperately as he feels your nails lightly scrape his inner thighs. “God, you don’t know what you do to me.”

“But I do,” you hum, hands settling on the silver buckle of his belt. You slip your fingers through, gradually weaving his leather belt until it’s completely off of his waist. The heavy metal dangles from your hand, jingling before you sling it over the couch arm with a loud clunk. “I know that you’ll do anything to get my mouth wrapped around your pretty cock, won’t you?”

“I can’t take it when you talk like that. You’re gonna kill me, I swear,” he groans. You undo his zipper and button, encouraging him to raise his hips so you can tug his pants down to his ankles.

“I’ll go down on you but I have one rule.”

“Tell me.”

“You can only cum when I tell you to.”

He hesitates. “I can’t—“

“Try. Practice the self-control we both know you have.” You nudge your pointer finger against his chest.

You’re proud to have Yoongi in your life, proud to have him as the one man who brings you pleasure in all forms. You’re the only one who gets to see him this way—hot and bothered and vulnerable, desperate for your touch—and you take pride in that. He’s a hardworking, dedicated, and determined man and he’s the same way in bed.

He lets out a low hiss when you free his cock from the constrains of his jeans and he feels you blow lightly. Your eyes remain glued on the creamy, white liquid coating the plump tip of his length. What he lacks in length, he makes up in his thick girth. He barely fits between your tiny hands but you pump him slowly, lathering him up in his own salty juices. The arousal lining your damp panties clings to the side of your thigh, threatening to drip down your leg. “I’m so wet just from looking at you.”

“Let me touch—oh, fuck.” He throws his head back in surprise, eyes flickering closed as he feels the sudden pressure of your tongue against his tip. Tingles radiate across his body from where your mouth meets his dick and in this moment, he’s grateful for the sexy, angelic vixen that you are and the way you force him to relinquish control in the pursuit of release. 

It’s been months. Although you’ve touched yourself and imagined your fingers were his, your fantasies are never fully accurate when it comes to his impressive and gorgeous anatomy. Nothing is as great as when he’s struggling not to thrust into your mouth. 

Your mouth envelops him eagerly, your tongue lapping saliva and precum around his soft, veiny skin. You moan around him, causing vibrations to shoot straight up his toned, clenching pelvis. Sweat builds on his forehead as the ends of his dark hair begin to cover his eyes. 

“You have to stop or I’m—“

“Don’t forget my rule.” You slip your lips off of him with a loud pop, ignoring the unappealing glob of saliva dripping down from the side of your mouth. Your facial expression is innocent despite the naughty nature of your current act and Yoongi couldn’t be more aroused. His cock lands on his pelvis with a loud, messy slap.

He stands, motioning for you to take his place on the couch but you swiftly shake your head. “Your turn, jagi.” 

“Not now, I can’t wait. I want you.”

“Impatient girl.” He can see the hunger in your eyes but there’s hesitance swimming in his. “Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Oh, trust me, I am all warmed up down there.” Although he’s seeking to pleasure you, he thinks of your comfort first, always aiming to stretch you out and make sure you’re fully lubricated before doing anything with you down there.

“I’ll be back for a taste later and that’s a promise. Now, where do you want me, jagi? I’m all yours.”

You wrap your arms around his neck, guiding him backwards to the bed. He grasps the back of your neck and tilts his head to the side, slipping in his tongue to create an even deeper bond between the two of you. His wet muscle clashes against yours as his other hand delicately fiddles with the loose spaghetti strap of your dress. He breaks for a moment, lips puffy and eyes heavy with lust before helping you peel off your dress in one smooth swoop.

The air in his body suddenly escapes his lungs when he looks at you, causing his breath to hitch in his throat. The moonlight glistens over your sweaty skin, highlighting your curves and shape. You used to be so shy in front of him but now you stand confidently, hands resting neatly over your hips like the art that you are. “I’m so in love with you. How did you find me?” he murmurs in admiration, happily giving into the spell your body casts on him. He isn’t asking about tonight; he’s asking about this lifetime, how the stars aligned your paths on the fateful day you met. 

A loud thud from across the hotel room interrupts his sweet reverie like the chime of a bell striking midnight. Yoongi’s head shoots in the direction of the front door before he whispers a quiet, “I’ll be right back.”

He drags himself to the door, adjusting his long t-shirt over his boxers to cover the raging hard-on he’s got hidden underneath.

“Hyung!” slurs a voice from the other side with a few lazy bangs on the door. Yoongi sighs, rubbing his tired temple as he tries to gather his remaining patience. He barely opens the door in the hopes of somehow steering Jimin away but the younger’s face is merely inches away from the lock. His eyes are red with exhaustion, cheeks pink with intoxication. No one can drink like Jimin and be perfectly stable the next day. 

“It’s late. What do you need? I’m really busy right now.”

“You’re always busy, Yoongi! I can’t find my room key. It was in my pocket before and now it’s not.”

“Did you ask Jungk—“

“Jungkook doesn’t have it, either!”

“Lower your voice.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.”

“So you decided to come bother me. Are you sure you looked in all of your pockets? Thoroughly?”

The younger rolls his eyes before frantically patting the back of his skin-tight jeans with his palms. “Ye—“ His eyes go wide as saucers when he whips out the plastic card from his front pocket. “Hyung, you’re the best.”

“I know,” he answers quickly before glancing back at you in bed, thin sheet tucked tightly up to your chin. “Is that all?”

Jimin’s brows knit together curiously as he tries to look over Yoongi’s blocking shoulder. “Wait, is she here alread—”

“Goodnight.”

With a slam, Yoongi makes his way back to you, crawling over your figure as his face aligns with your neck. You giggle when he tickles the length of your throat with the tip of his nose, sniffing and kissing messily. 

“I feel like a teenager or something, hiding like this.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighs. “Jimin lost his room key for the third time this month. Can you believe that? The only time he’s not a complete mess is when he’s dancing and even then he’s the biggest klutz in the room behind Namjoon.”

“You don’t think he heard us, right?”

“Probably not.”

“Hmm.”

  “Well, you sound disappointed. Did you want him to hear us?”

“No, that’s ridiculous,” you insist nervously, trying to assure him that you’re not entertained by the idea of being caught or listened to while fucking.

“You’re such a bad liar.”

“I’m gonna go hide under a rock now and never come out. Ever.”

“Don’t be embarrassed. It’s good when you tell me what you really want; it helps me better understand how to pleasure you. We all have desires.” If you were a puzzle, Yoongi would know you forwards, backward, and back around if it was possible. “We’ve been dating for years and you still manage to blow my mind away.”

“Yoongi!”

“There you go again. I can’t win with you.”

“You can’t win but I’ll battle it out with you forever.” 

There goes that word: forever. It sends some running for the hills but for you two, it’s the only way to express how much you love each other. Forever is an eternity. The thought of you, the greatest woman in the world, wanting to spend the rest of your days with him gives him enough confidence to do anything. 

“You ready?” he asks you sweetly, aligning himself with your entrance as he pushes a stray hair away from your forehead. You hold your panty to the side, nodding and swiveling your hips as an invite. His hard tip prods at the soft skin of your lips and the anticipation is enough to set your skin on fire. “You’re so warm,” he groans, sliding another inch inside of you. 

Your silky walls envelop him, welcoming him with tight clenches and liquid heat. You can feel every ridge and bump of his dick and just when you think he’s bottomed out completely, he continues to work himself into you. “Wow, it’s been a really long time.”

He pauses. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, keep going.” His hot breath fans over your face and you can smell the remnants of his minty toothpaste. “Your breath smells so goo—ugh!”

With a creamy slap and a loud groan, his pelvis hits yours. The pressure of his thick cock pushing against your cervix is heavy but he waits for a moment, allowing you to adjust to the sensation. “Damn, Yoongi, did your dick grow while you were out, too?”

“Clearly, you’ve forgotten what it feels like when I fuck you so let me give you a reminder.” He slowly guides himself out of you only to ram back in, full force until you’re completely full once again. He does this a few times and you begin to moan as each of his thrusts glides in smoother than the last, creating a slippery rhythm of pressure and pleasure. 

“Yes, yes, yes,” you moan, body jostling as he rocks himself into you. Your round breasts bounce with his movements, tempting him to massage each supple mound. Your hard, neglected nipples prick against the palm of his hand, reminding him of their presence.

“You’re so good to me,” he answers before you share a wet kiss. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I love you.” Although you feel him plunged deep inside, it’s not enough. You hold onto his broad shoulder, gazing at him with desire. “Harder.”

Your request isn’t one he wants to ignore so with a light slap of your thigh, he motions for you to flip over. “Turn around.”

With one hand tightly grasping your lower back for balance, he uses the other to guide his cock against your slit, rubbing up and down until he settles on sliding against your puffy clit. He groans as he slips inside of you again but this time, he massages your pearl between his index and middle fingers, rolling and drawing circles around the tender organ until he hears your breathing become more erratic. You grind over his fingers to create friction before you find yourself fucking him as he stands still behind you.

“Do you like that?” you ask. 

“Yes—ugh—keep fucking yourself on me.” He moans, placing his hands on the back of his own hips to give you full control of thrusting. “I bet you wish they were watching.”

“Who?”

“Jimin. The staff. The guys. All of them.”

You clench around him.

He continues, “Hell, even ARMY. Imagine how angry and surprised they’d be when they realize I have a girlfriend and that we have sex.”

“Yoongi,” you whisper weakly, giving into the obscene ideas leaving his mouth. The possessive nature of his words arouses you more than you’d like to admit. “Don’t joke around about that, it’s dangerous.”

“That’s exactly why you like it. Admit it.”

Suddenly, he’s whipped around until his wrists remain bound against the bed, your body hovering over his in a determined crouch. You lick your lips, satisfied with his surprised reaction. “Stop now before you get yourself in trouble.”

He has the nerve to lick his lips before he cracks a mischievous, gummy smile. “What are you going to do about it?”

Your lips crash against his, teeth clashing and tongues tangling as your bodies passionately intertwine. He chuckles into your sweet mouth and you try to kiss away any remaining bits of his charming attitude. The two of you begin to rock slowly, with his length still stroking inside of you and perusing your wet walls. His fingers tickle your clit once again and you become aware of the stirrings low in your stomach.

You stifle a particularly loud moan as his tip strokes that small, spongey patch along the inside of your entrance exactly the right way, back and forth and over again. “I-I’m close,” you manage and Yoongi takes your statement as a request. 

“You can cum, baby. Take your time. I’ve got you,” he coos, soothing your anxious limbs that are desperate for release. “Let me see. Show me how you—oh, fuck, there it is. You’re squeezing me so tight, fuck. You’re so beautiful.”

He helps you ride your wave of euphoria as it quickly crashes over your body without warning. Tiny sparks of pleasure emit from your pelvic area like shocks of electricity, triggering a spasm of kicks starting from your calves. You clutch onto him tightly, using his shoulders like an anchor to work you through the rest of your orgasm. 

His follows soon after yours. In a matter of minutes, he’s sputtering and groaning like a babbling mess, spilling his seed onto your entrance and stomach in thick, white ropes. You stick your finger into his juices and clean it with a quick swipe it with your tongue. 

He smiles shyly as his pale cheeks turn pink, slightly embarrassed at your open and eager display for his cum. He pads to the bathroom and returns with a small towel to clean you off.

“You’re so gentle,” you remark, admiring the way he softly rubs at your skin. 

“These towels are rough,” he answers absentmindedly, too focused on making sure your body is practically sparkling clean. He folds the towel and tosses it into the bathroom before slipping on his black boxers once again. You reach for your discarded panties using your toes, too tired and lazy to leave his plush bed. All he does is complain about hotel beds but this one couldn’t be any cozier. 

You tug the sheets over your waist and fluff the seemingly-unused pillow on the left side of the bed. Is it too much of a stretch to believe he doesn’t sleep on that side since it’s usually yours when you sleep together at home? Probably.

“Go turn off the TV and come cuddle. I’m sleepy,” you mumble as half of your vision is suddenly covered with your tired and heavy eyelids.

When he locks the door, turns off the lights, and hops into bed beside you, he can faintly hear the beginnings of your light snores. He settles behind you, tucking his arm over your waist before you nestle into his chest. 

For the first time in a long time, Yoongi drifts to sleep with a smile on his face. There’s no pain in his back and the pillows and blankets work together tonight to keep him warm, comfortable, and safe as he dreams that you visited and laid there beside him. He wakes up only once to make sure that his dreams are a reality and sure enough, there you are, legs curled up and body angled into his. He sleeps for the rest of the night in peace, not a single sound or thought to interrupt him as he makes up for the lost rest time he’s needed for months. 

[madamsixx]

Beyond The Leather: Chapter: 9 Just A Dance

Warning: Explicit language & Abuse

Tuesday, March 12, 1985, LA

I arrived back in LA ready for my first photo shoot ever with Sports Illustrated Magazine. Tamara wasn't able to come with me but I felt alright. It was a beautiful day outside on the beach. I was wearing a beige bathing suit and had my hair tied back into a pony tail and put a red band around my head. I looked utterly gorgeous. They gave me different poses and surf boards to hold up. I even had to run on the beach and jump in the air for them to get the right shots. My mom opposed of naughty shots. So we kept it PG.

"Alright that's a wrap!" The photographer yelled. "You did great."

"Thank you." I smiled. ________

The limo pulled up to the condo. I felt so amazing after doing my shoot. I was excited for what the future held for me. I couldn't wait for the magazine to come out.

My chauffer came out and opened the door for me, I furrowed my brows when I noticed a familiar car and a familiar man stepping out.

"Hey princess." he smiled. I just walked passed him, I dont care about a single thing he had to say.

"Mani please ok I wanted to come but-"

"But what Nikki, what? You got high, you got drunk what?" I yelled.

"I'm sorry." He started following me into the building.

"I dont care Nikki ok!" I yelled again. "You didn't care about my feelings when you stood me up."

"Princess I'm sorry ok, there was a lot that was going on with me and I couldn't come." Nikki moved in front of me to stop me from going up into the elevator.

"Your sorry means nothing to me." I stated.

"Please Mani let me make it up to you and take you out tonight." He cupped my cheeks in his hands.

"I...I can't, I'm going to a modeling event tonight." I say removing his hands from my face. "I dont want to see again." I pressed the elevator to go up and watched it shut leaving Nikki on the other side.

________

The event was nice. I wore a short black turtleneck dress with thigh high red heel boots and a small arm purse. I had a stylist dress me in the latest hottest fashion. The stylist says I should show off more of my legs because they were long and beautiful. I was solo at this event, Tamara says I should get into the habit of going to places like this alone. It will help build my self esteem. And help me make friends. Which was true because I was meeting so many other models. There was Cindy Crawford, Grace Jones, another model named Iman she was gorgeous, and Lisa Hoover. I really related to Lisa because she was a model and actress. Not to mention she was a teen just like me. We talked a lot about having fame at a young age. We even spoke about other celebrities that we haven't met yet and would love to meet.

"Oh my goodness my number one celebrity that I need to meet is Michael Jackson."

"Oh I met him at the AMA's he's so nice and funny. I'll introduce you one day." She said.

We talked some more and exchanged numbers. Until I excused my self to go to the washroom. While I was in the stall I heard some one come in and say shes in here. I opened the stall door to see none other then Nikki with a security guard handing him a hundred dollar bill.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked with wide eyes.

He looked like he was dressed for a special occasion. He was wearing a long ivory jacket with a black shirt and black dress pants.

"I owe you a night out remember." Nikki smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

This guy is unbelievable. I can't beleive he would pay a security guard to let him get in here. Well...... actually I can.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, your crazy."

I walked towards the sink washed my hands and tried to walk passed Nikki. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him.

"oh yes you are sweety." He whispered. _____

"Put me down now Nikki!"

Nikki had thrown me over his shoulder and had taken me out of my modeling event. He threw me into the back seat of the limo and shut the door.

"Wow Sixx guess she really did put up a fight." Tommy and Vince laughed.

We arrived at this big building and it was nice. There were a lot of people and paparazzi packed outside the building. "Where are we?" I asked as we pulled into the parking lot.

"Were at the Hollywood Palace it's a night club, trust me Mani your going to have alot of fun. Your going to see so many fucking rockers here."

We got into the club and he was right. There were so many rockers here. They were all drinking and smoking. Men were grabbing girls and taking them upstairs and to the bathrooms. It was like the rainbow but I liked this place better because it at least had a dance floor.

On another note Nikki kept a tight grip on me. I noticed men were looking at me non stop. They sipped on there beers while keeping there eyes gazed upon me but none of them would dare come and talk to me. When ever a guy would approach me, Nikki would give them a death glare and tighten his grip on my waist. He would introduce me as his girl and make sure all the guys knew that. I saw the Ratt boys and the rest of the Motley boys. I realized Mick was the only one missing. Well he never like joining these parties with them anyways.

"I'm going to go see if they have cranberry juice at the bar." I say to Nikki while moving out of the booth. I head over and ask the bartender if they have cranberry juice. He nods and pours me some. I decided to get on the dance floor with all the other people. They seemed like they were having fun and I wanted to join in on it.

I made my way to the dance floor and started moving my hips to the music that was playing. I turned and started sipping my drink when I noticed Jon Bon Jovi staring at me. The world froze before me. He was so handsome and a good guy of rock n roll. Why couldn't he chase after me instead. He wasn't like the rest of these rockers. He was humble, caring, and sweet. And so were his songs. He was like a boy scout. He eventually locked eyes with me and I turned away quickly, but curiosity killed the cat. I turned back around and he was still looking at me. He smiled with his bright white teeth and I swear I felt butterflies in my stomatch. He started walking towards me and my eyes widened. I thought to my self that Nikki would kill me, but when I looked back and around the club Nikki was no where to be found.

"Hey there." I turned back around to see him standing in front of me. "H....hi." I smiled nervously. God this man was too good looking to be true.

"Your Iman darlington right?" He smiled.

"Y...yes I...I am." God Iman your such a nervous wreck get it together.

"I watched your new TV series that came out last year. I cant wait for season 2. I'm just glad cause instead of waiting to see you on TV I get to see the real beauty in front of me." God he's attractive.

"Haha your so sweet."

"I'm Jon Bon Jovi." He stuck his hand out for me to shake. I took his hand and shook it.

We talked a bit more and I must say I was definitely smitten with him. He was a charmer I told him a little about my self and he did the same for me about him.

"So... may I have a dance?" We held hands and started dancing. It was funny seeing him try to dance because he couldn't. I didn't care though I just kept watching his face.

The fast song slowly started to die down and then I could here Cyndi Laupers new song start playing Time after Time. I felt Jon's arm wrap behind my back and pull me closer to him. We were so close that we could have become one. I wrapped my arms around his neck and starting grinding my front close to his. The friction was so intense that I could feel my nipples hardened and well....I could also feel something hard on him too. I bit my lip and he put his index finger under my chin to pull my face close to his. It was about to go down when I felt a hand grip my arm. It was Nikki and let me tell you he had steam coming out of his ears.

"Nikki im-"

"Shut the fuck up or so help me God Iman, and you... I'll deal with you later." He pointed at Jon. Jon looked terrified but not as much as I was.

The crowd watched as Nikki dragged me by my arm to the back of the club. We stopped by a security man and he let Nikki into the room behind him. Nikki physically threw me into the room nearly making me trip over my heels and fall to the ground. He slammed the door behind us and as I turned around he shoved me into the wall. Holding a tight grip on me.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He snapped looking at me in my eyes.

"W..we were just dancing Nikki I promise." I studdred, and was shaking. I have never seen him like this before. He was so angry and I was so scared.

"Dont fucking play around with me!" He snapped again this time loosing more of his patience. "You know that your mine and you allowed Bon fucking Jovi to get a fucking hard on by pressing himself on to you!"

"Nikki I'm sorry it was just a dance." Tears were forming in my eyes.

"You know what, I think you fucking did this on purpose because I didn't show up for your stuck up over privileged princess ass when I was suppose to. So you decided to get even with me is that it!" Nikki yelled as his grip became tighter around my arms. "I brought you hear to make up for the fact that I didn't show up and you repay me by trying to FUCK BON JOVI!" He shouted while rolling up his fists and punching it into the wall right next to my head. I screamed and covered my head moving it down thinking he was going to punch me. I sobbed and was shaking. This was a new Nikki Sixx one that I have never seen before.

"You really fucking hurt me Iman." His voice was shaking.

I finally looked up at him and his eyes were dark red. His fist was bruised and bloodied from the punch. He shoves himself off of me and walks away slamming the door shut, leaving me by my self to collect my thoughts on what just happened.

I stayed in the room for the rest of the night. The door suddley burst open and it was Vince and another girl kissing each other. He bent her over on the couch and hiked up her dress.

"Oh Vince stop theres some one in here." The girl spoke up. Vince looked up and saw me.

"Hey Mani you ok?"

I looked up and burst into tears. "N..no, I didn't mean to get him up set I'm sorry." I said with a shakey voice.

Vince told the girl to get out and came and sat beside me.

"You know Nikki is a complicated guy, he cares more about himself than caring about any one else. And I know what I'm talking about because since the Razzle thing happened not once has Nikki come to visit me, or call me, or even ask how I'm doing. Your crying over a guy who will never love you. I mean he was dating this really nice girl Lita Ford and he could have settled with her and maybe have something good. But he choose drugs." I nodded my head.

"He really scared me vince" I sniffled.

"Yeah he's a scary guy, but your a tough chick Iman. Don't forget I've seen you handle all of us in New York remember, especially the way you beat Nikki up." He chuckled.

"Oh yeah." I giggled.

"Dont ever waste these tears on him. You deserve better. Nikki is a waste of time and he's not worth the ground you walk on. Trust me, you can do way better than Sixx." He rubbed my back and I leaned into him.

The car ride was quiet. No one was talking. Vince had a girl that he was making out with, Tommy was passed out, and Nikki had a girl with him too. They were giggling and laughing with each other. I just stared out the window not wanting to say anything that would cause him to lash out again. We arrived at the condo. The chauffeur opened the door and I quickly got out.

I walked into the apartment and Tamara was still awake.

"Oh girl how was-"

she stopped talking when she saw my arms and how my make up was running down my face with my tears. She looked mortified.

"Iman honey what happened?" She walked towards me.

I dropped my purse and ran into her arms and burst into tears. I needed to be comforted right now and then be lectured later. ____

Wednesday, March 13, 1985

"In other news, theres some juicy gossip in the rock and roll world today. Motley Crue's bad boy Nikki Sixx was spotted with the darling actress and model Iman Darlington at the Hollywood Palace Night club on Vine street yesterday night. It looked like the two were cozying it up as Nikki Sixx had his arms tightly around her waist and gave her a kiss on her head. Our sources say that it's not the first time that the two have spent time with each other. Last year in November the two have been meeting at the Bronze Cafe. Is the bad boy of rock smitten with the young darling. This is Rachel Rochester and your watching MTV."

Tamara sighed and turned off the TV. She didnt say anything, she just sat there and stayed silent. I didn't know what to say. I mean I told her what happened. But I knew this time I really messed up. I wasn't suppose to be with Nikki yesterday night I was suppose to be at the modeling event. But that wasn't the worst of my problem, my sisters watched MTV. And they called to ask what was going on. What really hurt me was that my mom had a few words with Tamara like it was her fault this happened. But it wasn't, it was mine all mine.

"Tami....I'm so so so so sorry." I sniffled.

"You have an interview with Barbara Walters later. And then your going home for the rest of the months so you can decide if your career is important. Cause I'm done trying to tell you that this man isn't good for you."

She stood up and started walking away but then turned around "I mean look at you, like just look at your self. Your bruised from a junkie who your not even dating. But is claiming that you belong to him. You were suppose to be at that modeling event meeting girls so that you can make friends." She shook her head and walked off to her room and slammed the door shut.

I got up and walked to the mirror to look at my self. I burst into tears, my career was important to me. I've worked hard to get where I am and I didn't want her to quit on me as a manager. I had to get my self together.

At interview..

I sat nervously on the couch waiting for my interview to begin. One of the staff was told to come and get me when they were ready. Tamara sat with me still not saying anything. She was really mad. My leg started shaking and I started fiddling with my fingers.

"You need to relax." She put her hand in my leg to stop it from shaking.

"I'm nervous." I said in a low voice.

"You'll be fine, just answer the questions honestly. And do not talk about Nikki." She warned.

Barbara- I have a special guest here tonight for a one on one I interview. She has stared in her first blockbuster movie in 1983, she has been modeling since the age of 13. And has made the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine. Shes also staring in the new comedy sitcom that came out last year and has become a big hit. Please welcome the darling, Iman Darlington.

I walked out smiling and extened my hand out for her to shake. We then leaned in and gave each other a kiss on the cheek.

Iman- Hello nice to meet Barbara it's a pleasure.

Barbara- The pleasure is all mine. Please have a seat.

Iman- Thank you.

Barbara- So, you have made the transition of going from teen magazines to now doing the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine. Congratulations. What does that feel like for you?

Iman- It feels great. With teen magazinenot im the audience is more towards teenagers reading it. Which is great, but I always wanted to go beyond that. I want to be taken serious and pose for the biggest fashion magazines that there are out there.

Barbara- Well it looks like this is a beginning for you. Now as for the acting how do you manage doing both.

Iman- Well my manager is pretty good at doing that. She works with my mom and makes schedules that work for me. Because it's not just modeling and acting I am doing. Im also finishing up high school. I have been home schooled since I got into the acting world. And my home school teacher somtimes flys down with me so we can get my work done.

Barbara- Wow it's good to hear that. Not many people think about wanting to finish school when they get fame.

Iman- It is true. But having an education is somthing that means alot to me and my mom. She always says that you need something to fall back on. And I do agree with her. After I graduate high school, I will enroll in on line classes for university.

Barbara- Your mom must be very proud of you. Now I heard you come from a single parent house hold with 3 other siblings. How has that been growing up for you.

Iman- It was hard. My mom and dad divorced when we were very young. And my dad choose not to see us. So my mom had to raise us by her self. She put her self through school and became a doctor. I appreciate her so much. Shes my role model. And me and my sisters have so much respect for her. I try my best to always make her proud. Cause that means more to me than anything else.

Barbara- Does your mom agree with you dating Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue?

Iman- Oh no no me and Nikki are not dating. I have bumped into him a couple of times in LA and New York and we have had conversations. But that is about it.

Barbara- The kiss on your head and his arms around your waist are telling people other wise.

Iman- Haha I can imagine. But we are not dating.

Barbara- How did you guys meet?

Iman- It was in New York 1984. I was filming for the TV show and I ended up going out to alittle diner down street and he happened to be there. We actually got into a fight haha.

Barbara- Wow what did you fight about food?

Iman- Hahahaha nooo but he did throw food at me and I was not happy. I refused to give him my attention. Than a couple months later in the same year. I ended up back in LA for a photo shoot and decided to go to the Bronze Cafe and I ended up seeing him again.

Barbara- That is truly amazing. For the fact that you would even see him again in the same year a couple months later. Well he certainly got your attention because you two have been meeting up at the Bronze cafe and attending the Hollywood Palace Night Club.

Iman- We did become friends. But we are two different people who come from two different worlds. And I'm not into some of the stuff he's into. So I keep my friendship with him as just friends. I would never want more than that. It was a one time thing going to that night club. I don't really go to night clubs.

Barbara- Well a lot of people say opposites attract. But I can understand where your coming from. You guys do come from two different worlds. And I can't see you with Nikki Sixx. But moving on is there a season two of the TV series in the works?

Iman-Yes there is, filming will be in May in New York again. I'm very excited.

Barbara-I am too. It was very nice talking to You Iman. And congratulations on your cover for Sports Illustrated Magazine again. I can't wait to see you in more.

Iman- Thank you it was very nice talking to you as well.

I got up from the chair and went straight to the bathroom. I needed a moment to breath. I wasn't suppose to talk about Nikki but Barbara brought him up. I thought about back in 84 when I said I didn6t want to give Nikki my attention. But she was right he had my attention. My full attention, and the world is now knowing this. I am now discussing about Nikki Sixx in my interview when I should only be discussing about my modeling and acting. _____

Nikki's POV

"Wow Sixx she doesn't want more from you." Tommy laughed and nudged Nikki as he grabbed a baggie of smack.

"I wouldn't want more from you either." Mick groaned as he sipped his vodka and changed the channel to MTV.

"Fuck you Mick, fuck all of you. You don't know shit." I yelled.

"Well if you actually started treating her like a decent human being Nikki, maybe she would want more from you. But you don't." Vince sneered.

"I do treat her good, I tell her that I want her to be mine, I call her beautiful, I tell her she's a princess. Shit that girls like to fucking hear. I invite her out to places too. She's just being a spoiled fucking cunt." I said kicking my chair.

"You treat her good?" Vince asked while standing up from the recording table. "Is that why you man handled her at the club last night for dancing with Jon. Nikki you dragged her to a back room and shoved her into a wall and you expect her to announce to the world that she wants more from you. Wow you are as delusional as they come." Vince walked out of the room.

"Fuck you Vince!" I yelled as I grabbed the baggie of smack from Tommy.

"Hey." Tommy whined

I headed into the washroom slamming the door shut. I sat on the toilet seat and thought to himself that maybe Vince was right, maybe I needed to start treating her better. But I don't know how. One thing that I do know for sure was that there was a feeling in me that I had never had before. I'm not even sure what it is. But I know that feeling always comes out when I think about her. Or when ever I'm with her.

[ftjonghyuns-blog]

          hello once again everyone ! it is your problematic unfave storm poppin’ up on your dash in the form of my ugly son jonghyun ! i’m really excited to play him ( probably a little more excited than i was to play vivienne ), but let’s be real -- that’s only because i truly dragged him through the ringer ! i won’t keep my own intro long because i know i’m about to type a whole novella, so without further ado, here’s my baby boy jonghyun !

“who are you & what is one thing that people would know you for ?”

‘ jonghyun kwon, one of the best male models out there. i’m not that conceited, but you can thank miss wintour for that title. one thing people might know me for is the time i was the first model of color on fendi’s runway in a very long time. ’ 

“if there is one thing you could change about your career, what would it be ?”

‘ the one time i let my stylist put me in prada for a show -- it was the first and last time i was featured on a worst dressed list. i could have cried. ’

“what are you willing to do to be in the top ten ?”

‘ you know that scene from carrie where they dump pig’s blood on carrie when she wins prom queen ? yeah, i’m not the one dumping pig’s blood -- i’m carrie, locking everyone in a burning gymnasium as i terrorize the town until i get what i want. ’

TRIGGER WARNING(s): possessive behavior, very brief mention of domestic violence, and mentions of a toxic relationship.

name :  jonghyun kwon.

nickname(s)  :  j & jong.

age :  twenty-seven ( 27 ).

birthday :  july 14th, 1992.

zodiac :  cancer.

moral alignment :  lawful evil.

gender  :  cismale.

pronouns :  he/him.

height :  5′11″ ( five foot eleven inches ).

hometown  :  busan, south korea.

nationality  :  korean.

ethnicity  :  korean.

occupation  : model & spokesman.

label(s) :  the bellwether, the philophobe & the aesthete.

aesthetics :  neon signs, love confessions, long eyelashes, dimples, breathless laughter, flushed cheeks, storm clouds, hands on your thighs, laughing at 2am, whispering secrets, piercings, sexual tension, city skylines, red wine, smashing a window, expensive perfume, biting your lips, making bad decisions, an adrenaline rush, glitter, polaroids, museums, smelling flowers, coffee shops, spicy food, sweet talking your way out of things, lattes, face masks, blankets fresh out of the dryer. hickeys, colored hair, piano musiv, bruised lips, smirking & getting drunk for the first time.

          jonghyun is the son of bora & seul-ki kwon, two people who were not at the top of the food chain by any means. the family wasn’t poor, per say, but having one child was difficult for the couple, so jonghyun’s hopes of having a younger sibling was dashed pretty much from the start. he eventually grew accustomed to being an only child & his parents doted on him despite their low income, but they made it through the days thanks to bora’s ramen restaurant. seul-ki brought in some money as well as a police officer, so the family lived comfortably. jonghyun was fine with the drives to the next town over for their vacations & even though he didn’t have the latest gadgets, he was content with that.

          his life flipped on its head when jonghyun went to tour what could someday be the college he’d attend. call it wishful thinking, but jonghyun hoped to attend seoul national university -- it’d help with his lack of experience and he’d be able to make a better life for himself & for his parents, but when he went out to explore around seoul with the group of friends he’d made, jonghyun was approached by someone claiming to be a model scout. jonghyun was attractive, sure, but he didn’t ever think he was modeling attractive. so, he talks to his parents about it & after he does some digging ( and finding out that the scout was real ), he decided that he’d give it a try and defer college by one year. if it didn’t take off, he’d go to college & forget about modelling.

          after going through the motions & getting a portfolio together, jonghyun was soon going on go-sees & it didn’t take long for him to start booking shows and photo shoots. of course, he started with fashion houses in seoul & after making quite an impression in his home country ( even getting a deal with samsung ), jonghyun’s portfolio was growing more & more. when the year passed & he found himself making good money & the way that his parents were proud of him, jonghyun decided to pursue modeling full time. soon, he found himself leaving korea behind & settled in new york for the time being at the age of 19 to get bigger & better jobs. jonghyun spent about four years ( from 19 to 23 ) living in new york & during this time he became the face of a lot of companies ranging from, but not limited to: saint laurent, gucci, dior homme, louis vuitton & alexander wang. 

          he was also getting commercials & various endorsements. during this time, he was also participating in fashion week & was one of the few male models that actually had a walk & didn’t look like he was just clunking down the runway. on top of that, we’re all pretty aware of how fashion lacked diversity a few short years ago, so jonghyun was one of the models during the time where diversity started becoming more prominent ( even though there’s still a long way to go ). since he was still something of a ‘fresh face’, jonghyun getting these deals was wild & was soon on covers for gq, w, v, i-d, dazed, l’officiel hommes & he’s one of the few men featured on the cover of american vogue.

          during this time, though, while he was on top of the world with his career, jonghyun met & married the worst man to ever exist. jonghyun met his husband at a fashion event & he belonged to a prominent family ( hm, let’s say like the duponts or the rockefellers ). his husband sucks, so we’ll give him a shitty name: allen. allen & jonghyun had something of a whirlwind relationship, secretly getting married after only eight months of dating. jonghyun was roughly 24 at the time & was still pretty wide-eyed to everything that was happening around him. he was still booking shows, photo shoots & everything in between; he had even started becoming a prominent figure on the front row.

          now, here’s why his relationship was so bad: allen was not a good man in general. on the outside, he was suave & charismatic, when in reality he was mean & knew how to hide it in public. jonghyun’s attractive, there’s no doubt about it, so whenever they went to events & jonghyun was socializing, allen would get huffy puffy because he’s thinking that jonghyun is flirting with them ( jonghyun is flirtatious as hell so that doesn’t really help ). jonghyun would always brush allen off whenever he’d get huffy puffy because honestly, he was working, but allen liked to blow things out of proportion. it’s safe to say, in light terms, that jonghyun would get an ear full during their drive home, once they were home & sometimes even the next morning.

          allen, while accusing jonghyun of being with other people, was actually with other people. jonghyun’s slight naivety when it came to relationships ( considering that allen was his first ‘real’ relationship ), caused him to sometimes turn a blind eye to allen’s cheating & overall mistreatment. i don’t wanna say he was passive, but he had passive tendencies, which allowed allen to continue his mistreatment because when he’d be upset it wouldn’t last long because allen would kiss him just right & he wouldn’t be mad anymore. 

          anyways, fast forward a year into the marriage & things get worse when allen’s sexual desire towards jonghyun fades into nothing. the marriage is all for show at this point ( so any public displays of affection was fake as hell ) & allen is still going for his jabs at jonghyun whenever they’re out. everything comes to a head one night when they’re stuck in yet another argument about jonghyun’s flirting. jonghyun’s upset & wants to leave, allen has had one too many & the situation ends with jonghyun being treated for a few minor injuries.

          now, jonghyun is out of the relationship & made the move to los angeles in an attempt to put space between himself & the tumultuous life he lived in new york. legally speaking, jonghyun & allen are still married, but it’s only because allen ( for whatever reason ) refuses to sign the divorce papers & it’s been a little over three years. he’s started going by his maiden name again & his career has remained on top, but he truly hasn’t let himself fully be released from the clutches of allen. 

          jonghyun is bisexual as fuck & won’t let you think otherwise. since ending it with allen, he’s been kinda ho’in’ it up around town without so much as a care about who sees him. looks like he might bite you & he probably will if you make him mad enough. this is slightly unnecessary information, but he’s power bottom as hell & it shows :/ but is vers as well & a little kinky boi. he’s really nice though & love to talk fashion when given the chance ! he’s never the type to discourage people so whenever someone tells him they wanna model or work in fashion, he’s always down for it ! he’s very cutthroat, though & just because he could be considered something of a ‘veteran model’ since he’s been in the game for almost ten years, he treats everything like it’s his first time all over again. tl;dr : nice but will kill you if he needs to & prefers to not talk about his ex-husband.

[back-and-totheleft]

"It's possible I was angrier as a young man"

For many years, Oliver Stone tried to make a movie of The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand’s epic novel about the arrogant ur-capitalist and architect Howard Roark. Stone’s version would have reinvented Roark as a visionary designer of public buildings—maybe a guy like Fidel Castro or Hugo Chávez, two gifted egoists Stone has been known to pop a Fresca with. That’s interesting company for a born Republican and decorated Vietnam volunteer, though maybe not for the man who gave us Wall Street (1987) and Gordon Gekko, or who wrote Brian De Palma’s Scarface (1983).

Stone’s new film, W., is a biopic of George W. Bush that the director has scrambled to finance, shoot, edit, and release before the 2008 election. Surprising only to people unfamiliar with his work, Stone paints a politically excoriating but emotionally sympathetic portrait of our 43rd president. Josh Brolin stars in the title role, alongside Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), Jeffrey Wright (Colin Powell), Richard Dreyfuss (Dick Cheney), Thandie Newton (Condoleezza Rice), Scott Glenn (Donald Rumsfeld), and James Cromwell (George H. W. Bush). W. is Stone’s third crack at presidents or their legacies, following JFK (1991) and Nixon (1995). What could he possibly be thinking?

DAVITT SIGERSON: When I was first thinking about talking to you, lines from that Bob Dylan song “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” came to mind: “If my thought-dreams could be seen/They’d probably put my head in a guillotine.” Do you ever feel like you’re running in a different time zone than the rest of the world?

OLIVER STONE: Why do you ask that question? Because I’m making a movie on George W. Bush?

DS: Well, no . . . We’ll get to that. But I have my own theories about why you freak people out so much.

OS: Oh, really? This is a great way to start. I like it. At least you’re honest. I would love to know your theory, if you can give me the short and sweet of it. It could help me frame my own life, I suppose.

DS: Well, I think this: You’re an impressive formalist, and you can be as grand or as vulgar as the material requires-for example, with the use of television and different film stocks in your movies. I also think that your films follow function because it seems you are, above all, a rabid moralist who is intent on saying what you’ve got to say. And I think that really freaks people out. People prefer a tasteful formalist to a rabid moralist. Even though you have elements of both in your work, I think that you . . . Well, I think you know what I think: that saying what you’ve got to say is the most important thing for you in your movies.

OS: Interesting. Very well said. I mean, I suppose in our culture—in our lifetime—we’ve always enjoyed people who tell it straight. We like our presidents, our comedians, and our actors to do that . . . It’s funny. You say that people prefer a tasteful formalism—as opposed to an oppressive formalism—but I do feel very strongly that form follows function. I really do. I’ve said repeatedly in many interviews over the years, “Look, the styles in my films have changed, and each film has a function at the time at which it was made.” But I don’t know that the point has really ever gotten across yet. I have skipped from style to style from film to film, and I love doing that because it’s given me the ability to free myself from the past. Perhaps one of the worst feelings that I can have is the feeling that I’m locked in, like a prisoner of myself, which is something we all feel at some point in our lives. So part of making those stylistic jumps is just to free myself up-to get away from the old or the old Oliver Stone. When I make a new movie, I always get stuck with, “That’s not an Oliver Stone film.” But I don’t know what to do about that except just move on. That’s why I was really happy to do W. It’s a chance to shrug it all off again. That’s the way I approached making the movie, and I know it’s one of the issues with its relationship to the other two presidential films I’ve made. But I’m leading you now-

DS: That’s all right. That’s good. I actually feel a lot of parallels between W. and Scarface.

OS: That’s interesting. Why is that?

DS: Well, let me disclose that I’ve seen a couple of versions of the script for W., and one of the things that struck me is that it seems you set off to make a film that is in many ways a very sympathetic understanding of George W. Bush. It’s certainly not a positive portrayal, but it definitely feels like you set out to get inside of him as a character and to understand him on his own terms—which is, I think, exactly what you did with Tony Montana in Scarface.

OS: That’s correct. It’s what I tried to do with Nixon, too.

DS: W. has that autumnal quality that Nixon had, but I also feel there are ways in which you and W. . . . For all the things that you and George W. Bush don’t have in common as people, there are some things that you do.

OS: Well, we both went to Yale, class of ’68. And although W. came from a much more powerful family, both of our families did have aspirations for us. I didn’t have the size of the family that he did-I don’t have brothers and sisters or a lot of cousins. We didn’t have boarders at our house or anything like that. But I did go to Yale and was raised Republican-Eisenhower Republican or Rockefeller Republican, I like saying. My dad was staunchly pro-Vietnam, and, you know, I believed everything I read in the media and saw on television in the ’50s and ’60s. I really did. And I watched the war in Vietnam unfold on that basis, without irony. I went as a volunteer.

DS: You requested combat duty.

OS: I requested infantry—I didn’t want to get fucked out of that. I didn’t want to end up in Germany or in South Korea or anything. And I got what I wanted. I got it in spades.

DS: Well, there’s a big difference between you and George W. Bush. You skipped out of Yale, and W. skipped out of Vietnam.

OS: I know. There are a lot of differences at that point—the fork in the road is huge. And I wish that George W. Bush had gone to Vietnam, because he would have seen history in a different light. He would’ve experienced it in a different light because I don’t think he understood the nature of war.

DS: But you do get us to like George W. Bush. There’s a scene, for example, where he drives up drunk after getting into Harvard Business School—

OS: Well, it goes beyond him being a kid. I, quite frankly, find him to be likable in the way that he’s a goofball president—it’s like having a bit of a goofball in the White House. I mean, people don’t like Richard Nixon. I found that out when Nixon came out—people just did not like the movie because they did not like the man. I think the movie is very well made, but there’s a thing about Nixon that turned people off: a dark side that Cheney also has. But in George W. Bush, there’s no evidence of a dark side that people see, and I think that’s fascinating about him. So people, of course, like him and trust him. As [Karl] Rove said, He’s a man you can have a beer with. And there’s an ineffable charm in that. Even my mother, who is a diehard-you know, she’s a Republican-and she’s seen what’s happened these last eight years, but she’s rigid about that. She said, “Don’t make a movie, Oliver, where you demean Bush or you hurt Bush.” And I was trying not to do that. I was trying to be, you know, fair is a tough word . . .

DS: Well, when it comes to hurting his cause, W. has already got the job covered, hasn’t he?

OS: Yes, George W. Bush speaks for himself. I mean, the fact that we haven’t had to make up words is the beauty of it. With Nixon, we had to reach inside and find some of that material-Nixon was very much a man behind closed doors. With Bush, you don’t have to reach very far. He’s put a lot of great, colorful stuff out there.

DS: I wanted to ask about that: One of the things about the movie that I found myself really enjoying is that the material is so familiar. I felt it was sort of like going to a Rolling Stones concert. They’re going to play “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Brown Sugar,” but you don’t know when. There is a reference that W. makes to his poppy, George H. W. Bush, throwing up in Japan . . .

OS: Yeah, there’s a lot of that going on, a lot of inside stuff.

DS: But the way you handled weaving in some element of the Rumsfeld ���unknown unknowns” briefing from 2002 about evidence that Iraq was supplying terrorists with weapons of mass destruction . . . It makes up for the, perhaps, overfamiliarity of the story by providing all these little moments.

OS: One of the dangers about making a movie about a current president is that everyone thinks they know him. I think that people think they know a lot about George W. Bush—I mean, wherever I go, everyone has an opinion. But people don’t really know everything they need to know about him. They don’t know the history. They know how it all plays into the present, but they don’t think about it in terms of the whole span of his life and how his past contributed to what his thinking was at various points and how he allowed these certain things to happen. So by putting his life into a two-hour framework and dealing with some of the complexities of his time growing up and his youth-the first act-and then the second act, where he really had his greatness, I suppose, in the ’90s with the baseball team [Bush was part owner of the Texas Rangers from 1989 to 1998] and the Texas governorship, where he reached his level, so to speak . . . And then the third act becomes very interesting because this is the payoff: the seeds of the man now and the growth and the strength. This is the man who became stronger than his father and became president. So the movie really takes place at that point. The fulcrum is in 2001, after 9/11, and the movie is climactically about that 2001-to-2003 period. We didn’t go beyond the beginning of ’04—once he goes into Iraq, we know what happens. We didn’t want to go into the crumbling apart because we sort of know what’s happening now.

DS: You’re right. Especially around W.’s campaigns for the governorship of Texas, there are some key moments, like where he stands up to his poppy about the fact that he’s going to run. There’s also the conversation with Rove, where Rove says, “I’ll tell you what to say.” And W. says, “You’re the wordsmith, you give me the words, but I’ll tell you what we’re saying.”

OS: There’s also one of those defining moments when he tells Laura that his father lacks the decisive spirit of a decision maker. Stuff like that. We took dialogue from everywhere. We did sometimes put it into another context, but we tried to stay true to the feeling of it. In other words, like Rumsfeld’s line—”I know what I know and I know what I don’t know . . . ” He’s a great press conference guy, Rumsfeld, but we’re not showing him in a press conference, so our difficulty as dramatists is to get that stuff contextually into dialogue so that it makes sense. You have to do that as a dramatist-you have to have the people in front of you. I reread all the same research books—I think the book about Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind [The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill] was the first to break in 2004, and then Richard Clarke’s [Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror]. We read all those books, and they really started to change the picture of what was going on in the Bush administration. I really could not have made the movie in 2004, because we didn’t have the information. I mean, Bob Woodward penetrated a lot with his books, and there was also the other Suskind book, The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11. We got a lot of that stuff into the movie, which was really tough to do. We put in a lot of rancorous disputes with Powell fighting with Cheney and Rumsfeld-there was sort of a triangle, and we went out on a limb in presenting that. Now I’ve been reading more and more that there were some big arguments behind the scenes, but that hasn’t really come out yet because Powell won’t write anything about it. Rumsfeld’s memoirs are coming, though I don’t think they’re going to be different than you’d expect—they’re going to be above it all, so to speak. But Powell did have some arguments. He did fight on behalf of his beliefs. All of these actors are great, by the way—Jeffrey Wright, who plays Powell, and Scott Glenn, who plays Rumsfeld. I can’t believe the humanity they brought to it.

DS: How did you handle presenting W.’s relationship with Laura? I really felt the truth of that couple. What did you do to get inside of that?

OS: There’s so little written on Laura-we read everything that we could, but then we had to go into the dialogue.

DS: That line, though, that’s in the film, “I read, I smoke, and I admire”-Laura Bush actually said that, didn’t she?

OS: I believe she said that in another context. Again, we have to deal with lines. If they said it to the press and we’re trying to fit it into a one-on-one situation, they won’t talk as they do sometimes to the public.

DS: There’s a moment of tremendous beauty in the script when W. and Laura are in London and Laura says, “Why don’t you go buy a suit?” And W. says, “The shoulders never fit.” That’s almost Death of a Salesman-like.

OS: “The shoulders never fit . . . ” I remember that line. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t shoot it.

DS: No?

OS: Yeah, I wrote the line. I don’t know if W. ever said that, though.

DS: Who cares?

OS: You liked that line?

DS: Oh, you’re fucking killing me.

OS: You have to recognize that this film was made -under Spartan conditions. Nobody in America wanted to make it, basically, except for one small company. And if it wasn’t for China and Australia and Germany, we wouldn’t even be talking about it right now. So thank God there’s a little diversity of thought in the world. But, you know, we made the film for $25 million, which is about 60 percent of what Nixon was made for, and we made W. in 46 days, which is amazing considering the amount of footage we got in that amount of time. Normally it would have been a 60- or a 70-day shoot, so I’m just saying that you have to let things go. You can’t fight for everything. So London is not in the film. I loved that scene, though, because I was in London when W. went through there [in 2003]. It was this remarkable moment in history, to just see an entire city closed down. They had to close down all of central London and keep everybody away from him. There were demonstrations. And the American media, again, did not really report it correctly.

DS: Well, obviously there was a hand behind that.

OS: Oh, yes. But that’s another movie, I suppose. In fact, I’m working on a documentary with Mark Weisbrot [the American economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.]. He’s very good with media subjects and the dirty tricks that go on.

DS: When I look at your three presidential pictures, it does feel that, as different as they are, you could almost weave them together into a sort of John Dos Passos-like triptych on American disappointment.

OS: Wow. I wrote a long essay on Dos Passos in high school.

DS: Did you really?

OS: Yes, I was a big fan of his. I was a Republican in school, and I remember liking Midcentury. I was very impressed with that. The style was unbelievable. He hasn’t been appreciated. He really got the workers, you know? When I was a young man, I thought, Wow, I’ve never read something like this. I really -understood what the Wobblies were about, the socialists . . . And I didn’t realize it at the time, but I identified with them. I had my own political framework, but the humanity of it got through to me. I remember the sex in those books-as a young man, reading those things under lightbulbs in dingy rooms. Farm girls and stuff.

DS: Let’s talk about Natural Born Killers [1994] for a minute.

OS: Sure.

DS: I understood that maybe Quentin Tarantino, who wrote the script, didn’t like what you did with it. I don’t know if that’s something you can talk about . . .

OS: Quentin never saw the film at that time, frankly—he admitted. Quentin and I have since spoken many times. You know, he was a young filmmaker. He was coming up, and there was a big dispute with him and two producers, Don Murphy and Jane Hamsher, who had he thought undermined him and gotten the rights. It’s a complicated story, but basically everything was done legally. And then I announced I was going to make the movie, and he was upset because it was his movie. But he had never expressed a desire to do it.

DS: So it was a business fight rather than one about interpretation.

OS: According to some, he never saw the movie-or he walked out of it 10 minutes in or whatever. But he just didn’t like the fact that I had changed his screenplay. Quite considerably-that was his issue.

DS: What’s funny about Natural Born Killers, having seen the film when it came out, was that there were things about it, like certain aspects of W., that seemed very familiar—the predatory newsmen characters, for example. Yet over time, between YouTube and Abu Ghraib, it has shown itself to be an unbelievably prescient movie. The main characters, Mickey and Mallory, have these roles as the self-cast stars in their own drama. That’s become the story of our world today.

OS: You know, I felt at the time that those characters in Natural Born Killers were archetypes that we should do big and broad and that we should make it a cartoon . . . This was the way the world was going. I put my feelings at the end of the movie very clearly. There was a run of things happening at the time making front-page news. It started roughly around the time of Tonya Harding and John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis being cut off and terminated with O.J. Simpson. It was just these three years in the media where all of this stuff was seeping onto the front page of The New York Times. It was ridiculous. It’s when the news became entertainment, I guess. Wasn’t it Laurence Tisch who started that up 10 years before, at CBS, when he said that the news -division was going to have to make money on its own? It was around ’86 when Tisch got a hold of CBS-and I say that because I remember it very clearly. It was a shock at the time. CBS never recovered.

DS: And now you get the pictures from Abu Ghraib, and it does look like a cartoon. I mean, it’s an indecent cartoon . . .

OS: Well, it’s been written about like a cartoon because it never went further than that. The media never invested in really following up. The hard news takes time—it’s not one-day stuff. It took years to bring that to the surface, you know? It took so much time. It took a lot of work. And even now more details are coming out. So hard news takes time. It takes a nonprofit sensibility.

DS: I was reading something, I think around the time all of these Abu Ghraib pictures first came to light, about why the people were smiling in the pictures. There’s an amazing Weegee [Arthur Fellig] photograph called Their First Murder. It was taken on a street in New York City. It’s of all these people standing around [an out-of-frame] dead body, and there is one kid looking up and smiling straight into the camera-because that’s what you do when there’s a camera, right?

OS: Well, we have pictures like that from Vietnam, snapshots of people standing over bodies. It’s that white-hunter thing. It’s part of the human instinct, the death ray that we all have—that dark side in every single person. Even Mr. Bush. If anybody is a walking optimist, it’s George W. Bush, but even he must have a dark side. I think we took a few shots at exploring this idea of who he is toward the end of the film. It does come out—Josh Brolin did an extraordinary job of bringing that to the surface.

DS: Back to Scarface: Tony Montana is an ultimate example of a character who you’re totally blatant about as a writer in terms of your moral judgment of him. And yet you show him so purely that he has become a kind of ultimate folk hero. Did that surprise you? Or was that part of your goal?

OS: There was an impulse in that direction. I think Mickey and Mallory in Natural Born Killers are the same thing. I remember what happened in Scarface vividly because I did most of the research in Miami and in Fort Lauderdale and the Caribbean-there were just guys like that around. They were obviously not as big as Tony was, but there had been some chain saw murders, as you know, and the AK-47 had been introduced into the streets of Miami for the first time in around 1981. As a dramatist, you could imagine where things were going to go because the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] was getting into the war on drugs down there big time-but they had no idea of the amount of money that was involved. They had no idea. I remember that the first estimates were in the $100 million range. It’s that big, you know? But little did we know that really, if you go back now and check Pablo Escobar and all that, the take was even bigger. It was probably in the billions.

DS: But what happened with the Tony Montana character afterward was like how Macbeth became a hero for Scotsmen.

OS: Yeah, well, I could say I was amazed. It did take off right away on the street. The black and Spanish communities really took to the picture, and they made a hero of the guy. I don’t think he was one. I think Al [Pacino] played him as an antihero, as a Brechtian character. Arturo Ui was really my influence in that, but it’s amazing . . . The same thing happened in Wall Street. Gordon Gekko was the antihero of the picture.

DS: You told me about the documentary that you’re doing with Mark Weisbrot, but what is the subject of the other one you are currently working on?

OS: It’s a secret. I’ve been working on it for a year. I’ve self-financed it up to today. It’s another one of those tough ones to get made.

DS: And then what’s next after that? Do you know?

OS: No, I really don’t. I wrote an original, which is a smaller film, but it’s really important to me and hopefully-maybe-I’ll get a chance to make it. The market has changed so much, and the business in the last 10 years—it’s gone, the way I know it. I’ve been operating on the edges since Nixon. I’ve been independent, except a couple of times when I went back and worked for studios under completely different circumstances than I had before. It’s just that the risk factor in making a film has become so enormous. The corporations have become bigger. The accounting mentality is completely dominating the business. So people like me-and directors in general-are kind of like a thing of the past.

DS: This can be a function of aging, but do you think you’re less angry than you once were? Because I think it would have been pretty fair to characterize you as an angry guy. Whenever I see pictures of you, you have these puffy eyes, and I always think, Oh, he’s been crying tears of rage his whole life.

OS: [laughs] Oh, really? It’s possible that I was angrier when I was younger. I think a function of getting older is that you figure out more and you become more compassionate toward everybody, even people who dislike you. I don’t think it’s an issue of what’s fair—I think that compassion is the key because in a movie, you have to relate to the person you’re telling the story about. Even if it’s Richard III or Henry VIII or Macbeth, you have to relate to that person. And that’s been part of my learning curve, too.

-Davitt Sigerson interviews Oliver Stone, Interview, Nov 25 2008 [x]

[the-master-cylinder]

SUMMARY Police Superintendent Bellaver, investigating the murder and mutilation of two young women and the disappearance of a young athlete, learns from American pathologist David Sorel that the women’s bodies had been drained of blood. Helen Bradford, a police decoy, lures the suspected killer into the open, and police handcuff him. He proves to possess superhuman strength, however, and escapes by tearing off his hand and racing to the clinic of Dr. Browning, where he leaps into a vat of acid. Meanwhile, Konratz, a mysterious foreign agent who is systematically eliminating his political enemies, blackmails British agent Fremont into persuading Scotland Yard to halt the investigation of the “vampire killings.” Although unauthorized to continue work on the case, Sorel and Helen go to Dr. Browning’s mansion and discover a modern operating room. They are caught by Dr. Browning, who reveals that he is creating human bodies by transplanting limbs and organs to form a perfect composite; the missing athlete was used for his strong arms and legs. Konratz, the mastermind behind the scheme, arrives and fights with Browning for allowing the murders to interrupt his political maneuvers. In the ensuing struggle, Konratz throws Browning into the vat, and Fremont arrives in time to save Helen and Sorel by pushing Konratz into the acid along with his victim.

Gordon Hessler

Interview with Gordon Hessler

 How did you get along with Christopher Wicking for the first time on that film? Gordon Hessler: He’s a highly intelligent fellow, very witty. He’s a wonderful guy. On SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, he did extraordinary work on the script. That was really a pulp book, a throwaway book that you read on a train. There was nothing in it, just empty pieces of action. But it was Chris who gave it a whole new level by using it as a political process of what might happen in the future. That is what made the picture, he’s the one that came up with all those ideas, yet he still managed to keep the nuances of the sort of pulp fiction novel. He was a fine writer, I thought. He had some very good ideas. It’s funny because we never thought much of those films. They were just formula pictures as far as we were concerned, but we enjoyed making them. The problem was what do you do with a script, how do you solve a problem?

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN is an extraordinary film, very different from the typical Poe/Price cycle. Was AIP happy with it? Gordon Hessler: Well, they didn’t know what the film was about and were always questioning what I was doing. The editor kept assuring them that everything was fine, but they didn’t quite know what they had as a picture. I’m sure they were a little queasy when that film came out because Arkoff had to try and sell it. We knew we had a good film. It was different. It was a science fiction film really, but the thing is, although the pulp book was very badly written, once Chris Wicking had put the nucleus of that idea into it, it elevated the whole picture and made it much more interesting. But all these pictures were made so quickly with so little money, I think we shot that in three or four weeks. But we had fun making it.

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You had Christopher Lee in small parts in THE OBLONG BOX and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. How did you get along with him? Gordon Hessler: I got on very well with Christopher Lee. He became even more talented as he moved on in his career. I was quite surprised at how good he was in certain movies. When you’re shooting, you’re so busy and you never really get to know the actors very well. You meet them and they get a sense of what you want, and then you don’t see them again because they’re off doing another picture. I think that the thing with a horror picture is that you have to convince your actors to believe in what they’re doing. You really have to get embellished in it and enjoy it.

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You also worked with Peter Cushing in SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. Gordon Hessler: I really didn’t get to know him because he was put into the picture. That was Deke Heyward’s idea. Deke would try to find some well known actor to dress up the picture who at least Americans would be familiar with which was a good idea. He did the same thing with Lilli Palmer in MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. When I was doing the AIP pictures, I tried to keep a stable of actors and give them different roles. They were so wonderful, and they had to work for practically nothing. Since I was producing and directing, I had to go to the actors and tell them that I could only offer them so much, and that they could take it or leave it. It’s not that I was in a situation to bargain with them. I just didn’t have it in the budget. When you only have £70,000 and you’re working in a large studio, everybody else got screwed these actors. Hopefully they get some residuals of some kind, I’m not sure.

Did you enjoy working with the great horror stars: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing? Gordon Hessler: Vincent Price is an extraordinary man. We had a prince from Nigeria come to lunch with us at the Shepperton Studios, we were showing him around the place and we asked Vincent if he wouldn’t mind coming along. Many actors have to talk about themselves or their careers and so on, but not one word of that from Vincent. All he talked about was African art, by region and in such detail that this prince was absolutely amazed Vincent Price is a wonderful personality. Christopher Lee is made of much sterner stuff: very exacting, very correct. But he was very well educated and has a great deal of charm. I enjoyed working with him as well. Peter Cushing is just a wonderful individual to work with. You couldn’t have a better professional.

One complaint about Scream and Scream Again is that none of those stars have scenes together. Gordon Hessler: That was an unfortunate thing, but it just worked out that way. It was a last-minute “Deke” Heyward decision to try to get all three stars together in one picture, and we hadn’t designed Scream and Scream Again for anything like that.

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DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN is a picture that turned out well almost by accident. Amicus producers Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky were developing a screenplay based on a pulp novel by Peter Saxon, The Disoriented Man, AIP agreed to co-produce the film.

For Scream and Scream Again, we got a pulp magazine story, which if you read, you know was just trash, but the ingenuity that Chris Wicking brought to it made it a film of a much grander scale. It was ahead of its time. and we tried to figure out some kind of stylistic approach. But again, these films were made in three and four weeks.

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When Michael Reeves dropped out, Heyward considered Hessler a trustworthy replacement. Hessler remembers meeting with Reeves during pre-production, and said Reeves was quite sick at the time and was undergoing shock treatments. Christopher Wicking was brought in to rewrite the script, but there was only so much that could be done within the framework of what AIP wanted from the picture, so Hessler was left with the problem of trying to make an interesting film from a script neither he nor his star was satisfied with.

Interview with Producer Louis M. Heyward

Louis M. Heyward

How much contact did you have with Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg (of Amicus Pictures) in making Scream and Scream Again? Louis M. Heyward: Quite a bit. They brought in the project, which was a paperback, and they were two guys full of enthusiasm. If I recall correctly, I had Subotsky thrown off the set. and Rosenberg allowed to come on. I felt there was too much interference going on. They were earnest. they were well-meaning, but they got in the way of production. I didn’t have that much traffic with them. but it was very difficult. I don’t bar people from sets too frequently, but when you’re trying to protect time and a budget. you have no recourse. You can’t fight about the little things.

Hessler says Subotsky’s script was so bad it was unusable. Louis M. Heyward: Chris Wicking was brought in and together with Gordon they fixed it. Because it was a script that had not come from Hollywood, we could get away with tinkering with it. I was protecting the future I hoped to have when I left AIP!

It was your idea to put all three of the horror kings-Price, Lee and Cushing—into Scream and Scream Again. Did it work well? Louis M. Heyward: Not as well as it could have. It was interesting to have them all in the same film, but they should have had the contretemps between them, utilizing all three in one scene in a face-to-face showdown. But there was no way of working it in; we just brought them in to take advantage of the names. for marquee value.

Cushing was the one that got the short end of the stick. Louis M. Heyward: He really did. I played that film just the other night and I asked myself, “Why did he accept it?” I think the reason is, the British are so damn nice as actors again, they’re good soldiers and they’ll do what they’re told. They’re dear. sweet people and they’re professionals.

Any other Scream and Scream Again anecdotes? Louis M. Heyward: I felt Michael Gothard was going to be the biggest thing that ever happened. He had that insane look and that drive, and he was wonderful. Here is a kid who really threw himself into the picture wholeheartedly. Do you remember the scene where he appears to be walking up the cliff? That’s a stunt that I would not have agreed to; I’d say, “Hey. get a double or get a dummy. I ain’t either one.” But the kid agreed to do it, without a double-he was that driven. He had a lot of class and a lot of style. Gordon came up with the idea of using an overhead cable to give that illusion of his walking up the cliff.

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Said Hessler, “Vincent was concerned, and he had every right to be, with the scripts that were whipped up. He had a contract to make three pictures, and I had to make four. So you had to make it. They’d already sold the picture from the poster, so the script came and you worked on it. All you could go for was the melodrama and try to be interesting with camera angles.”

This time, working from the ground up, rather than revising someone else’s script, Wicking contrived an extremely intricate and convoluted tale which far exceeds the source material. The novel, unlike the film, was about invaders from space. Hessler was given a free hand to direct as he pleased. The final cut went out exactly as he intended, rather surprising when one considers AIP’s later tampering with Hessler’s MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971), but as Heyward explained, the product was never as important as the deal, claiming that the film was left alone because AIP had booking deadlines to meet.

The movie is based on Peter Saxon’s science fiction novel The Disorientated Man. For the most part, the movie follows the novel quite closely. In the novel, the antagonists turned out to be aliens. According to Christopher Lee, the characters were indeed going to be revealed as aliens in the movie’s climax, but all connections to that fact were cut out of the movie before it was released, leaving the enigmatic villains’ backgrounds unexplained.

What makes SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN so unusual, and so interesting, is its avoidance of the traditional dramatic structure in which a protagonist follows a clearly stated goal. Instead, the film presents several seemingly unrelated stories, which do not become clearly connected until the final twenty minutes when the audience finds out that both a series of “vampire murders” and a political takeover in a fascist country are the result of an artificially created super-race. Said Lee, “Playing some of those scenes, shot out of sequence and with no clue to how well they’d be edited, was maddening.”

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The film marks the first teaming of Vincent Price with Christopher Lee, but their only scene together consists of Price finding Lee bleeding to death on the floor. AIP was only interested in getting their names on the marquee, not in giving them worthwhile material to play. Nevertheless, Lee remembered the filming with good humor.

Said Lee, “As I expired messily on the floor, gurgling blood, which is spouting all over the place, Vincent comes in wearing the biggest cloak I’ve ever seen in my life-a great, big, blue traveling cloak which went right down to the ground. He had to bend down beside me and roll me over in my last throes, being careful not to get blood all over him. While he was supposed to be fussing over me, all I could hear was his voice whispering, “You’re lying on my train!’ He had rolled me over onto his cape and couldn’t get up!”

Christopher Wicking

Interview with Christopher Wicking

Scream and Scream Again was a co-production with Amicus. Milton Subotsky came up with the project and had the rights to the book The Disoriented Man by Peter Saxon; Deke Heywood, head of AIP’s London office, was looking for other projects in which to use Vincent Price. Subotsky did the initial draft of the script, Heywood didn’t like it and you were brought in. Christopher Wicking: Gordon Hessler didn’t like the screenplay. He didn’t feel Milton could deliver what they wanted. Milton initiated the project, and it was his up to that point. I got a call from Gordon requesting I read the book and then Milton’s screenplay.

The book gave me goosebumps. Then I read Milton’s script, which was totally flat: it was like watching a souffle dying. it just caved in after a while. Gordon and I discussed it at length. He saw the police material as Coogan’s Bluff country, which was an idea that excited me. The one radical thing we did, which changed what Milton had done and came directly from the book, was take out the blobs from space. Blobs from space are great, but we didn’t want it to be that kind of picture. We wanted to do a Don Siegel-style horror film, Coogan’s Bluff meets Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, and we needed something stronger than lumps from another planet. So we took the aliens away and implied that Vincent Price’s mad doctor character was responsible for the superhuman creatures. We never quite know in the picture how this is possible, but they are not blobs from space. We wanted to investigate science and politics, so we used a lot of material from news headlines, material about transplants and genetic experimentation. The film sticks quite closely to the book, whose structure was very cinematic.

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You worked frequently with Hessler. Was it a good partnership? Christopher Wicking: It was delightful-and, in retrospect, an inhibiting factor why I never pushed to direct until recently. Working with Gordon was easy, very stimulating. We shared a lot of ideas, and for the most part he directed my scripts the way I wanted to see them made. Obviously, there were occasions when he didn’t, but those decisions were usually due to time constraints. I learned a lot from him. It was like an apprenticeship.

Didn’t AIP try to recut Scream? Christopher Wicking: They did try to take out one of the three strands of the Scream and Scream Again story and found the film didn’t work without it.

SCORE/SOUNDTRACK

Scream and Scream Again (1970) David Whitaker

The eponymous theme song for the film was by Amen Corner, who appeared in the film singing it. This was one of their last appearances before Andy Fairweather Low departed for a solo career after a brief career as Fair Weather.

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CAST/CREW Directed Gordon Hessler

Produced Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky Louis M. Heyward

Written Christopher Wicking

Based on The Disorientated Man by Peter Saxon

Vincent Price as Dr. Browning Christopher Lee as Fremont Peter Cushing as Benedek Judy Huxtable as Sylvia Alfred Marks as Detective Superintendent Bellaver Michael Gothard as Keith Anthony Newlands as Ludwig Peter Sallis as Schweitz Uta Levka as Jane Christopher Matthews as Dr. David Sorel

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Fangoria#53 Fangoria#84 Fangoria#97 dvddrive-in.com Cinefantastique v19n01-02

Scream and Scream Again (1970) Retrospective SUMMARY Police Superintendent Bellaver, investigating the murder and mutilation of two young women and the disappearance of a young athlete, learns from American pathologist David Sorel that the women's bodies had been drained of blood.

[viraljournalist]

Ten NBA things I like and don't like, including the Luka Doncic-Dwight Powell dance

New Post has been published on https://viraljournalist.com/ten-nba-things-i-like-and-dont-like-including-the-luka-doncic-dwight-powell-dance/

Ten NBA things I like and don't like, including the Luka Doncic-Dwight Powell dance

How about a fresh serving of 10 NBA things:

1. The tricks of Ja Morant

Morant’s athleticism and fearlessness strike you first. He is so fast. He wants to dunk on everyone — to humiliate victims, the bigger the better.

All that is cool. But what is most impressive about Morant — the runaway Rookie of the Year — is his veteran craft. He already knows how to start and stop with a live dribble, and keep defenses guessing until the best option reveals itself. He sees every pass. He imagines passes no one else sees, and conjures them with dribble moves designed to shift the defense in some specific way.

You just don’t see rookies doing stuff like this:

That fake spin — the Smitty — dusts damn near the entire LA Clippers team. The one-handed lefty gather into a reverse layup is borderline pornographic. That insta-gather is already a Morant trademark — useful in tight spaces.

He has a mean pass fake:

He busts it out on the perimeter to freeze help defenders:

A lot of ball handlers turn statuesque when someone else takes the controls. Not Morant. He weaponizes his speed as an off-ball cutter.

Morant isn’t the only reason the Memphis Grizzlies — 13-6 since early December — have improbably surged into the Western Conference’s No. 8 spot. Their three core big men — Jonas Valanciunas, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Brandon Clarke — are balling, and their bizarro bench is obliterating opponents.

But Morant is driving it. He is real. He is a superstar in the making playing winning basketball. He belongs at the edges of the All-Star conversation right now.

2. Drivin’ De’Aaron Fox

After two months of injuries and uneven play, Fox is back on his ascent toward becoming the Sacramento Kings’ franchise point guard. In seven January games, Fox is averaging 24 points and 8.5 assists on 50% shooting. He is driving more often, with more guile and ferocity.

Fox is earning seven free throws per 36 minutes — easily a career high. He is piling up almost 29 drives per 100 possessions, second among rotation players — and up from 15 and 18 in his prior two seasons, per Second Spectrum data. He has drawn fouls on 13% of those drives, 16th highest among 173 guys who have recorded at least 100 drives.

1 Related

Fox is still searching for the right pass-or-score balance, and the Kings under Luke Walton haven’t landed on a coherent identity. (Injuries to Fox and Marvin Bagley III have stalled progress there.) They are playing at one of the league’s slowest paces, though they amp it up some with Fox on the floor.

The next step for Fox is dialing in on defense, where he has disappointed this season. The Kings won’t go anywhere too serious until the Fox/Buddy Hield backcourt proves it can survive on that end.

3. Forfeiting mismatches

A pet peeve:

This isn’t about the Orlando Magic. Every team does this now and then: Spot a juicy mismatch, and default into a pick-and-roll that allows the defense to switch that mismatch away.

The Utah Jazz are stuck with Emmanuel Mudiay on Aaron Gordon. If you want to post Gordon up, do it when he can mash a smaller dude. Instead, D.J. Augustin and Gordon gift the Jazz a switch.

Come on. Disengage autopilot and read the game. The right kind of post-up can still be an effective scoring option. They also are fun to watch. The league needs stylistic diversity.

You know who rarely bungles this? The Indiana Pacers with Domantas Sabonis. Their old-school mentality serves them well when they earn a switch, or when the opposing power forward is stuck defending Sabonis. The Pacers in those scenarios are ruthless. They are surgical. They abort whatever plan they had and hunt that mismatch.

4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, off the glass

The notorious S.G.A. is already one of the league’s shiftiest ball handlers — a long-limbed, change-of-pace phantom who seems to move at two or three different speeds at once. Guarding him is like trying to catch a fish with your bare hands.

He also is a premier bank shot artist, smooching from unconventional angles:

That is a little close to the baseline for most players to go glass. Gilgeous-Alexander has the touch to pull it off. That one hits pretty low on the backboard, but Gilgeous-Alexander will kiss the ball off the tippy-top if need be.

The straight-on banker is underused — a tricky work of depth perception that can increase your margin for error on harried floaters. Gilgeous-Alexander has it in his bag:

Only 10 players have attempted more glassers than Gilgeous-Alexander, per Second Spectrum. (Russell Westbrook has tried by far the most — almost double the No. 2 guy.) Coming off a ridiculous 20-20-10 game, Gilgeous-Alexander has a fringe All-Star case: 20 points, six rebounds and three assists per game, decent shooting, solid defense.

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It is a hard case to parse. Each member of Oklahoma City’s three-headed point guard monster has sacrificed something. Gilgeous-Alexander has stepped back into a secondary ballhandling role behind Chris Paul (probably a better All-Star candidate) and Dennis Schroder (in the running for Sixth Man of the Year). Gilgeous-Alexander has logged only 40 minutes as solo floor general — without either Schroder or Paul.

I recently debated with a few non-Thunder executives whether Gilgeous-Alexander would grow into an All-NBA player. That they framed the question in those terms — and not around whether Gilgeous-Alexander will make All-Star teams — is indicative of how good he has been.

5. Still waiting on Aaron Gordon

Boy, did Gordon need this recent mini-hot streak: 60 points on 23-of-39 shooting over Orlando’s last three outings, and a last-second game-winner Monday in Sacramento. It has otherwise been a stilted, disappointing season for Gordon.

I thought this was the year it might finally happen for him. I predicted Gordon would make the All-Star Game.

Instead, Gordon’s production on offense has dipped across the board, though he remains engaged on the other end. There are three theoretical Gordons: the player Gordon wants to be; the player Orlando wants him to be; and the player Orlando needs him to be because of their roster construction. The actual Gordon is paralyzed in some sort of existential tension between all three.

The first player — Gordon’s dream for himself — is a ball-dominant scorer. Orlando indulges that Gordon by calling occasional post-ups for him and giving him some freedom to go rogue. Gordon can make hay against smaller players. He has done well on scripted duck-ins. But too many of his forays into would-be stardom end with bricked fadeaways:

A player this powerful should not spend so much time spinning away from the hoop. He rarely draws fouls. The Magic have scored 0.826 points per possession anytime Gordon shoots out of a post-up or passes to a teammate who fires right away — 74th among 96 players who have recorded at least 25 post-ups, per Second Spectrum data. He is not much of an inside-out playmaker. A full 77% of those post-ups have ended with Gordon shooting — the second highest such rate in that sample.

The best version of Gordon on a good team is something like his take on Draymond Green: screening and rolling as a power forward, spraying passes (Gordon is an underrated playmaker), defending like all hell across every position. The Magic have never put Gordon in optimal position to find that role. They shoehorned him onto the wing next to Serge Ibaka and now Jonathan Isaac.

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That is not on its face unworkable. Some of those ultra-big Magic lineups have performed well — including last season. Talented frontcourt partners render positional designations irrelevant. What position would Gordon play next to, say, Kevin Durant and a traditional center in Brooklyn? Isaac has some blossoming all-around skill on offense.

But Isaac also is very young. Before Isaac’s injury, it felt — from the outside — Orlando was reaching the point at which it would have to make a final call on Gordon. There are teams who would give a lot for Gordon. Isaac’s knee injury may have put off those decisions. The Magic don’t have to rush. Gordon is still just 24.

But stasis often becomes untenable.

6. The Bucks, going under

Almost every team scurries under picks against bad shooters, but Milwaukee does it more dramatically and against many more players. The Bucks treat every so-so shooter like Ben Simmons. Present Milwaukee with Kris Dunn or RJ Barrett (two recent examples) and its on-ball defenders hang almost in the paint — a step or two further back than most teams prefer. They form a shell that is really hard to puncture.

They don’t deviate if some Dunn type hits a couple of long 2s. The Bucks understand math. They know their scheme plays mind games with opposing shooters — even non-terrible ones. They’re going so far under. This is embarrassing. Am I really supposed to keep shooting? Boom — the shot clock is down to 8, and you’ve accomplished nothing.

This is such low-hanging fruit. Every team should imitate Mike Budenholzer’s exaggerated “go under” ethos.

Of course, later playoff rounds offer very few awful shooters — and almost none beyond Simmons who handle the ball. It would be interesting to see Milwaukee’s approach in a series against the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler — shooting just 27% from deep this season and 36% for his career on long 2s.

7. When young guys forget who is guarding them, Part I

Oh, Jordan Poole.

That’s Kawhi Leonard. At his apex, the mere act of possessing the ball within a 15-foot radius of Leonard was dangerous for anyone outside the league’s most deft point guards. Forget dribbling. Poor saps held the ball close to their chest — terror sweat pouring from their brow, eyes darting in search of some passing target — until Leonard would simply reach out and take it. It was cruel. It was bullying.

Leonard isn’t the same impenetrable wall today, and he saves his best stuff for high-leverage playoff moments. But you can’t be Jordan freaking Poole and dangle the ball in front of him. This is like living next door to Thomas Crown, buying a masterwork, and leaving your front door wide open all night. What do you think is going to happen?

There has been much fretting of late about the Clippers’ underwhelming performances against the dregs of the league. Meh. One of Leonard and Paul George has missed most of those games. Wake me up when the real Clippers struggle.

The Clippers also seem like a mortal lock to make a win-now trade. They have use-it-or-kinda-lose-it assets ticking toward evaporation. They can trade their 2020 first-round pick, but that is the last one they can move (as things stand now) before their 2028 selection. They have Maurice Harkless’ $11 million expiring contract, and a few semi-expendable midsized salaries.

The Clippers would rather add talent (via in-season free agency) without trading anything. Harkless is solid — a starter most of the season. That 2020 pick represents one of LA’s only means of acquiring a young player who might help Leonard and George as they age.

But the Clippers are all-in. George and Leonard can hit free agency in 18 months. They should prioritize this year over everything.

Part II of young guys failing to respect their elders is coming next week.

8. Respect the Mavs’ other big men

I never got the mostly quashed rumblings Dallas might be interested in Andre Drummond. Kristaps Porzingis should eventually play more as the Mavs’ lone big man, and in the meantime, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell are doing just fine alongside him.

Skeptics in the preseason perceived the Mavs roster as top heavy: two stars and a motley crew of bench guys. It’s true (it’s damn true!) Dallas does not have anyone like a third member of past championship Big 3s. But they do have (by my count) seven guys you might describe as quality fifth starters — seven fifth-best players, all but one (Tim Hardaway Jr.) on value contracts. There is power in giving zero minutes to below-average players.

Powell has always been a dangerous rim-runner, but he has exploded as Luka Doncic’s go-to pick-and-roll dance partner. Only three player pairs have teamed up on that play more often. (For trivia purposes, the top three in volume: Spencer Dinwiddie/Jarrett Allen, Damian Lillard/Hassan Whiteside, and the Lou Williams/Montrezl Harrell symphony.)

The Mavs average a ginormous 1.18 points per possession anytime Doncic or Powell shoots out of the pick-and-roll, or passes to a teammate who launches — ninth-best among 226 duos who have run at least 100 such plays, per Second Spectrum.

Powell has improved as a passer on the move — crucial when teams trap Doncic:

Kleber does a little of everything. He’s a serviceable screen-and-dive guy. He is hitting 41% from deep on a career-high attempt rate, and he makes canny plays off the bounce when defenses rush at him:

Kleber is a sturdy, smart defender across multiple positions. Rick Carlisle has trusted him to guard extra-large ball-handlers, including LeBron, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Simmons. He’s a solid rim protector with some hops.

Dallas is starting Kleber and Powell in the absence of Porzingis, and the Mavs have outscored opponents by 13 points per 100 possessions with both on the floor.

Kleber and Powell earn $18 million combined this season — $9 million less than Drummond. Drummond holds a much-discussed player option for 2020-21. Kleber and Powell are under contract through 2023. Leaving aside money and whatever assets Detroit might demand, it’s unclear whether giving Kleber/Powell minutes to Drummond would even make Dallas any better.

9. Miami is one player away, but who?

This is a minor quibble considering the Heat are 28-12 and a robust 10-6 against teams at .500 or better. Maybe the “one player” is Justise Winslow, who is still out with a back injury after returning for a single game last week.

Winslow is (in theory) the well-rounded small-ball power forward to unlock lineups featuring Bam Adebayo at center. Meyers Leonard is shooting 45% from deep as Miami’s nominal starting center, but there are lots of games in which he never sees the floor after his first stint in each half. Kelly Olynyk is barely playing.

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Right now, Derrick Jones Jr. and James Johnson are holding down that Winslow slot. Johnson looks feisty after a long stint in Heat purgatory. He’s 10-of-20 on 3s. But his jumper is unreliable, and he is regaining the team’s trust.

Jones has taken the lion’s share of these minutes over the last month. His arms are everywhere. He is the keystone of Miami’s zone defense. Lineups with Jones and Adebayo at power forward and center have done well.

But are you trusting Jones to close playoff games? He’s shooting 23% from deep. Defenses ignore him on the perimeter to muck up Miami’s spacing.

Miami has tried to solve the equation at times by going super-small, with Jimmy Butler at power forward. That is a little too small. Adebayo is so strong and athletic, you forget he’s only 6-9. Miami has been a middle-of-the-pack defensive team after a stingy start. They have to be careful.

They are one player away from being really dangerous. They know. They are looking, sources say. A lot of speculation about the Heat — and other teams — has centered around Jrue Holiday. He’s good. The Pelicans may opt to keep him and push for the No. 8 seed. (This is what suitors expect as of now — which could of course change.)

But I wonder if Miami has a more pressing need for a stretch power forward with some defensive chops to fill that Winslow/Jones/Johnson slot. (Winslow returning to form could render this moot.) Danilo Gallinari would be a worthy rental, but the Thunder might be too good to trade him. It’s also unclear whether Miami has any appetite for surrendering any players who are or could be (i.e., Winslow) key parts of their current rotation.

Regardless, keep an eye on Miami.

10. Marcus Smart is coming at you

What in the hell is this?

I’ve seen defenders close out low to distract shooters, but they usually resemble football tacklers. They aim for the stomach. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone crouch toward the shooter’s foot. Smart looks like he’s trying to pick something up off the floor.

I honestly don’t know how anyone shoots 3s against Boston without worrying what kind of goofy closeout awaits. Jaylen Brown jumps straight up and down with all his might, and reaches both arms as high as he can — a technique Al Horford mastered, and something the Celtics teach. Brace for that, and Smart comes nipping at your ankles.

What’s next? Jayson Tatum running at shooters, screaming gibberish and waving his arms? Kemba Walker experimenting with some kind of drop-and-roll technique?

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[lashayyakingfutureworks-blog]

XB3001 - Professional game practice: Monk character - Plan

Research

To research how I should approach designing the main character, I used similar methods Chris Solarski used when he was designing a Fauna character which was shown in his book Drawing basics and video game art, I found the technique he used very creative and useful for getting a better result when designing the character by considering the personality or culture, which would define how they will look.

When researching for the Monk’s character, I first did research into the different types of monks that exist and took note of the outfits they wear as well as their way of living according to their different beliefs. This helped to give me an idea of the type of clothes I could use on the Monk character and any other distinct traits of a monk that I could use to influence his design and possibly his story also.

I made a character brainstorm which I’ll use to take information from which I can use in creating a concept for his appearance. I also looked at some 3D models for some inspiration when thinking about an art style and how to make it match the world that the team is building.

The type of images I collected as a little moodboard to brainstorm ideas and gain inspiration:

https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?411832-I-need-people-cleverer-than-me-Low-poly-models-clothing-help

This image helped me to think about the proportion that I want for the character as we decided we wouldn’t make him a full average full sized human, and instead we will do possibly 70% body 30% head, similar to the model shown in the image.

https://sketchfab.com/models/ce28ba49eed54b84bcec959d7c439f33

This model was created by Kieran McKay and the cartoon/stylistic features would be useful to use for inspiration when creating this character for a stylised world.

https://sketchfab.com/models/16c161157c0f468686b3c8abc61722e3

Similarly, in this image, the character created by carrillo40 has a similar cartoon/stylistic design and this will also be good inspiration when creating the concept for the Monk character.

http://sonjebasa.blogspot.co.uk/2008/03/how-to-draw-turn-around.html

This will help me to create his front, side and back view which I can use when modelling for reference. The character shown in the image has the same proportions as what the Monk character should have.

https://blobfortress.deviantart.com/art/Male-low-poly-chibi-base-character-634042800

This photo of a low poly model has the proportions I’d like to use for the Monk character, therefore, this will be used for reference.

https://sketchfab.com/models/69fb6bf84ce04ad5ada99b638852a50a

In this model, I was inspired by the fabric over the characters shoulder and the neck beads which can be seen on some types of monks. Moreover, the hand painted texture of the fabric would also be useful for texturing the clothing on the character.

https://sketchfab.com/models/0b6b745727b64c57a4f3304ac340544b

The style of this character is an overall good reference from another 3D artist; as it shows their creative perspective on a Buddhist Monk which I can use for inspiration.

https://sketchfab.com/models/5edece29d72e4db4963fdec8bc5a2eba

This Monk model would be great for reference as the proportion is similar to the character I aim to create, as well as, the style and fashion of the character can help when creating concepts for the Monk character.

Additional images for the clothing, culture, appearance and fashion of Monks

http://buddhistmonksbhutan.com/

https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-shaolin-monks-training.html-confessions-of-a-former-monastics-wife/

https://nomadisbeautiful.com/travel-blogs/photo-essay-monks-doing-mundane-meditation/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithforward/2015/08/when-monks-say-i-do-confessions-of-a-former-monastics-wife/

Concept

The next stage is to begin using the reference images I gathered, as well as the information I put into a brainstorm and use these resources to draw a concept sheet followed by a turnaround of the character model that can be used as reference when creating the 3D model of the character.

The brainstorm I created was based off of Chris Solarski’s Fauna character concept design sheet in his book: Drawing basics and Video game art. I created a similar brainstorm and began to add multiple points about monks that I could pick from and use these points to take into consideration when designing the Monk character.

This is a scan of my brainstorm:

TBD

This is the concept sheet:

TBD

This is the turnaround:

TBD

Method

Create prototype models

The first thing I need to do is to create a placeholder character model to use in the prototype as we work on several prototypes before deciding on the final build we will move forward with.

I will do this using Autodesk Maya and Z-Brush, once the character has been modelled, I will move it over to Mixamo and rig the character and set up an animation for it in Unreal that I can bring to my team at our next meeting.

Research

Complete research for the character in order to result in a more accurate and interesting design as opposed to approaching this project without any references. This would be in the form of text, images, brainstorms and concept sheets.

Modelling

Once I have created a turnaround sheet for the character, I will use this when I begin to start sculpting the character in Z brush, once I have finished sculpting the character, it will be moved to Maya, where I will use the quad draw tool and create a low poly version of the character. 

Unwrap / Texture

The next stage will be to unwrap the low poly character which may be done in Maya or UV layout, and then export the character along with the UV map and place it into substance painter or put the texture map into Photoshop and work on it that way with hand painted textures. I can also hand paint in Substance, and I will try to do so for the fabric; when texturing the fabric I will use some photos of other models or find some hand painted fabric textures tutorials online.

Another technique that will be used in this stage is baking the high poly character onto the low poly character. I can make use of the baking technique by baking the fabric-look from sculpting on the high poly character from Z Brush onto the low poly character.

Rigging / Animating

Once the character is modelled and textured, I will export the character with the textures and move it to Fuse, for rigging and animating. Once I have done this, I will export the character FBX file with the animations and move it to Unreal.

I will then set up the animation blueprint in Unreal and ensure the character works and moves correctly.

Implement into game

The final step will be to move my completed character with animations into the final build and make any necessary actions to get the character functioning correctly in the game.

[t--o--f--u-blog]

☼☼☼☼☼ also think tank a white lecturer using the n-word when quoting literature in a lecture? I think she used it once outside of quotation as well certainly not meant in a disrespectful way, just seems unnecessary

☐☐☐☐☐ better have a justification at least but if you just use it out of the blue it always seems like some attempt at provocation 'i can say this because my interests are purely academic'

☼☼☼☼☼ mmmmm we're reading uncle tom's cabin, so it's hard to avoid

☐☐☐☐☐ should only be quoted verbatim if absolutely necessary, if there's no alternative I think

☼☼☼☼☼ yeah seems like she could have avoided it pretty easily

☐☐☐☐☐ if she's making no acknowledgement of the word's relationship to her privilege, that's rly not good

☼☼☼☼☼ yeah she's older so there might just be an outdated perspective there 'I'm just quoting the text, it was anti-slavery so I'm fine' sort of mentality maybe?

☐☐☐☐☐ still she would know about the contemporary attitude to the word and she should at least mention that! ugh like it doesn't sound malicious or super super racist, but eh

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah I feel iffffy about it

☐☐☐☐☐ should mention it!

☼☼☼☼☼ Trying to work out if I should send email and if so how to word it

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ be interesting to actually properly discuss it

☐☐☐☐☐ yep

☍☍☍☍☍ heck I’d be interested to know more of a history of the word basically teach properly why its offensive

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah, I might bring it up in the tutorial different teacher, but maybe good discussion

☐☐☐☐☐ mm that seems appropriate i'd love to hear how that goes

☍☍☍☍☍ uhhh there was someone who used it at Bar Oussou  the host reallllly should’ve said something and I normally would but just too tired for confrontation

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah ☐☐☐☐☐ was telling me Sounded very cringe

☐☐☐☐☐ v unfortunate most disappointed in yhe host tbh

☐☐☐☐☐ he maybe had a old-worldy attitude to it and didn't mind or was too cowardly lol which do u think?

☍☍☍☍☍ I think he thought it was in the context of the poem she didn’t use it to degrade someone directly, but the word itself is degrading

☐☐☐☐☐ ugh but the poem is in the context of fuckin oussou yep ppl need to have a think before using words

☍☍☍☍☍ I just think its great to have a stage to do emotional work, but it can cross a line into normalising shitty white behaviour

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ I went to a coloured school so I can’t b racist wah wah wah

☐☐☐☐☐ and you have to consider your audience if your rant is dehumanising or brushes aside/causes suffering u gotta reconsider felt pretty ashamed on behalf of bartender/various black audience members not saying that dumb white shit would be acceptable with a different audience, but her obliviousness was kinda astounding

☼☼☼☼☼ wow yeah cringefest

☍☍☍☍☍ lol spoken word scene as a whole can b so lame haha rings true to why I/we left

☐☐☐☐☐ mm so macho! that's what I liked about talkbox some sensitivity there, gentleness

☍☍☍☍☍ still, I just wish people read more lok *lol

☐☐☐☐☐ yep I wish I read more

☍☍☍☍☍ like the stylistic range is generally pretty lame

☐☐☐☐☐ I guess that's why anyone reads mmm

☍☍☍☍☍ I wish I read more too

☐☐☐☐☐ hahahaha

☼☼☼☼☼ :')

☍☍☍☍☍ don’t mean to shit on everyon, I just think the scene as a whole and the conception of poetry is lacklustre - it doesn’t seem like the time for poetry, sometimes

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ ppl too distracted by netflix uwu sounds like phones but too much

☐☐☐☐☐ doesn't seem like the time for art, sometimes! hahhh

☍☍☍☍☍ its definitely a time for music

☼☼☼☼☼ I think there's a place for poetry It's just raps and memes

☍☍☍☍☍ yeh but I play dat long game there might not b a place now but I’mma fkn make one whether you like it or not lol

☼☼☼☼☼ Oh yeah fair go 4 it

☐☐☐☐☐ loll

☍☍☍☍☍ I just mean that I think 'poetry' has evolved into other forms, and now the traditional form is struggling to find a place I mean does anyone pay attention to Victorian satirical cartoons? I don’t I think it’s also tho that the low brow is more apparent in the moment, the high brow more apparent from a distance the shit sinks, basically

☼☼☼☼☼ elaborate?

☍☍☍☍☍ time brings forward higher brow material while a lot of lower brow stuff falls back or like there’s an art for getting through your days, and there’s an art for elaborate long form spiritual liberation

☼☼☼☼☼ so u don't mind about a lack of audience now if your work has staying power?

☍☍☍☍☍ different works have different digestion time and yes that is what I’m saying

☼☼☼☼☼ hmmmmmmm

☍☍☍☍☍ hmmmmmmmm?

☐☐☐☐☐ personally I don't know whether I'm prioritising the reception of my work or its value to me right now i feel poetry/art in general are useful tools for thinking about the world useful philosophical tools i guess and idk whether i'm learning for the sake of my own knowledge/making 'better' art or learning so what I put out into the world is better received I suppose the two aren't mutually exclusive but yeah - feeling fairly indifferent to the idea of creating work that will persist right now part of me feels more comfortable with being lost forever lol or at least that I should become comfortable with that, bc that is what will happen inevitably

☍☍☍☍☍ I just think in this atmosphere of complete denial of the arts as an important component of society, as well as the stigmatisation of ritual and other mystical practices that used to house what we now might describe as an artist, its important that we follow our intuition rather than give in to a system that routinely prevents us having access to basic resources like I want to be there for whoever is there when this period comes to end and those peoples are looking for anything to rudder them, whether or not I’m alive

☐☐☐☐☐ you want to add to the cultural record?

☍☍☍☍☍ I want provide a map for future generations is how I would put it

☐☐☐☐☐ mm how do you feel one can ensure the persistence of their own work? or are you just hoping it'll be around for others I suppose whether or not anything lasts is out of ur control past a certain point

☍☍☍☍☍ for one I make an effort to give away a lot of work

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ I also store it all and make sure that that stockpile is kept w care but I also think there’s something to be said that I try and operate within many pre-existing canons I also it’s important to use the more meme-y, short stay work to bring attention to the slower works yeah, re: canons, like tanka and before that wakka as poetic forms stem back as far as a thousand years - perhaps more by putting myself in conversation with the ancients... idk it feels a bit like entering a cultural refrigerator haha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ sometimes I find it better to see my individual works as modules that make up a whole more prescient than its parts (Morton lolz) soo... maybe my work won’t carry the same weight until I finish, so to speak who knowsss but this how I think about it lol

☐☐☐☐☐ best to try and contribute something I spose rather than do nothing w ur resources

☍☍☍☍☍ I’m weird with this shit u don’t have to be

☐☐☐☐☐ mm it seems fairly simple to me and not that weird

☍☍☍☍☍ not everyone should spend their life tending their gravestone it’s a job for a particular type of person, and I am it

☐☐☐☐☐ but in a sense everyone does anyway everyone does things with the future in mind or without it in mind I suppose

☐☐☐☐☐ and i guess that influences what you leave when you die eheh, whether you do it consciously or unconsciously

☍☍☍☍☍ I just am particularly stubborn that I have something to offer - I think its partially a result of being denied that a lot in school, I found other ways to have social bonds that were more... non linear bonds with past peoples, and inadvertently bonds with future people

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ I find it frustrating that its seen as arrogant to suggest your work should be read after you die - if anything its remarkably humble as I'm acknowledging that I will never properly see the fruits of my labour it's a ridiculously isolating position to find oneself in, where your best friends - books, music, content - have no form of human intimacy with you and completely defy all survivalistic, lizard-brain humanity plus you're just on a total different dimension from most people you meet

☐☐☐☐☐ mm you're in a very specific position here

☍☍☍☍☍ lol goodluck catching up ☼☼☼☼☼

☼☼☼☼☼ unrelated btw

(☼☼☼☼☼ posts a meme in chat)

☍☍☍☍☍ see y'all @ da rally (in reference to the meme)

☐☐☐☐☐ where and when is this? oh oops thought you meant a real one

☼☼☼☼☼ hahaha

☍☍☍☍☍ xD

☼☼☼☼☼ structurally is the meme ok ? took the photo the other day, and just added the text.

☍☍☍☍☍ yes are u going to weigh in on the conversation tho lol

☼☼☼☼☼ nah not really

☍☍☍☍☍ meme fine

☼☼☼☼☼ I have so little to add

☍☍☍☍☍ well hm why make memes? why not write novel? do memes have staying power?

☐☐☐☐☐ it's a question of what timescale is important to you at any given time maybe

☍☍☍☍☍ oh absolutely - not trying to infer a hierarchy here, I just think there are different approaches for different problems

☐☐☐☐☐ sometimes I'll say something to someone so they'll remember it for tomorrow, sometimes I'll say something to someone and hope they'll remember forever lol mm I don't think I care about staying power that much

☐☐☐☐☐ memes have such a short lifetime, they're like cultural mayflies haha

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah defs

☍☍☍☍☍ why tho lol

☼☼☼☼☼ Because the art itself can date while still inspiring change

☍☍☍☍☍ yeah so using it pragmatically like a single use tissue

☼☼☼☼☼ If you create something short lived, it (with the help of other artists producing similar work) is able to push art and society in a specific direction The butterfly effect I guess

☍☍☍☍☍ it's true that you have more effect in the current conversation

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ but that conversation draws intensively on a language formed by the ancients so the two are dependent on each other, a back and forth

☐☐☐☐☐ and that's dependent on their work's longevity?

☍☍☍☍☍ not following ur question

☐☐☐☐☐ not following your point haha hmm

☼☼☼☼☼ so you're suggesting a works longevity is crucial in that it helps reinforce and update the ancient language in which short term work of the future will be influenced by?

☐☐☐☐☐ mm also - what if of all the work you make, it's only a meme that survives the passage of time?

☍☍☍☍☍ basically... like you're just reiterating points that have been made more in depth in 'higher' brow culture - that's definitely how I feel when writing raps

☐☐☐☐☐ like Roman graffiti surviving on the walls or whatever

☍☍☍☍☍ did you a hear copy of the I Ching, the Chinese numerology classic more than a thousand years old, was found in the 70s and had a heap more sections and a different order? effectively completely changing the understanding of the I Ching gotta get those nice lead storage chambers ayyyyy ahahaha it was found buried in a coffin, obvs haha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ a lot of Chinese philosophers only exist in so much as someone else described them

☼☼☼☼☼ But what does that changing of contexts of that piece actually mean for us? Is updated Ching from the coffin helping us in any way?

☍☍☍☍☍ I think for me finding the I Ching and looking over it is like a person in a thousand years finding a functional iPhone it gives great insight into human impulses regardless of time and offers a way of writing the past a new, which in turn presents a new future (thinking of the cowboy article you sent me) reconceptualizing the past IS the future look at 'Make America Great Again' or calls to restore the caliphate both are founded on histories that have more to do with our current state than the actual happenings of the past

☼☼☼☼☼ I do see where you're coming from I like the idea that it's important to preserve our work for understand the past better And I hope that someone in the future will have a clearer understanding of our time through your well preserved works But what fucking future is it

☍☍☍☍☍ haha but like looking back we see people been asking that for a veeery long time I get it seems on a new scale but we're on a new scale too

☼☼☼☼☼ It does seem that yes Also if we do survive and keep on teching on

☍☍☍☍☍ I'm for an integration of the human/natural binary where we properly acknowledge our mutual codependency, the earth and humanity that is

☼☼☼☼☼ Are we even going to be translatable? Is the functioning iPhone found by the future person going to even be able to be translated? Or will it be meaningless because everyone is already part of the grid

☍☍☍☍☍ where artificially effecting the climate for the benefit of 'nature' isn't seen as strange but completely akin to Aboriginal burn back practices

☐☐☐☐☐ i guess it's productive to hope that it will be translatable

☍☍☍☍☍ we've always interfered in the running of nature

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ ehhh idk we translated fucking hieroglyphics

☼☼☼☼☼ Or future tech can look into the past and someone is watching our lives as we type this now, constantly being understood through our context in a way we can't comprehend through our recording processes shrugs

☍☍☍☍☍ I mean yeah, imagine if the internet was even vaguely archived

☼☼☼☼☼ You probably have a better understanding of how the future will pan out than I do tho

☍☍☍☍☍ even if 0.1 % was kept, it would be a massive resource

☼☼☼☼☼ No sass intended there, I'm sincere

☍☍☍☍☍ lol idk I just try to see a bigger picture and it keeps me calm remember me old saying? we survived the plague and nukes lol

☼☼☼☼☼ I just don't see the issue with creating short term work, especially if it is preserved

☍☍☍☍☍ oh neither do I

☼☼☼☼☼ Like a meme may have more impact than a novel rn

☐☐☐☐☐ well it could be argued that we're yet to survive nukes but I see your point impact on various timescales

☼☼☼☼☼ I've heard the plague make be thinking of making a comeback too haha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☍☍☍☍☍ oh duh peasantry is fully hip rn

☐☐☐☐☐ but like

☍☍☍☍☍ bring back the boils, they look great with my Balenciaga sneakers

☐☐☐☐☐ lol bubonic chic

☼☼☼☼☼ Pretty close to heroin chic tbh haha

☍☍☍☍☍ not jking that was tb

☐☐☐☐☐ but like, I don't find a huge amount of solace in the fact that we survived the plague

☍☍☍☍☍ "The Victorians romanticized the disease and the effects it caused in the gradual build to death. For decades, many beauty standards emulated or highlighted these effects. And as scientists gained greater understanding of the disease and how it was spread, the disease continued to keep its hold on fashion. and the severity of the corsets was known to harm the lungs in such a way that would increase the likelihood of transmission LOOOL

☐☐☐☐☐ mm Balenciaga look out idk it's a question of what capacity we survive in

☼☼☼☼☼ lollllll

☐☐☐☐☐ quite depressing to think about

☍☍☍☍☍ eating disorders have a pretense

☐☐☐☐☐ what if ecocide leaves a few insular eco fascist regimes who gradually diminish over centuries always engaged in pointless wars of attrition with one another lol

☍☍☍☍☍ I mean you could probably say the same thing of colonial regimes now

☐☐☐☐☐ just because we can survive, doesn't mean my outlook should b at all rosy :((

☍☍☍☍☍ point is its a big ol' world that has plenty of room for pain AND love any future pain you think is imminent probably already is happening, and nonetheless breakfast tasted good this morning

☼☼☼☼☼ 'The hipster middle class would dress with raggedy beards and large jackets and refuse to use deodorant, perhaps to reflect the look of people suffering from homelessness at the time. It is suspected that this made them less likely to be hired, and therefore more likely to become homeless themselves.'  ☍☍☍☍☍ ahahaha

☐☐☐☐☐ mm that's true hahhh

☼☼☼☼☼ Planning on making this into a full essay. Might not be popular now, but I think it has staying power? Soz for shitposting haha

☍☍☍☍☍ I was talking with ☲☲☲☲☲ a while back, and something struck me - she said, "I never thought this age would have its own fleet of particular medical conditions." (or something like that lol, translated via my nerd brain)

☼☼☼☼☼ Yeah that didn't quite sound like her But that sentiment is great

☍☍☍☍☍ 'fleet'

☼☼☼☼☼ In that ofc there is, but also wow yeah ofc!

☐☐☐☐☐ mmm hahh these conversations should be recorded so we can all think about em without scrolling up endlessly

☼☼☼☼☼ I do like the idea of people reading these works in the future tho

☐☐☐☐☐ and also so that they can be preserved for 10,000+ years of course

☼☼☼☼☼ In the same way we read the letters sent between dead artists now

☐☐☐☐☐ mm very true

☍☍☍☍☍ mmm

☐☐☐☐☐ messenger is not a particularly stable storage medium and also is more vulnerable to third party scrutiny although the fact we're reading artists letters now means that medium is also pretty fucking vulnerable to scrutiny lol

☍☍☍☍☍ I fucking found the word! (sorry was searching for it so hard) Neurasthenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurasthenia

☼☼☼☼☼ Americanitis lol

☍☍☍☍☍ uhh the page doesn't rly talk about this, but its like a condition of over-working effectively, and people would try and get prescribed the pills to treat it as a way of signalling they were a dedicated worker its total hokey

☐☐☐☐☐ wow yeah you mentioned this a while back

☼☼☼☼☼ oh I've heard a similar thing in Japan were workers will pretend to fall asleep at their desks to show how hard they're working No idea the trust behind it tho

☍☍☍☍☍ to this day, "In Japan, shinkei-suijaku is treated with Morita therapy involving mandatory rest and isolation, followed by progressively more difficult work, and a resumption of a previous social role. The diagnosis is sometimes used as a disguise for serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and mood disorders." a dignified mental illness uwu none of that lower class shit I'm a classy fuck with money, I don't get the same mental conditions as the poor lolol reminds me of now: I don't have shitty parents, I just have adhd (not to deligitimise all uses of adhd, just over diagnosed)

☼☼☼☼☼ mmmmm i feel u yes this has been a wild ride

☍☍☍☍☍ yes I’m leaving to get late lunch uwu have a good day in this cosmic spider web lololol

☼☼☼☼☼ :')

☍☍☍☍☍ Like the burning of this charcoal fire, our years too will soon expire Kobayashi Issa listening to Krista Tippet talk with Maria Popova, this particular phrase resonated with our conversation: we live in a world where disruption over-fetishised; we need cultural stewardship to help along new waves of disruption

☼☼☼☼☼ How would u define cultural stewardship in a practical sense?

☍☍☍☍☍ caring for the legacy of those past as a means of refreshing their insight for a new age a very straightforward example would b the importance of new translations, in this regard - as our understanding and depth of connection to Japanese society has deepened, so too have our translations dusting off the books so to speak in some sense I see that in our music too or reappropriating to a new context

☼☼☼☼☼ Well remasters are a time terry literal example Fuck

☍☍☍☍☍ time terry

☼☼☼☼☼ Pretty* not time terry lol

☼☼☼☼☼ lime berry yeah exactly

☼☼☼☼☼ Slime Jerry

☍☍☍☍☍ I mean rereleasing is an obvs example mhm but more abstract examples are how I’ve exported into both your brains Bridle/Steyerl/Haraway via conversation and art lolol I’m helping it move from one place to another same w Zappa lol

☐☐☐☐☐ also - looking after artist friends being generous I feel these are acts of pre-emptive cultural stewardship

☍☍☍☍☍ haha yeah definitely different time scales it could function on

☐☐☐☐☐ looking after and maintain communities

☍☍☍☍☍ hosting open mics lol helping teach ppl poetry lollll

☐☐☐☐☐ not allowing hate speech to creep into open mics lol

☼☼☼☼☼ Truuuuu Or anywhere for that matter

☐☐☐☐☐ not becoming so dusty that you actually have a detrimental impact on cultural progression

☍☍☍☍☍ I think religions only exist in so far as they have active practitioners

☐☐☐☐☐ mm

☼☼☼☼☼ Tru

☍☍☍☍☍ I think my sense is, in religion, this same argument plays out with orthodoxy versus mysticism Maintenance of buildings is in there too for religion People being assigned paid positions as the keepers and givers of religious knowledge oh yeah thinking a lot here of Shanzai, ☐☐☐☐☐, and the idea of an object as a lived practice

☐☐☐☐☐ when home I'm gonna do my best to archive this conversation mmm

☍☍☍☍☍ you’re going to steward our conversation bout stewardship ...

☐☐☐☐☐ this is all going in

☍☍☍☍☍ ...the tv where I am says “The comedian getting behind ‘Know Thy Nuts’” and there are big walnuts on the screen

☐☐☐☐☐ ???????

☍☍☍☍☍ “I didn’t realise chemotherapy would be such great comedic material!”

☐☐☐☐☐ ¿¿¿¿¿¿

☼☼☼☼☼ Huhhhh

☍☍☍☍☍ lol highly recommend https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/on-being-with-krista-tippett/id150892556?mt=2&i=1000429408054https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/on-being-with-krista-tippett/id150892556?mt=2&i=1000429408054

[fashiontrendin-blog]

The Key Denim Trends We’re Backing For 2018

http://fashion-trendin.com/the-key-denim-trends-were-backing-for-2018/

The Key Denim Trends We’re Backing For 2018

There will always be style purists who say that dark, unsullied denim (preferably selvedge) is the only kind worth investing in for versatility and longevity. And while we agree, to an extent, denim has moved on a lot since tailor Jacob W. Davis and dry-goods salesman Levi Strauss patented the rivet in 1873.

The 20th century’s most iconic garment – the blue jean – is overripe for designers to experiment with and subvert. And right now they’re doing it in their droves.

Fear not, the bootcut isn’t making a comeback, but to ensure you’re not lagging behind we’ve spun a handy new-season guide covering the denim trends you need to know for the months ahead.

Double Denim

Two words guaranteed to give Justin Timberlake chills right down to the bone marrow. Double denim isn’t the easiest trend to pull off – and when it goes wrong it, boy does it go wrong – but get it right and you’re looking at a massive pay off. It’s the menswear equivalent of a handstand press-ups or beef Wellington; only the pros can do it.

“If there’s ever a time to go all out with denim, it’s now,” says Farfetch menswear editor Tony Cook. “Tackle the tricky trend by matching a [blue] denim jacket with dark, straight-cut jeans for a sophisticated approach, or contrast black skinny jeans with a blue denim shirt for a more casual take.”

The majority of your efforts should be focused on ensuring both denims are visibly different. Similarly, if wearing two blue washes, break things up with a white tee or grey sweatshirt – for perhaps the first time in menswear history, a blue knit or T-shirt isn’t the safe option here.

Nineties Denim

You’d have to have been living under a soundproof rock not to notice that the nineties are all over men’s wardrobes right now. And denim is where the decade is enjoying its second wind most enthusiastically.

“Classic grey wash jeans are back across a range of fits,” says Topman buying director Rachel Morgans, who recently oversaw a relaunch of the retailer’s denim range. “The [wash] lends these designs an authentic, vintage feel.”

The hallmark of this denim trend is a looser fit and a pale finish, so you need to think about the cut and colour of the kit that sits alongside your throwback threads. What this means in practice is that nineties denim jeans feel most at home with colour-block staples like sweatshirts and hoodies, with dark shoes thrown in to add a little visual weight to your bottom half.

White Denim

White jeans can still fill men with trepidation, especially in the season of barbecues and sitting on grass. But learning how to wear them without looking like a Eurotrash banker will not only save you from sweltering in black during the height of summer, it’ll also enhance any tan you worked on long into autumn.

“White denim is something men tend to stay away from because they can’t imagine how it would fit in their wardrobe,” says stylist Nas Abraham, who has worked with the likes of Barbour and Gap. “In fact, it goes surprisingly well with other pieces.”

As well as the fit, which should be neither too skinny nor too wide, the secret to pulling off the look is in seeking out off-white rather than stark shades and steering simple and classic with the rest of your ensemble.

Denim With Turn-Ups

Feeling the heat from athleisure’s blazing success, jeansmakers have been changing tack in recent seasons, introducing cropped styles that give a leg-up to what’s below. Now though, after several years of pinrolled jeans, menswear’s best-dressed are turning to the turn-up en masse, and for good reason.

“By turning up the hem of your jeans, you add a completely different shape to your overall look,” says Abraham. “Because the hem of most jeans never usually sits perfectly above your ankle, a turn-up stops them bunching up above the shoe and exposes a bit of ankle, giving more of a tapered look.” So turn-ups aren’t just an exercise in adding interest to a look, they’ll stop cankles in their tracks, too.

Turn-ups work best on rigid denim that will more easily retain folds. Try it with a pair of indigo selvedge jeans before finishing with rugged worker or Chelsea boots while it’s still cold, then sneakers when your ankles can handle the breeze.

Dad Denim

As with any enduring men’s staple, each season means subtle tweaks to a winning formula. But not even the biggest denimheads saw dad denim coming.

Unsurprisingly, a lot can go wrong with this trend. Think of that loose, slightly faded pair your old man wears when he’s cutting the hedges and you’re on the right track; think Simon Cowell and you’ve gone one step too far. Rewind immediately.

“The resurgence of dad denim is one that’s been championed by high-end designers – it’s all about an unfussy, unpretentious look, even if the price tag suggests otherwise,” says Reiss brand stylist Paul Higgins. Fortunately, the high street has also muscled in with affordable styles, so you don’t have to drop a mint to look intentionally normal.

It’s a denim shade that works particularly well with normcore stablemates like boxy overshirts and colour block tees. In short: if it looks relaxed and basic, you’re doing dad denim right. Just leave the dance moves at home.

Distressed Denim

We have some distressing news (at least for the purists): the distressed trend is sticking around for another year. However, when handled with due respect, it doesn’t have to look like a case of too much money, not enough taste.

“This season’s distressed denim comes in all forms of ripped, bleached and raw edging,” says Hayley Bushell from the River Island Style Studio. That’s not your cue to try out every type at once, mind.

Assuming you don’t want to look like Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler circa 1984, avoid well-ventilated examples that are more holes than jeans. Keep everything else simple and balance them out with smart-casual pieces up top.