#However I still want to have an online archive of sorts for my art so the mermaids are getting posted anyway.

[ameliejoyart]

Silly 2024 mermaid drawing collection🪼

(Click on all for better quality)

Jun. 17 - Artfight themed mermaid that I may post on my instagram story, but also maybe not because of all that AI shit.

Jun. 2 - Sea dragon inspired mermaid originally meant for mermay that was finished late.

May. 11 - My yearly obligatory mermay drawing that serves as a mermaid AU for a larger comic/writing project in progress.

[jojoa3p]

The Crusade

Brief History

Before the 2012 David Production anime, there was another adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure done in 1993 by Studio A.P.P.P. (Another Push Pin Planning). It was 6 episodes long and adapted the Stardust Crusaders Battle in Egypt arc. In 2000, Studio A.P.P.P. adapted the beginning of Stardust Crusaders. These were 7 episodes long. All 13 episodes had a half an hour run time. In 2007. Studio A.P.P.P. released a film adapting the first part of JoJo, Phantom Blood. According to viewer testimonies, the film was roughly 90 minutes long and ran for 3 months in various cinemas. After that, it was never seen again. All that exists now are the 16-minute workprint, 2004 teaser, 2 trailers, and various promotional materials. 

What I’m doing on this blog

I simply want to bring attention to the JoJo OVAs as they were a brilliant piece of media and criminally underrated. I also want to provide content for fellow fans and provide resources to be able to watch them. In addition, I want to bring attention to the Phantom Blood movie so there could eventually be some sort of full release. I will be doing all this by

creating my own original content (in the form of clips, text posts, homegrown shitposts, and more if I ever gain new skills)

reblogging content from other creators (art, gifs, and shitposts)

providing information

advertising other’s works (outside of Tumblr)

and more (if I think of more)

Even if I go dormant at least my resources will be archived :) (I am a university student so I may be slow)

Disclamer: I am not affiliated with anyone I post about. I do not own any website I advertise. I only want to share what I have learnt.

Where can I watch the OVAs? (EDIT: 16/03/2023 Notelu’s restoration is down)

There are two places I go to to watch the OVAs. Notelu’s restorations on Internet Archive and aniwave. Do not watch the ones on YouTube as the quality is less than ideal (to say the least). We mean stretched footage and overly saturated colours, and in some cases bad audio delay.

https://archive.org/details/JJBAOVA Notelu’s version contains files for the English, Japanese, French, and Italian dubs as well as colour corrections (check out her channel for the comparisons).

https://aniwave.to/watch/jojos-bizarre-adventure-2000.4v2m/ep-1

https://aniwave.to/watch/jojos-bizarre-adventure.4xy7/ep-1 Alternatively you can watch it on aniwave. However, the highest video quality is 480p while Notelu’s is 1080p. And again, Notelu has done colour corrections which enhances the viewing experience.

Stand alone list for sharing purposes 

How can I learn about the movie?

The trustworthy sources of information regarding Phantom Blood (2007) are the Phantom Blood Archive website, the new JoJo wiki, and the Phantom Blood Archive discord server (valid link provided).

https://www.phantombloodarchive.org/

https://jojowiki.com/Phantom_Blood_(film)

https://discord.com/invite/Cx9sCs9

Commons Misconceptions

To learn about what is false about Phantom Blood (2007) click here.

Important

Do not contact the people behind the Phantom Blood movie. They will not answer you and we already have people working on this.

Do not ask me for the Phantom Blood Archive discord link. While I am a member I am unsure if I am allowed to share it (the link expires in 7 days anyway). If you want to join you can find a link online. I have made sure to check. EDIT 20/03/24: Link added still keeping this incase I have to remove it for any reason

Do not unnecessarily contact the people searching for the film. They are busy people. phantombloodarchive.org has a contact feature, if you have something to contribute or have a question that is a good place to go. Please be mindful when using this. 

OVA fans, do not bash any anime fans. They have the right to enjoy the anime and it benefits no one to attack them. Do not force them to watch the OVAs either.

Anime fans, please do not bash the OVA fans. We are only a small group and just want to show that it exists and has massive shitpost (and shipping) potential.

If you want to learn about me as a person click here

[alchemyofhearts]

Going Forward With This "Social Media" Thing...

I feel like I am making this post moreso for myself, for when the "nuclear option" timer runs out, and when I look back in a few years and be like "wow...what happened here".

I don't expect interactions on text posts like these anyways, but for the ones that come across this post or follow me (if there are any), hey!

I guess a few things I wanted to bring up, going forward with my tumblr account:

I have one bluesky account with the same name, however, I will not be using my Bluesky account anymore going forward. -> I have come to the jarring conclusion that the new platform is basically Twitter 2.0, with the culture, the userbase, and well, the mentality. To be frank, I am tired of mindlessly scrolling, and already seeing fandom/ship drama (mind you, less than 72 hours after the site blew up in popularity, what the hell), I really do not need that. Also being blocked by the same people that blocked me on Twitter? FUNNY, by the way, but again, if we are going to act like Bluesky is Twitter 2.0 and "turning over a new leaf" means "hey, we still don't like each other", then I'm off. I'm staying here, bottom line. You don't have to like me, but if it's going to be like Twitter in terms of looks/users/everything but no Elon, I have no reason to use the site. Also, mindlessly doom scrolling at my age isn't healthy. I want to go outside, talk to my IRL friends, communicate with more artists so I can pay them and have more artwork that brings me happiness, and work at my job (which I have, by the way).

I am still going to post what I am posting now, but am going to start reblogging more things that I find enjoyable (mainly nature scenery, anime stuff). -> I think one of the reasons I love Tumblr is that I can be me and post whatever, without being "shoehorned" into just Alberose art I legit am paying artists to make for me (Rip 4 digits, by the way, to my bank account). ->Literally my bio is "Just An Archive of Things I Love". Which, by the way, my first name is nowhere to be found on my blog, anywhere. If you somehow post any first names in my replies, that is an automatic report of harrassment/doxxing, as well as an immediate deletion. I do not tolerate that here. Respect privacy, respect that this blog has no correlation to any Twitter/Discord/Instagram accounts, and respect me, who has not and never has, disclosed my first name anywhere online. Any personal grievances, read the next bullet point.

My DM's are open to non-followers! They always have been! Come talk to me! Chat about anime, Alberose, the boycott happening in Hoyo games! Like, I promise I will do my best to be nice, and really, if you have any personal grievances with me, this is the best place where we can act like we are our age (25+, heads up).

Overall, I just want this to be a place where I can still be attached to some sort of social media platform. Tumblr was something that existed since 2010 for me (RIP my old blog, you were a real one), and I felt like my final resting place on the internet should be the place where it all started.

I don't want drama. I don't want to be on other social media platforms like Bluesky where I am just going to be sucked into a spiraling hole. I just want to post the art I commissioned from willing artists and reblog nature/anime things that give me free serotonin (again, shout out to WaffleCaramel for dealing with me for so long ;w;).

If you want to stick with me as I become a human again, please, I welcome you with open arms. If you just want to carry on with your day pretending I don't exist, please, feel free to do so. However you treat me, the feeling is mutual and goes both ways. I also don't know you, which is why I love Tumblr. I am not forced to know who is popular with their hundreds and thousands of followers, and who isn't. It's like a social security number, in a weird way (private, if you didn't get the hint)!

Anyways, I think that is all I have to say. I am just mentally drained and tired with all these new social medias, and being like "what the heck is happening" all the time in the "trending" section of this website. Even that in itself is tiring. I can not be asked to care about the next Twitter, or the next AI that will be taking over artists and writers within the next two years. After a while, it's the same song anyways, don't you agree, reader?

So for me, this is where I am putting my foot down, physically and metaphorically. No matter what the tides may bring, Tumblr, well, you and I are waltzing down the midnight boulevard as the flames engulf each building I call a fleeting memory.

I would say thanks for reading, but this isn't Ao3, LOL. I genuinely hope you all can reach out and chat with me sometime, honestly! Lurkers, interactors, humans and bots, please, I am so down to chat for hours on end about anything and everything.

And to those trying to find footing on the internet in this day and age, best of luck, mentally. Especially the artists out there, with the threat of AI around every corner of every website you all seem to use. Corporate greed is a souless machine, so welcome to your new reality for a bit.

I know you'll need it.

[zorilleerrant]

Hello yes let me talk about Monkey Prince, my favorite superhero. He is a Monkey and a Prince. He didn't know this until one day when Pigsy (the same Zhu Bajie from the novel) came to his school and was like: surprise! You have to fight demons or else. His name is Marcus Shugel-Shen and he was adopted by a loving couple named Laura and Winston who take very good care of him because they love him very much, they're just also evil, unfortunately. He gains monkey powers and associated Monkey Rage and he has to be trained to fly, clone himself, fight with sticks, etc.

Here is the reading list (from memory so I'm sorry if I miss anything I'll check back later):

Festival of Heroes - The story where he's introduced to the DC universe, but not chronologically the first story in his saga. This is the only story with Billy in it, unfortunately. Good overview of his powers, personality, relationship with Pigsy, and outlook towards heroes and heroing in general.

Monkey Prince #1-12, also collected into two bound volumes now (they're super pretty) - His solo title, now complete, but open ended to leave room for more installments somewhere down the line. #1-4 are set in Gotham, where Marcus meets Robin (Damian) and has to save Batman and co from demons. #5-8 are set next to Dragon City, Atlantis, where Marcus runs into Aquaman and also a bunch of dragons that live within his domain. #9-12 are set in Metropolis but involve Supergirl (Kara) and Superman isn't there. The first two stories are standalone and can be read by themselves as complete stories. The third flounders a little at the end because it got caught up in the Lazarus Planet event and had to run laps to keep the stories going at the same time. But they still have a lot of character, relationship, and worldbuilding for the delightful Monkey Prince and his sidekick (teacher) Pigsy.

Lazarus Planet: Alpha and Omega - The series under this title is confusing because it's actually an anthology. Many of the short stories in it are good (it contains the first story with my beloved Xanthe (Spirit World), and it also contains Cameron Kim (City Boy) and Jules Jourdain (only in this and the Pride issue so far)) but it doesn't have anything to do with Monkey Prince. Alpha and Omega, however, do contain a two part story about the Monkey Prince trying to deal with the end of the world, and each also has a second story where he learns more about the history and fate of Sun Wukong. Those stories are good, but the main event is a megacrossover and feels like it.

Batman v. Robin #5 - Marcus appears to frighten Damian again! He's a side character in this story that has extremely different vibes than most of his stories, because it's a Damian Robin story. I felt like it didn't completely mesh and you probably have to do a lot of background reading to figure out what's going on in the story, so you may want to skip this installment.

Monkey Prince #0 - This one is free in various places online, but I keep losing track of it. I wish they'd upload a digital copy to their archives at least, so I don't have to go to random other comics site to see it. It's a bit more of the Sun Wukong backstory, and felt incomplete on its own, but fits in with the two Lazarus Planet B stories to make a triptych of sorts.

The Other History of the DC Universe - Okay so he shows up on one page of a collage of heroes of color. He doesn't say anything and it's not even about him. I read through the entire story before I figured that out, because that page is at the end. I had my issues with this story and since it's not really about Marcus, I would suggest giving it a miss. It's also really hard to read digitally because the panel by panel programming doesn't work due to the weird stylistic choices. But he's there if you're a completionist, and it's pretty good art of him.

ANYWAY the really important part of this is that it cements Journey to the West as canon in the DC universe. This was established previously (say, at the end of Lucifer, where God tells Lucifer about the time Wukong peed on Buddha) but it was unclear how true it is or how it meshes with mainline DC properties. Now we have very specific answers to how all of that works. Wukong does actually show up several times! If you're excited to see him he's in the Monkey Prince #0, Lazarus Planet: Alpha, Lazarus Planet: Omega story set, as well as toward the end of Monkey Prince.

~Monkey Prince is Monkey King Jr. and this is him:

The marvel family asked Kid eternity to spar with them by summoning powerful mythical figures, but this time, it’s a bit too much

[omegaxenonaut]

Introducing the Xenonaut Museum of Art History-- a comprehensive archive of my sketchbooks from the past 4 years.

From the day I could pick up a pencil, I was drawing pictures. I started with lines and shapes and continued on to creatures and characters. I've never really stopped. However, I've always been reluctant to share my work with others beyond my immediate social circle. I felt that each drawing I made was not as representative of me as the larger whole, and without that larger whole how others viewed and judged me would be based on an incomplete premise. As I move on to a new chapter of my life, I feel like a look back at where I've been and how far I've come is past due. A first step in sharing my work, and through that who I am, with the world. Therefore, I have gathered most of my illustrative work from the past four years (amounting to over 1300 drawings in total), arranged it in a rough chronological order, and spent a few weeks converting it into a digital format that can be viewed in an online archive. All these drawings have been sorted into folders representing each of my notebooks, allowing for easy viewing. I will add that the second half is generally more high-quality than the first (as is wont to be when one hones one's craft over time), but there are some pieces where I think I did a good job even in my earliest sketchbooks. Of these I will be posting some of what I consider to be the best and/or most interesting from each folder, adding context or commentary if relevant. These will be tagged #curator's pick, and I will eventually arrange them into a Moments thread. Some of the pieces omitted from the #curator's pick may be because I seek to flesh out their concepts into more complete works-- games, movies, etc. Some pieces may be fanart of things I admired at the time, and most of the time still admire now. This will be fully acknowledged, and I take no credit for the concepts behind these pieces. In a few months' time I will also be adding 2-3 notebooks of my more recent drawings to the archive, as well as posting what I consider the most interesting of this batch to my social media. This will continue onto my contemporary work (some of which I've posted already), and hopefully over time this will become an overall archive of my art going forward. All of this is the full picture of myself that I have wanted to share for so long, but for so long have been unable to. I hope that you will enjoy or at least be interested in tracing the development of my art, and in doing so see the whole picture of who I am and what I can do.

[hystericalfeminist]

BUILD ME A CANON

Earlier this week, Delhi University's Oversight Committee removed works by writers Bama, Mahasweta Devi and Sukirtharani from the university's syllabus for undergraduate students of English. Bama and Sukirtharani are Tamil Dalit writers whose work looks at the experiences of the marginalised. Mahasweta Devi, a Bengali writer, was well-known for her Left-leaning politics and for being an advocate for tribal communities and their rights. She passed away in 2016.

I'd suggest one moment's silence for the Oversight Committee committing an oversight, except this is not an oversight. An oversight is an unintentional mistake, but this seems very intentional. As the DU clarified in a statement later, "the syllabus of the course has been passed through a democratic process with the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders and necessary deliberations at appropriate forums” (emphases mine). The university claims the English syllabus is suitably diverse and inclusive (suitably being the key word here) and it's interesting that as part of its defence of the Oversight Committee's decision, DU has pointed out the process of coming to that decision was "democratic". What it doesn't acknowledge is that if the committee is full of people who belong to dominant groups and doesn't have members who represent the minorities and the marginalised, then the committee's "democratic process" is critically flawed.

The DU statement came after the Academic Council submitted a dissent note, protesting the Oversight Committee's decision. The Academic Council described the Oversight Committee's functioning as vandalism and alleged it has been harassing liberal arts departments. "It is important to note that the Oversight Committee does not have any member from the Dalit or the Tribal community who can possibly bring in some sensitivity to the issue," said the Academic Council in its note.

There was some noise on social media about the decision to drop works by these three writers. Most of the discussion that I saw was about Mahasweta Devi's dropped short story, Draupadi. (Apparently the Oversight Committee chair complained the short story doesn't show the military in a good light. From what I remember, it's the police. They carry out wrongful arrests and brutally gangrape a tribal woman.) There's been far less discussion of Bama and Sukirtharani's works on English Twitter, who have mostly been referred to as the "two Dalit writers", like an addendum to Mahasweta, which is infuriating in itself. I know that this is probably because not enough people read translations. Particularly translations of literature from Indian languages.

There is also little talk about what has replaced the dropped works. One of the authors who has been included is apparently Pandita Ramabai, identified as an upper caste writer (Brahmin, if I'm not mistaken). I've no idea if her writing continues to feel relevant and/ or engaging, but it is all sorts of bizarre to "replace" a 20th century author with someone who died in 1922. Also, if she was included because she was Brahmin, I hope they have fun reading her book The High Caste Hindu Woman which is, I'm told, deeply critical of how sexist Hinduism. Whether or not Pandita Ramabai voiced any opinions of casteism in Hinduism, I don't know.

Even though translations don't get read as much, the fact is, the writings of Bama, Mahasweta Devi and Sukirtharani have been translated to English and other languages. They're part of different university's syllabi and for better or for worse, DU is not such an influential player in academia. If DU's decision to drop these writers convinces some Indian universities to do the same, we can only hope that other universities (in India and abroad) will start thinking about including them in their syllabi (if the writers aren't in them already). In a not-so-distant future, it's very likely that there will be universities abroad that will have a more diverse, inclusive and representative portrait of Indian culture in their syllabi while institutions like DU remain mired in a casteist, Hindutva bog. At that point, who should decide what will make the canon for Indian literature? The Indians or the foreigners?

It's the second time this week that we've heard conversations about erasure in the Indian cultural scene. Earlier this week, social media was on fire after the Indian edition of the Rolling Stone carried a cover story about the record label and music platform Majja, featuring two artists best known for their collaborations with Dalit rapper and lyricist Arivu. Rumour has it that the Rolling Stone cover was bought by Majja, presumably to promote upcoming albums by those two artists. However, since Dhee and Shan Vincent de Paul are currently riding a popularity wave because of their work with Arivu, many readers — beginning with director Pa Ranjith — expected the cover story would be as much about Arivu as Dhee and Shan Vincent de Paul. People also pointed out that Arivu had effectively been removed from a (disastrous) remix of "Enjoy Enjaami" (the original song is amazing).

Shan Vincent de Paul, one of the artists featured on the Rolling Stone cover, issued a statement on social media saying he had the utmost respect for Arivu and had no intention of erasing him. He clarified that the story was part of his efforts to promote his new album Made in Jaffna, which he's releasing with Majja. "I have no control over how the Press chooses their messaging or what narratives they push," de Paul wrote, which would be an excellent point if the cover wasn't bought. He may not have control over the narrative, but he's hardly an irrelevant cog in the wheel. Instead of attempting to exonerate himself, de Paul could have acknowledged that the story doesn't give as much space to Arivu as it should. I am, of course, presuming he's read the story.

If the rumour about the cover being bought is true then Rolling Stone and Majja are complicit in deciding a narrative that sidelines Arivu, either intentionally or carelessly. More than half of Rolling Stone's cover story is about "Enjoy Enjaami" and there is just one quote from Arivu. This sidelining may not be deliberate — the way DU's Oversight Committee's decision was — and it could be an example of the kind of unthinking oversight that the privileged commit all the time when it comes to acknowledging the contribution of the marginalised. Either way, the impression conveyed by the two organisations is that Arivu is not the person they want to promote. Countering the decision of the establishment — it doesn't get more establishment than Rolling Stone and Majja. One of Majja's founders is legendary music director AR Rahman — is the reaction on social media. The songs being freely available on multiple platforms and the (relatively) free access to the artwork and arguments by Dalit creators and critics on social media makes it difficult to invisibilise Arivu.

A translation of Mahasweta Devi's Draupadi is available online as are some of Sukirtharani's poems. DU has dropped Bama's novel Sangati. I'm not sure if there's an extract that's available online. It is not lost on me that it's easier to listen to a song than it is to read a novel, or a short story, or a poem. It is also not lost on me that the fact you can bob to an infectious beat makes it easier to not register the deep-rooted casteism referenced in the lyric, "Enna kora, enna kora, yein chella peraandikku enna kora? (In what way is my darling grandson any less?)" There are no such distractions when you read, for example, Sukirtharani's My Room Needs No Calendar: "As they write on me/ with their penises,/ I will my body to stop/ slithering away."

Sukirtharani and Bama minced no words when they were asked to respond to their works being dropped from the DU syllabus. "I was not surprised at all. Dalit voices such as myself and Bama’s are speaking for all oppressed women, not just Dalit women," said Sukirtharani. "I don’t see this necessary as an exclusion of just Dalit writers as we have seen how progressive writers whose works speak against caste, Hindutva, fundamentalism have also been removed in the recent past. These things will happen in our society, but we cannot be ignored." She said she wasn't going to ask for an explanation, but believed DU owed her an explanation. At the very least, they should have intimated her about the works being dropped. "When they want to project an image of India wherein there are no caste and religious inequalities, our works point out that caste and religious inequalities exist in our society. So, it is obvious that they want such works removed from the syllabus," she said.

Bama said, "For more than 2,000 years, we have been segregated, our histories have not been written. This government is trying to strangulate our voices, but we will shout. The youth of this nation have understood [what is happening]. Rather than being upset, we are angry. The anger will reflect in our works in future.”

I find myself wondering if the business of building a canon was always so complicated and rife with uncertainties. Will the books, music and art propped up by commerce and politics be the ones that make up our mainstream cultural identity? Could we build a better literary canon for Indian literature if more excerpts and poems were available online for free, if more works were translated? Would we care more if the literature was easier to access or would we still dismiss it because they're translations, because the works are by Dalit women? Can the conversations that we hold in the informal spaces of the internet be loud enough to make the canon more inclusive, to make the mainstream expand its narrow definitions? What is more likely to make it into an archive and survive into posterity — the Rolling Stone Cover image or the many "fixed it" versions that people created online? Is it possible that both can and will be preserved? Does dropping the works of writers like Bama and Sukirtharani and Mahasweta Devi make them invisible? Will the dissent make a few more people buy Bama's novel? Will it make some curious enough to look up Sukirtharani's poems?

The words, the tech, the platforms, the imagery — are all these still the master's tools? How long must one wield them before they can claim the tools to be theirs? Will they always be the master's tools and not "our" tools? Is the master the one who cares for the tools and uses them better? Is the master the one with the loudest voice and the deepest pockets, the one who can bribe the boys and hire the deadliest mercenaries? Who decides when the tools have been reclaimed?

[freshthoughts2020]

CARRIED BY YOUR WORKS

CARRIED BY YOUR WORKS

I.  BUILD A CATALOG

Creating a lasting legacy should be at the top of everyone’s mind. No matter the field you are in, consistency and persistency will always help you reach your goal. The key to keeping your work is alive is by building a catalog.

If you do music, you can’t drop one song a year and expect to be Drake. (Don’t tell yourself the quality over quantity lie, something I touched on in a previous article, go find it beloved). 

You have to add to your repertoire daily and give people a sort of never ending stream of your works. Let’s take a look at a few examples

II. PASTOR STEPHEN DARBY

Pastor Stephen Darby was a pastor out of Louisville, KY, who gained a lot of traction online for his prophetic and convicting messages. Truly his messages are life changing, they deeply pierces the soul. Unfortunately Pastor Darby, suddenly passed away and just like that there weren’t any new messages to look forward to, no new spiritual food to feast on.

However, Pastor Darby has so many videos already put up online, it’s almost as if he didn’t go anywhere, there is always a video to watch and his videos are so deep, you can rewatch the same videos and still receive something new from it. 

Pastor Darby had the foresight to record and build up his works, now when a person discovers him, they may be upset that he died but they can always feel connected to him and his ministry because he did what he was supposed to do and built a catalog.

III. MY ARTWORK

The art game is a whole different beast. Playing this game takes time, effort, and a bit of money. Where people fail is at the time and effort, just like how making one song a year gets you nowhere so does making one piece a year or very seldom making pieces. Being inconsistent is absolute poison to your art career. 

However, let’s explore how did the opposite of that.

A. BACK IN THE RHYTHM

Believe it or not, during my undergraduate years at UAPB (wooooooo) I did not spend much time drawing. Matter fact the only time I remember drawing is my freshmen year and the time I’m going to tell you about now.

In my senior year, I had to do summer school to finish my last semester timely, I refused to come back for the fall, I wanted out of there!!

To keep myself occupied during those dog days of the summer I started back sketching in my mini sketchbook. I rebranded my art page from (JHarryartcorner) to (the__corner) and I started uploaded sketches frequently, finding myself back in love with drawing.

B. 2016

2016, was the year I put the battery in my pack not to let up. It was the year I finally got to go to New York for the first time. This was a frustrating period because I graduated college with no opportunity, I lost my great paying job to go take a test to graduate and when I got back it was hell getting into the marketplace.

Literally applied to over a 1,000 jobs (no cap, I really mean over a thousand!!!) before I got back to it but that’s another story.

Anyways, I got to New York and it was a breath of fresh air, exactly what I needed. Everyday there I drew new pictures, constantly adding to the lore of the__corner.  It was even times I had to choose between eating or getting new markers, of course I chose the markers!!

Even after my return from New York, I was able to continue my consistency into drawing, and I am still carried by those 2016 works today.

C. TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

Recently I started an archive page where I post daily, yes daily, previous works that I’ve done over the year. I’ve put in so much work I can flood the TL at any time. Even before my consistent 2016 year, I’ve been drawing all my life so I can post those as well. 

It’s crazy some of those works are just getting the recognition they deserved. Even pics I did from two years ago are receiving the recognition like it just came out today. Products that I created in 2017, sitting on the floor of my apartment are now some of my highest grossing items.

D. PUTTING THAT WORK IN

First of all it is because of Christ I am able to flourish in any of this. In addition to that, this is what happens when you consistently put that work in. You can be carried by your work! You won’t even have to make new stuff if you don’t want, when you built up your catalog enough, (why do you think your music publishing and stuff like that is so important but thats another story).

So go out there and put in the work, so you too may be carried by your work!

Visit gettothcorner.com

Follow me on twitter @onlyonejaevonn

[superlinguo]

Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a Transcriptionist

When we started Lingthusiasm, I knew that transcripts had to be an essential part of the show. They’re so useful for people who can’t listen, people who would refer to read, and for when I want a quick reminder of what we covered in an interview (they’re also very handy for training a bot to take over the show). A few of us wrangled transcripts for a while, but it’s been an absolute delight having Sarah Dopierala on the team, turning our spoken words into written words.

Sarah and I were at SOAS at the same time, and Sarah was in the same MA program as last month’s interviewee, Exhibition Content Manager Emily Gref. In fact, it was Emily who put us back in touch when we were on the look out for a new transcriptionist. I guess then there’s an extra lesson from this month’s interview; the longer you’re around as a linguist, and the more connections you make, the more interesting pathways your career can take you on (The Helsinki Bus Station Theory for linguists)

You can find out more about Sarah’s research and her transcription work on her website, or follow her on Twitter (@SDopierala).

What did you study at university?

I went to the University of Pittsburgh for undergrad and studied linguistics as my major, with a minor in Japanese. It was a very well-rounded education. I studied many of the “core” topics such as phonetics (where I learned the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA), phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. I also got to study applied linguistics (which as I remember was an interesting class that overviewed many areas of linguistic application including forensic linguistics and even language documentation, among many others) and had a semester on historical linguistics. One of the most unique classes I took though -- which I don’t remember the name of now -- had to do with conlanging and natural language processing. Super cool. Besides linguistics I, of course, had my Japanese language courses and, since it was a liberal arts education, classes on a variety of other subjects including acting classes, art classes, and a physics class. It was good times.

For my master’s degree, I went to SOAS, University of London for an MA in Language Documentation and Description. This was a more specialized degree and a shorter program (1 calendar year) so my subjects were all linguistics related. For instance, I had classes on syntax (specifically looking at Lexical Functional Grammar), field methods, descriptive linguistics, and applied documentation (I think it was called) where we spent a lot of time discussing practical matters of doing research with people -- ethics, research methods, etc. I did get to do a lot of neat curriculum-adjacent things as well. I was a member of the Sylheti Language Project. We hosted a Sylheti language conference as well as published a Sylheti storybook. I got to attend other conferences as well to practice explaining my eventual dissertation topic -- converbs in Sylheti.

As of now, I’ve been accepted to the University of Frankfurt to do a PhD in comparative linguistics, still focusing on converbs only this time in Northwest Caucasian languages. Funding has been something of an adventure, but I remain hopeful! Besides, linguistics is never too far away. What is your job?

My current job is as a transcriptionist. I freelance making transcripts from audio recordings as my day-to-day, money-making job. Sometimes, I freelance through contracting companies. However, I prefer to work for myself and transcribe podcasts -- especially about linguistics! You may have seen my work via the Vocal Fries Podcast, Conlangery, and Lingthusiasm.

To build my transcription skills I took an online transcription course through Transcribe Anywhere. It took a certain investment of time and money, but you come out of there knowing your stuff and with a network of other transcriptionists to help you. I’m still learning a lot about running my own business (since I suppose that’s what freelancing ultimately is), but I feel confident, and it helps that I’m not completely alone.

As a freelancer, my daily schedule is hardly ever the same and I do tend to break it up even more with travel. That’s what I like about it though. I can do the job no matter where I go. As long as I get the job done well and in a timely manner, I can set my own schedule. It definitely takes a certain level of self-discipline to keep a freelancing schedule, that’s for sure.

How does your linguistics training help you in your job?

There are a couple of ways linguistics training helps me with transcription work -- or perhaps even transcription helps me with my linguistics work. My first introduction to transcription was during my master’s degree. As a documentary linguist in training, I made audio recordings with a Sylheti speaker and, in order to further analyze and archive my findings, I had to transcribe them. The difference of course was the goal. For transcribing podcasts and other material in English, the goal is generally to create a well-formatted document following written English conventions. However, transcribing an audio file for linguistic analysis, in general, focuses more on accurately representing the sounds of the language in IPA without reference to prescriptive ideas of what sort of written representation is “well-formatted.” For now, I’m focusing on readable English language documents but, in the future, I will return to transcription for linguistic analysis. I think my approach to that type of transcription will be enriched by this work.

The two types of transcription complement each other. When transcribing linguistics podcasts, I often use IPA to distinguish between different English pronunciations or even to represent non-English words. Just like I use knowledge of linguistic concepts to analyze linguistic data, I call upon quite a bit of that knowledge when I transcribe podcasts as well to not only identify certain terms but to follow the conversation. Understanding the content of the conversation reduces the amount of times I mishear, stop, rewind, listen again, and certainly reduces the time I spend researching unfamiliar topics. When I don’t understand the content of an audio file, I have a hard time predicting what people will say or what they might say. Being able to predict, to a certain extent, what someone might say plays a huge part in transcription and in general language processing as well. Transcribing these podcasts has also been a great way for me to keep up thinking about linguistics, keep up with what’s happening in the field, and keep feeling like I’m part of the community even if I’m not currently “doing linguistics” as my everyday job. 😊

Do you have any advice do you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

I think I’ve been quite lucky in the advice I’ve received over the years, here are two things that have really stuck with me:

 “If you can, study in a different department than your undergrad or masters.”

I have found that working in several different departments has not only helped me grow as a researcher, but it has made me more appreciative of the things I learned in previous departments. There are ideas I may not have been introduced to if I had stayed in one place and many people I would not have met as well. My pool of friends and colleagues has definitely been enriched by getting out of my comfort zone.

“What job do you want to get?”

My undergraduate supervisor asked me this question when I told her about my topic for a PhD thesis. She was of course very supportive of my academic pursuits, but I think this is the first time someone asked me this question in a way that was practical rather than condescending (since not everyone instantly appreciates the worth of linguistic knowledge). I’m so grateful that she did because, up until that point, I pretty much took for granted that I would get a tenure-track job at a great university and do descriptive and documentary research for the rest of forever. Don’t get me wrong, that would be amazing. However, this question made me think. It opened me up to the precarity of academia, the non-guarantee of a well-paying university job, the non-guarantee of any university job for that matter. While I will still reach for that dream researcher position, I am now much more open to other opportunities and other ways of doing what I love.

Any other thoughts or comments?

I’m not (yet) able to completely support myself financially just from transcribing. Like many other freelancing careers, it’s taken quite a bit of time to get myself out there. I do receive help and support from other places. Because of this, I have had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time learning the trade, reaching out to potential clients, figuring out best practices, etc., while also pursuing my academic dreams, which take their share of time and effort. Perhaps not everybody has this luxury, and I want to acknowledge that as a factor for anyone inspired to consider transcription as a potential career path. However, with some patience, I know that it is very possible to make a comfortable living as a freelance transcriptionist. In fact, I hope that someday transcription can be a main source of income for me as well. In fact, it’s one of my potential “non-tenure” jobs -- especially if it means I can still be close to linguistics! 😉

Recently:

Interview with an Exhibition Content Manager

Interview with a Community Outreach Coordinator

Interview with a Marketing Content Specialist

Interview with a Software Engineer

Interview with a Product Manager

Check out the Linguist Jobs Master List and the Linguist Jobs tag for even more interviews

[finsterhund]

A comprehensive guide to Heart of Darkness lost media. Fake, and real

a forward: there appears to be some sort of conflict between Eric Chahi and Frederic Savoir. Things Eric speaks about, Fred denies. However Eric generally has proof to support his side of things but Fred never provides such.

I will edit this as I go along. I intend to source things as best I can. I will not post it to a better website until it is adequately sourced.

I’m not currently planning to include press material, promotional renders, alternate releases of the final game, etc. here (yet!! that may change)

The Movie

What we know is true:

Dreamworks was interested in adapting Heart of Darkness as a feature-length computer animated movie. Predominant parties at play were Jeffery Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg. They invited several of the devs including Eric to the Dreamworks studio in LA, showed them Prince of Egypt storyboards, and toured them around. The movie was never made and development was never started.

According to Eric, the head of Virgin Interactive, Martin Alper repeatedly went to Paris to bother and harass him to abandon all work on the game and give the movie rights to Katzenberg. Eric didn’t want to throw away all that work and wanted to release the game first. Alper abandoned the team and project soon after, dooming the game to years of development hell as they needed to find a new publisher. Fred claimed that “half of the article (in which Eric discussed this) was incorrect” but never went into detail as to how or why

Rumors:

Even though George Lucas was interested in HoD’s display at several expos, he did not involve himself in any film ideas. It is believed he may have stolen ideas of alien monster designs for use in the Phantom Menace but this can easily just be coincidence and is unfounded.

The movie was not going to be live action despite some fan speculation.

The Pilot Animation/character test

What we know:

In Eric Chahi’s biography he mentions that a small animation studio did contract work of some animation concepts for Heart of Darkness. They were ultimately replaced with what Amazing would go with. This may or may not be associated with the same concepts as when they briefly thought to make the cinematics with 2D bitmaps but it is unclear. Eric states that this pilot was made however and in a demo reel from the studio they mention working with Virgin and Amazing Studio.

Rumors:

Fred said it wasn’t a thing but didn’t clarify.

This might have been the opening cutscene in 2D, or it may have just been character models and test animation. It is currently lost entirely with no actual stills of the thing itself.

Blood

What we know:

Someone untrustworthy but people latch onto this sort of shit said the original version of the game has blood in it. We know from tradeshow footage, digging through the final game’s code, an early build of the game, etc. that if anything the original versions were LESS violent. There is no evidence there was ever blood. Anymore than there’s evidence of the poison berries (which we will get to later)

The Gameboy Advance port

What we know:

Heart of Darkness was going to be ported to the Gameboy advance. According to Frederic Savoir the project was quickly canned due to cartridge costs that Nintendo didn’t want to pay for.

Rumors:

Someone claiming to work on this port said that Infogrames founder Bruno Bonnel wanted the game to have an Adidas promotion and change Andy’s shoes. Fred says this isn’t true, and there’s no evidence that this was ever an actual thing.

The Jaguar Version

What we know:

Heart of Darkness was briefly considered to be published on the Atari Jaguar. There are internal letters discussing how good of an asset it would be for the console. That’s as far as it ever apparently went.

The fake developer copypasta:

A copypasta of obviously fake ideas that were potentially given from Amazing to this apparent Jaguar dev has been passed around since 2014. This included poison berries that would make Andy explode, fan-theory sorta ideas about how other children perished in the darkland, a magic mirror, and what is very clearly just the maggots from spiritual successor “Limbo”. This individual provided no proof and his story was far from convincing. And no evidence that someone other than the Amazing team themselves having access to official development code from the game has ever been brought forward.

The Saturn Version

What we know:

Before the game ultimately came out for Playstation, it was going to be a timed exclusive for the Sega Saturn with Sega purchasing an exclusivity from Virgin Interactive. This fell through due to Virgin intentionally (according to Eric) throwing a monkey wrench in things and the Saturn was not viable when they were finally able to publish the game after getting picked up by Infogrames.

There is an incomplete playable demo of the first level and first two story cinematics in English and Japanese from the 1996 Toy Tokyo Show. In it there are slight programming differences such as a screen sliding transition animation, the inability for spectres to eat Andy, features cut from the final game involving the shadow dogs that are still mostly present in the final game’s code, and some slight graphical differences.

Frederic said the Saturn was easy for him to program on, and he finished things quickly so it was likely fully playable but no complete copy has been found.

Rumors:

It is unknown if there is a full build of this version of the game for Saturn. The Toy Tokyo Show build is the only publicly known one.

Based on footage from other events it appears to be from after changes were made to spectre sound effects and some behaviors. So this may have been a build from after the game was altered to be “easier” as mentioned by Eric Chahi at the time.

The Phillips CDI Version

What we know:

Heart of Darkness was offhanded mentioned a handful of times in a few CDI magazines in 1996. But there is no actual evidence the game was actually in development for the console and it was never confirmed in more trustworthy publications. CDI has less evidence than the planning letters of the Jaguar version. A supposed slipcover of a Heart of Darkness CDI CD was supposedly in existence but the guy claiming to have it couldn’t or wouldn’t prove this, with the only evidence appearing as convincing as a fake mock-up photoshop job and CDI websites discussing the final version of the game in full despite providing no evidence development for the console existed in the first place.

The most likely explanation is some idiot at Virgin said “CDI” when discussing this at-the-time secretive project because it would have had to be on a CD-based console and there weren’t that many of them yet at the time and this slip up briefly spread.

The iMac Version

What we know:

There was discussion of a Mac OS version of the game being developed, but nothing about the final product has surfaced online.

There was a page titled “imac” on the official website but the image files weren’t archived.

Heart of Dakness: The Return of Shados

What we know:

A scam artist on indiegogo pretended to be affiliated with Amazing Studio by using stolen assets and copying the kickstarter campaign of a different indie game in an effort to scam HoD fans out of money.

Both Eric Chahi and Frederic Savoir collectively agreed that this was a big fat scam.

It got taken down in under 24 hours of its discovery after I personally called the guy out on being a scamming piece of fucking shit and tattled to Fred.

As it was a scam with its only “evidence” being stolen text and doctored fan art and concept art from the original game, it’s very obvious nothing about this mess actually existed.

Delicious meal.

Merchandise (various)

What we know:

There are photos of merchandise, there have been real items show up, and there have been rumors or discussion of potential merchandise. Real confirmed ones include:

The Vicious and Amigo action figures. Given away for contests, at trade shows, sold on the infogrames store, and potentially included as part of a special box set of the French version

The Japanese big box version came with a mousepad. It is different than the round mousepad that also exists. We do not know where the round mousepad originated from. Potentially tradeshows or contests like the other items here.

Playstation controller and memory card. A memory card was sold separate in the UK, and in France a controller and memory card set were sold. Only photo of the set is in Eric’s collection. Memory card has shown up several times online. I own a complete sealed one.

The hat. Given away at press events, potentially worn by team members, and a version was also available on the infogrames store. Only physically existing version documented has the VIRGIN logo on it however so there’s definitely variations

Skateboard and t-shirt. Discussed in contests. Photos in magazines. Have never shown up so far. skateboard may have been available on infogrames store.

Photos exist of a backpack and fanny pack. Eric has these, the only known ones to exist, in his collection. Fred said they were officially released but they have yet to show up.

Rumored Merch:

A blanket. Briefly mentioned as if it genuinely existed on a French forum

Probably more tbh but my memory is shit. As I am writing this it is 2AM

[robobirdie]

Fan Story Forward

I have long struggled with mental illness my entire life and in 2012 during a very low period in my life I got a little parrot I named R2 even though we always called him Tooie. I had always wanted a bird, a living dinosaur, ever since I was very young and given my state my family thought it best to get me a companion parrot. He helped me get through many troubled times but in 2018 my beloved companion Parrot when he passed away suddenly July 12 at only six years old from a fungal infection. Just three months later my cat Keiko a beloved companion of 14 years was diagnosed with cancer in the jaw bone the week of Halloween. She was given only a week to live but hung on till February 26 of 2019. R2 loved watching TV with the family or when people played video games. My younger sister got me into watching Ninjago around late 2016 and I came to love it and so did he. Watching the show helped me feel better whenever times were low. I didn’t get into the Nexo Knights till after he passed but knowing him he would have loved it too. I had gotten into the Elder Scrolls series in 2012 during my very low period and it really helped me get by and both R2 and Keiko enjoyed hanging out watching as I played Elder Scrolls games. I’ve always been strongly creative and often write, draw or work digitally to create things and shortly after R2 passed I had started to come up with an idea involving three of the things we loved the most; a story involving the ninja and Nexo Knights. I only started writing however shortly after Keiko passed. I wrote this story as a sort of way to get over the grief of their loss. When I started I had a sense of where the story was going but no real end and many aspects were still blank. I was heavily inspired by the Elder Scrolls series particularly the third instalment Morrowind, the fourth instalment Oblivion and its Shivering Isles expansion plus the most recent instalment Elder Scrolls Online which my younger sister got me as a birthday gift in 2019. This inspiration is heavily noticed in environments, names and parts of the mythology in the story. While the story deals with the very dark subject matter of death and grief I tried to keep it light and keep in plenty of humor despite the dark subject matter. I also tried to keep it light enough in tone for young children which is very hard when dealing with such a dark subject. I originally wanted to keep it short but as I was writing I found that really was not going to work. The story became so complex that restricting it in size was not really wise. I knew from the start I was going to focus on two of the ninja similarly to how the show works. The two I chose are my two favorites', Zane and Cole (if you’re wondering Aaron and Clay are my two favourite knights). As I wrote I began to feel the story was best put into two parts. While the two are focused on through the whole story the focus is more prominent to Zane during the first half and Cole in the second. Part one is titled The Land of Ice and Ash while the second is titled The land of Stone and Shadow.

I have seen all the Nexo Knight seasons and Ninjago up to season 13 of the show so it will fit chronologically up till this point. It also takes aspects from Tomy Andersons story "Way of the Departed" since I have read those. Overall it is not heavily reliant on other seasons being focused on the story at hand though there are times when content from other seasons is implemented. Taking hint from what one of Ninjagos creators said, I believe it was Tommy, the knights and ninja are given a pretty hard time in the story but that helps propel the story and make it interesting. They are thrust into a strange world with strange people who have mixed views of them many hating them and beings who wish to destroy them at every turn. Overall I believe it is a fun, entertaining and heart warming story. It might even help you get over any grieving you might be having. It did that for me.

Originally when I started writing this story I had intended for the Knights of the Prong to be Legos Nexo Knights but did not know how to properly bring them in so simply came up with the Knights of the Prong as a stand in and this helped me get the story out. I always felt I could do more with the knights and as I have gotten close to the end I finally figured out how I was going to bring in the Nexo Knights and I think it offers more to the story The ninja are still the major focus of the story but the knights have their part and help flush out some parts and offer a different view of this place the two groups find themselves in. Like with the ninja the parts with the knights is not heavily reliant on the seasons of the Nexo Knights but does rely that you know who the Nexo Knights are and a bit of a back story on them.

For those who don't know about the Nexo Knights here is a bit of back story to help you know who they are:

The Nexo Knights come from a place called Knighton where they fight monsters created by a necromancer named Monstrux. They work with the great over 300 year old wizard Merlok who gives the knights magical aid to boost the knights powers against monsters. Due to an accident he became digitized. With help from two knights in training Ava a tech master and Robin a mechanic and inventing expert he was integrated into the knights moving fortress a vehicle called the Fortrex. The two are children and rarely get directly into a fight often working in the background alongside Merlok. Ava prefers her technology over magic and Robin aspires to be a full knight like his role model Clay. Clay Moorington is Merloks nephew even though for the longest time he did not know this. He wields a sword and is leader for the knights being the most serious and devoted to the knights code to protect others. During the 3rd and 4th season he got corrupted by Monstruxs magic which turned him to stone. He cured himself when he unlocked a power with magic he did not know he had. His mother was a wizard like her brother Merlok but got corrupted by monstruxs dark magic turning her evil when Clay was young. Macy Halbert is the daughter to Knightons rulers the king and queen however she prefers to be a knight over a princess often sneaking her weapon, a mace, and armor in to places when she is supposed to be doing princess duties. She is the second most serious about being a knight and cares little for the duties of a princess. Aaron Fox is the groups archer wielding a crossbow and is an ultimate adrenaline junky thrill seeker often using his knights shield as a hover board during a fight or for fun. While he often doesn't seem it he is serious about his duties as a knight. While Clay was corrupted he took over as leader for the knights taking his new role seriously. He is most often wearing headphones. Axl, who has no last name, is the muscle of the group wielding a war axe. He's kind, gentle, plays music and loves food. His younger sister has a crush on Robin which makes Robin uncomfortable. Lance Richmond is the spoiled  party son of a rich lord. He's super into his good looks and social media and has been known to pay others off to do or finish jobs for him. Despite this he does take his role as a knight seriously despite originally not wanting much to do with the life of a knight. He has a pet pig named Hamletta and a little sister who's training to be a knight like him. The knights have special shields which can harness Merloks magic for use in combat. Another prominent character who does make it into the story as well is Jestro the courts royal jester. While not a knight he trained alongside the others and is a deep friend of Clays. He is very insecure and anxious and tends to have the unfortunate luck of falling to evil influences, particularly Monstrux, despite his attempts to avoid them. Even when corrupted he’s hesitant to truly hurt the knights preferring to just mess with them.

I am a strong visually orientated person so as I went I created many concept arts to help me visualize environments, creatures, layouts and characters in the story. I will include these with the story so you can help visualize things as well. Many of these artworks you can find here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

Overall I believe it is a fun, entertaining and heart warming story. It might even help you get over any grieving you might be having. It did that for me.

 Keiko and R2:

As in all Elder Scrolls games there is a prophecy that foretells of heroes journey for the ninja their prophecy as foretold by the scrolls is:

“The scrolls foretold of this; His defeat was merely a delay; after the oni would fall the dragons would fail. When their wings are clipped and they have fallen to shadow the border between realms shall weaken and fall and darkness shall come. Realms once light and familiar shall be covered in shadows, shadows that are in plain view yet hidden consuming the world in darkness. There is only one this darkness fears; one of its own. But to gain this darkness and for the realms to be saved knights must fall to ash and shadow and dragons must enter the tower of first light and fall to its darkness in order for realms to see the light.”

To find all chapters look here: https://robobirdie.tumblr.com/archive

You can also find a copy of the story written here https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878 and here https://www.wattpad.com/1087355671-ninjago-the-oni-scrolls-foreword-important-info You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

[comicteaparty]

Art Resources

Check out this plethora of art-related resources archived from Comic Tea Party’s Art Resources Channel!

RebelVampire

starting this channel off with @Kabocha 's site http://www.shooting-stars.org/ lots of fantastic brushes and materials to use for both photoshop and clip studio(edited)

https://inkarnate.com/ - a nifty site for creating maps. while there is a pro version, the free version still has a lot of features if you just need a map for personal use to reference for your stories.(edited)

https://bodykunposeoftheday.tumblr.com/ - lots of pose photos of the SH Figuarts Body-Kun figures. really great if you want to get some anatomy and pose practice in!(edited)

http://blog.studiominiboss.com/pixelart - if you're a fan of pixel art, this is a hugely great collection of tutorials by Pedro Medeiros. it's got everything from process explanations, animation tips, shading, and more.(edited)

http://terawell.net/terawell/ - Design Doll, a great 3d program solely focused on doll posing. learning to pose the dolls can be a bit of a learning curve, but it can be fantastic if you really need a specific pose reference.(edited)

http://www.yeoldemapmaker.com/ - another map making website. this one is a lot better for interiors, especially if what you want is to just understand the base layout of a room for reference.(edited)

https://www.textures.com/ - a good site for textures. you have to make an account to download them, unfortunately. however, theres tons upon tons of them. for comics they should be safe, but would recommend checking terms for other things.(edited)

Kabocha

Free Software: I have not personally tested all of these programs. Download at your own risk. indicates that I have used it. Pixia: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mighty/knight/index.html Artweaver: https://www.artweaver.de/en (has paid version) Medibang Paint: https://medibangpaint.com/en/ Krita: https://krita.org/en/ MyPaint: http://mypaint.org/ (Pressure does not work properly on Surface devices newer than the Surface 3) SmoothDraw: http://www.smoothdraw.com/sd Paint.Net: https://www.getpaint.net/ GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/ Pinta: https://pinta-project.com/pintaproject/pinta/ Inkscape: https://inkscape.org/en/

RebelVampire

https://nattosoup.blogspot.com/ - If you aren't familiar with Becca's blog yet, it's really great. while there is an emphasis on watercolor and traditional art supplies, theres honestly just great information all around. processes, supply reviews, and so on!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

http://leifandthorn.com/2018/07/resources-for-making-webcomics/ - resources I've collected over the years. Mostly art stuff (fonts, color harmony, body types, etc), plus some help with website accessibility and some general webcomic podcasts.

Desnik

This is not a free resource so I hope it's okay, but in just a couple of days poring over the first two pages of this book, I'm really feeling a difference in the elasticity of my character's poses. It doesn't get bogged down by medical terminology and sorts parts of the body by 'landmark' instead: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23580472-anatomy-for-sculptors-understanding-the-human-figure

this is speaking as someone who has multiple years of figure drawing practice from life...I wish this book had been out much earlier, it's just amazing

JaSketch

https://www.calligraphr.com/en/ Here’s a free to use website that turns your handwriting into a legit text font, and it works too!

keltyzoid!

speaking of fonts i've actually made a few that are free to use. there's a couple of webcomics i know of that use them. should can i post them?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r8wmj4kp2566jbn/AACCrP70zPVLr8h2f5F4d6BIa?dl=0

they're free, no license or credit necessary

kayotics

this is a pretty basic level "how I do comics" but i like to reference these how-to's from Mad Rupert sometimes as a refresh on comics: http://mynameismad.tumblr.com/post/163801383099/hello-in-case-you-havent-heard-the-sakana

lonelytuatara

for any fellow photoshop users who wanna get better at perspective, this video's been really helpful for me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxBGNcryRs

Delphina

Really helpful Twitter thread about effective paneling! https://twitter.com/h0lysarthole/status/1117464886123089921

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Install old versions of Adobe products for free: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs2-product-downloads.html?promoid=19SCDRQK There are terms & conditions, but the programs don't actually check if you fulfill them. It's up to you to know how much money you've given them, and what you're ethically clear to download in return.

Kabocha

If we're talking about Image Editors, a not-free alternative is Affinity Photo, which is reasonably priced. (I'd look for it to go on sale, but $50 for a perpetual license isn't bad at all!) https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ Their indesign competitor is in free Beta right now, too: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/

Paint.net also still exists: https://www.getpaint.net/

https://www.patreon.com/posts/26834357 In the meantime, here's a post for alternatives to adobe.

https://twitter.com/robochai/status/1124044195092672515

JUNK

https://blog.reimenayee.com/graphic-novel-outline-onion-method/ neat

Hey, I'm sure everyone already knows, but clip studio is on sale for $25 right now! It is (imo) one of the best programs out there for making comics! https://twitter.com/clipstudiopaint/status/1169159411304210432?s=19

MJ Massey

if you're looking for a new display tablet, I found this useful site with tons of tablet reviews! They're organized by size and look at several different brands http://brad.site/reviews/wacom-cintiq-alternatives.html

Attila Polyák

How to draw good looking lightning/electricity! https://www.facebook.com/leesartandmore/photos/a.1370091679712083/2411389295582311/?type=3&theater

seetherabbit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDE4VX_9Kk

DaeofthePast

Free to use comic font http://purastik.net/ames/e.html

MJ Massey

If you haven't watched Jake Parker's videos, I highly recommend them. They are very informative AND relaxing and encouraging https://www.youtube.com/user/jakeparker44

MJ Massey

GESTURE DRAWINGS! They're important for art practice, especially if you are looking to improve your forms! https://www.quickposes.com/en is my favorite. It has a feature where you can set it to show you different photos every 30-300 seconds to practice gesture drawing!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Just saw this on Twitter. Haven't actually gotten a chance to look at it closely, but I thought other people might also want to take a look https://twitter.com/Worstwizard/status/1183475129084329984?s=09

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

https://twitter.com/noahbradley/status/1185286707819827201?s=09

Attila Polyák

Loads of useful facebbok stuff I meant to post a long time ago, but never got around doing it: https://www.facebook.com/AikaLockheart/photos/a.413147142066258/2235198713194416/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=472362883489284&set=a.130547804337462&type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/geektower/photos/pcb.1089341477902964/1089341267902985/?type=3&theater

MJ Massey

picking pens! From Jake Parker himself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNgYvTI09XE

MJ Massey

for anyone who likes podcasts, I enjoy 3 Point Perspective, particularly their most recent episode on building an online store and making sales https://open.spotify.com/episode/2twCBBjRWZlmzbvWkRoARG?si=N7PiY3UoTJCzq0zZovXsdg

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Here's a good reference generator: https://line-of-action.com/

SAWHAND

Hope this counts as a resource, here's a list of Best Comic Covers in a given month by Paste magazine, it goes up to June 2019. It was really helping me get ideas for covers! https://www.pastemagazine.com/search?t=Best+Comic+Book+Covers&m=Galleries

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

This is great!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Ooh, yeah, those are great.

I did a redraw where I added another 7, for shots that aren't in the original that I also get a ton of use out of: https://www.deviantart.com/erinptah/art/29-Panels-That-Always-Work-748887838

carcarchu

ooooh https://twitter.com/cathygjohn/status/1216093817734139904?s=20

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/ClipStudioTips/status/1217058241613651969

renieplayerone

This may have been shared before but i am a HUGE fan of SenshiStock. Their references are so good and ive used their stock photos for a ton of studies and practice too https://twitter.com/SenshiStock

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/celesse/status/1219674655663042561

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/dankelby/status/1220254171049418752

mariah (rainy day dreams)

https://kingofooo.tumblr.com/post/161105648449/by-storyboard-supervisor-erik-fountain-a-few

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

https://twitter.com/ImRachelBradley/status/1216042005698174977?s=19

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/cyanparade/status/1229450046480867328

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Feather J. Fern This is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEvMHRgPdyk

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Javi An oldie I still find useful for learning how to draw people: https://archive.org/details/andrew-loomis-drawing-the-head-hands/mode/2up

Nutty (Court of Roses)

https://twitter.com/Lowtwait/status/1232479451721502725

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlh4PO-ISCA

video that looks into this current humble bundle pack

looks kind of interesting

doomedfrgarden

I'm not sure if Borodante's Over-Paint series has been posted here (I didn't see it, but I don't have my glasses so I can't promise a thorough search), but his digital painting tips have been incredibly helpful and inspiring to me, so I hope it helps someone else here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDKgohjbwY8&list=PL26-CxnLWOfD_h42yjpO44dPAo3-pijgb&index=23

Feather J. Fern

Found something that explains Bleed for comics. https://makingcomics.spiltink.org/pgtemplates/

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

A soft-shading demo I made for@Feather J. Fern & @Artem Ficta (Ring Spell) Sorry this took so long to complete! https://youtu.be/Cyc9EVissw0

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/hanari0716/status/931463182354227201

Mei

For people like me who mess up their bleeds and have to fix them in post, I had this lying in my bookmarks! https://twitter.com/TheDamnThinGuy/status/1190321427314032646?s=20

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

There are lots of guides to tangents, and here is one I like a lot! http://curiousoldlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/10/schweizer-guide-to-spotting-tangents.html

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/Sasquatchiix/status/1236987090874667008 This is a visual novel zine but section 2 on resources actually has a lot of cross-over in terms of usability for comic creators, check it out if you feel like testing out some new tools! Update - I read through the articles now and I actually really recommend checking them out too for advice when it comes to story-writing and how to lay it all out(edited)

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

Want to share this with you all! https://creatureartteacher.com/product/fundamentals-of-animation/?fbclid=IwAR0ahSOtdTBPmi0cHQlBpyMK7RveLZXptqcLrFX559KQMOkp-oLjGG9JA_0 Fundamentals of Animation Course Aron Blaise a big disney animator, has an animation Course that take you through the princibles of animation. This course is free for a limited time if you want to learn about animation!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Really cool video I found about pricing your commissions: https://youtu.be/pN4P82Y_3k0

carcarchu

a handy tool for those who work in clip https://twitter.com/2TooToo2/status/1243101802435727360

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I'm not sure if this is the right channel, but I'm going around shouting about how Adobe users can get two months free because of the pandemic this morning. Here's an article about how to do it! https://www.creativebloq.com/news/adobe-payment-holiday?fbclid=IwAR108UH-2fQfvQzyc2STIHZh9H7LOzr1xvOoLPM_7pylHNoQ9isvMDT4wRw

I also made a tweet for easy sharing if you don't want to type your own. https://twitter.com/RainyDayMariah/status/1243573425697742848?s=20

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

https://twitter.com/metalsorcery/status/1247930202073829377?s=19 This is a survey to answer for webcomic creators to get their work featured in this newsletter! Open to every one!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Miranda (Into the Swell) This one's pretty good: https://www.deviantart.com/theinkyway/art/Manga-Studio-5-Clip-Studio-Paint-Brush-Pack-619455926

carcarchu

@Miranda (Into the Swell) this is my ultimate fave http://fav.me/d7s799d

carcarchu

this is handy reference image account that only posts pictures of suits and mundane things https://twitter.com/madarameBK

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Follow Art of Webcomics (on Twitter) which help independent creators host a site and share your page updates: https://series.artofwebcomics.com/(edited)

carcarchu

https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1725189 a handy sfx brush for clip studio paint that can help save some time with your process (it's got various effects built in the brush itself so you don't have to have several stroke layers to achieve the effect) it costs 2 dollars

SaltySalmonella

I made an SFX (sound effect) booklet for comic artists who are having difficulty visualizing sounds for their comics. It's free to download on Gumroad! https://gumroad.com/SaltySalmonella#VOZQM

Elliot

https://twitter.com/nicparris/status/1253710231781036043

CoppertheCarutor

I'm not sure if this goes in writing or art resources because it's art based, but the focus is on using colors to aid the story, but I thought this was a pretty neat video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXgFcNUWqX0&feature=emb_logo

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I was looking up some moonlight tutorials for an illustration last night. Figured I'd share~ https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/1684

https://www.deviantart.com/ryky/art/MOON-easy-tutorial-399161176

carcarchu

https://youtu.be/LokpJy7KHpE Shilin talks about her thought processes when laying out her comic panels

carcarchu

some free flower assets for clip https://assets.clip-studio.com/ko-kr/search?user=miyage3&order=new

carcarchu

Reimena Yee did an interesting thread on the visual language used in comics https://twitter.com/reimenayee/status/1263755464853995521(edited)

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

yess I was hoping someone would put that up here!!! such a good resource

that reminded me of the 22 panels that always work, something I've been trying to utilize more when I get stuck working: https://cloudfour.com/thinks/22-panels-that-always-work-wally-woods-legendary-productivity-hack/

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

It's so reliable, last year I was able to recreate the whole thing using only pre-existing panels from Leif & Thorn. (Then added another row because there were a few other shots I keep coming back to...) https://leifandthorn.com/comic/erin-ptahs-29-panels-that-always-work/

(Note, there's a horizontal scrollbar under the image, since I uploaded the big version.)

DaeofthePast

found this tutorial/tips on drawing scars that I found useful https://jetfeather.tumblr.com/post/163383759536/i-have-a-hard-time-drawing-scars-how-do-you-do

carcarchu

For those who suffer from pain while drawing: https://twitter.com/lost_paw/status/1271540123688210433

Evil_Chippy (My Hero!)

https://twitter.com/Darchala/status/1272257378881175552?s=20

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§ Here's the brush pack. The one I used is called "Pensona": https://www.deviantart.com/theinkyway/art/Manga-Studio-5-Clip-Studio-Paint-Brush-Pack-619455926

carcarchu

How to draw a lot of books https://twitter.com/yoshida_seiji/status/1200432951671939073

carcarchu

Mentorship directory for this interested in that kind of thing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vfcr_F0utixw7D-rsbUoId1kwU2Ee_c_jXy2r5df-Jc/edit?usp=sharing

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

https://www.lackadaisy.com/exhibit.php?exhibitid=333 A fun tutorial on drawing expressions

carcarchu

A really comprehensive look into the panel border tool in clip https://professorfaf.tumblr.com/post/178927411355/comic-paneling-tools-in-clip-studio-paint Great for beginners but even if you're already acquainted with them it's helpful for finding out things you may not have even realized

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED289uthfNQ&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1ka0j6gwtFcj5aXS8wIj-zpgwaYiI2ncP-g4Tn6hL0h4VFa-rKn6MM_1Q this is my old illustration instructor who did a tutorial on watercolour if anyone was interested in the medium! her stuff is so vibrant and solid, and i was so happy to have her as my old prof!

CoppertheCarutor

Light bounce! https://twitter.com/KikiDoodleTweet/status/1276565894051753984?s=19

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/Ghadaaax/status/1277158331761807360 helpful tips!

cAPSLOCK (Tailslide)

Colorist K Michael Russell has been streaming nightly as he colors pages from comics he's working on, while giving tips and insight into his thought process: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCps08eOJfFRm00TE5LStIIg

carcarchu

Advice on how to utilize speedlines https://youtu.be/Y_3Rbjn_0r0

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I just have to plug this amazing program here: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/publisher/ It's basically a replacement program for Adobe inDesign, but waaay cheaper. If you're like me and have sworn off Adobe, I highly recommend it. I've been messing with it all day to begin setting up my first volume for print, and I love it so far, especially after trying other budget publishing softwares. Can't recommend it enough.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

hii! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m8yv10gevqv2x5s/AACVoWTvK-B7qB1yRGUZadB5a?dl=0 Here is a little gallery of fat bodies!

carcarchu

world building tool thing https://www.worldanvil.com/artist i haven't tried it out yet but it looks interesting!

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/soteikat/status/1285036231592558592 takie made some free to use comic resources!

carcarchu

https://twitter.com/aeipathea/status/1285048061518061569

carcarchu

it is a website that shares dimensions for things. Helpful for referencing proportions https://www.dimensions.com/(edited)

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I don't necessarily agreed with everything they said, but it's still a good video, and I definitely agree with many of the points they brought up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQKeHnKK90

Especically the "stop drawing _" advice

I dealt with that a lot in school

[coliverxxx]

I just want to say that not all “fanfictions” are PWP

You know, it's funny. I recently began watching Haikyuu!! By recent, I meant I began watching yesterday only (despite the constant pestering of my brother to watch it because apparently it's that good and it's the sort of anime you'd love all characters, not just the protagonists). Well, I am actually currently watching a historical drama but the Internet connection sucks for two days and I have seasons one and two of Haikyuu!! already downloaded anyway. That's why yesterday I decided to give it a try (also to save my mind from not knowing what's happening next to said historical drama). And what can I say, so far, there's no anime suggestion from my brother that failed me.

Anyway, because of the situation brought by the pandemic caused by COVID-19, I had an online meeting last night with people from work, and as I was not the best employee and because meetings like that tend to be monologues by our manager only, I was reading fan fictions while the meeting was on going. Well, Haikyuu!! fan fictions. It was interesting because apparently, Haikyuu!! fandom is the second most written about anime fandom after Boku No Hero Academia. At least, that was the case in Archive Of Our Own when I searched for fan fictions last night. (Please correct me if after reading for years there now I still don't understand how it properly works.) I was on my second story when the meeting adjourned and I just couldn't stop reading until I finished it even when we were about to have dinner. My brother caught a glimpse of what I was reading and told me in an accusing tone, "You're reading those? I know already... If it's fan fiction, I know already.”

I wasn't even reading something explicit or mature! (But I knew that's what my brother was thinking given his accusing tone and expression.) I filtered all stories so that it wouldn't even show those tagged explicit or mature since I was reading outside the safety of my room for my family to see. (I'm not sure my parents would appreciate certain stories that might be involving specific toys, or polyamorous exercises.) But when I was reading and my brother saw me, it was sort of the part when Hinata and Kageyama kissed. That didn't help since my brother was sort of an anti-fan fiction type of anime fan. He questioned me why I read "those kind of stories" that he said "he knew already" what those were about and I wasn't stupid. I knew he meant like all fan fictions were porn without plot, just sex, dirty, explicit, whatever. And I just couldn't let him say that but I also didn't want a debate since both of our parents were also within hearing distance. That's why I said, "What do you mean, I read fan fictions? I also write them. I contribute to the community." That was quite... well, my brother didn't say anything anymore. He was probably shocked that I wrote “those kind of stories” as well.

I began writing fan fictions when I was in college. It was strange actually at first to write about certain characters or certain people because you'd want how you write them to be as precise as possible, or in-character, if I should say, but then, when you get the hang out of it, it's pretty much like writing with your own characters, excruciating and fulfilling, except you still don’t own these characters. I have published online more than a hundred stories now and have written probably about five hundred unfinished ones all hidden in the drives of my laptop (I’m so sorry, stories, I failed). If I would categorize my published stories, out of the hundred, probably fifty were sad or angst, twenty have one or two characters dying, about seventeen have happy endings, and only three were explicit or mature (but I really think they're all just failed smuts to be honest).

Now I know I'm speaking for myself here and my own experience. I have seen authors online who were great in writing explicit and mature content which sort of consisted almost a hundred percent of their writing portfolio that a lot of people enjoyed. But what I was trying to say here was, it wasn't all like that. I wish people could not have closed minds because it really wasn't all like that. Fan fictions were just like every book collection, or library, for home authors, student authors, unpublished authors, people who just wanted to write and leave something in this world, and people who just wanted to connect through words. We have adventures, love stories, stories about friendship, and even horror stories just as much as we have for adult stories like what you would see in an actual book store. I've read my fair share of those explicit and mature fan fictions as well, some of which were incredibly well-written and have actual plot. They weren't all just porn, trust me. And if I could just tell you how many stories have tugged my heart, made me cry, made me realize a lot of things, that I read from fan fictions, we wouldn't end here.

I began reading fan fictions pretty much the same time I began writing them. It was just like what they say, if you can't find the story you want to read, write it. I pretty much applied that all through college and honestly, it was a good way to pass college days — through reading and writing (also I wasn't the party or studious type of person anyway). I couldn't remember how many stories I've read through college until now because there were so many amazing authors online that deserve their works read. Until now, I can still remember my favorite Super Junior fan fiction and it wasn't even explicit. It was just Jongwoon losing his voice and Kyuhyun taking care of him even though at that time, Jongwoon was wary and irritable of him because that was the time when he first joined the group and Jongwoon thought he had another competition for song parts. It was just... warm, if I should describe the story. It made you feel warm and I really liked it and I never really forgot about it even though I couldn't find that story now. Another story which I really like was an EXO fan fiction about best friend Baekhyun setting up best friend Jongdae with almost everyone but it didn't seem to work until they figured out why no one was working and the reason was obvious. That story was both funny and sweet when realization both hit them. From the recent stories I've read, one of the many notable ones was a Seventeen fan fiction about best friends Mingyu and Minghao who talked with what they call flower language. I don't even like daisies that much but after that, I began liking daisies. I even left a comment for the author which went like, "I'm not even that happy right now but this story made me so happy." You could say I enjoy reading these best friend stories ending happily because I often write them in angst. (I'm so sorry, beloved readers.) However, the one story that affected me the most recently was a fix-it Naruto fan fiction and it wasn't happy. It explained how the hell Sakura ended up with Sasuke. That story stressed me the same way it gave me relief and it shook my existence to the point that I had to ask the author to let me create an epilogue while at work. (I sort of read it during lunch break at work and I just had to message the author immediately.) Fortunately, the author was kind and gave me permission to do as I pleased and even commended my epilogue when I published it. None of these stories I just mentioned were porn without plot type fan fictions but I love all of them nevertheless.

You see, it wasn't all just porn. Sure, I wouldn't say there wasn't a lot of it. I know there was a ton of mature and explicit fan fictions out there and I just couldn't understand what was so wrong with it. If you don't like it, I'm not forcing you to bleed your eyes reading them. I guess I'm just saying let it be, let people who enjoy writing them write them and let people who enjoy reading them read them. I just couldn't understand how some people are still bothered by the mere existence of things even though they have all the power in them to not read or even see these things that are bothering them because some people do enjoy them and these are not going to go away just because they couldn't deal with that. And also, don't generalize that everything there is in fan fictions is porn because there are a lot more, I am telling you. There are a lot more. Don't — I don't even know how to stress this enough — freaking generalize all stories you know are fan fictions to one or two genres. Believe me, there are a lot of talented authors out there and they don't all just write one or two genres.

Ultimately, I also wrote this post to thank everyone in the community in every fandom for your contribution. You don't know how many people across the globe (or even your closet neighbor fan) you are making happy, you are making smile, or you are saving their life with the words you are writing, the pages you are drawing, all the craft you are creating, so please continue to do so. We don't own these characters but we still have a voice, through the words or strokes we're putting together to create another form of art, another form of life. (How can that be so wrong?) Also, I read this somewhere in Pinterest but it fits so: Art, like love and life, must always be free.

[aion-rsa]

Marissa Meyer Reflects on Her Iconic Lunar Chronicles Series

https://ift.tt/2SiCNtY

New editions of The Lunar Chronicles has author Marissa Meyer looking back on inventive cosplay and forward to new fairy tale retellings.

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Upon glimpsing the dynamic covers for the new paperback editions of Marissa Meyer’s reimagined fairy tale series The Lunar Chronicles, one can’t help but notice there’s something familiar about them—especially the gorgeous stepbacks that feature Cinder in a ballgown and Cress staring wistfully in the opposite direction of the strapping Thorne, silhouetted by moonlight. They bring to mind… Sailor Moon.

Meyer laughs when this comparison is brought up, considering her background as a Sailor Moon fanfiction writer, but says that it was not intentional: “I think that’s just Tomer [Hanuka]’s style.” However, when her publisher Macmillan sent along the artist’s portfolio, she was certainly struck by Hanuka’s work.

“I think that’s one of the reasons why I was so drawn to him," says Meyer. "Because it does have a little bit of that Japanese/manga vibe to it, which I love. And coming from that fandom and that background, there’s definitely a lot of influence in the books. So, I think that it plays really well; the artwork very much complements the series in a great way.”

While The Lunar Chronicles concluded with its fourth and final novel, Winter, in 2015, fans have been able to spend more time in Meyer’s science fiction fairy tale universe with subsequent releases including the short fiction collection Stars Above and the graphic novel Wires and Nerve.

Now, a re-release of the original quartet with brand-new covers showcasing each of the key characters proves that the series is still relevant to readers today. To wit, part of the new covers process involved crowdsourcing favorite scenes from the active and enthusiastic fandom via Instagram. Meyer describes seeing the same scenes suggested over and over, which made their way into the new designs: Wolf spiriting Scarlet away from danger. Winter and Jacin in a romantic clinch in her menagerie.

read more: Marissa Meyer's Renegades Trilogy is Riveting Superhero Fiction

It’s quite the departure from the original covers, each of which featured one key element from its respective book: Cinder’s mechanical leg (in place of Cinderella’s glass slipper); Scarlet’s (or Little Red Riding Hood’s) cape; Cress’ Rapunzel-esque hair; and Winter’s plague-laced apple. While the series has long been celebrated for centering the stories of princesses of color—Cinder is Asian/Caucasian, while Winter is black—and for its representation of mental illness, now those women are actually on the covers in the (human and cyborg) flesh.

“They’re so beautiful and so vibrant,” Meyer says. “I love what [Tomer] does with colors, and so when you see all four of them together, it just stands out so much. I couldn’t be any happier with them.”

That said, this is not the first time that the series has been illustrated. In addition to the aforementioned Wires and Nerve, there is also The Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book. While most authors do not experience the opportunity to see their work adapted thusly, let alone three, Meyer says it feels “incredible,” though she hastens to add that there is a fourth lens: fan art!

“It’s unbelievable to think about these characters and this world that lived inside my head for so many years, and then to see other people putting their interpretation behind it,” she says. “And in a way that there’s such wonderful justice to it, and [that] really captures the same sorts of emotions that I was trying to put into my writing. It’s just like one giant compliment. There’s nothing quite like it!”

Recent years have seen more and more science fiction and fantasy authors talking candidly about their fanfiction backgrounds, including N.K. Jemisin (the Broken Earth series), Naomi Novik (Spinning Silver), Tamsyn Muir (Gideon the Ninth), Tochi Onyebuchi (Riot Baby), and Brooke Bolander (The Only Harmless Great Thing). But Meyer has always drawn a line connecting her professional work and her fanfic persona, Alicia Blade, as seen on her old website via the Wayback Machine. It’s no surprise, then, that Lunar Chronicles fan art and fanfiction began cropping up online not long after Cinder was published in 2012.

read more: Den of Geek Book Club Podcast Talks with Marissa Meyer

“That’s the fantasy,” Meyer says, “for there to be fanfic of your own work, because I know what love goes into creating fanfiction, and how fandoms can really rally around it.” And how must that feel for a former fanfiction writer? 

“It’s a little weird, honestly! But it’s wonderful, and I’m hugely honored to know there are so many people who have taken the characters and gone off and done their own things with them.”

Early on, Meyer had to decide whether she would actually read the stories on Fanfiction.net and the Archive of Our Own (AO3). Despite her burning curiosity, she considered that “if Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon, regularly went on and read Sailor Moon fanfiction, I think that that might have changed what I was writing and what I was putting out there. And so early on I decided, ‘No, I want that to be for the fans; I don’t think I should be involved in that side of it.’ But knowing that it exists brings me much, much joy.”

Another way in which The Lunar Chronicles’ heroines have made their way into the world has been through cosplay, which Meyer describes as “one of my greatest pleasures” to see at conventions. One group costume that stands out in her memory is a quartet of women in ballgowns representing the albino wolf, peacock, and other animals in Winter’s menagerie on Luna: “It was this amalgamation of ballgowns and formalwear on Luna, but also the animals of the menagerie, and I just thought it was so clever.”

In addition to fanfiction, Meyer is an alum of another online-centric writing community: National Novel Writing Month. Cinder and four subsequent books began as NaNoWriMo projects, but the life of an author has made it more difficult for Meyer to time drafting to every November. When asked if she might participate this year, she says, “I hope so! I haven’t been able to do it for the last couple of years; it never seems to line up with my deadlines anymore. [...] It’s a tradition for me, and one I would love to continue. I can’t say for sure if I’m doing it this year or not; but if I can make it work, then I definitely will.”

However, Meyer fans who are considering undertaking NaNoWriMo themselves will have to juggle a tempting distraction this November: Instant Karma, her contemporary romance novel with a magical twist, will be published November 3. Meyer describes the story, the first in a planned four-book series, as “about a girl who lives in a sunny, beachside town and one day inexplicably gets the power to exact instant karma on people. And she goes around punishing all of the snobs and the bullies and the people that she can’t stand. There’s one boy that she absolutely despises, but every time she tries to use this power on him, it ends up backfiring on her. It will be a love story and secrets will be revealed, etcetera etcetera.”

On her Alicia Blade website sometime before 2012, Meyer described herself as “beloved Sailor Moon fanfiction author and future romance novelist.” While each of the Lunar Chronicles books featured romance, there is something exciting about seeing her fulfill that description with her first romance novel. “It’s been a big change from my previous works,” she says, pointing out that “this is the first thing I’ve written that doesn’t have huge superpowers or futuristic technology. There are no fight scenes! Which is awesome. [...] It’s been really nice now writing something that still has romance, still has a theme of good versus evil and what is true justice, and all of these same sort of themes I like to play with, but in a much more subtle, quiet, sweet sort of way.”

But while she expands the Instant Karma world with contemporary happily ever afters, she won’t stay away from fairy tales for long. Meyer teased a new fairy tale retelling—and while she couldn’t say which story she’s adapting, she did share that it will be an epic fantasy what-if story...

“It is going to be fantasy—kinda my first ‘quest’ fantasy novel, which I’m super excited about because growing up, Tolkien and epic fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons—all of that was my jam. It was always weird to me that my first published book was science fiction, because I thought for sure I would write an epic quest story. So this is kinda my first [of] going back to my teenage roots a bit.” The book is tentatively scheduled for fall 2021, though that timing may be subject to change.

Even as she explores new genres and stories, Meyer will never forget the idea that first set her on this path. “I have so much love for this series,” she says, “and not just because it was my first series. I think for every author, the first one you get published is always going to feel really special. From the moment that I had this idea about writing about fairy tales in the future, and this cyborg Cinderella character, I was just so smitten with it, and I loved the idea of bringing all these characters together and throwing them on a spaceship and seeing if they could save the universe."

"That spoke to my heart and to my nerdiness on so many levels," she continues, "and I just had so much fun writing it. To see it now in the world, and see how readers have responded to it, and that there’s so much love and interest in the characters, it’s really been incredible. And of course I hope to have many more successful book series throughout my career, but I don’t know that there will ever be anything that’s quite the books-of-my-heart as The Lunar Chronicles have been.”

Close to a decade since Cinder was published, with a dedicated fandom returning to the books over and over, Meyer has one hope for the legacy of the series.

“Gosh, it’s so cheesy—I’m gonna say world peace,” she says. “That’s one of the things that I loved writing, was a world in which Earth and the countries of Earth have obtained world peace, and they have been at peace for over a century. I don’t know if it’s naïve, but I truly like to think that that is a potential future.”

The new, gorgeous paperback editions of The Lunar Chronicles will be available for purchase on February 4th. You can order them now via the official website.

As a former fanfiction writer herself, Natalie Zutter is mightily inspired to finish all of her WIPs. Talk fairy tale retellings with her on Twitter @nataliezutter.

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Feb 3, 2020

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[iamcinema]

IAC Reviews: #009: Extreme Life & Death: The Blair Witches of Shockumentaries: Part One (2000)

Warning: The following film contains graphic imagrey that’s considered NSFW/NSFL, and should be avoided by those who are faint of heart and don’t like the sight of real death media and violence. While the following review delves into such topics, it contains no stills from the film and is marked as safe. If you wish to view it to judge for yourself, it’s readily available online to view via Archive.org.

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After disappearing for 84 years, I’m back in the saddle to bring in something new...or old rather. So, what’s a better way to mark my return than with a genre staple of my morally questionable childhood? We’re back in action with another shockumentary title, and this has been one of the more elusive titles thus far.

Extreme Life & Death: The Blair Witches of Shockumentaries is a three-part series akin to others of its kind; bringing us highlights and reels of death, mayhem, and tragedy caught on film. This includes the usual suspects like vehicular accidents, terrorism, natural disasters, and fantastical human feats and achievements - thus the name, Extreme Life & Death.

There’s very little information about the company, DMP Entertainment, out there as the IMDb pages for these entries are barren with nothing to them beyond their tags to explain what they were. You can find a company called DMP Entertainment online, but whether or not they’re related is hard to tell for sure. However, the cover art for Part Two bears a striking resemblence to the artwork for Death: The Final Journey, an expansive seven part series that touches on the same topic, released by Wayne Enterprises and DMN Productions around the same time. Given the similarities, my guess is that DMP Entertainment and DMN Productions are the same company - and oddly enough, both appear to be currently active with their main focus being on music production. Interesting. So, much like the legend about the Blair Witch herself, it’s tough to find solid answers as to the mystery behind these strange titles. While they may not be the most obscure or even potentially sought after, they do raise a brow as to what the hell you’re in for.

Extreme Life & Death; Part One in One Gif:

Hmm, okay, let’s try to talk about this one because I had a hard time doing so elsewhere. Also, I apologize for the strange choice in a photo since I wasn’t able to find a stand alone VHS scan of the tape for some reason. So, shout out to /u/Str8Jeffin over on the VHS sub for being lucky enough to find this. The comments on it are either those who haven’t heard about either film, or applaud him for finding two rarities in the wild - and yeah, I’ll get to Zombie Bloodbath eventually.

Now, the part I’ve been dreading when it’s come to getting to writing this is figuring out how to. As I said previously, this has been a very weird film to dig for and I wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for the few shockumentary lists on IMDb that even acknowledge it and other oddball titles like Traces of Gore, More Than Smashed Pumpkins, and Snuff R73. Much like some of those titles, this applies to even production credits or cover art to confirm the validity of their existence. I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to do much in terms of potentially reviewing this or not at all, but someone managed to find all three films on a Spanish or Portuguese website and saved them before the site went under. So, if you want to see these, I’ll provide a link at the end for you to get a taste of the action.

Now, onto the first installment...

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Judging from just the release dates alone, my guess is that it tried to follow the train of titles of the 1990′s and the dawning of the new millenium; so Traces of Death, The Many Faces of Death, and Death File. There’s a bit of a saying that once you’ve seen one of these films, you’ve seen all of them, and in a way it’s true.

A good portion of shockumentaries are just recycled and repurposed clips and archived footage from other shockumentaries and documentaries, and after one uses something fresh to bring to the table, it’s dead on arrival and bloated up the river by the time it gets in the hands of others to spread around. For some, this can kill the mood and experience if you’re seeing rehashed films you’ve already seen before and you know what to expect. For others, they don’t necessarily see it as a bad thing or wholly disappointing. But, hey, to each their own I suppose. I guess that’s up to you with where you sit on the matter. This also rings true for the topic of narratiors and whether or not they add to the scenes or take away from it, with a sort of set in stone range from traditional documentary style narrations by Dr. Francis B. Gross and Dr. Flellis of the Faces of Death series and the brutal, in your face of Darrin Ramage and Dr. Vincent van Gore of Traces of Death and Faces of Gore, respectively.

I bring this up, particularlly the topic of narrators because you won’t find that here - well, sort of, and it goes hand-in-hand with the old saying.

_________________________________________

Exteme Life & Death: Part One is as simple and bare bones as they come, which is strange to say for a niche subgenre where the raw heart of the matter is just a showcase of death, carnage, destruction, and the like. I say that because others of its kind have more, I guess you can say, substance to them in the form of a soundtrack, narration, or chapters to help steer things along to be more organized. However, these things are noticably abscent from the film if it wasn’t previously supplied with the archived footage.

In a similar manner to how I talked about The Act of Seeing With Ones Own Eyes in my review of Le Poéme, this will either make for a rather boring watch or something more intimate and direct with the viewer because it throws you right into the heart of it with no filler. On the other hand, this can also make the film appear to be more a more cheap, thoughtless, and lazy cash-in with it’s rough, copy-and-paste style of editing. It’s really just a matter of preference for what you’re into, I suppose. While I can understand not providing either for emotion or context as a means to just push the viewer into the chaos of the scenes, I don’t get having the ability to do so out of being cheap or incompetent - which feels to be more of the case, at least in my opinion.

My process for coming to this conclusion comes in the form of many of the scenes provided, which have been recycled from previous shockumentaries of times gone by. While those films provide exposition for their origins, this film uses black and white captions to tell the limited background information instead. For example, one of the more notable scenes comes in the form of firing squad execution footage that was smuggled out of Iraq sometime in the early 1990′s. This scene has been repurposed and reused in other films with exposition, but this time around we just get a similar copy-and-paste style method of explaining what’s going on. Whether or not this cheapens or degrades the experience is up to you, because, then again, there’s the crowd that found the narration and delivery method for the early Traces of Death films to be so boring that Damon Fox was told people would just mute the film and blast their death metal albums over it.

So, enough on this topic. What can one expect if they want to see this?

I feel that the opening sequences tells you what exactly we’re in for as far as quality goes, which is that of a woman walking around a cemetery sobbing as she throws herself onto the tombstones to mourn. It feels rather cheap and forced, which doesn’t really help it that much at all. The editing style feels rather sloppy as the scenes don’t really have much direction for them as far as how they’ve organized things. To go back to Faces of Death, we have general chapters that attempt to string things along in a seamless transition; with natural disasters, animal cruelty, capitol punishment, and human atrocities being served up. Here, it feels like there’s no rhyme or reason for the direction things want to go. So, it’s not out of line to see air show disaster footage one moment and then something unrelated the next with no explanation. The footage in question isn’t particularly graphic either and is relatively on the tame side compared to other films; with some of the more gruesome scenes being that of a city block after a potential bombing, a corpse discovered in the jungles of Nicaragua, and last rites given to a man who was fatally hit by a truck.

_________________________________________

So, with all of that being said, what do I think about this one? Honestly, I don’t know. In a way, it does try to hold up on its own with trying to stand out compared to it’s bloody brothers and sisters, so I can’t say it didn’t at least try. Well, maybe “try” is a bit generous.

I’m not sure.

There’s a part of me that thinks it did it’s job alright, and there’s another that feels like it didn’t want to bother putting in the additional effort to really push things to the limit or reach it’s full potential - plus, the title alone can give you an impression as to what it’s trying to do and whether or not you feel that’s a good thing is up to you. I want to say that if the makers went there to at least give us something a bit extra (as a treat), like music or even a mediocre narrator, this could have been more of a recognized name...even if that in of itself is weird enough. It makes me wonder how many people followed in the steps of early Traces of Death viewers and just flipped on their goregrind albums to add anything at all to the experience.

Now, it’s up for you to decide what to make of this. If there’s enough interest, I can attempt to do reviews for the other two parts, even if it means repeating myself. If you want to get a glimpse of what I was talking about, you can view all three parts over on the Internet Archive that got added back in September 2019. If you’re into shockumentaries, then I’d say to give it a watch at some point, even if it’s just to say you’ve officially seen everything. For those who are new to the subgenre, then I’d say you would be in good hands to start with something like this if Faces of Death is too much for you - even if a good chunk of the franchise is recreated footage. However, if you’re into shockumentaries and this hasn’t swayed any opinion you have, then don’t fret because you won’t lose much sleep if you pass on this one.

RATING: 3/10

[ginnyzero]

Being a Fanfic Writer is Okay

AKA I love Fanfiction

Fan Fiction, a bit controversial and a bit time worn topic in writing and fandom circles. But let’s face it, fan fiction is older than dirt (Shakespeare anyone?) and isn’t about to go away any time soon. So, we might as well face the pink elephant in the room and address the issue. Besides, fan fiction is really personal to me. Of course, before I get all maudlin about my experiences with fan fiction, maybe we better discuss what fan fiction is, a bit of history and where to find it.

Fan fiction is at its core, a story written by someone who isn’t the original owner of a story. They are simply a fan writing in someone else’s world using someone else’s characters. After that, the possibilities are pretty much limitless and maybe we can discuss some of the more interesting aspects of fan fiction later. Some of our favorite classic stories might be considered fan fiction, Homer’s take on the Trojan War for example. Shakespeare wrote wild interpretations of the lives of British Kings. And modern day published fan fiction would be the books based on favorite television shows or popular games, video, role playing or even board games. A type of visual fan fiction would be the movie Clue! Based on the popular Clue board game. (Sadly not really an action movie, drat.) Star Wars Expanded Universe is a type of authorized published fan fiction. And who can forget the hundreds and hundreds of Star Trek novels based upon the episodes and later expounding upon the universe.

Speaking of Star Trek, the modern take on fan fiction really took off with the introduction of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Before the internet (what a phrase,) ambitious Trekkies created magazines that writers could submit their own stories about the Starship Enterprise and her crew and receive subscriptions of them in the mail. Many of these stories revolved around Kirk and Spock in a romantic relationship, which is still a huge pairing today. Other fandom groups copied this magazine model and later as the internet took off, they created online email groups, forums, journaling sites, chat rooms and individual sites, until someone got ambitious enough to create the first fan fiction archive. And suddenly, there was a place where any writer of any talent could post their work to one place and read everyone else’s work no matter the quality or fandom. And with the introduction of Japanese anime to America, the concept of fan fiction exploded.

And Sturgeon’s Law reared its ugly head. 90% of it is crap.

But that’s okay.

A lot of archives came and went. There are only a few that stayed the course; fanfiction.net, mediaminer.org, adult-fanfiction.org and the baby of the family, archiveofourown.org (AO3). Each of these rather interesting archives have a tumultuous history and interesting backstories, which I really don’t want to get into right now. Just saying, if you have a bunch of free time, want to read some free stories and have some fandoms you really love, then these are the places to go. It might take some time to wade through the truly awful stories to find the gems, but the side effect of fan fiction archives, are fan fiction recommendation lists! These handy lists have the best fan fiction from certain fandoms in the compliers subjective viewpoint! Always a good starting place.

As I said, fan fiction is really personal to me. As it says in my bio, I have no formal education about writing outside some interesting English classes in college. I got a C in research papers and grammar; a B in creating a pitch and an A in narrative storytelling. This probably should have told me something. What I do have, is a very long history and experience in fan fiction. I’m not comfortable with putting my pen name out there, let’s just say I’ve been writing fan fiction for over fifteen years in a variety of fandoms under a couple of different names. And in the beginning, I was one of those probably writing crap. And I didn’t care. I was writing and I was having fun. Writing fan fiction helped me through my bad high school experience (a lot of people have them) and it helped others too. And that was important to me. Is still important to me. I grew. I improved. I got to focus on things in fan fiction that I would never have focused on if I had been trying to write original works. And it helped me churn out idea after idea and see how I could string these ideas together to create good concepts and make better stories.

The greatest thing about fan fiction in my opinion, is that it gets people of every age (I have met as many forty year olds as I have twelve year olds) writing. And when people write, they also tend to read. Okay, so maybe they are reading in this vacuum bubble of fan fiction where 90% of it is crap and they may or may not improve, yet, they are reading and you know, that is okay. Because, let’s face it, 90% of the published world of books is crap too. And let us not get started on this idea of self-publishing. Seriously, anything that introduces a little bit of literacy to the world I’m all for. I’m not going to discourage anyone from taking up a pen or sitting down at a computer or type writer and taking these ideas they have in their head and getting them out there. Because, there is a certain magic to it. Let’s not stifle any form of creativity of the arts here.

Now writing and posting fan fiction are two completely different things. And if someone wants to write a story based on 10 Things I Hate About You (which in itself was an authorized fan fiction of the Taming of the Shrew, which is based on classic literature tropes) and keep on their computer for only themselves to read. That is fine! However, if they want to take that fantastical leap of courage and post it the internet in one fashion or another for the public to see, then that, is inspirational. Posting, which in this case is essentially publishing, something you have created from your heart for others to see and consume is perhaps one of the scariest things you can do. And I applaud them for their courage because the public is not a safe place and you never know what will happen. Now, I will say that a lot of fandom communities can be nice and welcoming. And then there are the communities that are insular and full of drama. And sometimes, publishing in the fan fiction world is like shouting into a canyon and hearing the echo and you might have to shout several times (meaning publish more than one story or more than one chapter of a story) to get any sort of response. Hey, being popular in one fandom, doesn’t automatically guarantee being popular in another fandom!

And that is where the sense of community steps in. Sure, you will probably get a lot of ‘squee, I love it, write more!’ responses, which are good for the ego and the soul. But there will be rare times, where you will meet people who love the same things you do and want to squee and discuss writing. About characterization, and plot bunnies hopping out of control and multiplying and isn’t so and so just hot as this character. And suddenly, one isn’t so alone anymore. You don’t feel exactly strange or like a hermit who sits alone in their bedroom typing for hours at a time. Out there, in the world, there are people just like you, doing the same things. And it is okay. People, as a community who like a certain thing, are being creative and sharing ideas. And that is wonderful. So, the execution of said ideas might not be wonderful, but now, the idea is out there in the universal consciousness waiting to be picked up by someone else, tinkered with and fine-tuned and maybe a better version of it, or maybe one just as bad, will be published to be seen and shared by more people so more interesting and diverse stories can be born. (Or, as it is so easy to see in fan fiction if you pay attention, a new fad of fiction tropes and mish mash of nonsensical ideas put together to create something absolutely crazy but mind numbingly fun that you have to go ‘what the fuck, who came up with this bullshit and how did it become so popular and why wasn’t it me? [Superwholock, Omegaverse, Soulbonding])

Now we could discuss the legality of fan fiction, or some of the crazy views that published authors have about fan fiction (Anne McCaffery, George RR Martin), or some of the awesome things that have happened to people because of their fan fiction and the original creators being okay with it (Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Joss Whedon). Or the crazy things that some fan fiction writers do to take their fan fiction and make it into original fiction (Cassandra Claire, 50 Shades of Grey.) But those could take a couple thousand more words and some of it sincerely bewilders me.

Fan fiction is great. I enjoy writing it. And I also enjoy reading it when I have time. There is nothing wrong with people, in their spare time, writing fluffy and sometimes not so fluffy stories about their favorite characters in their favorite universes. There are a lot more horrible things they could be doing than writing stories about fictional people and posting it on the internet.

Now, when I get published (and I say when, not if because I must believe in the when), as a matter of course and a, for your information, I won’t be reading any fan fiction of my own works. (Though, I’d love to keep track of statistics for it, that would be amusing.) It comes down to the universal consciousness once again. If one of those stories someone writes about my work has an amazing idea and I read it, later forget about it, and then think I come up with it on my own and use that idea, then, well, I could be sued. (It has happened.) It is unlikely that the fan fiction writer will win (there is precedent about this), but I would still feel awful. So it is just better all around if I don’t read fan fiction of my own work. Which for me is kind of sadness, but hey, it is a fact of life.

That being said. I hope that I do inspire people to write their own crazy times using my characters or creating their own characters and putting them in my world, or crossing my world into their other favorite worlds. Because, if I wasn’t so busy writing the original world, I’d probably be doing the same thing. There is nothing wrong with people having a good time and enjoying themselves. In fact, if it helps get them through a bad place in their life, then good for them.

Not that the die hard fan fiction writers need permission from me. But those who aren’t so certain, and maybe worry a bit too much or have been told that writing original is superior to writing fan fiction and believed it. Writing fan fiction is okay. Don’t beat yourself up over it and go out there and have fun. Go on, get your fanfic on!

[elwoodcoronado-blog]

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