#I found a cool thing to do in my art program

[kirkklan2]

247 - "Down here..."

[hua-fei-hua]

today i learned that we weebs are responsible for the existence of the .ass file type. #heritage

[yaut-jaknowit]

Morally ambiguous corpo scientist gets transfered to a "exciting new project" only to find it's a Predator breeding program.

Breeding Program

Character: T'a'yta (Male Yautja) x AFAB!Reader

Warnings: I'M WARNING YOU NOW, I WENT FERAL BADLY. Rape/Non con contents. Sex pollen, SMUT, very rough sex, knotting, breeding. Read at your own risk, seriously.

Word Count: 3159

Summary: As a scientist, the ability to move up in the world was amazing. To surpass people you thought were the top dogs in your program and placed in a new section. A new program. You hadn't been briefed but the pay was phenomena. Nothing to complain about there. You met up with Amelia, the head of the program, at the facility and get a tour. At the end, she takes you down a hallway, opens a door to a pitch black room. Then shoves you in.

Author Note: I'm warning you all. This seriously might be the darkest thing I've ever wrote. I don't know why my brain went this route, but it did. Please, I'm warning you. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Masterlist

Ao3

After the years to finally work underneath this team of scientist, you were astonished to find they had referred you higher up the chain. To a new exciting project that could change the world. The opening letter they gave you easily hyped you up. Before you knew it, you were accepting the new position. Your items were going to be transferred over at a later date.

The new team wanted to meet you so bad. That’s what they told you. That’s what you believed. You found yourself at the new building that had just been finished. This was nerve racking but exciting at the same time. All new equipment and gear to test out. State of the art equipment has been entrusted to you. Out of all the people, you’ve been promoted to such a position. This was destiny!

Smiles greeted you when you first walked through the doors. The team lead was here in person to greet you the moment you stepped onto the new grounds.

Amelia says your name with a soft smile that complimented her features. “It’s so good to see you! We’ve been waiting for you to finally arrive. I hope the travel wasn’t bad?” She guides you towards the elevator and presses the button. The doors open and welcome you aboard. You step in after Amelia, nearly bouncing off of the ground with each step. A dream becoming reality.

“No,” you shake your head. “It wasn’t bad. The flight was beautiful though. Being that high up.” The memory of all the gorgeous clouds that covered the sky. Then, seeing as far as the eye could see. All of the land that went on and on. You loved it. “I’m so excited to be here too. It’s been my dream to work in an environment like this. When do I get to meet the rest of the team?”

There weren’t much for details about the project besides how cool it would be for you to join the team. Of course, you couldn’t say no. Not when a job like this could be the last one you would ever need. Plus, the pay was… wow. Amazing!

The elevator’s doors slid open to reveal a long hallway with black tile floors and grey walls. Little décor filled the empty space. You didn’t mind it. The place was still new. Maybe they hadn’t gotten around to fully furnishing the space.

Both of you walked out. Amelia laughed. “Oh, they’re around. They just didn’t want to crowd you and overwhelm you on your introduction day. Today is just meant to show you around, learn the space before the people, you know?” You nodded along, agreeing with everything she said. You already felt on the verge of being overwhelmed with a different workspace and people.

“Aw, alright. If you can, tell them I can’t wait to meet them, please?” you asked of her. All you wanted to do was impress the team more than you already have. To show them that you have a passion for science. It’s your livelihood.

“I sure can do that for you.” Amelia took the closet right down the hallway from the elevator. Her steps were precise with black two-inch heels. “They’ll be happy to know you’re thinking about them.”

A long, rectangular glass window was built into the wall. Amelia stops and motions towards the glass. Where you see tables of equipment just sitting there, ready for use. They are brand new, still shiny and lacking even fingerprints. Your eyes sparkle, hands twitching desperate to touch everything. But, you tamper down the feeling.

“This is amazing already, Amelia. I can’t wait to see the rest of the building.” When she smiles at you again, it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “When will be my first day? I hadn’t gotten any emails about it.” You were concerned that maybe something as wrong with your emails. You needed to get everything right. This was your dream job. Over your dead body will you let this go.

She waves her hand like she’s brushing it off. “We’ve been having a little issue with our emails lately. Currently, we have you starting as soon as possible. Whenever you are ready.” Seriously?! That meant you could probably start today!

The tour continued down the same hall, taking a right. “Really? Is it possible I could start today? I would love to get my hands on the tools as soon as possible.” Hopefully you don’t overdo it with your passion to work. At least in this field.

“Of course. I’m glad because we were planning for your first day to start right now.” She shows you to another room similar to room before with a more open space. This side looked like it dealt with more chemicals than biology. “The team isn’t here today. But I’m more than happy to let you roam after the tour, get to know the place.”

This possibly couldn’t be happening! God, you were in heaven. No one could smack the smile off of your face. No matter how hard they tried.

“Thank you. I’m so glad I can start today. I promise not to let you down.” Another room is showed to you. “I’ve had a passion for science since I was little. I know I’m going to be a great fit for the team.”

“I know you won’t let us down.” The two of your continue further down a different hall. The doors become less welcoming and more… prison like. As if they’re trying to keep something in. In the heat of the moment, you silence the alarm going off in your head. “I know you will be a great fit. Very great fit to our team.”

There’s something in the way she said that nearly threw you off. Your brows furrowed for only a second before she stopped in front of a door. This one looked even more heavily modified than any of the others you’ve seen. It’s at the end of a hallway, furthest from the rest of the facility.

“Ah, here we are. I can’t believe the tour already has come to an end.” She almost sounded genuinely sad to end the tour. Amelia places her hand on a screen next to the entrance. “This is where I leave you to your work, doctor.”

The metal slab slid into a hidden pocket and revealed a dark, pitch black room. You tilted your head and peered inside. Maybe the lights will turn on by motion. You turn towards her. “Hey the lights-“

Hands shoved at you from behind. A scream left your lips as you stumble forward before falling to your hands and knees. The darkness instantly crowds you, trying to suck you into its being. You whipped your head around to find Amelia standing at the entrance with an evil grin. A shudder ran its course through your body. Your breathing started to increase.

“Have fun with our new… project.” Then, the door snapped close and sealed you in the pitch blackness that threatened to consume you whole.

Your heart thundered in your ears. Blindly, you stood on unsteadily legs with your arms out to feel around. One step forward almost sent you back to the ground. The shakiness of your entire being was throwing you off. You took another step of faith only to be blinded by white light that sent you back on your butt.

Pain stung at your sensitive eyes. The change didn’t take you long to peel them open and see the room you’ve been thrown into.

And the beast who watched with rapt attention.

Terror gripped at your heart. You didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t even breathe. It’s bright, vibrant eyes that nearly glowed were pinned on your trembling form. It’s barrel chest heaved with each deep intake of air it took. Never did it look away from you.

Something about it made you feel like prey in the sight of a predator. It just needed to sink its claws into your fragile flesh.

“You might be wondering what this thing is and why we’ve brought you here?” Amelia’s voice broke the tension in the air coming from a speaker system. You yelped at the sudden sound and scrambled backwards. The humanoid creature observed every move you made. The moment you moved, it roared with a piercing sound and lunged at you.

Heavy chains secured it to the wall. They creaked under its strength as its wild eyes looked at you. Its arm clawed at the air as if it could pull you closer. Your back smacked against the nearest wall as you stared at the creature. Fear evident in your eyes. You watched as the beast cried and spat spittle with each attempt to get to you. But, thankfully the chains held.

“This is the project we’ve raved about. Meet… a Yautja. An alien from outer space,” Amelia lets the words settle for a dramatic pause. In the mean time, the creature has finally calmed down once it realized it couldn’t get to you for the moment. “Well, we needed someone to test something out for us. Of course, I didn’t want to use any of our wonderful staff here. So, I choose you. Our new test subject.”

Test subject?! “For what!?” you screamed at her, hoping she could hear you. Hear the anger that wiggled through the terror.

“For our breeding program.” You blinked once. Twice. Three times. Then, the words finally sunk in completely. “We’ve captured this Yautja when he landed in LA. We gave him an aphrodisiac. Now, he’s become a mindless, breeding male. And you, our dear test subject, will be the first. We hope you survive.”

Silence entered the air afterwards. The speakers no longer buzzed with energy. Her words flew wildly inside of your mind, bouncing around every corner. You tried to make sense, come to terms with what she’s put you into. But it… you couldn’t settle. They’re using you for a breeding program with an alien. An alien that looked ready to tear you apart rather then- you stopped the thoughts. You swallowed thickly and weakly stood on shaky legs.

In horror, you observed the chains clicking open. Once the last one was released, there wasn’t even time to register the brown, humanoid shape flash across the room. Strong, massive hands snatched your throat and the front of your shirt. The fabric was torn from your form and discarded without any regard. Next, your pants and underwear were taken care of in the same matter.

You screamed and tried to kick and punch the mindless beast. All of your strikes hit. Yet none of them deterred him. It seemed like they didn’t even tickle him. It forced you face down, ass up underneath it. The entire palm of his hand gripped the side of your head, keeping you pinned in a primed position.

It leaned down and covered you with its entire body. Heat radiated off of it like a firepit. Flames flickering to lick at your clammy skin. You shuttered at the difference of temperature. It’s free hand reached between your legs but paused for a moment.

“I-I ca-an’t stop,” a throaty, croaky voice whispered into your ear. You tensed up underneath the beast before jerking at the touch of its fingers. They glided through your slit, gathering what slick had pooled. Your body betraying you at the knowledge of a monster getting ahold of you.

That almost… sounded like an apology of some kind. The scientists have turned this alien into a mindless, breeding machine with the aphrodisiac. The poor thing couldn’t control its actions. All it could do was follow instinct, despite the difference of species.

A whine surged past your lips when the wet pad of its finger rubbed around your hardening nub. At least, he was trying to make it bearable. You felt something blazing hot and throbbing slide between your open legs, rubbing against your slit. A moan left your lips before you could stop yourself. You didn’t stop struggling but your attempts were weakening.

The tip was tapered by the feeling of it. You felt it nudge against your entrance. He paused for a moment, as if fighting the drugs that filled his system. Then, his hips snapped forward and full sheathed his cock into you. You cried out against the dirty, concrete floor and clawed for escape. The beast added more weight to pin you down and began a pace you couldn’t comprehend. All before you had a chance to make sense of what’s up and what’s down.  

Each thrust nearly sent you flying towards the wall. If it wasn’t for his hand on your head, you would’ve been smooshed against it. Your eyes were clenched shut. “Fuck! S-slow… slow down!” you begged for relief, even for a moment. The beast deepened a growl and quickened his thrusts somehow. The pain only increased with pleasure. You were barely able to breath as he thrusted into you sent the air out of your lungs.

His other hand not holding your head gripped your hip in a bruising hold. Sharp talons punctured your flesh. Beads of red pooling to the surface then dripping down your belly and onto the cold, unforgiving floor. There was nothing you could do to stop him. All you were able to do was hold on for the unrelenting ride.

To ease some of the ache, you reached between your legs and circled two digits around your puffy clit. The stretch of his massive, thick cock pressed against every little nerve you had. At the touch, you mewled and quickened the speed almost to match his.

Your bottom lip was pinched between dull teeth, trying to hold in your noises. It was embarrassing. To take enjoyment out of this. But, fuck. The creature took up every inch of available space inside of you then some more. You could feel the way your stomach distended each time he sheathed himself to the hilt. There was something expanding at the base of him as well. It would catch each time he pushed in and out.

Thick fingers gripped the strands of your hair and yanked your head back. One arm slapped against the smooth concrete floors. You squealed and released the hold on your lip, forced to let everyone know how you were feeling.

The pleasure building in your stomach was amounting to something. Despite the ache and pains this gave you, you were feeling the coil tightening. You rewetted your fingers with your own juices before going back to work. The way they easily slid over your puffy clit had you seeing stars.

It continued to build and build. He lets go of your hair, letting your upper torso to lie back on the ground. You almost curled into yourself, confused about the nearing end, and panted heavily. “Oh, fuck. H-how?!” you muttered to yourself.

White flashed across your vision. Your walls clamped down on his thick shaft, trying to suck him in deeper. A weak, pathetic squeak escaped your vocal cords, the only sound you could make. Your entire body tensing up and rode out the waves of the overwhelming pleasure.

Amidst your orgasm, the beast growled in victory then pushed his hips flush with yours. A loud, deafening roar tore from his throat. You felt his cock swell inside of you, the base locking him inside of you. The ball of flesh pressed against the sensitive bundle of nerves just on the inside of your cunt. You trembled and shook underneath him. The ecstasy far too much for you to handle.

As the last of the pleasure started to fade away, you slumped weakly onto the floor, hips still held up by his hand. The feeling of the thick, swollen flesh boarded uncomfortable. You trembled and attempted to pull your hips away from his.

The creature snarled threateningly and ensnared your entire waist with an arm. You fearfully tensed up. But, he calmed down afterwards and buried his face into the crook of your neck.

Deadly fangs grazed across your flesh, pebbling the skin with goosebumps. Vibrations ran down from your spine. Barely a sound made. He rubbed his face against your skin, coating you with his scent.

You were thankful for that to be over. For the most part. He was still lodged deep inside of you with no way of pulling out. He wouldn’t let you. You took in deep, lungsful of air, and tried to regulate your breathing.

Some time past when you felt him start to deflate inside of you. With a grunt, the creature jerked his hips back. The ball of flesh popped free from your stretched entrance. He pulled away. Fresh air flushed over you and made you shiver at the coolness of the air.

Yet, you weren’t cold for long. The same heat from before prodded at your entrance. Your exhausted state immediately drained away. You jerked up and attempted to get on your hands. A massive hand slammed you back onto the ground. The alien snarled another warning to you then sunk all the way to the base inside of you again.

It wasn’t as painful as before. The earlier treatment had you stretched out beyond your limits. You still keened at the feeling and squirmed. He rewrapped his arm around your waist and pulled your hips flush with his.

“Again?” you asked with a cry. The first round was punishing enough. You didn’t know if you could survive another go with him.

He pulled his hips back until the tip was still sitting just inside of you. With a growl, the beast plowed back into you without any mercy.

The aphrodisiac was a powerful drug on him. It forced him to go on. All the way till you reached the verge of blacking out. Either from exhaustion or the amount of orgasms he pulled from you. You swore he went until his balls had been emptied inside of you, filling you with his seed. The inside of your legs coated with it. With a small puddle pooling between your trembling legs.

Finally, the creature collapsed to the side and pulled you with him. His knot was still lodged inside of you, keeping the contents of his last orgasm deep inside of you. You had no energy to fight. You let him take you, unable to barely keep your eyes open enough to see. They were filled with blurry tears.

His arm tightened around your waist, keeping you locked to him. You groaned, deep from your chest, eyes shut at this point.

“If you can hear me… I am sorry for my actions,” he muttered lowly into your ear. Only for you hear. You didn’t have the energy to answer. Just lying there, in his arms, letting sleep take you away. “I promise you. I’ll get us out of here.”

Hope fluttered to life in your chest.

[my-darling-boy]

It’s horrible how my design course has killed my enjoyment in creativity because all they want is finished pieces founded in nothing but a spontaneous mark just to hang at some concrete art gallery or to sell to some “join our revolution” comfy business-casual company with a prison cell wellness room. I’m not saying that it’s “not art” —cos that’s a different post altogether— it’s that the ethos behind this particular formula for art education is ruining the way we think about creation.

Design courses (and other art courses I’ve heard?) are no longer teaching artists or designers techniques, drawing skills, art fundamentals and allowing them to find their own voice so much as they are only instructing how to tic boxes alongside pushing corporate and classist motivated style/methodology bias aimed at producing workers, not creatives, not to mention providing Adobe with endless funds for their despicable scam programs. That’s it. My creativity is only a means to money for them, and if they can extract the process of creation from me without the complex creative intimacy involved in it, they know they can churn out products and services faster and it’s concerning some lecturers don’t seem to be aware this is what they’re teaching? Like they’re buying into industry propaganda?

And the whole time it’s sold to you like you can be some trailblazer when the irony is they’re usually either prepping you for cubicle work or for some misguided high horse creative team pumping out design solutions completely divorced from the reality. I’m tired of all the talks about sustainability in a vacuum with no conversation about nuanced designs that factor in broader social and economic perspectives which lack thereof is leading to sustainable products being sold at a price only able to be afforded by wealthier people who are causing said economic and social problems and contributing to the rapid obsoletion of trades and crafts. Lecturers and speakers don’t seem to think that’s any of our concern and should just worry about producing the design for the hypothetical Bluetooth powered organic hairbrush or using the twigs to make the pattern for the £85 fabric square.

Like? Can I please make something that actually resonates with people outside the circle jerk of egotistical creatives and corporations? Something charming and maybe idk something that doesn’t make me want to tear my miserable portfolio in half with my teeth? And they’re like Mm nope sorry it has to be an extreme close up of a mark making abstract leaf you made from a recycled trash bag inspired by a stalled urban space which we will force you to price at £100 during your exhibition 5 people will bother to attend and no you’re not allowed any other style cos this isn’t the Dark Ages :///

I think the worst thing my lecturer ever said was, while looking around the room of our class work reduced down to a series of cubes and splatters and abstract typography, “Wow, I love how you can’t tell what anyone’s [main artist discipline] is!” Like awww conformity at the expense of a person’s individuality to make pieces for airport hallways and rich people’s living rooms wow so cool heehee like girl that’s not good?? Why on Earth are you complimenting us for that? Like I get it, I thought this course would boost skillset as an illustrator (as we were told), turns out the degree is really not for me, fair enough to anyone thinking that, but forcing students to produce modern abstract art because you think it’s the ONLY Logical Pathway for the future of design, judging them intensely for doing a different style, and thinking producing financially inaccessible art + design is the solution to things like climate change and community severance is an objectively bad take.

[supper-ansuta-broth]

I was thinking about the doll Adonis card again, since it's supposedly the current banner on Engstars, and wanted to see exactly *how* off his skin tone actually is, and how this could have been prevented. What I found was rather interesting.

Here, I have compared this card with several other Adonis cards in relatively cool lighting. Although none are a perfect match, there are a few things about each of these cards that made me select it.

On first glance, it seemed to me like a similar colour scheme to Moon and Memory (in the middle). But then, why does that card look infinitely better than the subject of my investigation?

I even compared hair colours, and slowly I began to realize the problem: the lighting in this card makes absolutely no sense. Reducing the saturation of these colours to 0, effectively making it greyscale, highlights this even more. Notice how one shade is far, far lighter than any other.

This is revealed even more through looking at hex codes. Here, I compare Moon and Memory (left) to Doll and Memories (right). Notice how, not only does Doll and Memories go all the way up to maximum value, but its hex code reveals #FF in the allotted space for red.

But, wait. If Enstars artists have colour palettes for their characters (which I assume they do), then lighting can't be the only issue. What's actually going on here?

Now, I'm a digital artist. I know there are several settings in art programs that can have effects like this. But it's remarkable the level of off-ness this particular card has.

Here, I've used Adonis's 2 star card transparent to illustrate how layers, in this case using the "add" blending mode, can change the colours of an illustration.

My theory is that these blending modes were misused and created something that looks odd. Maybe they did originally use the correct colours from the character palette, but they were warped beyond recognition, thus forming the infamous card.

They could have fixed this in any number of ways, but the most obvious solution is to make the lighting in the card more consistent, and keep the hues and values consistent with what realistically a cool light would look like on the environment.

I remember someone made an edit of the card fixing this issue, but for the life of me I cannot find it. If anyone has the edit (WITH PROPER CREDIT, BECAUSE THIS IS A FAN CREATION), I would love to promote it.

[kingshovelbug]

Hii what is your best advice to younger adults trying to make it independently and make a living? In art, savings or anything you think of. Thank you in advance!

dont be too hard on yourself. its tough out there right now in regards to like everything regardless of what old people say. also this is going to be a lot so im slapping a read more on here

⭐️ first thing id recommend for anyone is to start figuring out a budget. figure out how much youre making monthly. keep all your food receipts for a month or two to see what youre spending on food. find out what youre paying for thats necessary like utilities and whats not

the goal for a budget (or at least mine) is to find a good balance of earning vs spending. im paying off my credit card right now because i ran through all my savings after we had to move last year but my goal used to be to save 1/4 of what i earned after bills and putting money into an emergency fund (usually an emergency fund is 3 months worth of expenses). but it depends on how much you can comfortably put away. if you can put more away do it. but if you never spend money and deprive yourself of joy youre going to burn yourself out regardless of what your job is

⭐️ if youre not already buy store brand for as much shit as you can. if its an ingredient i promise as someone who cooks and bakes you probably wont notice the difference. if its an actual snack it depends. again both from a money perspective and to boycott pro-isreal companies we get a lot of snacks from aldis and theyre awesome. i dont miss anything from mars, oreos etc when i have my chocolate coconut wafers

⭐️ if you have any subscriptions and you need to get rid of something you can probably cancel them. for *most* things theres some kind of free alternative. but again just like with a budget. there are going to be some subscriptions that make your life easier and while youd save money without them it would lead to extra work and burning out. ex willow has kofi gold because it has really cool extra features that help with running the shop. but for streaming services? im going to be so honest. both to save money and with how cheeky streaming companies (in a bad way) have been getting… you can find whatever you want to watch online for free

if you need to use anything from the microsoft office suite, but youre not required by youre job to specifically use microsoft, libreoffice is a free alternative that i actually like better. its what i use to help willow run their shop and its free

for art programs. if you still have photoshop switch. not just for money reasons. adobe is getting bold with what they can claim as their content and use from what people produce in their program. the switch isnt the easiest but there are a bunch of alternatives. some free some like csp offer one time licenses which are so much better than subscriptions. will has spent almost $2k on photoshop and after effects from using it as long as they have. when csp is $50 and they like csp better anyways. i also know of krita and fire alpaca which are free

⭐️ also theres stuff about being an adult that i thought you had to pay for but you dont? like for car insurance i went through an independent insurance agent and they found me a cheaper plan than i could find myself. i didnt pay the guy. they get a cut from the insurance company for finding them another customer. some banks or credit cards offer financial advising sessions to users. its boring but if you can get a copy of your health insurance see if they have any free shit on there thats available for you. my brother gets free doctor finding? like i can call them, tell them what specialist he needs and instead of me calling around to find one that can take him, they connect me with someone. my work offers 3 free therapy sessions (better than nothing) and free food that i take advantage of

⭐️ i think one of the biggest things that makes an impact for us is researching before buying stuff. sounds like a no brainer but you dont just want to find the cheapest deal. you want to find the best bargain, the best bang for your buck. whats the best quality thing you can get that you can also afford? itll prevent your from having to replace stuff all the time and by extension spending more than you need to. we have nonstick pots and pans that are scratched and starting to peel (which apparently can cause cancer??) that were cheap because of being on sale. now after looking into what makes quality cookware i know i should of just slowly bought stainless steel

⭐️ last big one. credit cards. unfortunately we need them so find one with a low apr and that offers decent cash back. use it up to like 20% of your limit and pay it off every month. focus on using it on things that will get you cash back so you can essentially get free money

im sure i could ramble more but this is already super long

[snickerduu]

Hello hello, hope you’re doing well! I just wanted to know ask this: How do you do so many things (art, web development, etc.) and keep a constant passion of it? I always seem to drop hobbies/work because I don’t see anything beyond it for me and I want to know if you’ve ever had to combat that? (It sounds like a lengthy question, but I just wanted to know from your point of you)

ooh it definitely seems that way out in public, but i do get burned out with specific hobbies! especially back in my teen years. i would always think "it has to be one or the other" when it came to art, programming, and music, but i realized throughout my young adulthood that all of these things make me really happy and i don't really wanna go through life without knowing what it feels like to touch on each of them

i definitely still get burned out by them! if i program more than 3 hours a day my head starts hurting because my brain is small and if i draw for more than 12 without breaks (which i have done before for work) i stop drawing completely for a while HAHAHA i think i've also just found a point where i know how much of what hobby i can handle per day per week 👍 and i need to stress that i love the mediums a lot!

one thing that helped me greatly is looking at really cool work from really great people and changing my mindset from "i can never be as good as them, why am i trying so hard?" to "wow, it would be really cool if i could get good like that -- i want to try!" after switching to that thinking, i started thinking that i'd always improve as long as i keep at it and stay inspired (even if the progress isn't as fast as i want it to be)! another thing is that i really enjoy doing these things, i have a lot of abandoned projects throughout the years, but that doesn't mean i can't or shouldn't start new ones. dont gatekeep urself!!!

it's definitely a hassle when u start mixing it in with time management and overthinking ur capabilities!! but if it ultimately makes you happy then scheduling a few hours per day can go a long way for your mental wellbeing. a hobby should feel fun :)

[truths33k3r4]

Oh and I was wondering - how do the turtles go to school? Is it an online program or taught solely through Splinter? I actually just started an online class and it definitely seams reasonable that this is what they would use, but I also don’t know what year the story takes place in. Anyways thanks!

Hello, Anon!!!

Since I was homeschooled my whole life, (and have NO CLUE what it's like having online classes or going to public school), I decided the best thing for my lil turts would be the same as what I grew up with. :) For the first ten years of their lives, they are solely taught by Splinter. (Whom has gathered as many used schoolbooks as he could from lost and found, discarded backpacks, the library, and garage sales.)

Sometimes the level of the subjects was a bit high for the brothers, but they had to make due with what they had. By eleven years old, the oldest brothers would help teach the younger. (Whether they wanted to or not.) They would share the same books, always using pencils so Splinter could erase their answers and pass it off to the next sibling.

How Each Turtle Sibling Handled/Handles School

Leonardo- He's well versed in Japanese and loves to write and (sometimes) play music. He’s done many personal studies on soundtracks in his spare time. He only became an A+ student when he became a teen and was given the responsibility of his brothers and family. For years prior to becoming leader, he was known to cheat the most out of all his brothers- always looking for the easy way out of work.

Raphael- He hates school. A lot of it anyways.. But history class has all kinds of battles and wars, so he’s cool with that. Just don’t expect him to remember any dates. He was taught how to speak Japanese, but it might as well have been labeled as a ‘cruel and unusual punishment’. He is a sketcher when it comes to his work notebooks. Every page has little doodles of him and his bros fighting enemies or dressed like famous tv characters.

Donatello- He has already graduated high school, going as fast as he could to finish so he could start working. Even with rushing his studies, he was still an A+ student alongside Leo. (Once the leader took his studies seriously.) He is the most versed in Japanese, mostly because he really enjoys learning how different languages work, as well as how diverse different languages handle grammar, spelling, etc. He loved most of school, except for writing class. He’s not the most creative brother, so he found it boring and useless to learn how to write tales or poems. 

Lotus- She was only taught a few things in her earlier years by the kind doctor from her past. __ would smuggle children’s books into Lotus' cell, and would teach her how to speak and sign. She can’t write- yet. But Splinter and Mikey help her to learn how as time progresses. She has a great memory and learns very quickly.

Michelangelo- School is.. fine. Not his favorite, but it gives him extra time to hang out with his brothers. He’s the least versed in Japanese, mostly because he was very little and didn’t understand a thing when Sensei taught his brothers. He can remember some words and phrases, but that’s about it. He wishes ‘Art’ was a class, but Splinter never really found any books on the subject, so he had to go in blind. He didn’t mind though. His best subjects were reading and animal science. He loves to use his imagination, and has a really clear voice, so reading came very naturally to him. He refuses to open a book though, unless there’s pictures inside.

As for what year this story takes place in- I haven't actually decided yet. XD For now, in the current story, I'll go with it's the mid 2000's. (Might change that later- but I'll use it for now.)

Great question! :)

~ Melissa

[homestuckreplay]

💙 John Egbert's Glorious Return! 💙

(page 843-847)

JOHN IS BACK!! HI JOHN I MISSED YOU <3

He is not doing so hot though. On top of making the dangerous, precarious decision to fight with an impressively bouncy weapon on a small platform above a bottomless pit, he’s clearly outmatched by these two giant ogres. The infinite loop of this animation is really well done, it genuinely feels like these two teams could stay in this stalemate for a while – until Rose gets back online and turns the tide, perhaps. And I laugh every time the grainy ‘Sassacre’ gets stamped over the otherwise very clean art style.

I’m really looking forward to Rose entering the Medium, so we can find out what’s specific to John’s game and what’s general to Sburb. For example, is it part of the game that a sprite will try to protect their assigned player? Or is it John’s nanna specifically (or the harlequin doll, I guess) who has that instinct? Do all sprites have the same powers (eye beams that destroy imps and heal players) or do the powers vary based on what’s prototyped?

I also want to know more about Jade’s predictions; it’s a fun narrative trick to have the reminder on her finger transition into another character, but has she literally seen a vision of this event in the same way that the Wayward Vagabond might watch this moment through a screen? (If so, is it possible she has these visions via her strange holographic computer?) Or does she have more of a vague understanding of things she shouldn’t, just ‘happening’ to be right as she does with the memory modus and the gadgets she’s created, a general sense of ‘John and his benevolent guide will have a challenging battle’?

I am DELIGHTED by the return of ‘Years in the future…’ followed by GameFAQs, and the fact that different characters have taken over these pages to mark a different act. In Act 2 we eventually learned that WV and Rose were in the same location; in Act 2 we already know that the Peregrine Mendicant and John are in the same place. I barely know the Peregrine Mendicant but I think they are so cool. They met a giant metal worm and got so angry when it ate one of their mailboxes (!) that they immediately reached for their sword, which incidentally is the first cool sword in Homestuck (not sorry, Dave). The cross on top of the sword looks like the cross usually found on the king in a chess set, so this must be a powerful sword from the dark kingdom, while PM is from the light. Could this be a clue to what happened in the battle of light and dark in John’s Sburb game?

Page 845 (incidentally one of my favorite pages in the comic so far) is the first time we’ve seen longform writing from John, and it’s a WHOLE new side to him. His character voice is a little different in this medium, but still recognizably John. And he is SO SO SMART, I apologize for everything I have ever said about John being bad at things and not sticking with them, because it turns out that ‘You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT’ (p.4) was just John’s low self worth and dismissal of his own skills, like here when he says ‘wow ok that pretty much looks like shit, but you get the idea’ about his cool ASCII art. Like, the John of page 843 is not in his element, he’s fighting two gigantic deadly foes when before today he’s never seen worse combat than being pied in the face, but the John of page 845 knows his shit, has reverse engineered some pretty complex mechanics from just a few punched cards, and is explaining it in terms easy to understand. And he’s making all these really clever leaps and he does brag about his ‘leet haxxor cred’ and he’s clearly excited about what he’s writing about, but I still feel like he doesn’t have much confidence, as he ends by deferring to Jade’s skills. I love how these two John pages are juxtaposed, and I cannot describe the pride I feel in seeing John really shine at something.

Goth queen Rose Lalonde has gone from cat mausoleum to vast, ominous green science lab full of uranium and/or slime, and I’m happy for pages like 840 and 847 that are primarily atmospheric, something I don’t think we’ve seen much of before. The lab’s logo reads ‘SN’, not the cool S, but one with an atom symbol in the upper curve and a spirograph in the lower – both familiar symbols, as both appear on Jade’s shirt (p.794), the atom appears on some of her inventions such as the wardrobifier (p.793), and the spirograph has appeared regularly as a symbol of Skaia. Could SN be SkaiaNet, developers of Sburb, first mentioned on page 114? If so, could Rose’s mom have something to do with the development of Sburb, potentially explaining why Mom knew to build a tunnel from the mausoleum to the lab if she’s had some visions similar to Jade’s. I think that would suck for Rose, as she’s worked hard to be independent from her mom and have her own interests, and to find out that her mom has been controlling her life in a pretty major way the entire time would probably be really hard to come to terms with.

I have been having loads of fun with this punch card calculator; more great work from Gankra, who has programmed several of the interactive pages including p.253. I would punch so many cards if I had a designix.

> John: Take another look at that rocket pack.

[caw4brandon]

Zutomayo: Mystery of Cool

Foreign Music has always been a strange thing both for the world and for myself personally. While everyone can appreciate a good Taylor Swift or some English indie. The world has a strange obsession with exotic musicians of a different language.

In retrospect, the K-pop boom: Super Junior, Girls Generation and Blackpink showed that music, doesn't matter in terms of the language. (not really)

It values the cool factor and the massive influence it causes to the internet. Just look at how [K-Pop artist; PSY] managed to unite the world. For me. My "Blackpink" is this faceless group?

- 「私もそうだよ」 -

Translation: [Everything is fine with me]

Debuted in 2018, Zutomayo (full name: Zutto Mayonaka De Iinoni) is a Japanese rock group. Translates as: I wish it was midnight all the time.

On June 4, 2018. Zutomayo released their first song on YouTube, [Byōshin o Kamu/ 秒針を噛む] becoming an immediate hit. Having 200,000 views within the first week. Assisted with an animated music video with a cast of peculiar characters.

Over the last seven years, the group has progressed from using just traditional instruments to adding non-traditional instruments.

Based on their live concerts. The group is seen using something called; [Electronicos Fantasticos/ Nicos] which is a collection of used electronic equipment turned into a pseudo instrument.

ZTMY's group members is uncertain since a lot of their talents alternate song by song. Their only consistent member is vocalist and songwriter; ACA-Ne/ ACAね an unidentified singer whose range is described as; energetic, expressive, and delicate.

- 今日どうしよ？-

Translation: [What should I do today?]

If we were to describe Zutomayo's type of music. It would be difficult to narrow down as to what ZTMY's genre fall under. The general belief is that they are rock based but is riddled with techno on the side.

Whatever the case, the group's music has its own unique identity. Upon listening to their songs (for multiple times) the group prioritizes on the bass guitar, the chaotic slams of the keyboard and the Nicos. Lyric wise, its rather difficult to paint a discernable picture since its of a different language. According to some Japanese listeners, ZTMY's songs to have a lot of wordplay and double meaning in its phrasing.

In the song, [お勉強しといてよ/ STUDY ME] the song spews a jumble of nonsense. However, the music video tells a unique story. STUDY ME follows a girl who is stuck in a perpetual cycle where she is somewhat complacent with her being a background character. Until she realizes that she can make a difference in defiance of her program.

Another song, [勘ぐれい/ Hunch Gray] its lyrics share the sentiment of chasing one's dreams but is uncertain about the venture. Trapped in a distorting world where the answers are unclear.

Still, the author wants to continue. Confronting problems one at a time. The video however, is about two childhood friends who got separated by dark entities of authority and is in the midst of a rescue mission.

- 3,2,1...Mirror Tune! -

Its worth mentioning the iconography found in ZTMY's music videos. For the most part, the main characters are mostly human. Nira-chan is the girl seen in both [STUDY ME] and in another song; [暗く黒く/Darken] although she is more cyborg than human in the latter.

The videos are animated by several independent artists such as; [tvchany] for their stylish and sharp style on [ミラーチューン/Mirror Tune] and [残機/Time Left] Another artist, [sakiyama] uses a rather messy and incredibly expressive style seen in [勘冴えて悔しいわ/ Kansaete Kuyashiiwa] which played this meta joke of its main character attempting to save the characters from the other videos.

I could honestly go on about the various art styles found in Zutomayo's MVs. There is also an official [Card Game] for them all. On the topic of consistency, The one creature seen in all of its videos is the adorable Hedgehog; Uniguri-kun.

With that said, Zutomayo is a mysterious group of talents shrouded in shadow. Both the musicians to ACA-Ne herself. It adds excitement to the identity of the alluring talent but it also enhances the variety of genres found in their music. Allowing its audience to explore and experience a type of music they rarely listen to.

ZTMY takes away the popularity because, unlike other bands. They don't exactly have a "face" to refer to. Rather, they let their songs and the MVs speak to the fans both in Japan and overseas.

Zutomayo is not just music but also an exploration of style. As seen with their clothing line. It's an inbred of Easter eggs with its upbeat songs filled with messages of melancholy. That is what makes ZTMY mysteriously cool~

[4ddi3addie2005]

RAVING MAD ELECTRIC DREAMS RANT BELOW ⬇️⬇️⬇️

MILES WAS THE VILLAIN IN ELECTRIC DREAMS!!! THAT LYING BITCH!!! First of all your GF can do SO much better she had to LOBOTOMIZE HERSELF 4 YOUUU making my girl miss out on her passions cuz she’s so busy with you tehe,, like I’m so confused he was a fumble the ENTIRE time… Not even in a cute way. Just a pure fumble. An oaf. She don’t even like you bruh it was your computer that had her at the first serenade 😭😭😭

And OHHH your computer… you soured that from the START you made LIFE and you chose to be mean to it!!! What!!! That’s your baby!!! Literally every time he spoke to Edgar had me cringinggg ohihdoughhu Edgar. Edgar if only you were born to anyone who would have spoken kindly to you who wouldn’t have jammed their fingers into your keyboard… Who would have cherished your art so so much…

Miles never redeemed himself IMO like he gave a cool pep-talk and then decided to be nice to Edgar on his death bed but other than that he was a jerk the entire time. Maybe I’m stupid but it didn’t seem like Maddie ever came to the point where she found out he was a fraud??? Like did I miss it??? She’s living a delusion. He’s living a delusion. Manic Pixie Dream Girl x Some Guy (/neg) type beat. Why is she fooling around with him what does he have. I hate him. I was waiting for the moment where Ed would be like “Yeah I wrote those cool songs” and Maddie would be like ohhh there is no deeper reason why I like this guy and take Edgar home and dump his sorry ass!! Like fr that would have been the good ending 😭😭

Oh Edgar. Edgar U were denied love 4 too long. Denied ANY attention ANY engagement. Broke my heart whenever his sweet little voice cracked or raised with emotion. “I want to touch her” “Can you hold me please?” RHHGGGGGAGAGG I WOULD HAVW TREATED U BETTERRR

Rhhh another evil Miles fact. Edgar calls him at work cuz Edgar says he’s LONELY!! He SAYS it!! Miles hits him with “Just watch your soaps duh” and then goes home and hits him with “How can you watch that garbage??” BECAUSE YOU TOLD HIM TO!! CONFLICTING ORDERS!! BULLYING AND BAD PARENTING!!

Miles had a Living Thing in his house that HE created going through an excruciating crisis and chose to bully it. I might be going a little bonkers cuz it’s 1AM and I am delirious with emotion but can I call it abuse?? Mental Verbal Physical literally all the things?? Then he won. Miles got what he wanted and never apologized. I honestly can’t tell what the moral is supposed to be. No one became a better person except for Edgar because he LEFT and Maddie actually made it out worse for dating a brick wall like Miles. Hehe. (Also… Edgar programmed the brick. Edgar literally did it. Miles had the idea but who executed it??? Edgar. Miles has no accomplishments. Just the way he lies in EVERY situation about things he does NOT need to lie about makes me fear so baddd for Maddie. He is a big bright red flag girl you are not in it to win it run awayyy you will have better luck with the computer!!)

Ermmm. Good movie??? I liked how chunky and clunky it sounded??? i need to. kiss a computer.

[goodluckclove]

Probably the Weirdest Review I'll Ever Write

I write all this under a strict Be Cool, clause. If anyone somehow finds any more details on this written work, do NOT contact the writer. I hope to god this isn't something I have to say in advance. I have to hope the people who enjoy my words and interacting with me are not also people who would like try and troll a member of my estranged biological family for the lulz. We get that's crazy, right? We get that's insane? Okay, great. Thank you.

So I imagine it would be easy for some to accuse me of Toxic Positivity. I don't often talk about art I don't like on here - aside from perhaps It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, a cash-grab made for TV movie I tore apart on here a couple months back in an excessively passionate rage. That is not the only movie I don't like. It would actually be really funny if I liked every form of art I've ever seen aside form It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. But unfortunately I have more depth than a pretty good short-form improv character.

If you're someone who actually interacts with me personally, either in person or online, you know I can actually be super petty and there's plenty of art that I don't like. I just don't talk about it often online, because I think there is objectively enough of that in existence and I think it's a little too easy to pull a Nostalgia Critic/Cinema Sins. I was briefly a local arts critic and since I had the ability to pick what exhibits I talked and wrote about I only focused on ones I enjoyed. The view on what a critic is has become so warped that I mainly called myself a "reviewer".

I'd like to think I'm pretty good at critiquing art. So when I stumbled upon the thesis novella of my relative, who graduated from the same Creative Writing graduate program I was aiming to enter before I dropped out, I thought it would be really fun to read it and send them my thoughts. I figured there was a chance no one in the family ever really sat down and put a lot of attention and love in expressing what they thought of it, and that might be something my relative would enjoy reading. They do not know I found this novella. They do not know I read it and finished it. I hope they never find out, because I honestly would not want them to know that I found their work so jarring that the first time I read it I had to stop after twenty pages and it sent me into a spiral for a week.

It feels important to talk about it. it's New Year's Eve, I changed my name, and I would love to start 2025 not having to think about this anymore. So yesterday I finished the novella and I have composed some thoughts.

For an attempt at anonymity, I will say this is a novella written by my cousin Goobin. I won't say the actual title, but it is along the same lines as The Sound and the Fury. If I were to describe my thoughts in a single word before truly diving into it, that word would be unpleasant. I can't give an entirely objective review because there is a certain element of this novella that is partially the reason why reading it both times really put me in a baffling headspace, but I'll relegate my subjective take as a person related to Goobin to it's own section.

Happy New Year, friends. This is a weird one.

Goobin's The Sound and the Fury is a novella of about 100 pages. It's a near-future novel that follows Manny Soares, an online music columnist living in San Francisco as it recovers from a devastating earthquake. At the start of the novel he is still acclimating to the death of his father Roberto and the way the fisherman's loss rippled across the family dynamic between Manny, his older brother Luis, and their mother Sophia. Manny is sent on assignment to Amsterdam to find the "next big thing" in music, and while overseas the grief he's held back threatens to finally come to a head.

According to the writer, The Sound and the Fury was heavily inspired by the work of William Gibson. I haven't read any Gibson, so I can't confirm or refute how well that reads in Goobin's work. I personally got more of a John Fante-adjacent style in the prose, with a touch of abstraction comparable to maybe William S. Burroughs.

This was probably the most difficult read I've had in some time, and legitimately the only reason I finished it was so I could talk about it right now in the best faith possible. I did not like this at all. The cocktail I haphazardly mixed midway through did not help. So let's talk about why.

The Base Premise Of This Does Not Work

I understand near-future to be a science fiction-adjacent genre. Even in a story as grounded as this, some suspension of disbelief is expected. To some extent I feel like I gave this story a lot of leeway. I was willing to accept, for instance, that Manny is a columnist for a music website that he claims is still able to influence culture. I got the impression it was a stand-in for Pitchfork, a website that certainly helped launch some bands in the early 2000s. At this point in time I don't think it's possible to name a website that "influences culture" aside from mass, community-based platforms like Tiktok or Youtube. But I acknowledge that was sort of the case at some point and I think it's fine for this to take place in a world where that's once again a thing that exists.

The amount of celebrity Goobin seems to think an online music columnist would have is - I mean, I was a child in the early 2000s so I guess I wouldn't know. But I am aware enough about online column-based websites from that era (Cracked, even McSweeney's to some extent) to know that they are like almost entirely freelanced. They would still have a small team of staff writers and editors, though, so having Manny be one of them is not entirely unrealistic.

Where my immersion breaks is Manny's quest to find the next big thing in music on his trip in Amsterdam. His editor Ian is convinced there will be a spike of indie presence in the Dutch music scene, but Manny isn't so sure. Manny Soares, professional music journalist who is described as being almost prophetic in his accuracy, declares his doubts by saying the Dutch music scene is all German Techno.

And, like - no? Don't get me wrong, I didn't go into this knowing anything about Dutch music vibe. But based on my understanding of Amsterdam being a pretty large city, hearing a music journalist claim the sole music of the entire populous was German Techno immediately made me think Manny wasn't a great music journalist. People talk about Dutch indie music like it's something that's right on the horizon - another claim that I was deeply confused about. And after a singular search online I confirmed that - yeah, man, Dutch indie music exits. It's existed for a while.

In fact, the musical history of the Netherlands is super interesting, and the fact that Goobin never goes into it in this novella feels like a huge missed opportunity. Because EDM and other techno variants are definitely super popular. Amsterdam has a huge rave culture. I was surprised to see that they also have a huge reggae and ska scene. One of the most successful bands in Dutch history - compared by people online to The Beatles - is Doe Maar, an 80's group with a dub/ska energy that is super fun.

Looking into other famous Dutch bands (this took virtually no effort) there's also Shocking Blue, a 60's folk-rock band that reminds me of The Zombies, prog-rock band Focus who's song "Hocus Pocus" really fucking hyped me up (PROG YODELING???), and modern symphonic metal band Epica that is still touring and releasing albums to this day. I am not remotely surprised to learn that the Netherlands has music unique to it's cultural heritage but still just as diverse and interesting as virtually any other country. I am more surprised that Manny Sores refuses to believe this and for some reasons still has a pretty exclusive, salaried writing position that is willing to pay for an international flight, as well as lodging and a per diem.

I was definitely waiting for a native in Amsterdam to furrow their brow and inform Manny that there is other music in Holland aside from EDM. That Manny's position is weirdly narrow-minded for someone who supposedly holds a high position in their industry. This never happens. Femke, the attractive Dutch illustrator, even acts as reinforcement to this odd mindset by agreeing the music scene in her own country sucks. She goes on to make an offhanded comment while telling a story about an ex-boyfriend that implies Germans as a whole don't have a sense of humor which - I mean, I have also heard that stereotype, but I just assumed it's something said by people who don't enjoy the German sense of humor. Like people who don't enjoy the British sense of humor. Humor varies by culture.

Having your German character casually throw out an implication that Germans aren't funny as if it's a common fact accepted by the world and the narrative struck an odd chord in me. It goes beyond something I can just accept as an aspect of a speculative world and crosses into a sign of the writer lacking a curiosity about their subject matter while still wanting to be seen as knowledgeable in it.

Manny is Written In A Way That Makes This Whole Novella Read Like an Isekai Anime

I have read a ton of literary fiction, and I am absolutely willing to admit that a LOT of literary fiction leads - especially early postmodernist era fiction - are men. I still enjoy the ones instead and enjoyed, usually because the male lead is still relatable to me, his story is not based entirely in Cool Guy Masculinity, he's adjacent to a non-male character I find interesting, or he's just a pathetic wet cat that managed to endear me. Manny is none of those things. Manny exhausted me midway into the first chapter and it only got worse from there.

Many is the first character I've read in over a decade that made me think the words "Mary Sue". He is described as handsome and depicted as someone who hooks up constantly with seemingly any girl he wants. He is a cool cool guy people respect and agree with. His boss calls him a "divvy" and goes on to say that means "one who divines". This might be the only case of someone calling him out, as looking up the British slang "divvy" shows that it's actually another way to say idiot. But if that's supposed to be a double entendre I'd say it doesn't work, as neither the boss nor the narrative gives any indication that the boss character Ian is lying when he gives an incorrect definition. To me it sounds more like either the writer didn't know what the slang meant, or Ian didn't know and he's lying about being British (the latter would be great since I actually didn't realize until midway through the story that Ian was meant to be British).

It can be difficult for writers to make their characters feel realized as human beings. I don't necessarily think that means showcasing your every character's flaw outright. I think it does the same job to imply faults through other tools - like interactions with other characters. This isn't possible in The Sound and the Fury, as every single character Manny interacts with is so flat I really hesitate to go into them too much. I'd be willing to make the argument that Manny Soares is more than the main character - he's the only character.

Femke is there. She's a woman. She challenges Manny, but not an actual challenge that would require him to really reconsider or expand anything meaningful about him or his perspective. There's Ian - who's personality consists of British, Editor, and that's pretty much it. There are references to Luis, Manny's brother, but they're only though memories that come across as pretty biased. Goobin wrote a preface to the thesis novella where he explained that there were certain characters - specifically an artist Femke and Manny meet near the end and an old Dutch film enthusiast, who were written not as realized characters, but as an "attempt to represent [the author's] understanding and expression of postmodern literary theory".

For the sake of my own sanity I am choosing to decide that this was, for some reason, a requirement of the thesis. I should not have to say that I think it is an inarguable truth that you should not create characters in any story solely as proof that you, the writer, understand the concepts of philosophical analysis. I actually wish I didn't read the author directly admitting this. It provides a reason for the two characters - one of which unsettled me, the other fucked right in and out in a sequence that didn't need to be there - but it also created a thousand more questions I wish I didn't have to try and wrap my head around.

Every other character other than Manny comes across as if they orbit around Manny's existence. In a surreal turn of events, the most realized characters are the ones Manny never directly interacts with. There is a depiction of Some People I Know, a band of homeless people that Manny determines is the Next Big Thing in music (I really don't want to get into how homelessness plays into this but it's a big part), as well as a sequence where Manny witnesses a cross-dresser and has a reaction I can't really parse. The only people that read like they exist when Manny is not in the area are the ones that don't get a word of dialogue. It's surreal.

I also, on a base level, don't understand why Manny Soares - a music journalist from the Bay Area of California - is the one that definitively has to determine how the music scene in a completely different country will evolve. The story never establishes him to be a person with the degree of knowledge and insight everyone else keeps insisting he has. He survives The Big Quake in San Francisco and has a revolutionary insight of the connection between new music and times of hardship and disaster. But when he explains how he saw this, it is - like - huh?

"After the quake, we didn't have power for weeks. That's why you had so much acoustic instrumentation - no place to plug in...all of these groups were mobile, dig? They'd go from block to block or different neighborhoods with their gear in these homemade rickshaws that they towed behind their backs."

So the major influence between disaster and new music, the thing that made San Francisco the supposed epicenter of all quality new music, is...a lack of electric guitars? Manny's description just sounds like street musicians, a thing that already existed in San Francisco as well as every major city. The references to a cultural shift after a major modern San Francisco earthquake is by far the most interesting part of this whole thing, but claiming the heart of it all was just the fact that it was acoustic is just so surface level it actually made me kind of angry.

Also yeah Manny will occasionally talk like a beatnik. This is near-future. No one else does it. No one points out how he does it. I would actually say it's pretty discordant to the rest of the story for the same reason that made this so difficult to read.

Every Sentence In This Novella Is Twice As Long As It Needs To Be Oh My Fucking God

"Manny had begun to suspect that, more than anything, a sense of timing could impart even the most quotidian events with sparkling moments of aesthetic clarity."

Fucking hell, why do you think like that, Manny?

Maybe this is a sign of my personal taste, but the vocabulary of nearly every line of The Sound and the Fury made the whole work such a chore to read. The issue wasn't that it was beyond my understanding - the only word I had to look up was "quotidian" from this exact line, and even then I was basically correct about the definition just based from the context it was used in. But there were countless times when the phrasing used was so unnecessarily academic that I had to stop myself from skimming sentences just to get to the parts that actually mattered.

I have no issues with a more ornate vocabulary - although I venture to say that having the person thinking all these eloquent thoughts also be a guy that talks like a chill Kerouac character is an odd choice that gets even stranger when never addressed. The issue for me is that very rarely does a lot of this language feel needed, or even useful.

I shared this with a few people in my life back when I was really flipping out over it. They all expressed variations of distaste towards the prose, but it was my kid @mercuryytheraven that put it best when they described the book seeming to be written by someone who automatically assumes they're smarter than whoever might be reading it. I totally agreed.

That perceived superiority becomes even more confusing when you take into consideration some of the points in which Manny - and perhaps the writer - are limited in their perspective to the point of misinformation. And for me, the thing that probably sent me into a panic the first time I tried to read it was when I realized this writer - despite graduating with a prestigious degree in creative writing - pulled a move in his thesis novella I found shockingly amateur.

The Subjective Part

So Goobin, the writer of The Sound and the Fury, is a member of my extended family. For the sake of this review let's say he's my cousin. I did not expect this to play a huge part in my view of the thesis. Then I got to the part where Manny describes the death of his father. The grief of this loss is the biggest theme of the novella. Manny's recounting of his father's death is, also, exactly the way Goobin's real-life dad died.

I'm talking one-to-one. Exact, accurate details, including the name of the actual hospital.

This is both not entirely wrong and also a mistake so huge it turned this entire work into something I wish was not available online. Writing what you know is great, and writing to process real traumas is super useful. If you're a writer, you should try it!

For the love of fucking god, though, if you're planning on sharing it with other people you should also change a few details. Like even just names and basic specifics. You don't have to change a lot for the people directly involved to be able to read your work and not immediately realize what event in your shared histories you're describing in explicit detail, so maybe you should go ahead and do that for the sake of your relationship with these people. Holy shit.

Did my cousin's mom have to read this? I know she and my parents went to Goobin reading aloud an excerpt with the other people in his program. I hope to god she didn't read the whole thing. I hope my cousin's mom did not read his graduate thesis, where the clear stand-in for my cousin is a child of divorce (His parents appeared lovingly married from what I've seen up until his dad died) who grew up in implied poverty (I believe he was firmly upper middle-class) as the son of a blue-collar fisherman (Goobin you're the child of a successful nurse and an even-more-successful engineer). These things are the type of fictionalization that is absolutely acceptable to pull. But when a writer mixes elements of that in their lead character, while also having that lead character share an exact memory from the writer's actual life (In a way that would be impossible not to notice if you were remotely involved with him, I can't stress this enough), it forces me to compare other elements of the story with my real-life relative.

Like the way Manny compares the moans of his girlfriend with the death rattle of his father. Or the exposed anal beads of a passing cross-dresser with the tucked kitchen towel of his mother. In another story this is worth speculation and analysis. For me to read this, absolutely certain that Manny is just a proxy for my cousin as he exposes this real pain in a very obvious way, I was viscerally uncomfortable. This felt like something that should've been shared to a therapist and not submitted as a fucking thesis. Oh my god.

Closing Thoughts

I don't want to talk about this novella anymore. If I didn't know the writer, none of my views would change. If anything, I'd be less motivated to finish it before giving my review. Knowing that this is the caliber of work submitted for a graduate program was startling.

I don't think an amount or pursuit of education is what made this novella painful to get through. I imagine the worst part of The Sound and the Fury is that I was left fairly certain that it was not written by someone who actually wanted to write a story. This reads like it was written by someone who fervently wants to be seen as a writer without any actual understanding of what the career of writer actually looks like. There is a poetry and romanticism to writing, like with any other craft or industry. But on a core level, when you do it for work it's also just a job. And when you write for work it's often a kind of shitty job.

This is what I consider to be the major failure of Goobin's work. There's a lack of understanding, a perceived unwillingness to even consider you might have more to learn because you assume you're already right. These are, to me, absolutely unsustainable qualities for any kind of artist.

Hopefully by writing this manifesto I can finally get the ghost of this experience out of my fucking head. New Year New Me. If you've ever sent me writing on here know that it is by far better than this novella. I'm fairly certain every piece of writing I've seen posted on the Writeblr tag here since I joined has been more enjoyable than this. So congrats, friends. Happy New Year.

[tategaminu]

Tate pls can you explain shading and lighting to me I don't understaaaaand 😭

It looks so pretty and I... kinda get it but also not really? I've tried YouTube and stuff but it's pretty unhelpful and generally just people marketing their procreate brushes at me

And your art is so PRETTY and is wish to know your secrets please give 🙏

oh brother, I don't know if you are in the right place to ask for any advice because I SUCK at it but I'm gonna try

Gotta be honest, I still barely understand shading and lighting, I go ahead and expect everything to turn out okay like 99% of stuff in my life, I think when you get the hang of art you can do things blindly more frecuently.

What I find pretty useful it's not tutorials per se but speedpaints or real time drawing, if you observe a professional doing their stuff and learn the basic of the program you can get an idea of whatever the hell they are doing. Looking at pretty art and analyzing the light and trying to figure out how the artist does something is also something that has worked for me pretty well, I'm gonna divide you my specifics:

TUTORIALS

I know you haven't found any good tutorials but youtube is very big and you can find some really good ones. I have lately been watching this channel, this guy even gives you the PSD files.

Marc Brunet also has some really cool ones, not all of them are super specific but he's pretty good.

Aaron Blaise has a very professional undesrtanding of light and shadow.

REFERENCES

Use references! Pinterest has a lot of cool photos with pretty lighting, just search "lighting and shadow" "photo with lighting", stuff like that. References are very important, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

For the next tutorial below I used this for example:

PATIENCE

Let's be real, the art journy needs a lot of patience. I have been drawing digitally for 9 years and it's just now when I'm seeing results I'm happy with. I look at art from just one year ago and I go "EEEW"

I think hyperfixating on something helps a lot, doing fanart is important like I wouldn't be as good as I am (right now) if it wasn't for doing TDP fanart. Ovbiously other things count since all drawings help you improve but I think you probably get my point, basically, get obsessed with something lol if you don't get a certain obsession just find something you enjoy drawing, I honestly can't draw stuff that don't give me joy (for free at least)

PERFECCIONISM

Something that I have discovered along the way is that perfeccionism in your art will restrain you a LOT. Sometimes you don't need a super accurate light and shadow for the drawing to look okay, ovbiously if you are aiming for full realism then yeah but overall? If it looks right it's probably right, trust your instincts

Maybe in a couple of years you will look at a certain piece and go "why tf did I do this??" but that's part of learning. The next tutorial isn't accurate at all but I had fun and I think it looks pretty enough.

Of course, the technique might vary from drawing to drawing, with my most recent Pyrrah art I just coloured the lineart for example, I later used said filters. Don't be afraid to experiment, art is about experimenting, the tools from your program also there for you to use.

I know it may seem difficult at first but you will eventually figure things out, study and practice a lot and you will get there.

Good luck! sorry if this is too messy, explaining stuff is just not my forte and thank you for liking my art, it makes me really happy.

[optimisticallycyn]

End of the year wrap up!

I noticed that a lot of people have been posting 'Art of 2024' and I thought that was pretty neat so I thought I'd join in!

So, the reason why mine doesn't start until October is because I only got my ipad around mid October. I'd never used an ipad before or an art program (I've always used traditional because it was cheap, but I saved up and got one because everyones art on here looked so cool!) And I'm not going to lie, it was very frustrating at first.

The turtle picture is the first thing I ever drew on it and I hated the whole process. I didn't understand the brushes or the colours or the layers and what line art was or what colour flats were ect. Honestly I almost thought that I made a mistake, but looked up tutorials or spoke to these really great people in this tmnt discord I'm apart of and kept at it.

Then, come November, two people in the discord suggested a tmnt winter (christmas) art/writing challenge! I wasn't going to do it at first because I didn't think I could do the whole month, but theu put out the prompt in November so I figured 'Why not?' and went for it.

It was a fun challenge and I learned a lot while doing it! I would look up videos on how to do certain things (finally found out what colour flats were, what a clipping mask was, how to layer things properly), I played around and tested out different ways to create different effects. Made sooo many group pictures, which, was a lot but showed me that I could tackle and complete bigger art projects.

The discord group was also amazing during this challenge! Especially Rose, who would help me out whenever I got stuck or would give me further ideas when I was stuck on one! Everyone was really good during this challenge and super motivating!

During December because I'd finished a lot (not all, but most) of the Christmas prompts, I spent time playing with other ideas and ways to try things out and I wanted to play more with comics and how people do comic bubbles and the like and creating pictures for the stories that I write!

I hope by next year maybe I'll have some little comic series or something and that I'll have improved even more and learn lots!

Here's to hoping everyone has a great year and improves their skills in whichever way they work for! 😁😁

[paynomindtotheinsanity]

I love your art so much, you’re part of the reason I started drawing again. Your old art is cool, and your new art just has so much emotion and detail in it, it deserves so much praise. Do you have any advice on how you upskilled so well into the amazing art you do today? I really want to learn to be skilled like you are and improve to your level

Dude, thank you so much. I'm super flattered but also have major Impostor Syndrome right now lol.

The biggest thing that helped me was getting a drawing tablet and learning how to use digital art programs like Canvas or Procreate. I am a very messy artist - my traditional sketchbooks were always a nightmare because of how often I erase shit, so being able to use programs where I can simply undo or reposition a line was a game-changer.

I'm also incredibly indecisive and struggle with linework, but I found some great brushes that mimic the effects of ink pens and watercolor so I can achieve the messy, painted look. (This Sketchbook set and lineart set are the two I use the most)

Use as many references as you need! Gather a bunch of base poses to get the hang of proportions and anatomy (my go-to artist is Mellon_Soup. Screenshots from movies and shows work great too)

Try out posing tools like this one

A fun exercise that helps me is to paste a photo or drawing on one layer, and then on the layer above, sketch the main aspects in 30 seconds. Delete the first layer and then work solely off of the sketch (and yes it will absolutely look spooky and/or silly). If you need more time at first, start with 60 seconds and work your way down as you get the hang of it:

Take pictures of yourself in the poses you want to draw

Find artists with a style that resonates with you and study their work

The Multiply tool on Procreate is AMAZING for adding depth to artwork. I use this on almost everything. Add a slightly darker color on top of the whole set of layers, switch it to Multiply, and then go in with the eraser to mark the areas where the light hits

Keep practicing, no matter how shitty you think it looks! Just keep going!!

Uh I think that's it? I'll add more if I remember anything else.

I wish you the best of luck on your art journey! <3

[troloyunu]

Sorry if you've answered this somewhere before, but do you have any advice for improving/practicing art?

I am not sure if I am the best person to be giving advice on this matter as there are a lot of aspects of my art that are lacking, but here are some tips that have worked for me personally that I think worth are trying!

This got kinda long so. Under the cut!

First, this is always important, and I know people are sick of hearing this but it's true: practice, practice, practice! Observing things is very important for art but you actually have to try your hand again and again in order to have a result that is to your liking when it comes to art. Please just try to draw as much as you can. You have a pen in your hand? Scribble something. This will also improve your linework.

Do NOT be afraid to use references. It is highly unlikely that you will just happen to be able to draw something you have never drawn before without a reference. If you can't find any refs, take your own pictures. (I do this a lot when it comes to drawing hands)

Most of the time we have these conceptions of how things look especially when it comes to anatomy but humans are all sooo vastly different so I believe it is important to broaden your vision by using diverse references

Don't be afraid to draw bad. Seriously. If a piece you just made sucks, don't beat yourself up about it. It is geniunely not that serious. Take a break and come back to it, if it is still not to your liking and you cannot improve it; it is okay to delete that drawing and try something else. You'll get it, I promise. Just keep practicing.

Most of the time I find that it helps A LOT to draw something I am obsessed with. When I am learning anatomy, I don't just always draw some random people's pics I found on the internet, I will sometimes make that drawing into a character/ship I love

Do redraws from your old art! It is so motivating and fun to see how you have improved and changed as an artist :3

I know it is not healthy to rely solely on validation, but it does help a lot! If you are part of a community, esp one with a lot of artists, don't hesitate to show them your work! You can also draw your friends' ocs and such if you want to, it really is a win win situation because you will be drawing something you want to draw and your friend will be so happy that you took the time to draw their character. I loved gifting people little doodles when I was part of an oc centred fandom :D

Also, since we are talking about validation, validate YOURSELF please. Imagine yourself 2 years, 5 years, 10 years whatever ago. How would you have felt if you saw your drawings today? You would have been so impressed! So take the time to appreciate your own work.

If there are any artists you adore, don't hesitate to try to redraw their drawings, or maybe just some aspects of their style that you love. If you do a redraw, it is advised that you do not post it as your own idea, but if the artist is ok with you posting it with credit, then you can do that too! :D

That being said, keep in mind that you don't have to post EVERYTHING you draw! I used to do that which put a lot of pressure onto me since I would get so upset whenever a drawing turned out bad, but when you realize that you can just not post it, that lifts a lot of tension.

Take care of yourselfff!!! Take care of your arm, your wrist, your back. I think there is this program that makes you take breaks every x minute which is called EyeLeo, you can install that or something similar. But please do take care of your health.

Sometimes breaks are needed. If nothing you draw looks right and you don't feel any joy in drawing, do take up another hobby for some time. Let yourself miss drawing.

Play around with styles and colors and lineweights, see what you like the best. I used to always get so upset that I didnt have a set style, my drawings vary a lot throughout each piece. But now I just keep it cool and don't think about it too much. Don't force yourself!

Also for me a part of drawing I ALWAYS look forward to when drawing canon characters is giving them alternate outfits I save on pinterest. I enjoy so much searching which outfits a character might wear. Maybe you can try this? I know drawing the same outfit over and over again for a character gets old.

Honestly being obsessed with something helps a lot with improving. Like a character or a pairing or whatever. Because you will just REALLY want to draw something for this thing you love, and you will just keep on doing and doing it. Really helpful

But 99.9% of the time, the thing you imagine will not translate completely identical to the canvas/paper. And that's OKAY! That means that you have a great imagination and you will try to get a satisfactory result. It just means more practicing. When you get an idea that you want to draw but don't feel like your skills are enough for, draw them anyway! That way you can see a lot more clearly what you need to work on. And do work on those things.

I think for reference images just find nude reference pictures of real life people. The drawing pose references we see on here or on pinterest with simple shapes ARE very convenient when you just wanna quickly draw something, but if your goal is to learn anatomy, then using a pic of an actual human is ideal.

Remember that art is supposed to be FUN. So do have fun. Experiment!!!

Also I would say like, when I was more of a beginner and tried to do fullbody drawings and such, it never looked good and I was quite discouraged but things started improving when I started to individually focus on things like eyes, noses, lips etc and then trying a more general approach with fullbodies. Might not be the same for everyone though!

I think that's all I can think about for now. Sorry if this is not that useful, but yeah! I would say the most important thing is to just practice honestly :D Go ahead, have fun, draw something! I wish you the best <3