#I guess it's better than explaining it

[veryspecialfungus]

Donatella. Augustus. Classpects. Please?

How about I just do all the adults in a "Probably Would Actually Die and Be Prototyped But Let's Have Fun" set? Minus Truman because I just honest to god couldn't come up with anything. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't figure him out.

Also this'll be the last one. I'm not doing the Whispering Rocks kids or the Thorny Towers gang. I honestly struggled with these which tells me I've hit a wall and so I'm calling it here. Highly encourage anyone who wants to do them though.

Donatella: Witch of Blood. Donatella, like all the Aquatos, are all about family and bonds. Donatella's character arc would be about, y'know, using her powers responsibly. Like I feel like Aquatos door is always open, but also they will try to drag you inside if you know what I mean.

Augustus: Heir of Void. I mean, it makes sense right? His entire family structure was based on a big lie, a giant mystery. I sort of conceived this as working in tandem with Donatella. Like Donatella works out the team to go explore the mysteries that Augustus trips over?

Sasha: Knight of Doom. I just think it's high time that Sasha gets out of his lab and uses all his creepy experiments to protect others directly. I picture him having to run a brain under his arm like a football past the consorts who hate/fear him because he's experimented on them. I feel like it'd be so easy to make things harder on himself and so hard to improve them that it would be fun to watch him try.

Milla: Maid of Space. This one was interesting, because it was more like everything else didn't really fit? Maybe Hope would also work, but I feel like commanding space would allow Milla to make the universe into the party she wants it to be? Hopefully she listens to her teammates and doesn't make it TOO excessive.

Coach: Prince of Rage. I don't have a fully formed reason for this one, but I do notice that Coach often diffuses the tension and provides comic relief in certain scenes, and I think he could learn to weaponize this. Also I think it'd be funny to see him in those little shorts so...thematic.

Hollis: Rouge of Time. The ultimate organization project. Hollis needs to trust her own skills to determine where all that time needs to go and how to do it right. It's her true final challenge.

Loboto: Page of Mind. I don't know how else to put this, but Loboto has a lot of things wrong with him, through his own mental makeup and the things that have been done to him, which is a good set up for a Page that needs to tap the potential of something. Rebuilding his rational mind on his own terms would be a good way for him to regain some of things that have been taken from him over the course of his life.

[bulbabutt]

theyre vibing

[egophiliac]

I was wanting to try doing an art piece in the style of the signature spell poster art pieces you create. But I’m not really the best at coming up with a composition for such a thing.

Do you have a process for how you come up with the compositions for them?

oh, awesome! it is an INCREDIBLY enjoyable style to work in; I hope you have fun with it! :D

I'm not great at putting my thought/art process into words, so my apologies if this doesn't make a lot of sense, but I'll try! my first step is always to do a LOT of thumbnails to figure out both the idea and how I want to show it; not trying to do a real sketch or anything, just little doodles to figure out what exactly I'm trying to portray. (I also call these "garbage passes" because they're not meant to be any good, they're just there to throw things out. aha. ha. ...anyway.) I think it's important during that first stage to really focus on the idea and the layout and not to get too bogged down in the actual drawing yet!

I tend to save my final thumbnails, so I'll use 'em as examples (I posted the ones up through episode 5 here if you're interested!) (and, uhhh, spoilers through episode 5 also in this post, hopefully that won't be an issue!)

the main thing I try to think about in composition is balance -- not necessarily in terms of symmetry, but in where each element is placed and how much space it's taking up. remember, empty space is still space! it's also really important to think about the parts that don't have anything in them, as much as the parts that do!

personally, I like to divide things up roughly by both halves and by thirds -- there's a lot more in-depth info out there on why the "rule of thirds" in particular works well visually, but in short, our brains tend to focus on things that are placed closer to imaginary division lines, instead of in the exact center of an image. so even when I'm doing something that is very centered and symmetrical, I try to keep that in mind and generally aim around those for landmarks like faces/eyes (or...where they would be, anyway) and other focal points.

it's not a formula of "the character's face should be in this division of this grid" or anything, more like "our minds like to focus on these areas, let's think about how to use that", if that makes sense! and of course rules are made to be broken, art is lawless anarchy, and so on. but it can be a good starting place for deciding where you want to put things!

(blue - thirds, red - half)

and against the finished versions, because they do usually end up changing a lot (including the empty space of the border):

(...these actually lined up a lot better than I thought they would. :') it makes me look like I do things way more intentionally than I do.)

other stuff I just try to keep in mind is that our eyes like following arcs and paths, which can be a good way to guide the eye:

and frame and control the focus:

honestly, composition is one of those things I feel like I struggle with a lot, so I'm not sure how much of this is helpful or actually makes sense outside of my head. but hopefully it helps a little! it's all just stuff to think about while drawing and not anything hard-and-fast, so don't, like, stress out about making sure things are lining up exactly on the thirds or anything. again, it's more "our brains think these are the dopest parts of the rectangle" than anything else! take advantage of the cool parts of the rectangle!

NOW GO HAVE FUN DRAWING seriously though, it is always super cool that other people like this idea and style enough to want to do it themselves and for other/their own characters! thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

[writeouswriter]

I love how ominous such basic names like "The Organization" or "The Institute" or "The Initiative" or "The Facility" or etc. are when placed in like a shady sci-fi context, like there's no reason for them to sound that suspicious, but without elaboration, it's like here is a place where they are doing things™ and I am like ooohh, because the blank state, the refusal to give you any more detail makes you think they're hiding something on purpose and leaves the darkest corner of the imagination left to fill in the rest.

[trainingdummyrabbit]

(this isn't my first anything.)

[cathodic-clairvoyant]

Oh hi there transfem discussing her experience in the trans community i just had a quick question about your post

What does tme mean?

Oh okay i see i understand, thank you.

What does transmisogyny mean?

Ah I see, I get it.

What's a trans woman?

Oof scary. One last question.

What's a woman?

Thank you for being my own personal google (not like you had anything better to do right?) and derailing the point of your post for my own personal education. I will now add nothing of value to this post in return. Bye bye!

[kozzax]

Back during the time between us knowing The Book existed and us knowing it was the Revival Book, I spent. Way too many hours thinking about it? And about what it could be, what it could mean. Something so powerful and dangerous and something that gave Schlatt so much power throughout his reign-- what could it possibly be?

I had two big ideas that I proposed to my friends at the time. One of them was what we got: the written directions for resurrection. I... was never as attached to this idea as I was to my other thought. Resurrection was a big topic on the server at the time and it seemed like other people were researching it too, as my qpp pointed out, but even if that weren't true-- my other idea was always more compelling to me.

Because my other idea? Was that it was the script.

[puhpandas]

ideal ggy reveal for me right now is some sort of game whatever format theyd use (for example sb vs hw is very different storytelling) about vanny killing dr rabbit and it leads up to the beginning of sb at the end

[clamsjams]

felps would understand the joe hills difference™️ and joe hills would understand the felps square™️. do not argue with me on this one i know in my heart of hearts that it is true

[dark-elf-writes]

Okay but you know I’m very clearly on the edge of losing my shit when my mother Notorious Energy Drink Hater™️ agrees to get me one while she’s at the store picking up things for me it’s so good to know that I look as bad as I feel

[mwagneto]

the fact that almost every character in ofmd is specifically a gay man is seriously so fucking special like usually a show will have 1 character from a minority group and then that character has to be every single thing - a person the straight/homophobic audience can accept and even like, someone that deals with their issues the way they "should" be dealt with, someone who's not too much of anything but simultaneously everything because every expected trait has to be displayed at some point or another.... versus this show with its massive cast of characters who are all able to embody specific (and extremely varying) ways to be a gay man where all of their journeys and personalities and approaches to their sexualities are so unique to them but so true to people that exist in real life........ i wish i could express this better coz it's such an incredible thing to see it genuinely makes my chest hurt with how much it means to me

[skitty-kirby]

Still recovering from gallbladder surgery, had some complications that's making this take a lot longer than it normally should so it's been a fun, slow process :') On the mend but oof I really want to do some silly/creative stuff. Instead, I've been having to put all my time and energy into this online game design/prototyping course that requires me to learn a new engine every week while also making something playable within that time frame as well- all while also trying to heal too hhhhhhh It's a great exercise of course and it's been really exciting/fun so far but MAN why my uni gotta be like this with the 8-week courses right out the gate this semester. Been a lot to juggle for this clown to say the least kjhkjjhkh

[brittlebutch]

neocities is an invaluable “autistic individual with no friends” resource for having all the intangible thrill of info dumping (image collecting, vibe capturing, text explanations, etc.) about shit no one cares about in a way that is truly satisfying and exciting. anyway check out my latest shrine page

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Where The River Meets The Soul

cosy-ish fantasy, romance

follows a herbalist who decides to find a magical bloom with healing properties which has become rare in recent years, after her sister is diagnosed with a terminal illness

she travels to the city, and along with a friend and an heiress, discovers that reuniting two reincarnated ancient soulmates will restore the bloom

but when she encounters corruption and betrayal, and finds herself getting feelings for one of the soulmates, things get more complicated

ace MC, genderfluid LI

[eclaire-went-bam]

bcs i'm aware of how i automatically percieve people, i earnestly try to give the benefit of the doubt a lot. i tend to believe people are Actually Just That Dumb™ when they're joking about something, so i try to get ahead of that & tell myself people are joking when they say something stupid, so that i don't look stupid

all i've learnt in doing that, is most of the time, people aren't joking. they actually did mean what they say, & i made the situation 10× worse by laughing at what they said.

not only does it reinforce the idea in my head that people are Dumb so i need to take the reins on literally Everything, but it also leads people to believe i'm making fun of them for saying something silly & talking to me less, when, if i knew it were a genuine thing they thought, i would have gladly explained it without judgement

but i don't really know how to stop treating them as jokes, because what if they ARE joking so they laugh at me for how Stupid i am for taking the bait? i can't handle being made a fool of, i think i'd rather die

[sysig]

Red Eyes and Evil Time, practically the same thing right (Patreon)