#I have to redo this photo with my current style

[my-alternatevy]

Rip out the wings of a butterfly

[sturniolo04]

Let Me Do Your Hair M.S.

Bf!Matt x Gf!Fem!Reader

A/N: If you don't like the preadded name in my stories, you can either add your own name or not read it; it's up to you :)

Being best friends with the triplets and dating Matt has come with some unforgettable memories which brings you to the best memory you could never forget, going on tour with them. Throughout the whole experience of tour not only have you visited states you haven't been to before but you also shared a new sense of personal satisfaction with the triplets in your guys friendship, the relationship strengthening because you guys literally are sharing a common space on a tour.

This brings you to the last show located in their home town of Boston. You guys are currently at the venue for tonights show running through a dress rehearsal making sure everything is working smoothly before the fans start lining up for small talk and photos. You guys had finally gotten a small break to catch your breath, sitting on the couches that were in the dressing room next to the small talk area.

"baby can i do your hair"

matt softly asks you as you are sitting on the carpeted floor in between his legs in front of the brown leather couch.

"no babe i dont want to redo my hair before small talk"

you whine out because it was true you didn't want to redo the lazy style you put it up in with your basic brown claw clip that perfectly coordinates with the brown and pink fresh love set you ironically borrow from Matt's closet.

"come on please and if you dont like it then you can put this back in"

he persuades you referring to the claw clip you had in your hair. you eventually give and let him do so.

"there is no way you actually let him do your hair and I don't even where he is even going with this style"

nick speaks up as chris subtly agrees with him by nodding his head.

"shut up nick"

matt complains still keeping focus on the task at hand.

"guys stop i trust him"

you giggle responding to him. About 45 minutes matt had finished your hair which was just in time to start heading to your guys designated tables for small talk. You couldn't lie he did a really good job on it *reference*

You guys made your way to your table immediately getting a sneak peek at the line of screaming fans in the aisle lined up.

You guys were about halfway through the fans receiving endless gifts and hugs from everyone and shocking lots of compliments on your hair and how it looked for the show tonight.

'hi oh my goodness your so pretty"

you exclaim with open arms as the next fan makes her way to your table.

"oh my god hi i love you so much"

she exclaims back hugging you and then handing the poster she wanted you to sign.

"oh my i love you more"

you exclaim as you lean over momentarily to sign the poster in front of you.

"are you enjoying everything so far"

you ask trying to make the most of the time in between.

"yes"

she nervously squeaks out.

"thats good"

you trail off standing up and handing her back her poster, smiling at her.

"yeah"

she states.

"come here give me another hug youre too cute"

she reply opening your arms as she gives you another hug.

"your hair looks amazing by the way"

she compliments as she pulls away from you as you lightly giggle.

"thank you well dont tell anyone but matt actually did it"

you chuckle adoring the eye contact the girl was giving you loving that she felt comfortable enough have a normal conversation with you not as a celebrity but as a regular person.

"no way matt"

she giggles along with you as you nod your head.

"yeah well its good to see you enjoy the rest of the night"

you states waving your hand to her as she walks out of the small talk area.

Time Skip

"Okay guys we are going to do a QnA Session"

nick confidently speaks into the microphone as you all are walking around waiting for the first question.

"okay frist question is for matt's girlfriend oh my 'how did matt ask you out'"

chris asks reading the first question off of a slip of paper as everyone focuses their attention on you.

"oh wow um well we knew each other in high school and middle school and he was like Ive known you forever and youre very pretty and-"

you trail off as Matt jaw drops and starts to speak

"i mean look at her"

matt shouts in the mic as you takes your hand twirling you around as the fans start screaming.

"oh my goodness get a room"

nick rolls his eyes.

"but he asked me out after school before cheer practice but yeah"

you sigh out as nick picks up the next question to read off.

"okay then next question for matt's girlfriend again 'who is your favorite out of us three"

nick chuckles out as the crowd starts screaming shouting out different answers.

"oh my god whoever asked this i don't like you"

you squeal out placing your hands on face.

"who you picking"

chris chuckles out.

"i cant pick guys no"

you state looking out into the crowd.

"you dont have to i just made that up"

nick chuckles as you let out a huge sigh of relief.

"oh thank god"

you huff out as you pick up the next question.

"okay um"

you trail off looking at the question first and start to giggle into the mic when you realize what the question read.

"what"

matt asks as he looks at chris and nick in complete confusion.

"okay so the next question is for me and it asks 'who did your hair today it looks really good' "

you read off as the crowd starts screaming as matt's face lights up knowing the answer.

"okay so i didnt do my hair-"

"well first do you guys like her hair tonight"

matt questions the crowd turning his mic away from him as they loudly scream affirming the answer was 'yes'

"well i did it for her"

matt states as the crowd continues to scream.

"what a great boyfriend"

"everybody say 'yeah matt' "

chris jokes out as nick chuckles into the mic as Matt goes over and hugs you and your blushing state. You let matt do your hair more often after that night.

Taglist

@dirtylittleheart333 @mintsturniolo @wh0resstuff @aaliyahsturn

@stayingstromboli @emely9274 @spicymuffins03

[elegantagent]

Gunpla Review Journal!!

So. After building the Wing EW Ver Ka. I was finding myself really enjoying the design of the Wing Gundam, so I decided to pick up the

Wing TV Ver Real Grade

So, as you may see in the photo, I put a lot more effort into the build of this kit than i usually do.

I decided to brush down the entire inner frame with a brass metallic, in order to make it feel really regal, as the wing gundam should. and i tried my best to avoid stickers, even reverse washing the eyes with black enamel paint. The articulation on this thing is actually amazing to be honest. It's super solid, the super long skirts barely get in the way because they're on a hinge joint as well as a ball joint. The kit is just so multifaceted. especially with those updated wings. It really lives up to it's namesake. The gimmicks in the weapons are great too. the buster rifle with it's actual ammunition packs, and the shield with it's droop snoot ejecting beam saber with an awesome gimmick. The Bird mode does as well as it can with how the wing gundam is designed though. The buster rifle makes it really long, and the wings do a lot of the heavy lifting. the Talons on the arms are the only thing that kind of get in the way here though.

8/10

after having built quite a few complicated kits, I decided I should step back for a little bit and enjoy some simple builds. And since hobby lobby often does 40% off sales, I decided to pick up the cheapest thing in the store

2. The Entry Grade RX-78-2 Gundam

This kit is actually super simple and great for beginners, at least if they don't want to play with it. It's incredibly cheap and that shows in the joints. Usually in something like the Leo, or any 30MM or any Lfrith style kits, the tolerances on the plastic on plastic joints would be tight enough to hold up to some play. But in Entry Grades i've found, the plastic is so soft, and so loose in its tolerances, that the joints warp out and just become flaccid. Aesthetically, this kit isn't terrible. If you're planning to fully paint this kit, I'm sure it would tighten up, and I might to be honest. The one I got came with a whole lot of weapons and accessories. Which my mark ii is currently weilding the gundam hammer from. Not amazing, but it's nice that it's included.

5/10

I often check Target for any new or clearance transformers toys and I stumbled upon the HG Immortal Justice from the Seed Freedom movie, which I had just watched and absolutely loved (you guys should go watch it, you don't even need to watch seed destiny to really get it, it's literally a redo of destiny's plot but if it was good).

3. Immortal Justice

This kit is a masterpiece. I love the colors on this kit, I love the articulation and the silhouette is super muscular, more similar to a furai rather than a typical gundam, and its awesome. Being only 25 dollars with such amazing articulation and interesting gimmicks, it's a steal. I painted the grey parts with some vallejo gunmetal and I think I elevated the look a whole ton that way. It comes with a whole lot of beautiful effect parts for the shield rocket, the shin lasers and for the beam boomerangs. The rifle has a surprising amount of detail and color separation. I really really love how the pack kind of flares out with the wings. Much more than I liked the rising freedom gundam. Also the torso had a kind of weird ratcheting feeling to it that I love. The only things I don't super like about this kit are some little detail parts on the waist that tend to fall off, but if you have cement it's no problem. And I'm not a huge fan of the bulbous shape of the backpack and the shield. Strangely the backpack has a cockpit, but when it transforms its completely upside down?? That's about it though.

9/10

So I bought this one a while ago for a fully custom painting project, and because I love Chuck Keith in the OVA I got the

4. GM Cannon II

So this one is really cool. It's a bulky version of the gm custom with chobam armor and a gun cannon backpack. It's like all my favorite songs on one record. I expected this kit to share a lot more with the gm custom than it actually did. The only things that seem similar or identical are the limb joints, the shield and the guns, and that's it. The armor is completely new, the feet are new (which was surprising to me) a new head. The most welcome surprise was the movable rear skirts, which not even the gm custom had. So far its a great kit. There will be another update with a more in depth review in the future once I have painted it. Keith will be proud of me

6/10

Okay so this one is a purchase I'm not super proud of. I really like the witch from mercury line of model kits, and I've never purchased from p bandai before, but I was late to the races on the lfrith jiu. And the tiger fist was so cool, so I restored to aliexpress. I think it would be really funny if I just called this one 1/144 HG Model kit because that's what the box and the manual say but idk.

5. Gundam Lfrith Jiu

okay, so I've kind of learned my lesson with buying from China, the runners were full of voids and warped plastic, the runners said they were made of ABS and the manual said Polystyrene so I'm not sure which to trust. The stickers were kind of terrible. Unfortunately I already bought a bootleg SDEX hello kitty for a friend's Christmas present so.

Okay, enough dogging on the Chinese manufacturing. This design is so fucking cool. It's a lavender and white robot with a huge white and blue robot arm. The muted purple tones on the body make the design feel really premium and not toylike. I painted the inside of the body's shell unit with black enamels and then highlighted the grooves with chrome. I think it really makes the details pop out through the misty clear blue parts. Okay. So it's super cool, and it's a decently solid build, because it's mostly built on the base of the lfrith, but the attachment of the tiger fist a little bit awkward, the low quality molding on the parts lends the hard points for attaching the tiger fist aren't as tight or secure as I'd like them to be unfortunately, but the phalanges themselves on the tiger fist, are really decent, they don't have articulation on any of the distal phalanges, but it gets you most of the poses you could ask for.

7/10

[poupeesdecirque]

Little heads up as I enter a super stressful time (positive and negative) what to expect to come ...

Progress on the Clown Cosplay

Progress on Link Doll (Cloth & Face up)

Doll Photos (gasp) including a photostory

Cosplay Photoshoots from Cons and Private Photoshoots

Wig Styling

The Exorcising Sword Prop Build

Make up tests

Level 4 Akuma Doll Custom

Sculpting (well I will try to have some progress here)

Drawings... somewhere inbetween

I have meta entries started sitting in my drafts by no idea when I come to type them down, right now my priority is cosplay as I have the next 3 cons all within a month and I have a few things left to do for them (mainly a glove and finishing a wig, some final touch ups on the clown) and Mom invited me to a trip to the sea. I will be more on the road than I am at home. I have stuff queued up for a while.

I have all my current dolls finished right now and when I am done with cosplay parts for those 3 cons I will try to finish a sculpture and then aim to maybe redo some outfits for already finished dolls. Unless new resin is shipped.

[chattercap]

Monthly Update (September 2024)

Hello everyone, happy September!

What did I do this month?

This month, I primarily focused on coding The Perfect Woman. TPW is fairly different from my other games so I had to refactor my code quite a bit for it (including basic systems such as saving and loading). I also tried to polish it quite a bit, so hopefully it feels good to play! I won't go into too much detail, since I don't want to spoil any of the experience, but I incorporated a few fun effects that are hopefully interesting to experience!

Near the end of the month, I considered eliminating the Live2D style animations from my projects. You can read more about my decision here, but essentially I've heard that such animations are polarizing and some people find them uncanny/distracting. Eliminating the animations would also allow me to simplify my art workflow. After receiving some feedback (thank you to everyone who answered my query!) I decided to go ahead with nixing animations from my future projects, but I'll keep them for my past projects. On a positive note, this means that I'll be able to release Android builds for my games again (and possibly Web builds, if Godot ever decides to make C# HTML compatible!)

After making the decision, I spent some time redoing The Perfect Woman's assets (since they were already all animated, haha!) and used it to test out programming my games without animations. I learned how to use spritesheets for facial expression changes to reduce draw calls, and I also learned how to do frame-by-frame animations as well (for blinks and such).

In addition, I completed a few Actala CGs and BGs.

I also started outlining and writing scripts for two new projects! They've yet to be announced (I'll probably announce them once the scripts are complete), but you can find details about them here! I wrote ~30k words across my current writing WIPs, primarily these two projects. I decided on a title for one of them, started sketching concepts, and commissioned a logo.

Plans for next month!

I made a summary of the projects that I currently have in progress, as well as my plans for the rest of the year. You can find it here!

For September, I plan to focus on finishing The Perfect Woman to start with. I plan to release it on September 13th. After that, I've gotta get started working on art assets 😂 so I'll be doing a lot of backgrounds 👍 I'll be traveling during the latter half of the month, so I'll try to do some sketches that I can work on on the road! (And hopefully I'll be able to take some good reference photos!)

Thank you to everyone who's following along, and see you next month!

Chattercap

[pocketvenuslux]

Studio Pia is a brand I was always curious about. It made its name for itself with its striking embroidery, which I loved, but I never felt compelled to pull the trigger. It's currently undergoing major changes and so, when I saw its archive sale drag on, I figured it was now or never.

I had a difficult time deciding which set to buy when I came across Etsy Lingerie's positive review of the Petra set. The bralette's wearability, the double layer of silk and gorgeous interior photos sealed the deal for me. Tori Amos' The Power of Orange Knickers immediately started playing in my mind. I'm also so thankful I read Puleston's review before opting for the high waisted bottom. That much silk looked so extravagant (and comfortable) but I can now easily see her criticism really vexxing me - the gold-plated clasps are luxurious but having two behind you would be finicky to have to undo and redo for the bathroom.

I chose instead to mix and match lines - the Petra bralette and the Clea thong in the same Amber colour. I find them both pretty timeless patterns but the orange colour makes them more fun as a basic.

The style and construction of the pieces are really impeccable. It's not often that you can turn a piece inside out and it's just as gorgeous. The gusset of the thong is cotton (oddly this is not mentioned in the fabric tags) but otherwise, the pieces use silk all the way, including the straps. The double layer of silk for both pieces is quite extravagant and feels amazing against your skin. Puleston goes into a fair bit of technical detail so I will refer you to her post for sewing techniques. I will only add my thoughts on the Clea. Its cut much more narrow than average so if you have a lot of pubic hair, it is definitely going to show. As well, if you find the straps are not lying flat, you may need to flip the fabric around the gold ring until they do.

As for fit, the straps for both pieces make them ultra-adjustable. As Puleston notes, it's not as easy to move the sliders over the silk but once you have them set, they will not budge. I took a size S in both pieces and the fit is perfect with ample room to accommodate larger measurements. As well, the bralette is not only strong due to the double silk layers but the very low level of stretch. This means it provides a surprizing amount of support and lift and is very flattering.

I actually didn't purchase these pieces directly from Studio Pia - the Petra bralette in Amber was never available from its Archives sale! I bought the Petra from Je Suis Jolie (many thanks to Puleston for the link!) for US$89 (down from US$193) + US$25 shipping + CA$27 in duties. I also found the Clea thong from Journelle for a song - US$33 (down from US$134) + US$20 shipping, no duties as I suppose the amount was so low.

All in all, I'm glad I finally got around to trying Studio Pia. The orange knickers are fun and the Petra is literally my favourite bralette. I love wearing it and I'm looking forward to seeing what the brand does next.

Fabric: 95% silk, 5% elastane

Made in Romania

Photos: Studio Pia; mine

[opheliaslastletter]

The Rot

I thought the rot that infected me was purely internal. A fungus turns my insides into a brown, withered mush. Pectobacterium eats away at my essence, leaving its fragile bark splitting and porous. However, that rot has now spread to my outsides. A mitospore created little purple and pink crevices on my left wrist; the word unfortunate comes to mind. Mushrooms form on my face, creating purple bags under my eyes. The weight from their chunky caps pull my mouth downward, forcing me to use all my face muscles to create a smile when needed. The rot eats me alive, only leaving bones in its wake. Sometimes the rot overgrows; I am filled to the brink with mushrooms, dead wood, and sour soil. The rot has taken over my life, defining me inside and out.

There are times when I look in the mirror or in photos, and I think that I am perfect just the way I am. I am happy with the way my face looks, the interesting color my wide eyes are, my slender fingers and wrists, my hair (both naturally and dyed), my blinding smile, and the moles that litter my body. I am happy with who I am on the outside.

Lately, I feel that my body has changed drastically, even in the span of a few weeks. My wrist disgusts me, who would want a girl who is sick enough to ruin her own body? My legs, arms, and waist lost their muscle definition and are now covered in a layer of fat; who wants a girl who isn’t lean and sharp? The look on my face has been perpetually sad for the last few months, who wants a girl that looks like she is always on the brink on tears? My hair is two different colors and will not stay in place, even when styled; who wants a girl who can barely keep up her appearance. I now experience physical pain everyday, who wants a girl that only feels pain inside and out? I cannot completely control the way my body currently is. The damage is done, some of it irreversible. I must learn to embrace the rot.

I hate you, I mouth to myself in the mirror. I wish you died. You are ugly inside and out. Mom is right, your wrist will ruin the way I look in my wedding dress, if someone is brave enough to marry you. Your first serious boyfriend was right, your scars are unfortunate. He was right, you are too sweaty to touch, no one will ever touch you. You are a slut, a psycho, a bipolar mess, a alcoholic, a stoner, a narcisist. You are too much, I wish you would just leave.

I don’t want to love myself anymore. I do not deserve to tell myself that my face, body, and hair are fine just the way they are. For everything that is right with me, there is something wrong that overpowers it. I want to crawl out of my body, and reposses an untainted one. I desperately want to start over, I want to redo my whole life with the knowledge I have now. I want to love and be loved in return without exposing others to the rot. I want my everything to be a green meadow, with earthy soil cultivating poppies and stargazer lilies. The only crevices on my body are the wrinkles on the outsides of my eye and lips, formed by the joy of being loved. Dew coats my skin and the hills of the meadow accentuate all that is good.

Only then I am perfect. 

[jaredearickson]

Every artist starts somewhere. The journey they take sometimes goes wonderfully and you’re career thrives. Other times, everything goes off the rails. Currently I’m off the rails. I started doing commission paintings after my friends and family suggested I take my hobby of painting and try to make a career of it. I had started with small pieces at first and have been working my way up to larger and larger canvas. One day I got a commission ordered for a large painting. The piece (shown above) is a 24”x36” canvas painting done with Golden acrylic paints on a studio grade canvas. I have titled it Skelly the Riveter.

Normally a piece like this would take me 4 to 6 weeks to complete, between the mock-ups, color collaboration with the client, redoing mock-ups and final approvals of mock-ups, basic painting and getting final approvals on colors and styles before completing the painting. This was not the story with this piece.

The mock-ups and approval process for this took much longer with the client and me going through 5 different versions before everything was exactly how the client wanted it. Then I started the painting. About a week into the painting I got a call from my father stating he was going in for emergency valve replacement surgery and because of the damage to his heart valves they would need to do a full open heart surgery. I notified the client that I was going to have to put the painting on hold and drove out to New Mexico to help take care of my father after his surgery.

4 weeks later I was driving back home to Virginia. I still have a full time job on top of me starting my painting career so I had to catch up with the full time job so didn’t get back to painting until a week later. When I did get back to painting I estimated I had about 3 weeks of painting left. I got the basic layering and colors on the canvas and sent photos over to the client to get final approvals. The client notified me he was on vacation for 3 weeks and couldn’t get the images to download. He asked if I could hold off until he got back, which I was more than happy to do as I had some other paintings that needed my attention.

When the client got back from vacation, he loved the painting and gave approval to complete it. I had him send over the deposit and continued painting. It took about a week and a half to complete the painting and I reached out to the client to get final payment before shipping. That’s when things went more off the rails.

The client informed me that he had been laid off that same day and wouldn’t be able to pay the final installment. Being a repeat customer and knowing how hard being laid off before the holidays can be I offered to either A, hold on to the painting for him until the could afford to make the final payment or B, refund him his deposit and place the painting up for sale. He asked me if he could have some time to think about what he should do. A few days later he called me and asked if the refund offer still stood. I told him yes and refunded him the $4000 deposit.

Now a lot of artists would be shocked by my decision but the way I see it is he has been a long time customer who has bought multiple pieces from me in the past and it makes better long term sense to keep a customer then make a quick buck. Of course there are consequences to every action. Because of the massive lose of income and not working on other projects during that time, I am now feeling the financial pain. I had to make some tough decisions. First I had to give up my art studio. The ability to have a dedicated painting spot was nice but the price per month of renting a space is not feasible at this time.

Second was because I refunded a large amount, PayPal locked my account for suspicious activity, resulting in my Etsy listing fees getting rejects, resulting in all my Etsy listings getting suspended. I didn’t realize this had happened and just thought traffic on Etsy was going slower then normal. I didn’t realize anything was going on and then I got the notice, my Etsy store had been closed due to failure to pay. I contacted Etsy and was informed that if I paid the outstanding balance I could open another store on the site but because the original store was closed due to failure to pay, it was removed. Meaning I lost all my followers and all my postings. I took a few days to morn my store and all the hard work I spent doing it then started making a new store front.

So that brings us to current. I am basically starting over again at this point. I have set up this tumblr to blog about my adventures in starting over.

[orphancookie69]

2023: New Year, New Headshots!

Though the look does not change, the headshots do. It is funny, I remember telling myself, “If I keep my new hairstyle long enough, I will get them professionally redone.” That was years ago, and yet-as a amateur photographer myself-it is hard to trust someone to do it “better”. I redid my headshots, as I DIY annually and it occurred to me-I don’t think I have empowered the fellow DIY’ers on how to join in this fun! 

Prepare: Hair and Makeup! I love for the hair to be clean, styled, but otherwise a normal complimentary look. Makeup, should be conservative. Otherwise, I love playing with professional clothes, clean makeup, and appropriate jewelry adds. The make up is bareMinerals and Besame (Disney Villians Collection) and Disney Fantasia Makeup by Patrick Starr, clothes are Calvin Klein courtesy of Costco, and jewelry is from Majorca. 

Photography: Took the photos with my iPhone (currently using iPhone 11). Once the photos were captured, reviewed, I transferred them to the computer using an app/complimentary computer program called Simple Transfer. Essentially, you open the app on your phone, on your computer, verify with the code, and then you can pull photos or videos from your phone to your computer. (Side note here: I use this to manage my space on my phone, and file photos on an external hard drive). 

Edting: Now, my plan was to use the computer to edit-as I used to have Adobe. I no longer have it, and the alternative I thought would work-Inkspace-did not. I stumbled upone the MagicEraser App to remove background. When you are taking the photo, if your background is clean, the app does an excellent job of cutting you out of the photo. Once I had my cut outs, I needed to redo some group shots and add a “photography studio” background. You can get the backgrounds from Pixabay. But I needed a program (or something) to be a mock photoshop. I found pxlr.com to create group photos/add professional background. Your first couple of file saves are free on pxlr, but after that they will ask you to pay. I paid $8.99 for the whole year, and love it so far. It is also different for the fact that its a web based browser version of adobe. 

Tips: Some tips would be to have a neutral background for the original image, makes it easier to cut out and also use as an OG photo. Have a feel or theme in mind so the image is cohesive. Try to relax when taking the photos, take lots of them, and don’t be afraid to get rid of ones that are inferior. Try for a face shot, and a bust shot, full body is also great if you can get it. Regardless of your thoughts on your smile, have a smiling and not smiling photo. You want options more than lack of options. You want a png format and a jpeg format-png has no background and is better for websites or marketing materials. Jpeg is better for social media posting and what not. 

Now I know, you are dying to see how this years turned out. Tadah! It is my favorite so far since I have done this in 2020. Why do I think that is? Well, maybe my hair is grown into itself-maybe I got better over the years-maybe its the lost weight. The makeup is also very much on point this year, the choker is not one I usually wear, this is from Majorca, Spain. But its as a whole perfect! This always prompts me to do my LinkedIn/Facebook/Instagram/Tinder meme. Keep an eye out for that post shortly!

[squirrelboidyke]

excuse the funky phone photo instead of a proper screen grab, i had to take a break due to my back pain (i have scoliosis and my current computer chair is an ottoman so i'm resting on a heating pad rn). BUT HERE'S MORE PROGRESS!! HE'S COMING TO LIFE, IT'S THEM IT'S MY LIL GUY IN MY HEAD THAT I AM IN MY MIND!!

ok so the way i've been doing this piece is complete chaos but it's fine lol. i colored and shaded the one on the left first (all on one layer bc i like making things difficult for myself), then did the line art on top of the color on top of the sketch like an idiot bc again i am RUSTY. so the line weight isn't quite right to the point that the style is visibly different.. so i'd have to redo the line art altogether to make it match the one on the right, which i don't wanna do bc that's too much work (?? ask my autism orz). buuuut with the one on the right, i lowered the pen thickness and spent more time focusing on the line weight when lining. and i'm relatively happy with it! feels more.. me. i grew up drawing almost entirely anime so my coloring and shading is kinda unremarkable and even with little highlights it feels a bit flatter than i would like. i've always had a hard time with lighting and coloring, since i've never had any actual artistic training/teaching. i think this style is okay for now since i basically have my digital art training wheels back on again having not drawn actively in over 10 years lol. i'll venture into practicing more with color and lighting once i've gotten more comfortable. i tend to get ahead of myself and lost in the minor details to the point of derailing progress on the project, so i'm trying not to do that and just take it one step at a time.

this may be all for today, depending on how my back feels. thank you for looking!

finally after over half a year trying to figure it out, i have decided on a fursona species! i've just generally been a squirrel, not really able to choose only one species and coat design with such an amazing range of beautiful and interesting squirrels to pick from. but this baby and their pink snoot has won me over!!

it's official- i'm a grizzled giant squirrel, also known as the national animal of sri lanka 🇱🇰🐿

i'm currently working on my first sketch based off of this squirrel, i haven't drawn digitally or traditionally for almost a decade now so i'm rusty and honestly don't even have a distinctive style anymore.. but i'm still going to do my best! i have saved and studied hundreds of references to help me get started again. i started yesterday with a few hours of taking photos of squirrels (especially the faces and complicated feet/paw pads) and breaking them down into shapes over and over to help me get an idea of how expressions would work on a squirrel's face. the grizzled giant squirrel has a slimmer face, naked snout, shorter ears with fur tufts at the tips, slightly different/bigger body proportions, and a longer, thinner tail compared to the eastern grey, fox, and brown squirrels i've been referencing up until this point. but the shapes making up the face as well as the body are the same, so a few adjustments and what i learned yesterday will still be helpful knowledge with my new squirrelsona species. wish me luck, friends! as soon as i get a sketch i'm somewhat happy with i'll post the wip in the first of hopefully many art posts to come! 💞

[tricksters-captain]

Benny Watts/The Queens Gambit imagines - From Pawn to Pen Part 4

AN: I’m sorry I missed posting last week. I’m currently going through a hard break up and it’s really taking a lot of energy out of me so I struggle to write at the moment. 

Overall Summary: You’re a young journalist for Chess Review, with a love for chess and a desire for knowledge. One day at a tournament, you come across the famous Benny Watts...

In this chapter: You return to Boston for the week. 

(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3)

Pairing(s): Benny Watts x Fem!reader

Word Count: 1,940

Warnings: Some strong language

You smiled as you looked at the copies of ‘Chess Review’ on the racks. 

Your first front page piece for Chess Review. 

They had used one of the pictures of Benny that you had taken at the hotel and you were pretty proud of your photography skills. 

You picked up a copy and took it inside to pay for it. 

On second thought, you picked up two so you could mail one to Angelie. 

You left the store quickly after and started to walk back to your apartment. 

Boston was busier than you had remembered and you finally had some time to sort out the apartment after your article went down well with the big man. 

You opened the door to your apartment and put down your groceries on the kitchen counter top. 

The last tenant hadn’t left the place in too bad a state, just a carpet stain here and there and a broken lamp. 

You had bought some paint to redecorate your living room and bedroom since it seemed too boring after where you lived in Paris. You had spent the last couple days painting and then you finally left to go check out your title page. 

The books that Benny had given you were still on your small two person dining room table where you had left them when you first got back. You looked over at them and furrowed your brow as you thought about whether you are actually going to bother to read them or not. 

Your phone started to ring and your frown disappeared when you realised it was probably Angelie. No one else had your number besides your work. 

“Hello?” You answered it, taking the phone off the wall as you leant beside it. 

“Miss (Y/L/N)?” You’d recognise that voice anywhere after listening to it so much over the last tournament. 

“Benny Watts?” You asked, almost in shock. 

“Have you read those books I leant you yet?” He asked, not even bothering to confirm it was him. 

“It’s been four days.” You told him flatly. 

“You could’ve easily gotten through at least two of them by now.” Benny challenged you which caused you to shake your head (even though he couldn’t see). 

“You know, Benny Watts, I do have a life to live.” You defended yourself to which Benny found amusing. 

“So, you’re back in Boston since you picked up this phone.” Benny changed the subject completely. 

“How did you even get this number?” You asked, genuinely curious and a little worried. 

“You really think Chess Review won’t hand over your telephone number to their favourite US chess player?” 

“You got it from Beth Harmon then?”  You teased the boy to which he responded with a dry laughter. 

“Ha Ha. Very funny.” Benny retorted, “If you’re in Boston, it means you currently aren’t working. Fancy an educational trip to New York City?” 

“Benny, I told you. I’m not coming to New York.” You reminded him about how you declined previously when he asked. 

“Come on, just for the weekend? We’ll play some chess, do some tourist shit and eat some food?” Benny asked, trying his best to persuade you Benny Watts style. 

“I’ve also told you before that I don’t play.” You felt a small bubble of excitement in your stomach as you considered going to New York but you quickly squashed it down. 

“What are you afraid of?” Benny asked. Deja Vu. 

“Why are you pushing this?” You closed your eyes as you let your head roll back to press against the wall. 

“Because I see that same light that’s in Beth Harmon, that’s in every decent chess player when you see a chess board.” Benny confessed to you. 

“I’m sorry, Benny. You’ll just have to find someone else to play with. I don’t want to be apart of this little game.” You hung up the phone with a sad sigh before Benny could respond. 

You found yourself looking at the books again. 

You picked up Benny’s and you opened it...

“I’ve been waiting all day for your call.” You half scolded Angelie as you answered the call. 

You heard Angelie’s laughter through the phone and it made you home sick. 

“Je suis désolé!” Angie apologised. “This new project has me so busy, constantly on set, costume changes, make up changes, redoing scene..!” 

“It sounds awful.”  You chuckled, 

“It is! You wouldn’t understand... You’re just a big time American journalist.” Angelie pouted. “Anyway, how are you?” 

“I’m okay.” You lied. 

“Menteuse!” Angelie called you out. “Tell me the truth. What is bothering you, Mon Cher?” 

“Benny Watts called me today.” You had filled her in on the tournament with him once you had first arrived back in Boston and she had already previously told you off for not taking his offer to New York. 

“He did?!” Angie gasped. 

“Yes, he did. He got my number through work and called me to ask if I had read the books he gave me which I haven’t because it’s been less than a week since. the tournament.” You explained. 

“That boy is in love with you, I am telling you now.” Angie was always the hopeless romantic type. It’s how she has had her heart broke so many times. 

“The boy wants to play chess with me to assert his masculine dominance over me and boost his ego with an easy win.” You argued. 

“You are always so negative about men! You hardly know this one!” Angelie groaned. 

“He’s Benny Watts. That’s all I need to know.” 

“I think you should go to New York and meet with him.” Angelie told you. You hadn’t even informed her about the fact he asked you again. 

“I think I should stay here and enjoy my first weekend off in six months.” You shook your head at the idea. 

“(Y/n), you only live once and how many girls are invited to New York by the Benny Watts?!” 

“Probably quite a lot.” You knew Angie was only trying to hype you up but you couldn’t help but knock her down. 

“Even if that is so. You could probably get another article out of it. Benny Watts and his life in the big apple?” Angie suggested. 

“I’m sure ‘LIFE’ has already done that piece before.” You pushed another idea aside. 

“Trust me, (Y/n). You need to stop being so afraid of the unknown and who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy yourself?” Angelie had had enough of the negativity from you at this point. 

There was a sudden knock at your door. 

“I’m sorry, Angie. Someone’s just knocked on my door, I’ll have to call you back.” You looked over at your front door and wondered who it could be. 

“Ça va. Call me back!” She told you as the knock occurred again. 

“Je t'aime.” You hung the phone back up on the wall and went over to your door. 

You opened it and you felt your face go white at the sight of who stood there. 

“Jesus, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Benny Watts. 

BENNY WATTS.

“What the hell are you doing here?” You asked him. 

“Well,  you wouldn’t come to me so I came to you.” Benny shrugged. 

“You can’t just stalk someone. This isn’t okay. This isn’t cute!” You were bewildered. 

“This isn’t stalking. It’s simply coming to Boston to visit a friend.” He defended himself as he stood out in the hallway. 

“I wouldn’t call us friends, Benny.” You scoffed. 

“Ouch.” Benny put his hand on his heart. 

You went to close your door on him but Benny stopped you. 

“Wait.” He pleaded. His cocky demeanour suddenly dropped. “Look, I know this is weird but I really wanted to see you.” Benny started to explain. 

“I––” He cut you short. 

“–– This isn’t some game. I just want to help you. I want you to play chess again. I want you to play with me.” Benny stayed with his hand against the door and his foot in the gap as he spoke. 

“This is crazy, Benny.” You told him, your eyes locked on his as you felt your heart race. 

“I know.” Benny stepped back. “I’m staying in the hotel down the block. I’ll be here all weekend. If you don’t want to see me, then don’t. But if you change your mind. I’ll be around.” 

You watched him back away from the door and head back down the stairs. 

Benny fucking Watts. 

You rushed back to the phone and dialled Angelie’s number. 

“Bonjour?” She answered, 

“You’ll never guess who was at the door.” 

You ended up tossing and turning all night. 

You caved in at around 3am and started to read Benny’s book again. 

You finished it by the time the sun was rising. 

You had a cold shower to wake you up at around 9am and then you stared in the mirror as the thoughts racked your brain. 

You walked over to your chess set that rested on the dresser top and you took it over to your bed, opening it up. 

You set up the board and stared at it.  

You picked up the queen. The same queen that Benny had held in the photo you took. 

You caved. 

You dressed and did simple make up before heading to the hotel that Benny had told you he was staying. 

“I’m looking for Mr Benny Watts.” You asked the elderly lady at the front desk. 

“He’s staying in room 306 but I’m almost certain I saw him leave about an hour ago for breakfast.” She informed you. 

You thanked her then sighed. 

You left the hotel lobby and started down the street. There was plenty of places to eat around the hotel, you almost considered just waiting in the lobby for him to return. 

Then you saw it. 

Through a window of a small diner. 

The famous black hat. 

You pushed open the diner door and walked towards the booth where Benny was sat. 

He had his back to you but he didn’t seem surprised to see you when you sat down opposite him.  

“Morning.” He greeted you as he munched on some pancakes. 

“I won’t play chess with you.” You stated. “I won’t play chess with you but I will spend the weekend with you and you can talk about it.”

Benny remained silent as his brown eyes watched you carefully. 

“I finished your book.” You told him. “I'm ready to learn.” 

Benny placed his knife and fork down, picking up the napkin beside his plate to wipe his mouth. 

“Great.” He nodded, interlinking his fingers above his food as he elbows rested on the table.  “Let’s begin.” 

(WHAT HAPPENS NEXT HERE)

TAG LIST

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[thesimperiuscurse]

THE CHALLENGE — show a certain part of your story process based on you being tagged by other creators. 

Thank you @herpixels for tagging me in your wonderful challenge! Here’s a behind-the-scenes essay for En Pointe ❤

WRITING PROCESS — show us a part of your script or explain how you write your scenes. do you write in screenplay format or novel format?

I write in novel format, and have a very methodical process. I have a Planning Notebook which covers all the general elements of the story; cast list + descriptions, main plot, themes, overviews of all chapters, timeline, world + settings information, research links, and a massive section with all my notes on relationships, character styles, history, writing goals, arcs, and most crucially, what to avoid from the absolute fucking mess of Fallen Angels. 

At the smaller scale, before writing, I plan out each chapter in my Chapter Workbook. First is the Outline, which is a synopsis of the main events. Going off that, I write a list of Chapter Shots which describes in writing all the pictures; what kind of shot it is (long, over-the-shoulder, etc), the location + atmosphere, and what the characters are doing. Corresponding to these I list the Poses, for each character and what expression they have. I then write a To Do List for what sets to build, new sims to make, number of poses to create, the cc I have to find or make. The final section is Details, which notes down all the little things I have to remember; running gags, nuances, and themes; current state of relationships and character arcs to keep track of their development; what my aims are for character perceptions + issues I need to fix from the last chapter. This section is super important to make sure the story unfolds smoothly and revelations make sense, or else I get something abrupt like Mako x Raven, because I didn’t foreshadow clearly or early enough in advance. Here are snippets of what this looks like:

Once I finish all this planning (the current word count of the two documents is 20k lmfao), then I begin writing. It’s a lot less structured because I just start with the most exciting scenes or ones I’ve been thinking about for a while. I organise the paragraphs according to the Chapter Shots. A bit of light editing then the writing is ready to publish! 

SCENE BUILDING — show us you in the middle of scene building through pictures, gifs, or a video. explain what is the best thing about scene building and what is the worst!

I dislike scene building because TS3′s weak ass makes everything so tedious. I have a Pinterest board to inspire the settings. The worst part is definitely when the game moves at 0.001 m/s and crashes, which happens far too often and pisses me off. Here’s a screenshot I accidentally took when setting up the big family dinner scene in Chapter 8. I tried my best to minimise the amount of sims that were actually there because I take shortcuts whenever possible. Crowd scenes suck. 

CC + POSE MAKING — do you make your own cc/poses for your scene? If so, what is your process like to create? do you just go off the top of your head? do you use reference photos?

I make all the poses that aren’t singular and ‘normal’, due to height differences and also so I can achieve my exact vision. Depending on the length of the chapter, this can range from 20-50 poses, which is looking to be around 700 poses by the story finale. I try to find reference photos (essential for ballet poses) when I can to make them look natural. I also convert or mesh clothing + objects, but I’m lazy so I often cheat with Photoshop. 

GETTING IN THE ZONE — what do you do to get in the zone to work on a scene? examples include: show us your playlist you use when working on a scene, what’s your go-to scene snack/drink, etc.

I don’t actually have anything for this. If I don’t feel like doing a particular task on the To Do List I just try something else. Sometimes I listen to Eva and Mako’s playlists when working though, and there are certain songs I associate with certain parts of the story which help me when I’m thinking of them. 

SCREENSHOT FOLDER — give us a look into your screenshot folder to show us just how much goes into one scene for your story. scrapped pictures encouraged!

I also have a linear method for pictures. Firstly, I create the poses, and test them in a blank background, which is when I figure out the most flattering angles, and edit the poses if needed. After that I begin series of test shots in the actual set, redoing up to three times until it looks passable. Since I use natural light almost every shot has a double (or even triple), with outdoor lighting for the environment and controlled interior lighting for the sims, which is then spliced together along with other atmospheric editing. There’s a lot of screenshots to ‘build’ the final visual but I rarely have alternative or scrapped finals because that would be a terrible waste of time. Why do I do this ridiculously tedious process? Because I’m stupid. 

CAPTIONS — are you a caption on the picture kind of storyteller or captions in text box type of storyteller? why? do you do both?

I don’t do caption format, because for me, it removes lots of detail and nuance. Long prose means my audience is much smaller, but I wouldn’t be able to convey half the things just by still visuals and dialogue. As you might be able to tell from the aforementioned question, picture taking is also just immensely tiring.

EDITING — explain and show us your process editing a scene through a video, gif, or picture. a before and after will suffice if you aren’t in the middle of editing a scene as you answer this.

Corresponding to the Screenshot Folder question:

I no longer rely on Reshade for post-processing, except for DOF, but even then I blur in editing. Lately I’ve been trying to create a more realistic, atmospheric look with strong DOF, bloom, motion blur, and smoothing out light + shadows with exposure brushes. 

THROWBACK — show us an ancient story scene you done in the past and explain how you would do the scene differently today!

You mean every scene I’ve ever done before En Pointe LOL If we’re talking ancient, I might as well go back to the very beginning of The Kingston Legacy, in 2015. It’s the classic legacy opening of the founder moving to a new town, with basic writing and terrible low-setting-no-cc pictures. I would do literally everything different. I can’t even begin to describe so here’s something to laugh at. 

I tag — @lazysunjade​ (watch her post it 1 second later) @amys-snapshots @notjustabooksims @simnights ❤ Please check the challenge post for the full and original format, and anyone else who wants to participate can also reblog it as an ask game! 

[poupeesdecirque]

I'm procrastinating on writing this entry since late October.

Here is my 2024 Hobby Review & an outlook to the coming year.

Bear in mind I had this planned differently, some graphics are outdated and I am not in a mental state in which I truly see anything as accomplishment.

I just think I made the graphics and ... it would be time wasted not to use them. More about that later.

First lets start with the dolls, the majority here is about the dolls anyways.

I had quite a huge backlog from 2023 in regards of bodies and unfinished dolls. In late 2023 I had ordered a huge amount of bodies and had an army of rolling heads to reduce.

Maybe someone remembers this drawing I made. I can say a lot, almost all, got finished. Except one doll, but have an updated one on this:

As you can see I got them all finished, well, all that have all parts arrived. And even finished a whole bunch of new arrivals. We even habe a lq group photo of them all:

Looks a bit more impressive than drawings I guess. It didn't feel like that many dolls as a lot were heads already.

That leaves us with who will need work in 2025 or will (maybe) join:

WiP are currently Alma (needs his head), Johnny (needs his body) and Eishi who I am working on slowly.

Incoming are young past!Allen and Qifrey. And you know Lucia will join too, she didn't made it into the graphic and I bought another doll and head the last days I will announce later on.

Other than that I sadly have one 2023 doll that is still not ... here. And I have no idea if she will arrive in 2025. It's Janet. I have no idea how to feel about her anymore.

But ignoring her I hope Alma will get his head soon, for both my fatemoon orders it will take some more time.

I even went down with my redos regarding outfits, Road and Erwin finally got theirs. Which leaves only Alastor but I am saturated in sewing regards for now.

What brings us to cosplay:

I decided to add this as Cosplay got a big part of my free time by now and aside sewing I got into prop making and partially even wig styling, therefore it's worth a mention as well.

There we have costumes that premiered this year and a whole lot were completely newly made (Allen's blue Outfit, Crown Clown, the Clown, The Prisoner), some had little effort like Mana, Link, Junior and Pre-order Allen, doesn't change that ... I added a lot to my wardrobe here.

Same goes for props. I learned how to make armor parts, made a huge sword, made plushies, a bag and yeah... went on stage for contests twice.

I didn't win a thing and the one day left me in shambled but I tried.

For next year I have plans, which are the following:

Yes those three (4, as I worked on one that is on the following graphic before I wrote the post) will hopefully be worn next year.

Then we have these fresh plans. Qifrey is done.

But I added 2 non DGM Characters to my mental line up and another Allen that maybe will replace the Noah's Ark Crown Clown variant, I am not sure about this yet.

For the 3 people who read until this point thank you for doing so. I am mentally in a extremely shitty place and being isolated doesn't help much either, my art feels bland and more like a "filler" to beat time dead. I will start therapy in January and maybe will learn new methods to cope, but we will see.

October/November/December left me rather scarred and I don't feel like myself, I am trying to gain back control. But feeling worthless and not needed, not wanted, all the time doesn't help much.

So yeah, plans are there somehow, even with the mindset that I maybe will work on them but never wear/show some of the final results as I just hate almost everything I create rn or feel nothing about it.

Anyways hope your 2024 ended better.

[fleecal]

Ep 19: Building Episode

Scoring Sheet and Family Tree

Wow, it's been a while. I got Laundry Stuff and Outdoor Retreat. I will not be changing Benjamin's aspirations back unless he completes his current one.

I also want to do a lot of renovations on the house but I am not sure what yet. I think a deck and pool and sunroom. We will see.

Anyway, we left off with Bella in labour. Whee. Another boy. I was hoping Bella would only have two children. Oh well. I named baby Cornelius. Welcome to the world, Cornelius Zilver.

And when they got home, I built a sun room/sitting room/parlour which I am really happy with. I tried to make this addition visually distinct from the rest of the house as this is are is in Bella's style as opposed to Anna's.

I also tried to add a patio/deck but I wasn't happy with what I was making. Benjamin got a phone call.

As Cornelius is a boy, Bella and Kiyoshi tried for another baby and Bella is pregnant again. Anna came to visit her grandsons.

Brielle maxed her career (Arts Critic). Kiyoshi was promoted and got to choose a branch, so I chose supervisor. I also added a patio/deck. Took me a while of doing it and redoing it but I like how it ended up.

I also just now realized that Bella didn't have to have one kid after another. I don't know why I felt I needed to rush. After this child, boy or girl, we will wait a bit, at least until the third baby is two or three days from being a toddler before trying for another.

Soon Benjamin was off to his next gig. Unfortunately, a number of NPCs didn't spawn in, like Hair and Makeup and all of my co-stars, so had to cheat a little. I'm allowed to cheat if the game breaks.

Benjamin is now a level 3 celebrity and level 8 in the acting career. After work, Kiyoshi popped over to Mt Komorebi to Practive snowboarding and rock climbing.

And this is where I will end the post as I am at my 10 photo max. I will try not to have a month in between the next post.

[thexfridax]

Adèle Haenel Marie Claire Japan, October 2020

‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ will be released in Japan on 4th of December, 2020.

See here for the PDF / full article in Japanese.

[h/t @mlleclaudine]

***

UPDATE [29 Oct 2020]

w/ big thanks to @rosedelosvientos​ for the translation

"Now, the most-watched French actress Adèle Haenel's charm at full throttle"

[October 15 Marie Claire Style] "Portrait of a Lady on Fire", which won Best Screenplay at last year's Cannes Film Festival and garnered the highest praise from actors such as Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, Xavier Dolan and other shining movie stars of today, will finally be screened in Japan this coming December. The heroine is played by the very talented actress Adèle Haenel, who won two César Awards (the French version of the Academy Awards), and is now receiving quite a lot of attention in France. We ask her, she who has a model-like physique of 175 cm and beautiful eyes possessing a strong-will, about the allure of her new film.

In the 18th century where cameras were non-existent, and of course no smartphones, European aristocrats used portraits of their sons or daughters in place of photos as an introduction to their potential marriage partners. "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" depicts the romance between a female painter and an aristocratic family's daughter over a portrait, and is up-and-coming female French director Céline Sciamma's newest opus. The screenplay that the director herself wrote was adapted into film for the role of heroine to be performed by Adèle Haenel. "It had the potential to be a great work, and I felt that the responsibility was serious." Adèle recounts the first time that she read the script. "I've collaborated with Celine for quite a long time, so for me this is a very special piece of work. That's because it's a testament to how much she trusts me. "

Adèle, who debuted when she was 12 years old, appeared in Sciamma's "Water Lillies" (2007), garnered high praise for her performance, and at a young age was nominated at the César awards. Since then, the two have become partners in public and in private, and during the awards ceremony in 2014, came out publicly regarding their relationship (at present they are separated). Currently she is 31 years old, but has already appeared in more than twenty films, and as a leading young actress she is well-loved in France. Furthermore, she accused film directors last year for sexual harassment that she suffered when she was younger; in February of this year, she protested when Roman Polanski won Best Director at the Césars; she is also known as the driving force behind France's '#Me Too' movement.

The stage of her newest film is set in 18th-century northern France, in a solitary island in Brittany. The daughter of an aristocratic family, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel)'s portrait was commissioned to Marianne (Noémie Merlant), a painter, who secretly completes it under the guise of a walking companion; however, Héloïse disapproves of the completed work. Marianne thus requests to redo it within five days. During this time, the two open their hearts to each other, a friendship blossoms, and before they know it, develop feelings far beyond it.

"It's a film about love towards the same sex. It differs from romance between a man and a woman where one dominates, and the aspect where two people are equal in a romance is very important. From there a special romantic feeling and eroticism, imagination expands further. With no rehearsals, I invented a new melody within my lines (in the script). I wanted to pursue, in an artistic way, Héloïse's journey from a passive into an active existence."

After her older sister's death, Héloïse was made to return home from the monastery. She is forced into marrying instead of her sister, however she just could not accept it. "Héloïse knows absolutely nothing about her fiancé. Even though it's her own life, she feels like why is it that she has no right to make decisions? Trying to avoid this marriage is her own way of rebelling against the world that has nothing to do with her."

On the other hand, there is Marianne, who, as a painter, is treading the path of her own life. She is shown as a modernistic woman but, during the 18th century there were actually a lot of women painters who existed. Focusing the spotlight on these women whose existence were erased from history is also another important aspect of the film. "It may seem like the 18th century is being shown in a contemporary light, however, historical facts aren't changed. Céline strove towards looking at historical facts without bending them, through a different perspective and a new form of emotional expression. I think that's why you can feel that this is a contemporary film."

While this piece is a delicate romance film that depicts that inexplainable state of mind when falling in love, one can also say that it is a social film: marriage, career, abortion, eating habits, smoking, literature, music, etc. - everyday life seen through the female gaze - and is thus also a powerful, piercing feminist film. The director herself references Nietzsche - lyrics that she wrote in Latin are sung by a female chorus repeatedly, a breathtaking theme; music by Vivaldi, an old castle, simple but elegant clothing, the picturesque scenery of the coastline of Brittany - everything is at its most beautiful, and wrings one's heart.

Film Information "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" Director & Script: Céline Sciamma Performers: Adèle Haenel, Noémie Merlant Screening Date: December 4, 2020 (Friday) @ TOHO Cinemas Chanter, Bunkamura Le Cinéma, other movie theaters nationwide TBA Distributed by: GAGA https://gaga.ne.jp/portrait/ Original article in Japanese: https://www.afpbb.com/articles/marieclairestylejp/3308645

[bogleech]

Okay, people asked for this, so here’s a zip file containing the following things:

A css stylesheet file

Sample images

A sample webpage with a HOW-TO GUIDE written into it.

A webpage template without the how-to guide.

An additional instructional file

Unzip them to the same folder and open “SAMPLEPAGE.html” in both notepad and your web browser, and it should teach you how to make “classic” style webpages as easily as you make tumblr posts! You don’t even have to fully understand any of it to use it! You can just keep copy/pasting the template file and changing its content to your own to make as many webpages as you like, then upload them to a service like neocities.org or hostgator or dozens of others, though neocities is currently the very best and easiest! With this template you can make your own articles, host your artwork, your webcomics, your stories, photo galleries, whatever you can think of; it’s the same templates @revretch made for me when I didn’t know how to do this stuff myself, and I’ve now used them for years to make my own content such as monster reviews and an interactive comic.

This gives you more choices than just posting things to “communities” like wikia or tumblr, but you can also use these all in conjunction too, obviously. I could have started doing articles entirely on tumblr instead of my own website ages ago, but it doesn’t have the same level of personalization, flexibility, or, for that matter, permanence. Tumblr could die someday! Any service can! By making your own html/css pages, you can save them forever and move or re-upload them anywhere you may want to in the future without having to redo any of the code! You can make it look any way you want and control whether there are ads on it!