#I love characters with fun/distinct visuals

[krokaxe]

Delilah for @plasma-packin-mama

[metanarrates]

i could have it within me to be one of the better film bloggers on this site. if i was not faceblind and could reliably tell actors apart when watching films

[nipuni]

On an unrelated note, I've been checking out all the content about DA: Veilguard that is being released lately and I'm so excited!! Of course this is entirely subjective but to me It looks absolutely incredible!! The environments are jaw dropping, the character creator is amazing and the hair is probably the best I've ever seen!! the companions are so distinct and fun in their designs and I'm loving their stories from the glimpses we are getting. The combat I'm aware it's not everyone's cup of tea but I love it! I'm an action combat enjoyer and this looks so dynamic and flashy and fun. The main story seems to be everything I was hoping for ten years ago to such a ridiculous extent, for some reason I feel that the writers were reading every Solavellan fic out there all these years lmao. I'm in a permanent state of 'I can't believe they actually did that', it feels like they finally reached the full potential of the vision they had for this story and couldn't quite get there in Inquisition. The scale and visuals are insane and they held nothing back ahhhh I feel so catered to 😭

[loverofstufflof]

Ways to consume Journey to the West (without needling to buy and read a full translation)!

I’ve noticed that a lot of people can’t read the book for a lot of different reasons, so I’ve compiled a couple of my favourite ways of consume the story while bypassing these problems, categorized by the various issues I’ve come across.

Note that this is mainly for English speakers, as that’s the language I default to for translations.

The book is too inaccessible/expensive for me to obtain physically

Journey to the West Research has an entire blog post dedicated to compiling free PDF versions of the book. This includes many languages, not just English.

I struggle with reading text in that quantity

There are abridged versions of the story, my personal favourite is the one by Julie Lovell—it’s approximately a quarter of the original story’s length, and mainly focuses on the most iconic chapters. These versions are also typically more easily found in local bookstores.

I struggle with reading novels in general

The story has been converted into audio form! Here are the ones off the top of my head, each listed with their own pros and cons:

Journey to the West: An Audio Drama Series is an original translation told in a read-aloud format, in which the host, Lin, acts as a kindly librarian reading to a group of awaiting 1st graders. She gives every character a distinct voice and personality, and she’s obviously delighted to be able to share her culture with the listeners. The show used to have free translation notes, where Lin gets to act as a disgruntled translator going on about the intricacies of the Chinese language and historical/mythological contexts, but these now require a subscription to access. This show is the reason why I know how to pronounce these characters’ names.

Legends Summarized: The Journey to the West by Overly Sarcastic Productions is one that I’m sure I don’t need to include (because of how widespread it is) but feel I should because someone is gonna mention is anyways. It’s a very summarized, very sarcastic retelling of Red’s favourite chapters in the book, accompanied by fun visuals and the excitement of someone who clearly knows and loves what they’re talking about. As Red has said herself, this series should not be your only source of JTTW knowledge, as she simplifies it a ton to make it more digestible. Great for people who are just getting into the story and want a general overview, not great for people who want a more in-depth understanding of the themes and other complexities.

Journey of the Monkey King is a podcast akin to a longform, more in depth version of the OSP series. It consists of two Irish comedians discussing one chapter per episode; one of them (Caoimhe) has read the book, the other (MJ) hasn’t. The format is mainly Caoimhe giving a comedic abridged version of the chapter while MJ gawks in horror at whatever absurdity the Monster-of-the-Week presents. Because it’s hosted by Irish people, there isn’t much cultural context given, and some names are butchered, however I do find this one a lot easier to follow in comparison to the Audio Drama Series, and it’s far more detailed than Legends Summarized.

Journey to the West English Amateur Audiobook is one that is on my radar but have not started. To my current knowledge, it is an audiobook version of the WJF Jenner translation, which is notable to me because most of these types of podcasts are derived from the Anthony C Yu translation, so this one would be a nice listen to compare how the two went about handling the text.

Please know that this post isn’t intended to shame anyone into consuming the story; it’s not for everyone! But I’ve come across my fair share of aspiring fans who couldn’t access the book in a way that suited them (including myself) so I wanted to make this knowledge more generally know for anyone else who might need it :]

[narfin-frood]

Hi! I'm a big fan of your art, and I just wanted to know, did you study the WOY art style? I'm asking because the way you draw each character, Hater especially, is so expressive! Do you have any tips with expressions? Thank you!

thank you so much!! and to kinda answer your question: while what i do is, technically, studying, that's not what it feels like. i genuinely just enjoy looking at character sheets. a lot of the time they'll include little notes about things you wouldn't think about unless you're told to, like wander's eyes typically angling towards each other at the bottom or sylvia's eyes obscuring the full width of her neck.

(i have any one of these open in my reference panel almost always! not only are these full of tips & tricks for your everyday sketching, they're full of rules for each character, which are meant to be broken in interesting and fun ways.)

[im gonna pack a bunch of other, tangentially related tips and tricks and thoughts into the readmore, including my personal breakdown of hater's expressions specifically, so feel free to give it a click. long post ahead]

a lot of stuff can be picked up by just watching the cartoon as many times as you want. i have watched every episode (minus big fucking baby episode, which i hate) like 6 times over, sometimes more (looking at you the rager), and that has definitely solidified my wander over yonder visual library.

also, wander over yonder's art style already fits in with the way i draw, because i LOVEE long curvy lines and super crisp & clear silhouettes!!

as for why/how i get hater so expressive.... that mainly has to do with the fact that i think he's So Cute. He's So Cute and i wanna Squash Him. and his character design reflects that!!!

his hood is his eyebrow and his eyes may or may not be rolling around in their sockets, and his nose is a little upside down heart. but all of the lord hater emotion is stored in the chin. lord hater has a bunch of specific and VERY malleable options for mouth shapes, depending on what makes the expression and lipsync look clearest.

you can keep it super simple, with a clear divide between his top and bottom jaw, and do several round bumps for teeth, which they do a lot when tweening, like this:

this kind of seems to be his default state, depending heavily on the episode and when it was made and who was drawing him the most, of course.

you can also keep his jaw and skull distinct, but keep his teeth straight and flush with each other, which helps for sharper expressions, esp. anger or frustration, but can also work for a good "squee". he also sometimes pouts so hard his chin eats his mouth, which is, again, cute.

if you're having trouble keeping an expression clear while also maintaining the distinction between his jaw and the rest of his skull, it's pretty common also to forego most of the overt skeleton bits, save for a few hatch marks to indicate teeth (sometimes squiggles or bumps, when he's yelling about it). in my head i affectionately refer to this style of hater expression as the "peanut sans"

none of these convey the intensity of emotion you're looking for? fear not, you can also always just go Full Skeleting. and give his teeth a full outline. this is great for Pain and Strain and Nefariousness.

and then there are a million expressions in between and possibilities within these parameters beyond your wildest belief. nothing should hold you back from a really fucked-up lord hater expression. not proportion. not structure. ESPECIALLY not symmetry. please. make his chin bigger. make his head bigger. make one eye bigger. make him look in two different directions. scrunch his nose up. whatever it takes. by all means. i implore you to have fun

(honorable mention. his W face. the face when he says the consonant W. sometimes OO. i'm. obsessed. with it . he looks. kity)

anyway. lord hater tangent aside. i could also share my own process for expressions, but it really just hinges on what looks appealing/what i like the most/what communicates the emotion i want to communicate the clearest, and it varies between characters and people.

it helps to, again, build your visual library, and look at lots and lots of funny faces, both in real life and in cartoons you like. make funny faces in the mirror and try to focus on what parts of your face change shape or interact with other parts of your face when you do something like smile really wide or drop your jaw. your skin is taut, and there's a bunch of muscle and fat attached to your bones, so when one big bone moves, a bunch of muscles and fat under the surface will shift around too, and understanding that relationship is really helpful in the long run, both for drawing real people and for drawing cartoons.

and the easiest way to retain information like that is to have fun while you study. stop thinking of it as studying and start thinking of it as gathering information on this thing you like a lot and want to do more of, like when you scroll through someone's account to look at all their art, and just. do more of that. do more exploring and observing. since animation is my special interest, this part is pretty easy for me, but it does still take practice to get into that mindset, especially when you convince yourself you have to be super strict and rigid to make it in the art world. focus on drawing and observing what makes YOU happy first, and everything else will follow.

and don't worry about taking notes. don't worry about remembering everything you look at. just look at things you like, and think about them for longer than you usually would. think about the shapes and colors. what makes that drawing so darn appealing to you, besides subject matter and the vague concept of an "artstyle"? you'll be surprised just how abstract what appeals to you can be. for me, with expressions especially, it comes down to random shit like "i like when the edge of a character's mouth creates a tangent with the outline of their head" instead of "pretty eyes" or other, vaguer elements. and that shit i like becomes a part of my artstyle, but only when it fits in and looks appealing, because you can't do stuff like this in every single drawing & retain a full range of expression

ANYway. i hope this made some sense/helped at least a little. i like lord hater a lot. and i also like to draw

[aroaessidhe]

metal from heaven fans i have character design sketches for most of the cast I would love if anyone has Thoughts Ideas or Suggestions (gay sketches as a reward if you read to the bottom)

i did..... not quite every on page character, but pretty much everyone who's there more than once and at least vaguely described (or like. I'd do gwyar if it wouldn't be a spoiler)

all the character descriptions I have recorded are here by the way !!

some of the characters are described a lot but most are like.....their face/hair but nothing about their clothes, or the other way around, so for a lot of them I just winged it - part of the reason I wanted to do so many characters roughly was so get a sense of the overall styles and vibes? august said they were thinking about john galliano for fashion so I took a lot of inspo from that and also a heavy dose of western vibes.....fashion is not my strong point though. truly just stuck it all in a blender and slapped it on.

and also for most of these it's sort of first-or-second-pass designs - basically just getting an initial feel rather than really solidly Designed. so likely to change. I could definitely push a lot of them further!!!

fingerbluffs/choir etc!

sisphe is described with having sunlight trapped in her hair and then also a dark curtain of hair and it's PROBABLY dark but I did imagine her blonde initially because of that. going with blonde hair as a kid that got darker to compromise...

her disguise outfit isn't really described other than gloves but I kinda matched it to marney disguise (below)

harlow took me so long to figure out getting her face like I imagined and also like how I described....I'm not sure still. i love her sm

amon is accidentally giving victor arcane. the character archetype + colour palette I guess. I specifically made it blue/black with pink highlights because of the tullian gender colours though..

tbh I still haven't figured out how their bandit hoods work. I think they pull over from the back of the head but I can't figure out how to draw that in a way that works so they're bandanas for now

not pictured but what are we imagining the lurchers like. just fun punky sff motorbikes?

aristrocrats !!

i am pretty happy with my marney and goss (though goss could be shorter...)

wanna do more vikare outfits

yann i. chauncey supposed to be quite boring and nondescript but also. sure does like Like A Random Dude in this lineup huh

basically all of the bottom row are only lightly described so I just went with the initial vague mental image I had tbh!

could I put more effort into giving them more cultural distinctions / make the areas they're from more visually distinct? yes probably. it's hard to get a sense of some of that when some of the places are within ignavia and some are like.. separate continents - and there's no map to sort it out in my head. (you may notice i wrote where they're from in blue by the names though)

description: 'detailed traditional tullian/drustish/etc embroidery' me: here's some vague scribbles

could deffo get some more body diversity in here

anyway genuinely very interested if anyone is like 'I imagined x to be completely different in y way' or fancasts or anything else! i am so open to and interested in making changes if other people have thoughts (and like if you're not an artist so can't draw it yourself) (or even if you are an artist but don't have the time and want to make me draw it instead. i know the feeling)

----

thanks for reading here's sketches:

I promise I will post these properly on my art blog sometime. also if anyone has ideas for little sketches like these, of any particular interactions or whatever....

[bc-jpeg]

hello i love your art so much, do you perhaps have any tips on character design bc yours are so distinct to me? thank you <3

tysm, anon! I'm glad you like my designs, since you decided to ask me for tips <:D

actually, I don't consider myself very skilled in creating character designs, and I don't really feel like i’m focusing on this in my work, but from the outside view I really like watching this area in my favorite media. I don't know if I can give really working tips, they may not be suitable at all for your creative process and character vision.

here I’ll talk more about creating a design based on an existing image, like minecraft skins, where everything is shown in a very minimalistic way originally and you just have to work from it.

I try to focus as much as possible on the feeling of "is this thing actually suitable for the character or not?", trying to create some kind of composition in the overall design of the character so that everything is in its right place. and that's it, I guess..

I don’t like frequent themed designs that changes every arc/season/smth. in my opinion, yes, it can be beautiful, but it doesn't work at all in my head. some characters TEND to change clothes frequently, sometimes it's literally a character feature that explained by the plot, but it’s not for everyone, I feel. instead, I try to change the original design a little bit for various occasions. especially when you have a base of specific items of clothing, it's a lot of fun to try to keep the same clothes, but changing the shape, details, etc.

I don't like changing the canonical design much, for me it feels wrong by default. but it's still fun to adapt things to your own vision, the main thing is not to get carried away. these frames of the canon makes you think outside the box always, I love it.

logic and practicality are also important to me, simply because that's how I live my life. I’ll obviously choose something practical and comfortable for a daily physical work or a survival games, rather than something fancy. BUT at the same time, I want to do some ordinary practical details fancy still, because it's interesting in the context of practical design.

this doesn’t mean that I’ll assert every detail only on the logic basis, but most often it is so. I like the thinking process itself, how I can adapt a thing so that it works in design both visually and practically and works for the character’s essence.

+ personally, I really like asymmetry in designs, it looks interesting

therefore, I will probably highlight from my entire answer:

— focus on your sense of character, but do not forget about logic and practicality, it’s so useful sometimes.

— try to analyze the character as much as possible so that you can convey many features through their design. shapes and colors are the ultimate basis.

— often look at the design in full picture, so you don’t get some overloaded parts, otherwise the whole design falls apart

[sources with universal advices from professional character designers who have been in their industry for a long time will be useful here, you can find many videos on this topic on youtube]

— references. save as many references as you want, scroll through the pinterest feed at least once a day, there are many unexpected details that can be used to create a character design. artbooks for various media are a very cool thing for this, I dream of a collection of such books.

— if I work on something from scratch, it’s easy to draw a multiple versions of the same design, with some changes, just to see which of them is working the most. also always trying to analyse each of them, “what I like about this version? and what about that?” and etc. after the time you can find a perfect combo of each criteria you like from every versions.

— sometimes also you just have to give it a time, if you doubt some parts of the design.

I tried to think on something more to add here, but for now that’s it-

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

Almost missed this cover entirely but luckily this blog saved me.

Chapitre 220 - 'The Strongest Magic' or 'The Ultimate Magic'

Splash text: Turn weakness to strength, despair to hope, carve out the proof that you have lived!

And OH THIS IS GORGEOUS!

MATCHING FAMILY BATTLE OUTFITS?!

THE SYAORANS WEARING THE EXACT SAME ARMOUR WITH IDENTICAL SWORDS??

And one of them looking like he has his hand on the other’s shoulder?!

I love it. Even if it’s actually just hovering above the shoulder or something the visual effect is enough for me. 

From the eye colour I think I would guess this is Daddyaoran and Lava Lamp? But I suppose it could just as equally being Lava Lamp and Syaoran. It’s fun either way - either it’s married couple Kurogane and Fai taking their two sons on a battle trip or it’s Lava Lamp and his three dads on an adventure. We win either way!

I really enjoy that Kurogane and Fai have their signature colour schemes (Red and Black/Blue and White) on opposing sides of the page, while the Syaorans have their own unique cape colours that swirl out between them on either side. (or not quite capes. Whatever those are) It makes this so much more dynamic than it would be without the splashes of colour and brings so much energy and action to what is essentially a still pose. And it’s fitting that the (capes?) are red and blue, as it helps the Syaorans be distinct from each other but lets them match the character that they share the physical space with on each page (Fai on the left page, Kurogane on the right). 

But! No matter which page you were looking at individually, you would still see a small splash of the opposing colour. I think I even have an example, here we go:

If you were only looking at the left page, which is predominantly blue and white, you still get some red at the bottom. And on the right page with its blacks and reds you still have a flash of blue in the middle. Which matches the yin-yang symbol that is Syaoran’s soul - where even if you are strongly on one side of the symbol there is still always some of the opposite side inescapably in there. And the melding together of the two colour schemes creates the family that they’ve built together in everything that they’ve been through. AND, the bridge connecting the two pages, the moment of contact between them, is Syaoran’s hand on the other Syaoran’s shoulder. Which is SO FITTING I COULD SCREAM. 

So with that in mind this is probably Lava Lamp and Syaoran right? With Syaoran on the right, with his strong connection with Kurogane (think the time they trained together in Outo), and Lava Lamp on the left, who trends closer to Fai (I think, like in the conversation they had when Lava Lamp shared his backstory with them in the Clow ruins). 

Now the only mystery I have is this bit. 

Which I’m sure is not supposed to be a mystery but I just don’t know what that bit sticking up is. I know it’s NOT Kurogane’s leg but that’s what my eye sees every time, which makes it look like Kurogane is doing a fancy little Bayonetta kick off to the side.  

Which I would be in full support of, for the record. 

[stringlessau]

IT'S STRINGLESS' 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY (+ early concept art compilation)

Posting this dumbass little video to start off the day since we have a lot of little gifts for our awesome community today.

One of those things is something i've been wanting to do for a very long while: posting a lot of the original concept art for stringless (since ive always enjoyed seeing other people's early concepts) some of these i have posted massively before, some are completely unseen, so it'll be fun

This one is the page that started it all, his design is at the same time largely unchanged and also completely different

All i have to say is that it originally said (regarding spamton and swatch) "they bicker like an old married couple" but then i thought about it and i changed it so theyre literally just married

Didnt mean to make swatchton, made it anyway lmfao

Right after that, i got working on neo designs, I wanted to make him really scary looking, the original concept was to make him look skeletal and generally for him to look insane and like he had been reanimated from the dead, but a lot of people had told me over time that they didn't really like the design, I was very defensive over it but I ended up taking criticism and i actually really like the new neo, it balances the uncanniness of the original design with the sleekness of my new art

Payton was a natural next step, without someone to sell the thorn ring there'd be no neo, so although his design visually stayed almost the same, he went through a lot of color revisions (thanks mostly to @maskedalterego, who helped me to nail his final color palette), he suggested the gloves, and helped me to balance the saturation of the design since really I've never had a good eye for color.

His final design, color wise, was just me experimenting using the colors of my sona at the time on him, which I was hesitant to do but was so happy with the palette that I kept it.

It's interesting that he was originally intended to be the pink addison (since he sells one of the snowgrave required rings), and the reason he ended up being the blue addison was corey beepington (and the eviction notice short which I have taken one too many concepts from), this still influenced me to make his outfit pink initially, which still is a huge part of his character design

That exact same night, I created concept art for Raster (weirdly, I was sure I created them before Payton, but it might be because I was generally uninterested in Payton earlier on), their design is also largely unchanged, I just got better with shapes and color, I also ended up changing their cheek markings after seeing some swatchton fanchild art by ne0nbandit

A first until now, the first concepts for payton neo were made on paper

I took very long on this design, and I only updated it every few weeks to make tweaks because I felt the concept was too good but my execution didnt make it justice

I'm very proud of how the design looks now, as of the latest neo redesigns, I feel I could finally make this idea justice

Swatch's design went through some last minute changes, I wanted to use this color palette for swatch to contrast with spamton, but decided against it, then i changed their hair to be longer, to make their Stringless design distinct from their regular Deltarune design

Historically, these two are pretty important, the first pieces of art I ever made featuring Rakhin's old design, when he wasn't part of stringless and I was just befriending rope (he made me Payton fanart first, fell in love with his style), the contrast is beautiful

Now to finish this post, here's some unseen Snowgrave route art I made over the time Stringless has been in development, they're all pretty quick sketches, but i love them nonetheless

Thanks everyone for the insane reception this AU has gotten, I haven't been feeling very good this whole year for a huge amount of reasons I can't get into, but Stringless and its community always helps me to remember why I do the things I do

Thanks for everyone's comments and everyone's kindness, thanks especially to @theropeaaa , for being the literal other half of this AU, without whom I couldn't have ever done the Stringless pages, @maskedalterego for helping me and listening to my ramblings since the start, @scamp-boxx for being this AU's biggest hype man (the first ever comment on the first spamton concept art was by them, and they helped me nail so much of the snowgrave route), @boykisserwoah and @weirdohno , for also being here from the start and making an absolutely insane amount of fanart oh my god, @gutamajunk , for motivating me to create Raster, and writing several story outlines on the first days of stringless that were the foundation for the pages, and diaryous milch and rory, our friends that have helped with character designs, story ideas, voice acting and have generally been instrumental to what stringless is today

THANKS EVERYONE <3

-Nick

[jacarandaaaas]

I know it’s probably been said before but as an artist I can’t help but praise the character design of encanto

Like look at this whole cast of characters who are all related to eachother and still so distinct! One of my all time favorite facts about this movie is that the family are color coordinated! I love that so much because not only does it make it easier for the audience to tell which character comes from what side of the family but it’s also visually appealing!

Also the fact everyone’s outfit contains symbolism relating to their gift!? genius. and mirabels skirt being her own personal scrapbook where you can see she has everyone’s symbol a clever way to display her genuine pride for her family! Isabelas dress being closer to almas magenta than the other members of julietas family emphasizing shes closer with alma and is seen as her successor! I especially love how after “what else can I do?” She changes her dress colour to a dark blue representing that she’s finally found herself and doesn’t want to be just almas clone! She feels more comfortable with her own family and shows it by representing their color!

Also let’s talk about how pepas family all wear warm hues as shown to be bright, fun and ultimately happy. Which makes a lot of sense considering how pepas gift requires her to be happy all the time to avoid “bad weather”. Her family also wear warm tones to possibly help her maintain this and also because compared to what we see in the movie pepas children have a little less pressure and are considered more fun to be around! Also the fact green and magenta are opposite colors on the color wheel and Bruno and alma have a strained relationship. genius.

I just want to appreciate the character design because I feel like it’s just so creative and has had so much thought and heart put into it <3

[dufferpuffer]

Why do you think Arthur’s physical description is important to his character?

This is one of the characters I think the movies fucked up visually. Is it the biggest deal in the world? No. Though that's partly because so many of his scenes were straight up cut. But it is a shame.

I think Mark Williams brought a lot of warmth to the character. He feels like a lovely average father - who likes sport a normal amount and likes his eccentric hobby a large amount. He is sweet and fun, can be a little stern when he needs to be... ...But he is also kinda dopey. Even when he needs to come across as serious and capable.

He has a constant sense of being a little lost. A little soft. Does his best but typically feels like he is out of his depth wherever he is. He basically looks like how I imagined Bagman.

This isn't how he is in the books. In the books he serves as a near constant voice-of-reason and source of information. He calms people down quickly and efficiently, takes control of situations responsibly and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. In fact he considers being honest and accurate very important, having seen a lot of darkness, suffering and death in his life.

When other people wont touch a topic because it is too sad, too scary or too stressful - he walks right in and brings it up. When everyone else is panicking he keeps his cool and works hard. A capable leader. Reliable, intelligent, strong and quick-witted. Everyone knows him, likes him - and owes him a favor or two because he's been solving problems for everyone.

Is that how Movie!Arthur comes across...?

In the books - he is tall and thin, similar to Bill, Percy and Ron. His red hair is balding and he wears horn-rimmed glasses on a kind face - im thinking a geek-ish vibe (younger Dr. Isaac Kleiner) He wears green robes and a long dusty traveling cloak. Simple and professional, if a little battered by a hard working life.

He sounds like an average sort of guy whose defining trait is his intelligence. Perhaps he is a little eccentric and scattered at times - but he can actually be quite imposing. He doesn't sound dopey.

Tangent: 'What is the function of a rubber duck?' isn't canon. He collects plugs. He knows the proper way to use a fellytone. He can drive cars. He understands Muggle clothing in detail - and how to get by without magic or eckletricity when camping. He works with Muggles for his job. He isn't clueless.

Another thing: He and Molly are not visually distinct in the Movies.

Broad, friendly, homely, browns, patchwork and plaid - hair a little messy and tummies a little soft. They are almost always shown together and melt into a single 'warm parent' character. But they aren't the same. They are very different people and parents, yet fit together well as an odd-shaped team. Looking like that - like opposites that fit together well - portrays that at a glance.

That's my thoughts. I think for the scripts he was given Mark Williams did a good job of getting the gentle loving core of Arthur - and he's just a cutie. Look at him. He needs a cuppa tea.

But I also think that, as Arthur is a side-enough character people don't put much thought into his scenes, the Movie version of him pops up in their heads even when reading the books.

[renthony]

Animation (specifically 2D animation) is my preferred TV/film medium. A piece of live-action has to go above and beyond to get over my personal bias of, "most things would be better if they were animated," but it's taken me a long time to figure out what, exactly, makes a piece of live-action really do it for me.

I think what it really comes down to, for me, is the little details. If your live-action doesn't have some level of nuanced physical acting, intense detailing in costuming and set design, a strong sense of visual storytelling, or kickass practical effects, I'm pretty much always going to come away thinking, "I'd like it better as a cartoon."

I think some of this is due to my issues with face blindness--I need characters to have distinct silhouette and costuming, or they will all blur together in my head. Animation tends to stress the importance of silhouette, so I have an easier time telling everyone apart and following who's who. That's not to say that this problem doesn't happen in animation, or that it always happens in live action, but I do think it contributes to my personal preferences.

Anyway, just for fun, a random shortlist of some live-action that I think uses its medium well:

Child's Play/Chucky. Half the appeal of Chucky (IMHO) is the incredible showcase of practical effects and animatronics. Each incarnation of the Chucky doll incorporates incredible advances in animatronic and puppeteering technology. I have on multiple occasions compared the Chucky puppeteer team to Muppet performers. That shit is its own art form, and it's incredible. The current Chucky show makes some use of CGI, but it's all to enhance the practical effects, and the puppeteers are all given the spotlight in the show's credits. I love that.

Killjoys. The incredible nuance to the actors' body and facial acting is mind-blowing. The set design and costuming are gorgeous, and there's a lot of very good detail worked into the visual space that would be hard to animate. They use their CGI well when they do use it, but a significant amount of the show seems to be practical effects and props. Additionally, Hannah John-Kamen's ability to flawlessly portray multiple characters is so good it's uncanny and makes you forget they're literally being played by the same woman. She changes her entire body language, and it's phenomenal.

Jordan Peele's entire body of horror. His films pack in so much symbolism and subtlety that I could probably watch them all a million times and still find new details. The nuance in the acting, the sheer detail packed into the costuming and set design, the use of color...god. It's unreal.

Crimson Peak, because the set design for that film...holy fuck. The costuming and set design in that film are pure gold. The acting is also phenomenal, but I could probably talk about the set design for hours. The house is a character in its own right.

Galavant and Our Flag Means Death, both for the same reason: both shows feel like I'm hanging out at a ren faire being goofy with my friends. They feel like I'm watching a LARP. They feel like they could easily exist in the same setting as Muppet Treasure Island, and at any second Kermit is going to show up and start singing, and it wouldn't be out of place at all. I think I'd also include Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in this category, along with The Princess Bride and Labyrinth--all of which also include kickass practical effects, choreography, and costuming.

This isn't some sort of objective truth or anything. I just like that I've finally been able to nail down some reasons why I prefer animation, beyond just, "idk, cartoons are fun."

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

One show wraps up its run and another continues to stumble toward its end. We have two new shows starting next week, and I'm looking forward to it! In the meantime, these two are streaming on Gaga.

Our Youth

I have to call it at this point: this show is not ending strong, and I'm pretty bummed about it. The first six episodes were some of the strongest work from Japan this year, but the narrative fizzled and we're left with this muddled mess of a story that is bound to end on an unsatisfying note next week. I feel thoroughly unmoored in this narrative, the new college version of these characters don't connect back well to where we left them in high school, and the show has failed to make a compelling case for why these two should get back together. And for me personally, the total abandonment of the class disparity themes from the earlier part of the show is a real letdown. @my-rose-tinted-glasses made a great point in her own thoughts about the show that the creators seem to be prioritizing visual metaphors at the expense of logical character behavior, and I'm really feeling that. We'll see where the story takes us in the finale, but I'm officially marking this one down as an end of year disappointment.

Love in the Air Koi

And in more fun news, LITA Koi ended its run today with a funny, sweet, and just a little bit weird special finale that felt fitting for this show. The plot of this special is very silly--in the original Thai version and here--so I loved that they leaned into that by amping up the comedy, adding some spirit shenanigans to give us even more smut, and bringing Fort and Boss over for an extended cameo. It all felt very loving toward the original show while finding small ways to add to the canon, on par with this entire project. From beginning to end it has paid tribute to the original in everything from its costuming to its scene blocking, while still bringing a distinctively Japanese style. As the show wraps, I'm happy we got both versions of this story, to have Fuma and Kai as my new favorite version of their characters, and to see what other Thai/Japan collaborations we might get in the future.

[saintsenara]

would you want to elaborate more on your thoughts on Alan Rickman as Snape? I'd love to hear more of your take on it. I dislike him in the role so much and it's insanely difficult to actually have a conversation about it sometimes because of how much some people like movie!Snape in large parts of the fandom

I have so many gripes with what happened to Snape, from how movie!Alan!Snape is a completely separate character to book!Snape (and how less flawed movie Snape overshadows the much more interesting and gray book version), how much I dislike his acting choices in certain moments to how much I dislike how he sees and describes the character in interviews

I've never heard of the diaries you mentioned, what did he say in them? I'm honestly also just curious if he even read any of the books because some of the things I've heard him say really make me doubt it 😭

there are dozens of us!

and i have no issue with being a #hater on the public timeline. for fun and profit.

but i'm actually going to start with two bits of rickman defending [it's giving diplomat].

the fact that the adult cast of the films was massively aged up in comparison to their book versions makes perfect sense. each individual film not only needed to be accessible for people who’d never read the books, but for people who'd never seen another film in the sequence - and so having a visual distinction between harry and james’ generations is completely necessary. we - as people who are undeniably more invested in the series than the average person - know that the great tragedy of the later books is that james and lily died so young that harry looks virtually indistinguishable from his father as he walks into the forest. but that doesn’t always work on screen…

it also doesn't bother me unduly that rickman doesn't physically resemble the canon snape. plenty of actors don't look anything like the characters they give brilliant performances of [and not only fictional characters, but real people], and it doesn't matter in the slightest - being an exact physical match for a character says nothing about an actor's ability to portray what they're like.

which is where my beef with film!snape starts...

the thing that never hits for me is that rickman plays snape - regardless of the situation he finds himself in - as emotionally repressed, cold, and controlled.

[even down to the costume - he was behind the decision to have snape be, literally, buttoned up].

i simply don't know how anyone could read the books and come away with this impression of snape without having fundamentally misunderstood the character. snape is incredibly emotionally demonstrative! he’s the male character other than harry - the literal narrative perspective - whose emotional state is described the most frequently! and his emotional state is always described in terms which make clear that he’s someone who feels very deeply and who registers his emotions clearly on his face!

rickman's version of snape bears no resemblance to this - and it means that his portrayal of two key aspects of snape's canon character always feels flat to me.

the first is snape's main negative trait - his cruelty. something is really lost in the fact that film!snape's cruelty is reduced to something arch and precise - and that it doesn't have the petty, childish, vindictive tone that it does in the books.

and the second is - of course - the experience which defines snape's canon arc - his grief. this is so inextricably bound up in the state of arrested development - still living at school! still beefing with people he knew when he was fifteen! - that the absence of snape's childish side in rickman's performance means that the way he portrays snape's grief is always going to feel half-baked.

and - specifically - rickman's emphasis on emotional repression in every aspect of snape's character undermines the fact that - in canon - snape's mingled love, grief, and guilt for lily is the only emotion he goes out of his way to repress, which allows the revelation of his feelings for lily in deathly hallows to actually feel like a mystery being solved.

snape is an interesting character precisely because he's so... feral - and rickman’s buttoned-up, suave, nowhere-near-as-gratuitously-mean-as-he-should-be take on him is the cause of many of the least complex and least compelling fanon!snapes [in particular, the snape prominent in pairings with female partners in which he’s kind, sophisticated, romantic, and definitely not really ugly].

the snapewives phenomenon was incredible, though. fair play to him for inspiring that.

when it comes to the diaries... what's complicated is reconciling two particular truths.

on the one hand, a diary is inherently a space for a person to record their private thoughts [they were published with the consent of his family, but they weren't originally written with the intention that they'd be published] - and, therefore, to record impolite, unpleasant, or unadmirable thoughts which they wouldn't express in person. rickman's diaries are incredibly whiny - and often quite unkind - but it's clear that this isn't because he was particularly whiny or unkind in person. obviously, it's a good and healthy thing that, if someone was pissing him off at a dinner party, he was cordial to them in conversation and saved that he thought they were an idiot for his private diary!

but, on the other hand, there are several threads which run through these private thoughts which made it impossible for me not to feel considerably less fond of him.

[tytangfei]

Here is my favorite cdrama list of 2024! If you didn’t know: I've made a fav list every year since 2020. Check them out here: 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

These are mostly Chinese historical/period romance dramas. Honestly though, I haven't watched as many this year. So many dramas in recent times have had incongruent endings that I no longer feel as excited about dramas, so I've been watching fewer dramas. Still, here are my favs.

Best Overall Drama

Blossom: my enjoyment of this drama makes it a 10/10, but it probably sits more at a 9.8--marked down because of the storyline with the brother.

Most Delightful/Fun Drama

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy: The emotions, the comedy, the visuals, the fantastical, the cuteness! The ending was kind of hard to wrap my head around, but I loved it still.

Most Impactful Drama

Lost You Forever season 2 (and the entire drama overall): This drama made me mourned (for good and bad reasons). The good reason: I wept for tragic characters like Xiang Liu. The bad reasons: They assassinated Cang Xuan's character, for who knows what. And cut out so much of Tushan Jing. I still enjoyed this drama so much, despite what happened in the last 8 episodes. Xiao Yao is one of the most realist / pessimistic female characters I've ever seen.

Drama with the Best Soundtrack

The Last Immortal - How I decide this category is if I still listen to the OST months later. I still listen and think about this drama.

Best Costume/Design/Set Drama

Love of Nirvana - The Yueluo City folks and that whole production looked good. Their distinct styles were very good too.

Best Short Drama

Fortune Writer - Glad I caught this drama right at the end of December. Love when characters fight against fate!

Most Unexpected Drama(s)

Are You The One - Unexpected, in a somewhat bad way. I wanted a lot more angst, but didn't get it. Instead, I grew to really care for the side characters' relationship, a lot more than the main couple, honestly. Zhang wanyi is still fun to watch.

In Blossom: With Ju Jingyi's record, this could've been meh. But it ended being better than expected because of its commitment to the gothic horror suspenseful vibe and a strong start, with a great lead in liu xueyi.

--

What about you? What's your favorites of 2024.

[ecargmura]

The Apothecary Diaries Episode 25 Review - Maomao, Meet Mao Mao

The Apothecary Diaries is back! I’m so happy! This is such a fun series. I get to see more of Maomao and the absolute best boy Gaoshun back on the screen (and I guess Jinshi too). I really like that this episode feels like an update to see what’s happening at the palace and how everyone is doing without the need of flashback or needless exposition.

For the palace, it seems that novels are all the rage amongst the servant girls these days as Maomao even requested to get some from the madam of the Verdigris House—though, in her case, they’re erotic novels written in high quality paper. It’s also encouraging the servant girls to have an interest in reading and writing as Xiaolan, Maomao’s friend, wants to learn how to do so in order to read novels on her own. The consorts all seem in good health too. Jinshi and Gaoshun feel like the audience surrogate in seeing how the ladies are doing.

For Maomao, her daily life hasn’t changed as she’s still attending to Gyoukyou as she’s pregnant (and hasn’t told Jinshi yet). I think the biggest change in her life is the cat appearing. While she’s not fond of cats herself despite being named Maomao (Mao means cat in Chinese, so her name is basically “Cat Cat”), she becomes her caretaker after the Emperor allows permission to have a cat in the palace. The cat is appointed rat exterminator and gets named Mao Mao like her caretaker, much to human Maomao’s dismay. Given that a cat is being introduced to the story, I’m predicting an important role or just a need for a mascot. Though, why is Maomao, the human, is named Maomao? Like is there a backstory behind this? Who named her?

Other than the cat, another new “character” is introduced. The reason why I used quotation marks is because of uncertainty. There’s a servant girl with purple hair and hazel eyes  who knows about the cat but then leaves it behind with Maomao. I have this feeling that the girl is Loulan in disguise. Back in Episode 20, there was a detail about Loulan that said that she’s very good disguising herself to the point that the Emperor cannot recognize her whenever he comes to visit. Given that Maomao and no on else seemed to recognize her, she’s doing a good job. Also, the reason why I suspect her to be Loulan is because of the eyes. Her hazel eyes has a distinct orange highlight at the right side on each eye—the servant girl has that too. I do wonder why she is disguising as a servant girl… If she’s voiced by a well-known voice actress like Asami Seto, then that definitely means she’s important—we don’t even know who Loulan’s voice actress is and it could be Seto for all we know.

Other than that, I did like the moment where Jinshi realizes that Maomao behaves just like a cat and slowly finds the appeal in cats. Guess who is down horrendous? Other than that, the animation is the same as it was in the previous season which isn’t a bad thing as the animation was already beautiful—think of it as a good thing. The music is also the same which is great because I love the OST. While the new opening song isn’t as catchy as Hana ni Natte, it’s still pretty addicting. Though, I do feel like they’re using YOASOBI a bit too often these days… The ending song is also a nice, relaxing song with pretty visuals.

Overall, this was a nice way to start the new season. What will happen later on? Also, are there 12 episodes to this season? Please let me know! I also want to know your thoughts on this episode!