#I think I like the choppiness of the gif... it's very stop motion

[willowcreektownie]

Lots of new beginnings for Kali and Shoji

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[scopostims]

For the stim ask game:

1. when creating a stimboard for a beloved character, do you prefer to focus more on their color scheme or elements of their character? or a blend of both?

2. what constitutes a good stimboard in your opinion?

4. what’s your favorite unpopular stim (that you’d really like to see more gifs of 👀)?

7. link one or two of your favorite recent stimboards you’ve posted, and explain why they’re your favorite.

9. who are a few creators that you think deserve more praise in the stim community? tag them if you want!

25. do you have any stims you love visually, but would dislike IRL?

31. what would you say is the primary “aesthetic/s” or theme/s of your stim blog, if you have any?

33. which is a stimboard/s you’ve created that you feel needs more recognition? please link them!

No. 4 definitely not for anything that I'm planning 👀

HI. sorry this took a while i kept forgetting to answer when i was on my computer so i could do a read more

1. when creating a stimboard for a beloved character, do you prefer to focus more on their color scheme or elements of their character? or a blend of both? -> blend of both! but cohesive color scheme is more important to me. typically my first board of a character will be solely themes based, but sometimes i will make boards with what I want. maybe i wanna see character with food stims cuz i like food stims and character.

2. what constitutes a good stimboard in your opinion? -> cohesive color scheme / well put together! i like boards that have an overall cohesive color scheme, or are laid out in a way that separate color schemes can blend well. > another thing is i like when the gif speeds match. if one gif is faster than the rest of them it throws me off often times. i also tend not to find choppy gifs as stimulating and therefore, sometimes i think they make board meh >_< but choppy as in low frame rate. if it's intentionally choppy like stop motion that's fine y'know. > sorry! i am quite nitpicky unfortunately askfhakfjlsfja. i take this very seriously if you couldn't tell

4. what’s your favorite unpopular stim (that you’d really like to see more gifs of 👀)? -> SCRAPYARD MAGNETSSSSS............. uhmmm i don't rlly consider myself posic or whatever but i'm super attached to scrapyard magnets and see them as a friend so i think there should be more scrapyard magnet gifs. everywhere.

7. link one or two of your favorite recent stimboards you’ve posted, and explain why they’re your favorite. -> this one because EXTREMELY nice colors, this one because really nice colors AND themes, and as a third treat, this one bcuz nonhumanity meee. tw for gore body horror on that last one

9. who are a few creators that you think deserve more praise in the stim community? tag them if you want! -> i feel like i don't get enough around the stim community these days idkkkk :•( im sad i do wanna list names but idk anyoneeee im so sorry im less active community-wise than i used to be

25. do you have any stims you love visually, but would dislike IRL? -> most slimes i think. clay cracking i would also be disappointed by irl.

31. what would you say is the primary “aesthetic/s” or theme/s of your stim blog, if you have any? -> probably horror & gore & weird shit (but not necessarily 'malice' type weird stuff). but i like to think my blog contains multitudes!!

33. which is a stimboard/s you’ve created that you feel needs more recognition? please link them!

maybe this one or this one! i'm sure there's more i wish got a little more recognition but i don't feel like scrolling through allllll my boards lol

[mahealaniart]

Reading Response #3

(1) Making Art Form and Meaning Chapter 6:

Truly diving in to the importance of time and motion and how that translates into art of all kinds is really impactful on how i will devote time to planning out my own art. I have explored ideas of implied time and decay primarily in 2d art, as well as using implied motion. It is obviously integral and must be made more intentional within video. One thing that got me thinking about this was when the book says, “we must understand mobility by discrete movements”. However obvious this may seem, this is also huge when it comes to creating loops or gifs. My own loops came out more on the choppy and broken up, because I wasn’t focusing on every small movement, rather bookmarking ones I thought were more important. This disrupted the flow in a sense but helped maintain a glitchy aesthetic I was striving for and which drove my meaning home. This chapter really dives into the specifics of media making and how something that may seem accidental can be very far from it which can uncover a whole new meaning for all audiences. I love how happy accidents can occur in media making and add to the work but it is also important to see how that effects works… does it distract from the meaning? I really want to focus on intentional camera movement on video going forward. I really like how the camera moves as someone walks and then when there is a new person added to the scene it can stop- the movement with perspective is very interesting and fun to me.

(2) Projection: Vanishing and Becoming

Honestly this next reading did have a very confuzzling (my own made up word) of getting to the point which distracted me a lot from what I think the writer was trying to say. What so really got from this is that as art is ever changing it all originates from light! This makes so much sense because of how color works with our eyes and all that sciencey stuff- how light and the brain work together to create beautiful images. It’s nice to think about how people have been able to capture these images in different mediums and how much it has developed. Looking at media add so much to the medium (so fun) ! Art is always changing and projection art and video is a very new kind of art, there are so many possibilities which also makes it a difficult realm to navigate. At least in my experience, I have had a hard time on drawing the line on what is and isn’t a healthy consumption of media, networking, and art. When it comes to tech my art the possibilities are endless which is hard to edit down and overwhelming to me as an artist almost! Too much freedom leads to me over complicating my work a lot and heavy handed work.

[plasticflowering]

ONEUS Fancall Writeup

In summary: aldjalskdjdkfjkdj I should have thought of more to say, but it was enough just to meet them and they were so kind and amazing, 10/10 group, will stan forever as long as they behave themselves, which I trust they will.

(sorry for potato quality on the gifs. That’s the unfortunate reality of Wi-Fi video calls. I tried my best to at least color them a bit)

FIRST OF ALL, MMT get your queue in order. I got the message that said “your call’s coming up very soon, be on standby” and literally ONE SECOND LATER Skype was ringing, ahhhhhhhhh

The thing with fancalls is that it’s always disorienting to see the member order. Like you can’t prepare for that. You never know which person is next until the phone is passed. 

Also, I got too caught up in past fansigns with asking questions so I just focused on what I wanted to tell each member here, and... well, that was a mistake. I should have indeed prepared some questions. I just feel like everything’s been asked at this point, you know?? More on that later. Anyway I felt like the time limits per member in this call stretched on for AGES, and I was not prepared to fill the space well aaaskdjhaskjdhsa I’m sorry everyone.

🐥LEEDO

First up was Leedo, and tbqh the boy looked checked out, but he was still so wonderful. They’re probably so tired and working so hard, so I felt a little bad. And, honestly, Leedo was the one I had the least to say to because idk I love him but I have kind of a silent respect for him. I’d let Leedo do his own thing and just nod at him in acknowledgement if we ever met irl

I told him that he’d looked really happy lately, and that I hoped he was taking care of himself and doing well. I also told him I hoped he was eating his vegetables (shoutout to @highponyleedo​ - admittedly I panicked 😂).

🐥: I’ll think about that.

I told him that he’s inspiring and that I think about him when I work out (which is true! Gotta get buff like Leedo!) It was a nice little convo, and I was still VERY nervous at this point having been thrust DIRECTLY into the call. In every fansign I’ve been in (four at this point), the first member is always unfortunately sort of a throwaway for my mind because I’m still scrambling 😖

He was beautiful and gracious nonetheless.

🐱RAVN

He has never done anything wrong, ever in his life. 

OKAY SO 

YOUNGJO TRIED TO DO OUR WHOLE CONVO IN ENGLISH??? 

I WAS SO IMPRESSED

HE’S SO WONDERFUL 

🐱: Your hair is green? 

✌🏻: Yes!

🐱: Like my hair for Easily song 

lksdjsalkjdaksdj ❤️

I also gave him a cheesy personal message of encouragement, and in the process I mentioned that I’m so much older than him (I AM) but I find him to be kind of a role model (I DO), and that I hope he gets to be his true self and make art that makes him happy. 

🐱, aka this bitch: Age is not important. 

✌🏻, knowing he has a noona problem: For some things, yes, you’re right!

I also showed him a fanart I drew of him, and immediately he was like “Oh, Procreate?” Yeah, boooiiii. Also he said my art was good but I’m sure he wouldn’t have said anything negative to a fan so... I just wanted him to see it lmao. 

Youngjo spent almost the entire call like this, so there aren’t many great gif opportunities, but I’m glad he got to practice his English with me! How special!

As the phone was passed to the next member, Youngjo calls out: “You are very young!” 

I love he. I’d fight him in a Denny’s parking lot, but I love he. For what purpose, that smile??

🐶XION

My son.

***Hey. Self. Note for the future: next time prepare a little more to say to your Ult.***

Okay, like, Xion looked RADIANT what the hell. See proof below

I gave him a very cheesy personal message about how I’ve watched him grow and improve and it makes me so happy, he makes me so happy with his music and his kindness. Also I mentioned that his makeup skills are always on point and look so, so good. 

🐶, like immediately, proudly: Oh, thank you!!

I’ve lived a long and good life. But now I have expired. I have deceased. My ult smiled at me like this, and I have ascended to the next plane of existence. 

However I’m coming back from the dead to finish this writeup and also to keep shitposting. 

Anyway I would and did die for him. 

BONUS: his reaction when I was like “I swear I thought I had more written out, I was like ‘oh I have so much to say to Xion’ and now here I am just staring at you.”

🐯HWANWOONG

Best! 👏🏻Boy! 👏🏻

(they’re all best boy, but Hwanwoong was just so on. He’s really just so welcoming and kind, ahhhhh)

I told him I’ve really been enjoying the 1theK choreography videos, then I mentioned the Cardi B choreo specifically and did a chef’s kiss motion, and this was his reaction (along with “thank you for watching that!”: 

Then I asked him if there was a song he really wanted make some choreography for, but he hadn’t had the chance yet. 

He thought, and then he swerved me by saying it was a SECRET and I’d have to stay tuned. 👀👀👀👀 You know I will, ya tricky lil’ bean.

Also hey who gave him the right??? To be so cute?? Like, stop. (don’t stop.) 

🐰KEONHEE

 So there’s this thing I’ve noticed with fansigns, where there’s always one member who just knocks the fansign experience out of the park so thoroughly that they steal a piece of my heart I never expected to give. For this fansign, that was Keonhee. 

At this point I was also realizing I didn’t have much prepared to say, and I was just kind of riffing. But I did want to tell him that we had two things in common: we both studied ballet, and we both sang opera. I thanked him for the recent VLive where that was A Whole Thing, and then: 

🐰, in English no less: Can you show me?

I don’t know what I expected. But I did show him. I sang a couple of operatic scales for him because I was like “what the hell, why not? Lee Keonhee’s gonna hear me sing opera. This is what my training was for.”

So that happened even though I was definitely nervous and forgot to open my throat up as much as I should have. It’s been a while, okay?

He also pointed out the LED moon lamp I keep on my side desk, which I’d forgotten to turn on before the call. So luckily Lee Keonhee was there to remind, at 5/6 of the way through my call!

🐿SEOHO

Firstly, I was taken in by the cool retro style jacket, so I mentioned that. 

What’s with this little dance he did when I was gearing up to tell him what I wanted to say? Anyway he’s cute. 

Then, I told him that Dizzy is one of my favorite ONEUS songs, and that he should definitely try to do more songwriting in the future if he wants. 

He agreed. 😂

Then, he sang a little bit of Dizzy for me, but the sound was really not doing me any favors at this point in the call so it came through a little choppy ahhh. 

So there you have it! All in all an amazing experience, would definitely do it again but would definitely prepare more to say/do/ask! I just don’t want to go in like an interviewer, but I also don’t know what else to do when there’s The Language Barrier, even with an interpreter. I’m definitely not in this for the boyfriend wish fulfillment or aegyo (Xion can’t help it), but since there is SO MUCH I could conceivably ask about, I’ve got fodder for future fansigns. 

I hope you enjoyed!!!

[nautiscarader]

2019 in animation - very selected summary

So, I dunno if anyone’s noticed, but this year was crazy strong when it comes to animation, both in terms of amount and quality of it. No matter what type you liked - traditional...

...3D...

...cell-shaded...

...hyper-realistic...

 - oh, wait, wait, no, my mistake, that’s clearly live-action. 

Anyway, no matter what type of animation is your favourite, this year gave you something. and I’m gonna go chronologically, listing those that I have been able to see. Keep in mind, day only has 24 hours, so I couldn’t see every new season or premiere (for example, I had no interest in OK KO, or She-Ra). Some spoilers below. And Gifs. LOTS OF gifs.

In January: we were still riding on the Spiderverse bandwagon from last year,, which culminated with an Oscar in February. And though as I’ve said, the movie would have worked better imho as a, say, Netflix series, as only two of the spider-people were properly fleshed out, I have to admit, it was a well-earned prize.

Then we were hit by the finale of Steven Universe, and while some complained about the another redemption of cosmic regime, it was an incredibly satisfying ending to a great cartoon... so much so that a whole movie and an epilogue series was made.

plus, it had a segment animated by James Baxter, so it’s automatic win..

January also blessed us with a reboot of another old-forgotten property, Carmen Sandiego, with her second season arriving in October. And it proved that reboots do make sense, but only if you actually do something with it. The story was fresh, creative, and yet, similar in its serialised form to capture the imagination of viewers. Also, grappling hooks for the win.

February was the month of dragons. Not only we got the conclusion of How to Train Your Dragon franchise, but Netlfix gave us second season of The Dragon Prince. While I still consider HTTYD 1 as the best movie of the franchise, as it cleverly told the story of a conflict without any obvious villain, HTTYD 3 was a satisfying conclusion, strengthened by the Homecoming special in November. 

TDP S2 on the other hand, did everything season 1 did, except better. For once, the studio finally broke their piggy bank and bought a new graphics card, so the choppy 15FPS animation of S1 is gone. The story got darker, more mature, yet whimsical, and it only made us hungry for more. Luckily, S3 was just around the corner.

March gave us season 2 of Craig of the Creek. I have to admit, I missed out on this cartoon in 2018, and it was a humongous mistake. CotC is quite possibly the most wholesome cartoon out there, telling amazing story about a boy, his friends, and his family, glorifying the mundane adventures in the creek to truly epic proportions. The family is especially important part, I do not remember a cartoon where bonds between family members were as well written as here. Definitely a must-watch if you have missed it as well.

On 8th of March, the International Women’s day, DC Superhero Girls 2019, aka My Little Pony But Humans And With Superpowers, started, and it was a blast. Creator. Lauren Faust, has once again proven that whatever she touches turns into gold. The shorts were funny, clever, and changed just enough of the DC universe to feel familiar, yet show us new, interesting scenarios. 

 In April, Missing Link had its premiere, showing that traditional, stop motion animation not only has place in modern times, but it can deliver spectacular scenes, though of course, we expected nothing less of studio Laika.

In May, one of Disney’s long-running series, Star vs The Forces of Evil had its finale, and that brings us to the first screech of the list. Many people complained about the direction the show has taken, some claiming it has gone off-track in S3, some saying it was S4 that dropped the quality. Some, like me, saw nothing wrong with it, but the finale let people dissatisfied. If anything, it was too short, and definitely could use an epilogue movie that would tie some of the remaining plot threads in something bigger than one single pan-shot. 

Rest in piece, laser puppies

Wait, they’re alive? Well, then... rest in piece, Hekapoo and her puppies.

This month also presented a first contender for this Summer’s line-up, Twelve Forever. The cartoon took us into wild, bizarre land of imagination, and offered quite a few very mature lessons about growing up and acknowledging one’s responsibilities. It also provided much needed representation, both in terms of colour and sexuality. 

Sadly, amidst scandals with its creator, the show was canned, though it’s also Netflix’s fault for not marketing it enough.

A-and maybe the show was just a tad too... creepy....

Also somewhere in May some Games might have been lost and some Thrones burned, but no one cares about it anymore. i think it was popular for a while, though.

However, 12 Forever was just a start. June gave us Amphibia, my personal top-bingeable cartoon of the year. Disney has hit a jackpot, giving us an incredibly creative fantasy show with rich mythology and enough emotional conflict to create fantastic storytelling. The only slight complain was the scheduling, as episodes aired daily, meaning the season was over by the end of the month. But honestly, the amount of humour and adventures with Anne in the forg world we got compensates that thousandfold. Book 2, coming in 2020, can only makes thing more interesting. 

Going for a hat-trick, in August we got the premiere of a cartoon that I was betting would be my personal favourite, Infinity Train... Until I learned of its schedule, even weirder than Amphibia’s. While Amphibia took a right turn, and gave us 20 episodes, a perfect amount for both plot and filler stories, Infinity Train... turned out to be a mini-series with just ten episodes, airing daily, two per night. And that, in my opinion, was a fatal mistake. Not only we now know that the story is not over, as Season 2 arrives in January, but the short episodes and its density gave very little time to leave an impact on us. If it was at least spaced out, then maybe I wouldn’t be so judgemental, but for me it was a blow that deflated the balloon I was clinging to since 2016 pilot. Still, there is more to come, and the story was more than interesting, so we’ll see if I get used to the pocket mini-story arcs.

September. Remember Steven Universe? That cartoon that ended? SIKE, HAVE A TV MOVIE. And by gods, old and new, what a phenomenal movie it was. A musical telling its own, contained story of betrayal, trust and finding yourself, based on Rebecca Sugar’s mis-adventure with a phone that reset itself... I have seen this movie at least ten times, and its OST is one I come back to constantly on Spotify. The songs are amazing, catchy, incredibly-well written, deep, and, as usual, send very adult messages about growing up and finding one’s identity, which SU was already famous for. Must watch.

Continuing the theme of reboots that actually make sense, Ducktales finished its second season after duck-bombs in March and May, with a heart-breaking story of Della Duck and humongous finale, extending DT’s universe to other Disney Afternoon shows. Season 3 promises even more, and DT is a golden standard of making a reboot that stays faithful to a more than half-a-century old material, while adding enough material to keep things fresh and funny for modern audience. What I’m saying is, Disney could really learn from Disney (pictured below).

But while some things start, some have to finish. October saw the end of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, a show that has taken Internet by the storm in 2010 and...

...okay, cringy brony things aside, this was a clever re-imagining of the decades-old property, and its popularity, especially amongst the people outside the target demography is a proof of its quality. The ending was perfectly serviceable, nothing that stood out, in my opinion, but it definitely didn’t disappoint either. MLP FiM will live in history as the cartoon about pastel tiny horses that made adult men cry and gave them enough passion to create years of of visual crack. And porn. Lots of porn.

November:  Just In case if one season of human and elf adventures was enough, The Dragon Prince Season 3 arrived in November, and it provided a thrilling conclusion to its first smaller story arc. Though I wish the season was longer, and it dived into the history of Elves’ and Humans’ animosities, I would be lying if I said I didn’t binge-watch it all in one sitting, gripping my chair. 

Do you like Green Eggs and Ham? Yes, yes, I do, Sam-I-am. Question: how do you take a classic poem, made purposefully of limited vocabulary, and turn it into a thirteen episode series with a beginning, middle, and end? The answer: You add bunch of weird stuff and the mother of all complicated backstories... at least by the original’s standards. And here’s the thing: this is the first Dr Seuss’ adaption where it works. Somehow the writers were able to stretch each verse of the famous poem into a surprisingly emotional story about friendship, losing and restoring hope, as well as following your dreams. Plus, it gave us Fargo-esque team of Bad Guys. Come on. 

And just in time for Christmas season, we were blessed with Klaus, a clear contender for a Christmas classic in my opinion. This STUNNINGLY beautiful traditionally animated original Netflix movie is a very, very clever reinterpretation of St. Nick’s mythos, telling a deep, and very realistic story of greed and selfishness, and how can one turn their life around by changing their life, one present at a time.

We’re about to end the year, so HOW ABOUT SOME EMOTIONAL TRAUMA, KIDS? Yes, Steven Universe Future is here, and from the looks of it, Steven’s problems are just beginning, since they mature with him. The show’s too real, man. However, it also provided much needed levity, giving us a familiar taste. Nothing more to say, as the show is still airing, and it will surely give us more emotional moments.   

And that’s a wrap for 2019. As I’ve said, it is not exhaustive by any means, and from the looks of it, 2020 is gonna be as packed as its prequel. So yeah, the world might be on fire, but at least we got some nice cartoon to binge-watch.

Happy new year everyone! At least I have time until 6th of January when the first episode of Infinity Train Season two arriWHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S OUT ALREADY

[tom-mumford-ba1b]

Stop Motion Change of Expression Walk Cycles

Our final task for this stop motion project was to create a walk cycle where the character changes expression mid-walk.  Ben and I were teamed up this week and when we showed each other our ideas, we realised we both had pretty similar ideas.  We both wanted the character to start walking really confidently at first and then Ben thought of having the character trip over and walk away embarrassed.  However, Ben really liked my idea of having the character sneak off the screen quietly so we went with that idea.  Before starting, we recorded a live reference of Ben doing the walk which we had next to us the whole time and this helped a lot when we were animating.  I also had the pictures I had taken from the Animator’s survival kit next to us as well for more reference on the walk cycles.

I think the first part of the walk was really good, we got lots of movement with the arms swinging really high and lots of twisting in the shoulders which worked really well.  Although, I think a bit of this walk was rushed and his arm comes up really quickly at one point so I would slow it down and take more frames next time.  I also think the transition from one walk to the other could have been smoother and was a bit choppy.  The sneak walk at the end was a challenge as the armature had to lean very far back which made it difficult to balance out the weight and keep it standing without falling.  However, we managed to create the sneak walk quite well, the character leans really far back while stretching his leg forward which I think looks really cool.  Unfortunately, our armature’s leg came apart from the body 3/4 of the way through the animation so we had to have a change of armature.  This is why the end of the animation isn't as good as we would have liked as the new armature was larger than the previous one and whilst we were changing puppets, the camera slightly moved and we forgot to move the pins that were in shot.

After our first walk, we still had time to do one more so we created another iteration but changed the walk styles.  This time, the character was going to be very shy to begin with but then half way through, he swivels round and moonwalks out of shot.  For the first part of the walk, we took inspiration from the Kevin Parry 100 walk video where he does a ‘timid’ walk.

Timid walk - (1:02)

And for the moonwalk, we looked at a gif of Michael Jackson and also (tried to) re-create it in real life to see how the feet move as well as the feet movement for the ‘swivel’.

For a shy walk, there isn’t a lot movement in the upper body but we still added a bit of head movement so it wasn’t too basic.  This walk turned out pretty good and I think the transition this time was much better than our first walk.  I also really liked the moonwalk at the end because we really tried to get the right movement of the feet so when one went up, the other went flat and to make the ‘illusion’ of moonwalking, the foot that is flat had to slide back while the pointed foot stays still.  Though we did have more troubles with the armature as one of the feet was almost broken and hanging on by one strand of wire so it was difficult to manoeuvre that foot during the moonwalk.  We would have liked to get more movement in the feet but because of this, we had to make minimal movements and try not to bend the foot too much.