#I will still draw her my way off model but I just think it’s funny that I have a very clear idea of Elster in my head

[lynxfrost13]

I used a reference for this sketch yall I do NOT know what Elster looks like 😭

Hella rough elstah wip

[sabertoothwalrus]

OK PREFACING WITH IM SORRY IF I ALREADY SENT THIS EXACT ASK BUT MY WIFI KILLED ITSSLF AS I SENT IT SO IDK IF IT ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH. but in case it didn’t . i know youve gotten this countless times in the past because i blog stalked just in case youve mentioned something similar before but i need to know if you have any specific inspirations when you draw exaggerated expressions specifically like these two images of marcille. ive actually cried laughing over this comic and being able to communicate this type of visceral emotion is such an insane skill and ive followed your art for probably close to a decade through various fandoms so watching you develop this style has been fucking awesome and epic. like i cannot articulate how funny these are to me i just need you to understand i look at this comic to inspire me to draw now. the closest comparison i can draw to the feelings they evoke are like those mspaint reaction images and also mspaint tails i included for reference even though you probably know exactly what im talking about anyways but its actually so much harder to do that intentionally when you study art. also i lied you literally don’t even need to answer this i just had to let you know how obsessed i am over your silly comics and now ive written out a whole ass discussion post about it. im sorry if this is weird at all i think my daily prescribed amphetamines r wearing off and i know this is such a dumb specific thing to fixate on and im so sorry if its not something you want to hear about your art. ive just always seen that as an artist this type of expressive stupid silly style is something that comes after a significant amount of time and practice and study and style development despite being “simple” in theory. its just so cool to have worked with your own style so much that youre able to go “off model” from it and still maintain consistency with the rest of the piece. i said it already and im sorry this is actually rendundant now but the ability to communicate such raw emotion somehow decreases from at its height when someone is a beginner artist learning how to proportion and keep a steady line and what looks “normal” but somehow it all comes full circle because taking all that experience and using it to almost return to where you started but in a fully informed and intentional way so you can make choices to draw characters like this when the situation calls for it is just dhcidogakgoshfhw. i think i need to cut myself off or im going to talk in circles im sorry tumblr user sabertoothwalrus i just am fascinated by your style and progress and the years you’ve dedicated to art can be seen in so many places but this is just one that stands out to me specifically.

MMMMM what a fun question!!!

I'm not gonna lie, I think it's just Letting A Drawing Be Bad. I definitely think the people that struggle with this the most are people who have genuinely very pretty art styles, to the point of being kind of perfectionist about it. and to Draw Funny often means Drawing Fast and Weird. Pretty is kind of the antithesis of funny (unless being pretty is the punchline). do drawings that make yourself laugh. tracing/lining funny sketches almost always makes them less funny.

one of my favorite types of humor is when it skews more deadpan, actually. This is one of the reasons I love Adventure Time. minimal expressions and flat line delivery + absurd context is a really good combo. the key to comedy has more to do with contrast! if your drawings are allllll crazy ren & stimpy all the time, they're not funny anymore cause it's just "normal". if it's all subdued UNTIL it's extreme, and vice versa, then it's funny. The reason this comic is so funny is because of the complete lack of any expression. I feel like the one you sent of Marcille shouting "WHAT" is funnier when you know how much she tries to be dainty and feminine and delicate, how much she values her appearance, and how averse she is to "gross" or "weird" things.

something I find really annoying (and this is with comics/animation in general, not the expressions themselves) is when the joke goes on for too long. Like you'll have the joke, then the punchline, and THEN the characters reacting to the punchline??? Like the author didn't trust that their audience would find the joke funny, so they basically drew in a laugh track. But, this is distinct from a character's reaction being the punchline (like how the examples you gave from my Marcille comic are). MY POINT IS sometimes expressions aren't as funny on their own as you think, and context can affect how you feel about it!

as far as inspirations go!

my own face! even if I don't have a mirror, I like making the expressions myself so I can "feel" where the points of tension on my face are, and it gives me a sense of what to exaggerate.

my brother's art, believe it or not! we've been trying to make each other laugh with our drawings since we were kids, and he's really good at it.

ATLA has some great expressions

OK KO has been a reallyyyy good source for me lately. That show is so tailored to my sense of humor and the expressions and line deliveries feel exactly like the kinds of things I'd come up with. The tone, timing, and art style are all really close to the tv show pitch I'm working on, so when I feel like I've "strayed" too much from it (like after drawing a bunch of dungeon meshi, and my art feels tighter and... idk "manga-ier"?) I like to go and watch a couple episodes of OK KO to loosen back up

A lot of things like OG Spongebob, Calvin & Hobbes, the Simpsons, Chowder, etc etc

memes in general. if it makes you laugh, keep it in mind

and lastly, I wouldn't say I ever try to mimic funny expressions I see. Like if I watch a show for inspo, I'm not pausing it to copy specific drawings, I'm just trying to notice patterns and pay attention to what about it I find funny.

talking about being funny is really bizarre and I dunno if it makes it lose some of the magic. Ultimately it's something you can't think about too much, and just gotta go with your gut.

[redwineconversation]

Danielle van de Donk Olympique & Lyonnais Interview (November 2, 2024)

I really hate translating van de Donk stuff because of the fucking bunny boiler stans she has. Parasocial relationships are so fucking weird and creepy.

No funny disclaimers because I am equal part PISSED OFF and depressed at the results of the 2024 Presidential Elections. As I said before, I hope everyone who voted for Trump gets exactly what they deserve. If there was ever a definition of a morally reprehensible piece of shit ...

Interview done before the PSG game.

Van de Donk: "Show that Lyon is still better" than PSG

At the club for four seasons now, Danielle van de Donk has become one of the leaders in Lyon's locker room. Before playing PSG this Sunday (2pm), the Dutch woman had a long conversation with Olympique & Lyonnais about the start of the season, Joe Montemurro's arrival but also her role as a role model for the younger players.

Olympique & Lyonnais: Danielle, after the Lyon draw against Paris FC, was it good mentally to go be with the National Team?

Danielle van de Donk: Yeah, it was really nice being with the National Team. We had a really good international break. I think it came at the right time for everybody. My personal performances with the National Team were really good, so, yes, I was happy to be back with them.

Did that make it easier to move on to other things after Paris FC?

Yes, I think so. It's really disappointing for us because we created a lot of chances in this game and we didn't score. We want to win every game we play, so it wasn't very fun. It's good to have a break at that point. I think we had a pretty packed schedule with Wolfsburg and another game [I too want to forget about the Dijon game].

The coach said on Friday that the staff worked around the players' fitness to prepare for the PSG game. Where are you at?

For me, the international break is always a bit quieter. It's also because I am one of the older players on the national team as well. When I get there, they change the program so I can recover and perform well. And it's the same way here at Lyon, they look at how many minutes you've played with the national team and adapt the training session accordingly [might be news to Carpenter but whatever]. So everything is a bit easier.

To go back to the Paris FC game, you said it was a frustrating game. How do you explain that?

I think it's mainly because we weren't able to put away our chances. We had a lot of opportunities to score and there are games when the ball just won't go in. Playing for Lyon means you want to win every game. So it's frustrating to have drawn having taken so many shots. Those games are always a bit difficult because if you don't score, you're at risk of your opponent scoring. Thankfully that wasn't the case, at least we got a draw. But it's frustrating because we should have gotten three points, we were so much better, we had so many chances to score, but we didn't do it.

"PSG is still our rival, we want to beat them"

It also cost Lyon the top place in the table. Is it anecdotal because of the new format in the league or does that bother you?

It remains anecdotal, but we are competitors and we want to be at the top the whole season. It's not the case currently, but we are determined to fix that as soon as Sunday...

PSG is top of the table and is coming on Sunday (2pm). Is there more of an obligation to win than usual? Is there a bit more excitement?

Yes, obviously. But as I said, I think we need to be ... how to say this ... We should win every game. We are better than the other teams, so we need to win. We were held to a draw against Paris FC, sometimes it doesn't go the way we want, but I think it's been the case since the start of the season. Our standards are always there as well, so we just need to win. Lyon - PSG is always the biggest clash in the league.

Last year, Lyon played PSG six times between the league, the UWCL and the Trophée des Championnes. Is there still a little bit of excitement to play against them?

It's always a good game even if we've played them so many times. It's always really exciting. It's always a good way to respond to critics and to send a message to PSG or to others who think we are finished. But Sunday, we want to show we're still the strongest and still the best.

"Montemurro has this ability to adapt"

Joe Montemurro came to Lyon and Fabrice Abrien to PSG. Is that going to change the game compared to other years?

A game remains a game and we need to win it. But with the arrival of new coach, it's also different because he isn't French which for me makes a huge difference. Because the French are a bit more rigid and only see one way to do things. And with Joe, I think there are possibilities, more systems, for example. So yeah, it could be very different with him, but it's still the same object, the same feeling.

Since the start of the season, you've played in a 4-3-3 or 3-4-4. Lindsey Horan talked about Tiki-Taka, is it something you like?

The 4-3-3, as you said, I'm Dutch, so for me it's like being at home. I can think about that formation and imagine all the tactics which go with it. But in my career, I've had so many different coaches, I've played in England, in Sweden, so there I've been exposed to a lot of tactics and a lot of systems. I like it when a team can adapt to the opponent, so if one way of doing things isn't working, then you can easily switch to a 4-4-2 for example. Yes, I love the 4-3-3, I think it suits me as a player, but I like other formations as well and I think I learn more as a player when I have played in different formations.

Could that be one of the key elements against PSG on Sunday?

Yes, I think so. It's also something I really like with Joe. If we're playing in a formation and he sees it isn't working, he immediately changes it. And we work on a lot of formations in practice, so we know what we need to do when things change in a game. It's one of the biggest advantages he has as a coach.

"I am certainly not the coach's favorite!"

You're reunited with head Coach Montemurro after being at Arsenal. How is the reunion going?

Very well. He is always ... well, not always, but most of the time very, very happy. He is really involved when he coaches, which has a positive influence on the team. I think it's really funny how he is learning to speak French. He really tries to speak French sometimes, but it's only one or two words, and then he switches to English. It's very funny because he tells us "simply speak in English, we all understand it". But he tries, and that's good. [@Kang!!!]

Do you see a difference in his management style compared to the first time you had him?

I get the impression that during practice sessions, for example, he is much more involved. He is really right there behind us. You feel like you have to be at your best during training or there will be consequences. He wasn't like that before, so I like that.

Is there any truth to the rumor that you are his favorite?

His favorite? Absolutely not! (laughter) If something isn't working, it's my fault, I get the impression that since he knows me, he thinks he can do that with me. On the other hand I know he likes me, but I am definitely not his favorite! (smiles)

You are part of the older generation of players. How do you see yourself evolve as a player at Lyon?

I think I can still learn. To be honest, before coming to Lyon, and I am only speaking for myself, but I thought I was a really good player. I arrive at Lyon and I say to myself "oh, wow, these players are incredible." And they were so nice. I said to myself "okay, I can learn a lot from these players." I think I learn a lot from watching my teammates do things. For example, Maro (Dzsenifer Marozsan), she is incredible, but you get the feeling everything is happening in slow motion. And I ask myself why? Because when I play, I'm quick, everything goes fast. She is so calm, but you can never get the ball from her. So I watch and I tell myself "I need to learn from you." I watch everyone and I study everyone. I have experience, but I continue to discover new things.

Do you think that's what makes this team so strong? Being able to learn from each other despite what they've accomplished in their careers?

It's what I think. Also, one of the strengths of this team is that we play for Lyon, so everyone wants playing time, but that's not possible. So if someone doesn't play, there is no hatred within the team. We continue to help each other and learn from one another. I've never experienced at another club in my life, it's very special.

"Having individual programs in the team is a really good thing"

Lyon has a lot of leaders, are you one of them?

I don't know. I think that off the pitch, I like to joke around and just create a good atmosphere ... Make it so that everyone feels welcome. I don't want someone to feel uncomfortable so I am always there for everybody. But on the pitch I am a leader, but not vocally ... just in my playing style.

Is it different with the Netherlands?

Not necessarily ... A little bit in training, but not as much. I just show my energy on the pitch and show that I am there to win. For example, Wendie (Renard) is one of the greatest captains and she can speak before a game and it really touches me. But I can't do that myself. I'll go to see people individually during the week and say to them "Hey, you're really good at this or you need to do this or that". So to be honest, I don't know if I am really a leader.

Did the arrival of Joe Montemurro bring something extra to the team?

Yes. The staff that came with Joe, I really like them. They are all really nice. For example, I'm 33 years old, so I don't have a lot of one-on-ones meetings. But I had a meeting with the assistant coach, Pala (Joseph Palisades) and he showed me my game day videos. He didn't know me really well and I didn't know him, but he, having watched the clips, he understood me as a football player. So he said to me "I think I can help you on this point and on this point". And I said super, I want that. But for me, it's really special because usually it takes a bit of time for people to come to you and make you better. But they broke things down individually and I think that really brings to the team as well.

"I want children to look up to us and tell themselves it's possible"

This Sunday, there will be more than 15,000 people at Parc OL including young girls. Do you get the feeling to be a source of inspiration for these youngsters?

Yes. I think it's really important that as big players, we inspire people. It's all I want to do, really. I want young kids to look up to us and tell themselves they want to be like us on the pitch later. Because when I was younger, I went to watch PSV men games and all that I could think of was "wow, I want to play in a full stadium." But it wasn't possible at the time, or if it was, you had to go to the US. It's now possible in the Netherlands. It's also possible in France.

15,000 people, it's quite far from the record from last season...

I don't think people completely realize how important it is for the players that the stadium is full, that it is packed. Because they inspire us as much as we inspire them.

You've played in England, how would you compare the development on women's football in France with that in England?

They had the Euros at home and they won it, that's why everything fell into place. It was the same thing in the Netherlands. So I think that a tournament at home, it really helps to inspire people. And you just have to do it so that people watch you. That's where we are at at Lyon and in France. People just need to come watch us and I think they will be hooked.

[cookies-super-secret-blog]

something something grow a pair and state thoughts on ai?

So, funny story, I made a post about this before, whenever the topic tag for it was trending. And like, I still stand by that, sans the part where I call the AI itself a form of art under my definition. A little bit after that, I saw a post, while definitely not in response to my own post, made the point that while we should hate AI art for the rampant theft of jobs and content, that its somehow bad to dislike it as Bad Art or Not Art because "gatekeeping art is baddd". Which like, in the context of someone drawing stick figures or painting giant blocks of color, is valid; we shouldn't gatekeep art from people. I still think AI doesn't deserve that privilege. Like, not to try and define art again, but, like hold on ket me grab something.

This is an ai generated adoptable from deiantart. Now, I have to ask, what's being expressed here- besides "cute girl in big hoodie (despite the one on the left not having a hoodie)"? Like it's easy to take these apart mechanically, but conceptually? It's somehow easier. Like, part of character design is visually communicating stuff about the character. There's nothing here besides anime girl in big outfit with minor armor details maybe? Like nothing else here is coherent! Like she looks sampled off of genshin and honkai characters but that's it. Like the cutains are just blue, and its dull and boring because of it. Why is the jacket neon green? The prompter wanted it that way. Why does she have the shoulder pieces and the case she's holding? Because the prompter likely put "battle girl" and/or "solarpunk" into the prompt. And it's not bad to have design elements for the sake of it, but the ai can't do anything but that, and the content it generates suffers because of it. There's no artistic value there, imo.

Now, not to toot my own horn, but here's my take on this design:

This is still a "cute girl in a big lime green jacket", but there's more to it. It's a high visibility jacket, with stripes reminiscent of construction vests. In the other doodles on the page, this high visibility theme is expanded to a theme of her being some kind of rescue personnel, and/or an angel (see; the halo in the bottom right). While it's fairly easy for me to point these themes out- it is what I intended- I'd still argue an obersever would be able to point out similar, or other themes and motifs that bring this character together.

No ammount of prompts and generation models can recreate that. Even if the prompter had the exact same intent I had when making the og ai content, that intent doesn't come across whatsoever. Because AI cannot replicate human intent and artistic processes.

These image generators register to me as the miserable end point of the sad, art-illiterate belief that art only is, and is only meant to "look pretty". Every time modern art is decried as "ugly and pointless", another prompter gets validated in their shameless attempts to assert their narrow-as-fuck vosion of what art is.

Art is human. Art is messy, art is intricate, art is sloppy, art is beautiful and art is ugly.

No machine on earth can comprehend or replicate that. And the ceasless attempts to commodify and capitalize on art have made some people forget that fact. The kinds of people who prompt really only see art as a gimmick product, pretty knickknacks that will make them rich quick.

For lack of better terms, the dehumanization of art itself is disgusting, and so like hell am I going to consider AI's mass-produced, slot machine-esque, drivel as art.

And I will not be guilted by other people on this hellsite who think its a moral failure to call mindless content what it is because its dressed up in distorted frills and anime girl boobs.

Art is human, and AI is not human. And what a sad world it is, that we're automating and strangling human creation, instead of letting it thrive.

Thank you for reminding me to share my thoughts.

[sumikatt]

frankly, i think your point about "some people train their own AI art models" is inherently flawed because rhe vast majority of people are not training their own model. they are paying for a service which was trained on art that was taken from the internet and used without permission in order for a machine to try snd recreate something similar bit by bit. i havent gotten a commission from someone who isnt a friend of mine in well over a year because people are just choosing to generate art with AI. i dont think AI art isnt "real" art because yeah, i agree with you, the whole idea of real art or not is complex. however, it is an undeniable reality that AI is trained on the work of artists all over the world who do not even get asked for permission before a tech company makes money off of their hard work.

I agree it’s a small, small portion of people making their own models that ensure that all art involved is used with consent. Many people buy a subscription or credits to generate what they want. Most people probably use free credits on Discord to make a meme or anime girls. Many people use it many different ways, yes.

I’m sorry you’ve lost a client over it. I know commissions are hard. Freelancers without dedicated clients would be the ones to suffer most from the popularity of AI art. I can’t say I’ve felt the impact myself, since it’s also very popular to be anti-AI.

Actively searching through job boards, I also feel like it has barely affected those listings. Maybe one of like 300 art jobs in the USA/Sweden asked for AI experience (Prompt Artist), and it was an AI startup. The “normal” art jobs like UI/UX, Environments, Materials, Concept, Technical, Animator, etc all still asking for 3 years experience for entry level lmao. Saw an intern position that required an “industry-standard” portfolio. So still a pain as it was before advanced AI gen.

Many paid AI art services have takedown options for their training sets and can block names from being prompted. If you were a popular enough artist to be in a training set, you can remove it and block the majority of AI art users from copying you—like you said, a majority of people use these services instead of self-hosting.

(Sending DMCA takedown requests are actually pretty easy. I had to send one to an old teacher who reposted my art and a bunch of classmates’ art on her ArtStation. that was funny lol)

I’m not sure how I felt when I went to search up my art on haveibeentrained. Because I’m a nerd, I’d preemptively blocked scrapers on my portfolio, so nothing was there when I looked. Searched up my legal name, my old Twitter (which had some popular pieces), my old DeviantArt usernames. Nothing there, either. I was probably pruned from the set for being low-quality. Kinda funny, I thought I’d be good enough to include at least once. Maybe next time.

.safetensors / .ckpt files (which are the models Stable Diffusion runs) have no image data in them, by the way. It is all math and numbers in there. There is no way of telling what was included in the training set, unless the dev(s) that made the model release it publicly. The models themselves are usually around 3–6 GB, though there’s larger ones and mini ones.

Like my own silly brain, there’s no way of tracking down the exact art pieces the software was referencing off of when it generates something. Am I making money off of another artist’s hard work when I remember how to draw heads from a Proko video? Am I ripping off photographers when I recall their pictures when drawing my characters? I’m not a tech company, but I still make money off of the things I copy and filter through my mind and hand.

I’m rambling at this point, sorry. Of course, the core issue is capitalism. How different would people see this medium if money were not an issue? How futuristic, how exciting it is to visualize something from words alone. It’s that art machine I’d always wanted as a kid, where I think of something and it pops out on the page finished.

I think it is worth to uplift those who use the medium as ethically as they can, as @are-we-art-yet is doing—having a do-not-use artist list, avoiding corporations, don’t try to undercut traditional artists. Like with any medium, there’s a variety of artists. Some are nice and do their best to have a good impact, some don’t care at all about the ethics of their art.

I’m still pretty firmly a “traditional” artist. I won’t stop drawing or give up because of AI. I play with AI on my own hardware and power for fun and for getting ideas (is that stealing?). It’s mostly replaced scrolling through Pinterest for me, but I still save people’s art and photos that I like in my computer, so I can look at em later, maybe get inspired. And steal like an artist, I guess.

[kuromi-hoemie]

10 and 24?

10: About someone I think is funny: random tumblr users and kids lmao 😭 and me..

further out of my sphere i love Kennie JDs personality so much. fellow black woman rawdogging ADD

she has a YouTube channel and has a “Bad movies and a beat” playlist where she talks about bad movies while putting her makeup on. she's so gorgeous and her looks come out beautiful and her personality is a huge part of the draw 😹 she's sorta got a series within that series too called “Good movies and a glam” which is the same thing p much but she talks about movies she enjoyed.

we don't fully overlap in our interests but she talks about horror movies sometimes and i love listening to her talk and watching her reaction to things. there are definitely some videos that have me stopping like 5-10 minutes in like wait let me go watch the movie first bc this sounds like it's gonna be an Experience. i think it's very validating and fun to see how she feels about things I've seen, and even if it's stuff I'm not interested in i still think it's fun to see her do her thing :3

sometimes she does a good analysis, sometimes it's more of a summary w some thoughts and reactions here and there, and for some she's just does a straight reaction to it bc she doesn't think there's really anything to talk about. the worse the movie is the funnier she is 💀 but she's just funny period. Atlanta queen 🫶🏾

comedy is a hard one for me.. there's a lot of jokes and comedians that don't really land for me but i think it's bc I've always been surrounded by ppl i think are funnier or more outta pocket offline and online.. something something ppl who try to be funny vs ppl who just are.

24. An unusual talent I have: o: i don't know.. electrical engineering i suppose? as an end to end process w schematic design, 3d modelling and printing, soldering n circuitry etc. i think it's very rewarding to have a bespoke thing that's the only one of its kind.. technology that does exactly what u want it to do nothing more nothing less no unwanted upgrades/planned obsolescence/privacy policies/cloud bs etc. u can make technology do plenty off of ur home network alone, if u want it to be controllable/accessible from a network at all. i only call this strange in the sense that it's not common.. but in another perspective i think I'm v good at tinkering with stuff in general!! I've built and taken apart enough things in life that a lot of stuff feels very intuitive atp, more so for furniture or something more.. mechanical, than electronics but I'm good at tinkering w that too :3

not good enough to be able to tell which specific part of a complicated circuit board stopped working (unless there's obv physical damage or a disconnected cable), but i can put stuff together from scratch or bypass certain things for more desired behavior. like i built an ebike once but instead of using its pedal assistance i bypassed it and just made it full throttle. it did like 32mph lol 😭 i made that when covid first hit and i didn't want to bus anymore but i usually otherwise make stuff for taking care of my indoor gardens, when i have them (i do not rn). a simple and handy one to do is replacing a battery source with an AC adapter so u can get full power and the thing will never die on u. or at least when it does it's in the way that all electronics will eventually stop working after enough use, but nothing's died on me yet :3

also making web tools for data analysis! (or just something u can use in the browser basically but it's on ur computer not The Internet™). i don't have the time to educate myself in other fields fully but i do like looking at the data they produce and learning more about things that way!! my favorite visualizations to make are maps but I'll make utilities that i can use to strategize for my games sometimes too.

oh and i also like modding games :3 i have made my own mods for 13 games so far. playing the game is already nice but to me it's about really fine tuning the experience to be how i want it to be and making it my own. sometimes I'll start modding before even starting the game 💀 like hmm let me take a peek at what y'all got going on here, then being like eh that sounds annoying I'll just do this instead. my favorite game to mod is elden ring, their spell system has a LOT of different pieces and phases and effects of spells that u can mix and match and chain together to make ur own spells. in this way getting a new game can be like getting a new project at times, and when i don't wanna do that i just use WeMod and call it a day :3

[jackals-ships]

hyena vastayan? deets please?

wakes up and immediately >:3c

YEAH !!! they're my little guy who's done nothing wrong im including the murders bc i mean. lookit em. theyre allowed to do whatever they want all the time forever

(this one's an older piece that im also redoing but it's still v good @ showing The Vibe)

in universe their name is jackal maddox [they/he] and they're also known as The Jackal In The Lanes (partially bc it's funny 2 me) one of zauns more notable serial killers. it's one of those things where many people know/assume it's them but no one really wants to confirm that fact because you'll draw their attention or silco's. so they're generally just given a wide berth instead

i say generally bc they also own a club/brothel in the later years of silco coming into power. it's a pretty good place as far as things go but you do run the risk of going missing if there's not satisfactory enough prey to be found (jackal has certain criteria that only makes sense To Them, mostly based on how 'interesting' they think a person is + they Do pick off enforcers when they come poking around. their mask is actually a modified enforcer mask from one of their first kills)

they also give entirely conflicting back stories for themself constantly And how they met reese hi reese. ranging from "unconscious thought to be corpse pulled out a dumpster" and "from piltover originally, yeah they ran me out because I kept seducing important people's spouses" and one notable occasion claimed to know swain Very Personally. is anything true? dw about it

im playing around with the mods they have but they Do have a very kind of transhumanist lean to them? not on the same level as y'know The Machine Herald but very "swapping parts go brrr"

jackal also met silco thru reese and was immediately 👀? a child???? Gimme. they play babysitter which morphs into them looking at her as their littlest sister/sort of daughter. FIERCELY protective of her while also ranking low on the Good Role Model scale. no Jackal the child does not need knives. or poisons. or explosives- well okay she's making those herself nvm. it is absolutely Not uncommon to catch a glimpse of them and then a second later a glimpse of blue hair bc jinx is either holding their hand Or attached to their hip Or on their shoulders

generally speaking despite the whole Serial Murderer Thing jackals actually kinda chill to be around?? they don't exactly play Nice but if you catch them on a good day they'll tune down the bastard a little. flirt with you in ways that you're not Sure is actually flirting or if they're envisioning you on the operating table (it's both. it's both,)

[glitch-pep]

Happy birthday to @random-meme-bot! :D

[Ramble under the cut!]

This drawing is actually based on this draw the squad. I haven't done a draw the squad since 2018 so this was a fun throwback!!

Ngl this is probably ooc on Dan's part cuz I have no idea how to explain what he's doing but the mental image of it was so funny to me that I couldn't resist-

Trucy is complimenting Elly's ponytail and going "You should wear a ponytail more often." and Elly is all oblivious just like "Uh. Thanks??"

I told ya I'd draw Elly with a ponytail so that the earrings would be visible!! I told ya!! >:D ✨

I tried my best at making Elly's hair look messy but still coherent, took me a few tries to get the ponytail to look right-

The lil ahoge is supposed to be a question mark cuz she's confused! I also added freckles cuz I loved the idea of it from that one sticker design-

I made Trucy's hair larger!! I also did the detailed anime eye thing for her again cuz I like it lmao

Yeah I went a lil off model with her eyelashes but I think it looks pretty!

I also screwed up the direction in which her little gloves thingies are facing but I noticed that after I finished the drawing-

I was gonna make them transparent but they ended up looking better this way-

Also I thought of this meme a while ago but I forgot about it up until now:

And ye that's it I hope ya like it! :>

[sharkrocket]

Top 5 fave patho characters? Top 5 fav patho ships? Top 5 fave patho character designs? 🤔🤔😈😈[throws these questions at you and then bolts]

OH FUN, I love thinking about these things 😀

TOP FIVE PATHO CHARACTERS

I have a more extensive write-up on my top two that you can read here, but I can try to sum it up to the best of my ability 

1. Artemy 

BIG strong beautiful body

Tired sarcastic dad who can do a punch

Intelligent but humble about it 

Goals and conflict I can understand

2. Daniil

Poor little hiss hiss

Little freak of a man who is always freaking out, hot! 

Byronic hero-esque, self-destructive dramatic bastard

Romanticizing his melancholic solitude  

Shoots a gun real good and will throw hands

I do this to him 

This will be a bit of a long post, so more under the cut

3. Stickyson

I LOVE MY STICKYSON!!! He’s so earnest and smart and a rascal, love to see a kid with big aspirations and eager to help

I keep thinking as he grows up with his two dads, how funny it would be if he picks up the best and worst traits between the both of them, so he’d be very kind, and intelligent, but have a temper and a smart mouth 

Love this kid, S-tier orphan 

4. Rubin 

IDK MAN, I JUST FIND RUBIN VERY FUNNY, just the way he holds grudges, how he thinks in straight lines, how he’s so bitter about being second-best, so to speak

I like him, stubborn thick-skull man who has beliefs and he’s going to stick to them, dammit

5. TO BE DETERMINED

My partner is still carving through Patho 2, so I’m still learning more about these versions of characters. All the kids are pretty funny in their own way, but Notkin and Khan are growing on me. I forgot to mention Aspity last time, but I enjoy her brand of vitriol 

TOP FIVE PATHO SHIPS

1. I am not immune to Burda propaganda 

I got interested in Patho because I wondered offhand if ship art of these two healers existed, so I was already off to a fantastic start

I already had a tendency to favor pairings with opposite rival characters that work well together, so REALLY, I was no match, it was inevitable 

2. That’s it, there’s no more 😞

I’m one of those annoying people that fixate on one pairing and won’t shut up about it, so that’s all you’ll get out of me

THOUGH, I am 100 percent open to other pairings of other characters if the reasoning behind it is compelling or interesting enough (I’ve seen Andrey & Grief, Andrey & Vlad Jr. and Rubin & Grief and those are fascinating from an outsiders perspective)

TOP FIVE PATHO CHARACTER DESIGNS

1. Patho 1 Rubin

I LOVE PATHO 1 RUBIN DESIGN SO MUCH, THE LEATHER DADDY LOOK IS SO GOOD FOR HIM, and compared to his stoic, straightforward, no nonsense attitude, it’s just SO FUNNY 

I have a theory that he would make a really good fashion model, but I’m waiting to have a proper doodle dump before I drop that on everyone 

The Patho 2 redesign was such a nerf, I will never forgive them

2. Patho 2 Artemy

I like his green smock! And I love the leather shoulder bits, the straps, the big kangaroo pouch, the thigh pouches, his hood and the fashionable boots

I enjoy coloring this outfit, it’s functional and not too much 

3. Patho 2 Daniil

This outfit inspires the urge to grab him by the scruff and shake him. Normally I’m a stickler for accuracy, but I refuse to draw his stupid asymmetrical coat collars. WHY TAKE THE MOST FASHIONBLE PART OF THE COAT AND DO IT LIKE THAT? I’m also not the biggest fan of his shoes, but I’m biased because I love drawing dress shoes. I do not enjoy coloring his outfit, the amount of layers I have to use is ridiculous 

I do like the little half-cape thing though, that’s very fashionable, and his STUPID LIL SNAKE BELT BUCKLE

I will say, the fact that his outfit is so extra and infuriating to some extent is perfect for the little hiss hiss, so quality design from me 

4. Patho 2 Notkin

I like his outfit a lot, there’s sort of a punk(?) quality to it

He very much crafted a look for himself with whatever he could get his hands on, and he made it work. I would wear this 

5. Patho 1 Anna Angel 

WHAT AN OUTFIT, look at those gold and red accents and those thigh high boots, the DRAMA

This is so high fashion, I can easily see this on a modern runway

The Patho 2 redesign was also a disappointment I can’t forgive 

6. I have to mention Patho 2 Andrey

They fact they kept him mostly the same except they took his shirt off was such a bold design choice, I am 100 percent onboard with this 

OKAY I’M DONE, I hope that answers some questions 

[ginminowas]

grumpus designs addendummm

ANYWAYS. felt like doin a post talking abt how i draw the grumpuses or whatever for funsies bc im bored + since i did the design meme. lets go

in General : i draw them like furries, vaguely. which is fun because im not much of a furry artist so i have no idea what im doing and it shows. in general i give them sorta snouts in varying... snoutyness depending on their over/underbite. eg floofty, snorpy gramble and shelda have flatter faces while liz, lillow and wambus look like weird dogs, i guess. i draw them with human-shaped hands but put pawpads on them. sometimes. you could say i give them ears but to be honest they dont look functioning i just slap some squiggles on their heads and move on. i also give some of them tails. because i walk around irl like why dont i have a tail and well its their problem now.

I also give them more/detailed-er hair and clothes. character specific stuff below

Filbo is still just a guy. I mostly just slapped some freckles on him because I thought theyd be cute. in a spongebob kinda way. i put a hawaiian shirt on him. not pictured, i think he would have a little tuft of a tail. average goober

I draw Beffica with more... idk if id say realistic hair, but it’s less of a hat. as far as I can tell, her in-game model has orangeish-red eyes (color makes me think of ketchup), but I made them browner. not a lot of brown eyed characters in media but this is partially habit on my part coming from drawing genshin fanart (nobody has brown eyes). i made her nose heart shaped and put her in a off the shoulder shirt. she has a sort of... cheetah? pattern bc i think its cute.

Eggabell is round soft and pink. not as egg shaped in my style i suppose, but she prob looks more egg fullbody than just her bust lol. i like the ........ floofy thing ive seen ppl put on her so theres that, i also think she’d look cute w/ short hair. changed her med belt into a sort of... satchel lookin thing?

Liz. in the meme I forgot about her hat, LOL. I give her a ponytail haircut - she kinda looks like a wolf and less like a walrus I suppose... she’s muscular and scared from The Adventuring, and I put a vest thing on her. she still has the belt.

Wambus I made look a bit dilfy... kind of wolf shaped in my brain. him and Triffany feel like the types to be that thick beefy kind of muscled. gave him bushy eyebrows and sort of hair, w some grey hairs. he and Triffany are around 40-50s to me, they both have some wrinkles, but im. bad at drawing older ppl

Triffany..... her hat was a menace to draw. she’s just as beefed up as Wambus, but she’s very fluffy and soft looking. her vest is more Open in canon but I didn’t wanna redraw it but im sure she has amazing chest fur. she has curly-ish hair in a ponytail.

for Cromdo I tried to make him like.. idk... uncleish. danny devitocore. I’m not used to drawing characters like him so ??? its a little funny looking but I tried to make him look like he had body hair as if he wasnt covered in fur lmfao. gave him some wrinkles, he’s probably in his 40s. put a shirt on that freak. also, had trouble w his nose.

I’ve had trouble drawing shorter characters in relation to taller ones (chandlo) but I liked how I drew Gramble. I put freckles on him (cute factor), turned his vest into a full sweater (w shirt collar), gave him some curly strawberry red hair under the hat. he’s cute. I know he weighs like 3 apples

WIGGLE my beloved! I felt I made her a bit Much but honestly? fits her. I gave her short curly hair - I do like how other designs give her the spiky mohawk look from the cheepoof tho! in her model her eyes are blue, but I darkened them similarly to how I changed Beffica’s eyes, but its less noticeable with the glasses. I gave her a sorta... half tube top w a see thru part (forgot the word.) probably wears beach party clothes

Oddly, I have trouble with Chandlo. He’s kind of dog-ish like Liz an Lillow, also made his nose heart shaped cuz its cute. gave him hair under the hat but idk how I feel on it. he’s beefy obviously, but I think he’s a bit more defined than Wambus. I couldn’t quite show it but I imagine he has rather calloused paws, but is otherwise careful when carpenter-ing and such (unlike Snorpy and Floofty, OSHA enemies.)

SNORBYYYYY I love this little yellow thing. I draw him (and his sibling) with casual glasses usually, because I imagine the magnifying glass isnt Always necessary. I also put him in a sweater. I gave him some freckles and changed the direction of his hair + the style to be in a ponytail idk. his arms and hands are particularly scarred, from equipment and engineering accidents and such, probably has some burns too.

Floofty my beloved rude asshole. I have a little trouble w their hair on the left side of their head 😭 I also give them simpler glasses to wear when they don’t need the goggles because wearing that shit all day hurts. I put them in a hoodie/jacket + lab coat combo. I imagine the lab coat is blood stained. stuff’s hard to clean. They’re equally if not more scarred than their brother, and have a particularly bad burn/scar double whammy on their right hand which I hc they get after getting fired when having a meltdown. ANYWAYS

Shelda my gramma. I love her but MY GOD coloring the flowers was hard lol. I imagine her fur is on the shorter side. I don’t have too much to say I guess? I want to give her a hug.

Clumby I just drew a kind of Aunt-y ish garfield. the glasses and hat were hard. definitely the type of woman I saw in the middle school’s reception office.

is that all? I guess that’s all. there’s Lillow, but I dont have much to say I guess? besides that the scar on her nose is from snaktooth. what was it clumby said? “dont fall off a cliff onto your face?”

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure (Manga) - Vol. 1

This is the manga (or manhua) adaptation of the original Digimon Adventure anime. I got my copy from the library and you can borrow it for free on Archive.org!

Manga adaptations of anime are typically cheap money grabs that just copy-paste from the anime, removing some of the soul of the original along the way. As such, I'm not expecting much from this.

Notes:

Ch. 1

-You can almost always tell when a manga isn't drawn by a Japanese artist, it's just a certain vibe (I know this is technically a manhua). That being said, the art is competent enough. Yuen Wong seems to struggle most when it comes to faces. A lot of the faces look really janky and off model for both the digimon and the digi-destined. The only other thing that's kind of off is that the text boxes are very heavily lined and take up a lot more space than I'm used to.

-When Sora is drawn in chibi-mode she has the straps of her hat up like a rabbit. At first the silhouette was so unfamiliar that I had no idea who it was lol.

-So they covered two episodes in one chapter (up until the Shellmon battle). Let's see if the pace stays that way...

Ch. 2

-This definitely has a similar vibe to most manga adapted from anime that I've read. I wonder if it will diverge from the original material at any point, too soon to judge.

-Tai says to Agumon "I'll do anything but a teeth buffing" and I have nooo idea what that means? (Is he saying "don't eat me?") Also in chapter one Izzy said "baby blue, how emasculating!" when talking about the digivice. I don't think Koushiro would ever say that tbh. I feel like spotting these weird dialogue choices is going to be the most entertaining part about reading this.

Ch. 3

-I guess we're now going at a pace of one episode per chapter, which is fine. Somehow the content still seems a little condensed with a lot of the emotional beats cut out. I feel like the setting changes every two seconds which is giving me whiplash.

-Some weird quirks: the digi-destined call their digimon by their rookie names, even when they're in champion form. Also, the artist really really likes drawing smiley faces as stand-ins for the actual characters. That's like a step below chibification lol

-I think manga like this is perfect for if you wanted to watch Digimon Adventure 02, but you didn't want to catch up on a 50+ episode anime. It's a lot faster to read than to watch. (Although probably not as satisfying overall).

Ch. 4

-More cheesy dialogue. Izzy says "don't mess with an elite hacker" to Tai lol. Koushiro is way more likeable in the original Japanese because localizations loved to make nerds insufferable in the 90s.

-It's funny, I've never thought of Tentomon as robot-like, but in this chapter he said his parts were "short circuiting" and I was like "oh yeahhh...I guess he does have metallic features"

-Did we really need that close-up crotch shot of Andromon?

-You would think that the plot point of there being editable code laying around in random areas of the digital world would have come up again, but I can't remember another time it was really used to the kids' advantage.

Ch. 5

-This panel made me laugh:

(something about this phrasing and the expressionless chibis is so funny).

-And then Izzy never manually triggered a digivolution again...for some reason? (I feel like this was definitely explained in the anime, but I can't remember what they said).

-They didn't censor the poop this time! As usual, you can get away with more in print than you can on the screen B)

-They confirm that you can repel Numemon with sunlight...and then immediately the kids get attacked by more Numemon in broad daylight. Quickest continuity error ever!

-Another chuckle worthy moment:

Ch. 6

-Okay, but this one had me die laughing. Just a really good dad joke:

-Going from Adventure 02 back to the early Adventure days the stakes really do feel lower. No existential conundrums or human/humanoid villains to contend with. Just rampaging digis that can be easily cured.

Ch. 7

-Maybe it's just a translation thing, but sometimes the digimon act like there's one of each digimon species. Like Gomamon says "Unimon's a nice guy!" as if there's one Unimon in the world. Pretty confusing for kids. I wish mon series would just use names (they do sometimes, but it's not the status quo).

Yep, that was pretty generic. I wish they had thrown some more personality in there to make this a unique experience. I would have loved to read some final thoughts from the mangaka or to have gotten an omake of some sort. Ohhh welll...

[hopefulstarfire]

Have a lil drabble about Kat and Ryous friendship as requested by @kira-quartz

"Thank you for coming over to help with these."

Kat looked up from the figurine she was working on, offering up a smile to her best friend. "It's no problem, Ryou!" She assured him. "I'm happy to help, and, besides, this is actually a lot of fun anyways."

The first session of the newest campaign he was going to be DMing was coming in less than a week. They'd gotten their usual little crew back together for it and Ryou had wanted to go all put with this one. Rather than use base miniatures he kept tucked away, he'd ordered custom models to be based around the designs the others had given him of their characters.

Technically speaking now, she had a sneak peak at her own characters soon to be made party, but Ryou would not budge on giving her any details -- names, classes, who of their friends was playing them, etc -- as it would "spoil the element of surprise". He also refused to tell her which ones were actually npcs or party members as well.

She hummed, attention flickering back to the figurine in her hand. It was a fairy with a flowing dress and bands around her arms, butterfly wings and she was supposed to have opalescent eyes, pink hair and a Fae characteristic of having a glittering mist around her.

"It's fun figuring out who they might belong to," she said, bringing her brush back to the hair. Max had taught her the proper way to color and paint in the lines and give depth to shading; she did great with coloring books and the likes, but actually drawing was a talent not even he could bestow upon her. "Though, I think this one's obvious."

Ryou gave a wry grin, looking up from the gnoll he was currently doing the detailing on. "I don't know; it could very well be Tristans."

Kat snorted in laughter, holding it up a bit higher. "I need you to look me in the eye and tell me you've ever even heard Tristan use the word opalescent to describe anything."

He bristled a bit, but there still remained a small smile. "He would, given the right circumstance!"

"Oh, I'm not doubting the capability; I'm doubting the notion he'd say it to begin with," she teased. She re-situated the figure a bit better, finishing off the first coat of her hair. "Besides, getting glittering mist instead also seems more Mihos style. That gnoll you're holding looks more like Tristans speed."

Ryou gave a slight shrug, though he himself had the answers; she'd been right on the fairy, but the gnoll had actually belonged to Tomoya instead. Tristan had chosen a human with an Artificer class, with it being his second attempt at DND and his first time playing an actual campaign versus a one shot.

"I guess you'll just have to see," he mused, shifting his focus to the miniatures clothes. "I will say, though, your little Harengon is certainly going to be in an interesting group."

Kat shifted, nodding over to the painted figure of her little rabbit rogue. "I think she's gonna at least be fun to play." She was honestly more surprised he had yet to comment on the obvious inspirations from My Melody and Funny Bunny on the character. She had worked hard to put references galore in her new player character and she wondered how long it would take the rest of their friends to piece it together.

It took a little bit more time before she finished the fairy, setting it down to dry. Kat moved towards the rest of the unfinished minis, foot tapping as she weighed her decisions. She picked up what looked to be a guard of some sort to do, one that was set right next to a stack of books with the DMs manual resting on the very top.

"Maybe some time you can help me figure out how to be a DM?" She offered up, finger tracing the spine of the book. "Then you get a chance to play rather than have to oversee the whole story."

Ryou brightened, sitting up a bit straight, hands fumbling with the figure he almost dropped. He hadn't had much real experience being a player; most of the times, he was the master of the game, concocting the story and pushing players forward to the best of his ability. Perhaps it'd be nice to be on the other side. "I think I'd quite enjoy playing a campaign you got to create," he beamed. "Besides, it'll help me get a better understanding of what it's like on your guys side so I can better equip you in my own campaigns!"

Kat laughed, happily. "That would be really awesome to have, not gonna lie."

Before the white haired boy could further speak, the Ring around his neck began to glow, the points jutting out in different positions.

Landlord. I want in. I want to play a game hosted by my girlfriend. Immediately. Forget your campaign.

He bit his lip. The Spirit of his Ring had been working on being...nicer, to an extent. Kat usually kept him under control, made him apologize for some of his past behaviors, but, it hadn't been enough to wash away all the years of hurt fully.

Though, he had been making improvements; he wouldn't even steal to provide for her anymore, going to find ways to earn an "allowance" from Ryou, rather than consistently grabbing things he thought were pretty but usually, more often than not, belonged more in a museum than around her neck. And he hadn't caused any bodily harm since Battle City. Mostly out of threat from Kat.

His hand weaved around the Ring, and he gave an exasperated sigh. "Settle down; we're still doing mine first, you."

Kat cocked her head to the side, before her green eyes found the Item holding her boyfriend's soul and she moved closer, going to poke the eye on it. "We'll do a campaign later, you and me," she promised. "But, first, I want to play Ryous. And you have to keep from interfering. No pulling what you used to."

Now why would you all ever share those details to her? All I was doing was helping you and you paint me in a negative light. It's rude.

"Because you're a feral cat most of the time and we have to retrain you." Ryou told him with a tight lipped smile. His hand found the rope and he slid the Item off of him, setting it to the side. "Now, hush, I have other things to worry about."

Faintly, in the back of his mind, he could hear Bakura cursing him out bur for now he was more than happy to shift his focus back to where it was.

Kat picked her forgotten paint brush back up and refocused her own efforts. "It's just a thought, but, I have a slight idea for the campaign I want to run, but it's very magical girly."

"Now, that sounds like it'd be fun," Ryou beamed, moving to sit down next to his best friend. "And very you; the best campaign stories come from the most genuine places in its GMs heart, I think. It's why I always tackle mine from a place of what my own interests are."

She giggled. "Yeah, I kinda picked it up with all the occult references, the zombies, evil cultists--"

"All in good fun!"

"Yeah, and your idea of good fun is giving the rest of us the heebie jeebies!" Kat playfully shoved his arm, being sure to miss the spot where he'd been stabbed. He still had some nerve damage done there and she didn't want to risk anything.

Ryou laughed, good naturedly. "You're the only other person I've heard other than myself use that term, and you want to joke about Tristan not using opalescent?"

"Well, yeah, cause more people should use heebie jeebies," she mused, dipping the cleaned brush in a navy blue paint for the armor. "It's fun to say, it can be applied to a lot of more unnerving things--"

"It's very silly and very you. All along with your odd southern turn of phrases."

"Eh, I dunno, Ryou, I think the British ones are way weirder still."

He smiled, eyes closing as he tilted his head. "Mhm. I see. Well, whatever helps you sleep at night."

Kat hummed, glancing at her paint brush before getting a mischievous glint in her eyes. She turned, raising the brush and painted a navy stripe over his nose. "Rude."

He balked at her for a moment, before picking his brush back up and swiped a curved yellow line across her cheek. "Doubly rude on your end for that."

They stared at each other for a moment before the figurines were sat back down and their paint brushes were dipped back in the paint just as quickly before they went to use them to swipe at each other, laughing all the way through.

Kat never thought something like DND would bring people together; but, the moments that came with it were still some of her favorites with her best friend.

[valcuda]

Picnic with her Little Siblings

- Scene History

This was just a remake of "Picnic with Big Sis" originally, like how I remade "Cloud Gazing with her Little Siblings" with the models originally, but then I remembered the previous render, and how I got a better camera angle in the viewport!

That lead me to this angle! Which accomplishes showing Jasmin's face! Something I wanted to do in the original, but decided against. It really helps make Quinton and Elizabeth feel small, having Jasmin tower over them.

- Troubled Rendering Process

This had a very troubled rendering process. The poses themselves were annoying, but I'd say "Hugging her Little Brother" was more annoying, just due to the darn hands. But the rendering! I rewrote this post 3 times, and edited it 2 times on top of that!

The original looked very unfinished, so I gave them back their normal maps, but that removed their shadows, so I turned on Raytracing in EEVEE, cause I remembered I did that for the previous render, (And forgot to mention it for some reason) but that caused them to glow???

So, under the raytrace options, I cranked "Max Roughness" all the way up to 1, and used viewport rendering, giving me a very vibrant look, more importantly however, it mostly got rid of the glowing!

It did make Jasmin's hand look blocky, but I fixed that with a 3x subdivision surface modifier. So that's the render I was originally going to go with.

When rewriting this post however, I just decided I really didn't like it, calling it my least favorite render, so I decided to go back in and edit it some more!

I got rid of their normal maps, merged Jasmin's hand by distance, cause it was a dozen separate parts for some reason, which messed up the shading! Then I notice her cuff was partially weighted to her hand bone, so I had to manually fix that, then merge it by distance to fix the shading on the inside! And I probably did some more as well!

- My Least Favorite Render so far

Future Val here! (I planned to post this the day after I finished rendering it, and that decision paid off!)

While working on my next render, I discovered the environment has it's own "Shadows" checkbox, which I originally turned off in the scene, since it was just meant as a drawing reference... When I realized this, I turned it on, and that is how I got the final render! I also changed it to vertical, cause it frames the scene better. It's kinda funny how much that change improves the final image!

Anyway, this section was originally me talking about how the render looked bad, and I felt bad cause it feels like it should be good, but it just wasn't.

For context, this is what the original final render looked like! (But with the new resolution, cause I'm too lazy to change that)

Jasmin's face just looks off, along with other things, and I couldn't figure out why! But it's that lack of shadows! I didn't notice their absence, but I definitely felt it!

This one friggin change made me go from hating it, to loving it! Ironically, I think "Hugging Her Little Brother" has become my least favorite just due to everything else being better XD

Now then, back to past me!

- Explaining the Render

Anyway, unlike the original, where both Quinton and Elizabeth had curious frowns, Elizabeth is smiling in this, while Quinton is still frowning. That's because (post being shrunken) Elizabeth originally lived by herself outside for multiple years, so she used to being outside, and actually quite likes it.

Quinton however, has lived in a house the entire time he's been small, except when he got lost one day, and met Elizabeth. So Quinton is actually quite fearful of being outside. Also, he isn't meant to be ducking, he's just quite short compared to Elizabeth, they're both standing at the same height.

Then of course, Elizabeth doesn't really trust people as much as Quinton, so she's holding the basket lid open, despite Jasmin holding it open, just out of caution. Quinton on the other hand, probably isn't even thinking about that.

- Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for now. I have another render planned for tomorrow, after that, it'll prob be a while before I post more, cause those'll require other assets to be made, but I'll talk more about that in tomorrows post.

[vulpiximisa]

An anime about a cat run ramen restaurant, sounds amazing. 

I went in hoping it’d be something calm or silly, mostly thinking like Shirokuma Cafe but with cats and a ramen restaurant. What I got was still very much slice of life and some sillies, but not to the level of Shirokuma Cafe.

The characters aren’t anything superb or special or different, but everyone had their own traits and quirks and it was easy to see how they had a place in the restaurant. I liked watching the episodes after a long day of work, which is ironic because watching it reminds me of work at the same time. I like that it does focus more on the food and job aspect of it as opposed to Shirokuma Cafe, where we see it more from the customers’ (Panda, Penguin-san) pov. It also does go into how cat talking and working isn’t actually normal for the society, unlike Shirokuma Cafe, where apparently only that town’s animals talk and are integrated into society. 

My favorite segment was when Hana’s previous owner came to get her. It could have been the basic “owner was pushing her into doing idol stuff and she was fed up with it and left”, but it wasn’t. The fact that Hana loved Yoko and only left because her career was hurting, hurt me so much. Hana is a certified Tsundere, where she was so cold to Tamako in the beginning, but you see she slowly melts away and grows fond of her. I usually dislike Tsunderes but after a point, Hana was less tsun about it and it eventually became genuine, and I think she became my favorite of the group. (A bit like Manaka in Aggretsuko S3, a true ride or die after you get past that tough angry exterior.)

I also liked the segment where Sabu and Hana were fighting because he thought she ate his snack. It was just silly and the animated expressions were so good and funny.

Which finally brings me to the biggest fault of the series.

The damn CG.

I was so turned off by it from the first episode. I was just so confused as to why they were using CG models for basic shots, it just felt really cheap and lazy. And, I guess if they were trying to save time and money, it works but it just doesn’t look good to me. It’s a slice of life anime, they aren’t doing anything intense, it’s not like a sport where the movements are super fluid or a whole dance choreography. They really just didn’t want to draw shots of Yashiro moving in a room, or of the cats? Like, were they scared they’d get the anatomy of the cats off model?? I kind of doubt, I just think they were trying to product a fast and easy anime.

Also, there is quite an emphasis on ramen, as that’s where they work and we see the ramen often. THEY DON’T EVEN WANT TO DRAW THE RAMEN???? Anime food could look so fucking delicious if they want it to, but NO. YOU GET STRANDS OF CG NOODLES AND PIXEL BEAN SPROUTS. SO DELICIOUS RIGHT???? 

They literally could have drawn the one bowl of ramen once, and used it several times throughout the series, I literally wouldn’t have cared that way. They would reuse shots from the opening too, where Bunzo is shaking the ramen and Sabu plating the beansprouts. IT LOOKS FUCKING AWFUL. 

Which I think is why the series isn’t rated as high as it could have been. I liked the vibe of the series, a girl leaves her previous awful work place to start something new. It’s a whole new experience that can be relatable for anyone starting any new job, having to learn the quirks of each colleague and struggling to be familiar and useful to the new workplace. I don’t want to say that they’re romanticizing work, since the cats all seem close and Yashiro eventually becomes part of the team, the family. But calling the workplace a family is definitely romanticizing the job. XD;;;; I think earning the full time position meant that Tamako gets to move in with everyone, as shes on the balcony at the end of the final episode? 

I don’t know how much of the source material has not been animated, but I think the series ended fine where it was. There were some nice and touching stories, of the cat’s backstories and of Tamako learning to get along with them and associates. It's a solid 7/10. If they passed on the CG, I probably could have given it an 8, but who knows.

[jojosbussyadventure]

My opinions on Jotaro

Disclaimer: This includes critique of Jotaro Kujo! Some of these takes are nuclear level unpopular. I don’t hate Jotaro, but some aspects of his character and the way fandom treats him drive me up the fucking wall. Sometimes media lands with people differently and people have different opinions.

1. Hates women. He is probably overstimulated in some of the scenes he yells at women, but if you look, he never reacts that way when his teammates in SDC are loud. He specifically states that he hates loud women. The first time we see him yelling at a group of girls in the anime, he’s actually walking away while they’re distracted bickering behind him. If it were just about being overstimulated and not some vitriol towards women, he could’ve kept walking and left the stimulus instead of turning around to yell at them imo.

At first I was like ok he’s 17 maybe he’ll be better when he’s an adult. Then in DiU he yells at a group of teenage girls who are fawning over Josuke.

Like he’s an adult here yelling at teenagers because…he’s specifically annoyed when women are noisy. Even if that weren’t gross, it’s on him to develop some coping skills at this point.

I dont like how a lot of ppl in fandom seem to think this is funny or just write it off. It’s ok to acknowledge a characters shitty behavior and still like them.

And THEN

In that same part we see him being incredibly kind and caring to Josuke and Koichi. Which shows he’s grown a lot and has the capacity to be compassionate and respectful. But…that just doesn’t extend to women? Which to me is a huge huge bummer :/

The only woman we actually see him being nice to (like having kind interactions with) is Jolyne, his daughter.

2. Fatherhood. Jotaro is not an ideal dad and I love that tbh. I think it’s good writing.

But he left his daughter to protect her!

Ok well that didn’t work and she still got the abandonment trauma anyway, so now what?And why is it always “I leave my weak wife and daughter to protect them” and not “I train my wife and daughter so we can all protect each other”? Why is it assumed that women wouldn’t be able to handle that? It’s misogyny that it’s never considered as a possibility imo, and is a problem with the writing not just Jotaro.

For fucks sake a dog, rat, baby, bird, and money were all able to handle having a stand but Jotaro’s mom wasn’t?

The fact is he (we’re assuming) chose to have a kid and then abandoned her. It’s not ideal parenting.

But I actually love how he’s written as a dad! I think it’s realistic that he would struggle to have a good relationship with his wife and daughter. He had an absent father, is extremely traumatized, struggles communicating, and apparently has a not great relationship to women in general.

His divorce and estrangement from his daughter are realistic consequences to some of his flaws.

3. But he’s modeled after Clint Eastwood!

Yea that guy kinda sucks irl

-Things I like about Jotaro

1. Autistic coded. He thinks that his emotions show on his face, which is…dear. They do Not. Niche interests. Sensory issues. Cool autistic vibe

2. He’s very smart and that makes it fun to watch his fights.

3. Corny sometimes

4. Kind to his nephew and his friends. Like genuinely. Learns how to express compassion (as opposed to holding it inside and calling his mom a bitch)

5. Eventually came around and repaired his relationship with Jolyne, and expressed that he cares.

6. Strongk . I❤️start platinum.

- neutral -

I think he’s OP and that some of his powers are asspulls. However, I usually don’t mind this because I want them to win lmao! Also I’m amused by some other asspulls in Jojos, so I can’t draw the line here.

Conclusion:

I kinda like him. wish he would be kind to women. Until then, I kinda want him to get jumped.

[avislux]

Lets talk about Bocchi the Rock!

Well it's been a long time since I've found something to absolutely love.

But first a shout out to Lycoris Recoil for also being a pretty good original anime. Good mix of action and slice of life. I liked it enough such that while I was on a trip to Japan I looked for the book that was coming out during the trip. I managed to get it. Still haven't read much of it though. Then I found the book in a local Kinokuniya in December. I also bought a manga, thinking it was new original content. No they actually adapted a manga from the anime. It's usually the other way around. Oh well. Merch.

Bocchi the Rock just connects with me on a way no other show has. I have never seen social anxiety depicted in a way that is so relatable and funny. They were not afraid to use a variety of different animation styles. From live action shots, to random 3D renders to crayon drawings that may have been drawn by actual children. Some of the animators even commented on twitter on some random scenes they did. (There's another tweet about the black hole simulation I can't at the moment)

I lived that life growing up without having close friends. Could barely say hi to people. Mostly kept to myself instead of socializing. Well I didn't exactly have 0 friends. But even now, I'm not sure if I can call anyone close. Never hung out much outside of school. No one ever invited me to any parties. Never celebrated any birthdays. I remember looking at the top right of Facebook hoping there was a new message. Didn't really occur to me to reach out to anyone.

I really connect to all the monologuing Bocchi does. I don't think any show has done it as much as Bocchi has. Many of the feelings she shows I've experienced myself.

Then there's the music, which is just really good. It's honestly way too good for typical high schoolers to compose, but we can let that slide. Each band member gets their own character song. Although Bocchi's (Loneliness, Guitar and Blue Planet) is sung by Kita. Bocchi gets to sing the AKFG cover at the end. And I absolutely adore it. It connects to me in particular since I have a deep connection with music having a dozen instruments in my room.

They released an entire album on Spotify consisting of all the music in the anime and then some more songs. And it won't surprise me if at the end of the year, Spotify Wrapped tells me they're my number one listened to.

I really can't think of any premise that can top this. Like I had a thing for Takagi when I discovered that. Somehow any other show that does a male and female pair romcom doesn't come close to it. Maybe it's due to the song covers and having additional content by Rie Takahashi to watch. But also no other anime is as pure is Takagi. Closest is probably Kubo-san.

Like what if a you took the same premise of Bocchi the Rock but made it all male characters? Would it be as popular? Don't think it will ever happen though.

Also all of the instruments and equipment in the show are based off real equipment. All the performances are animated accurately to what's being played. The drums are animated beautifully. Non-musicians wouldn't even notice it.

On Youtube, Aniplex has a series of Bocchi's voice actor Aoyama Yoshino learning guitar to play Seishun Complex, the OP. Bocchi's guitar is based off a Gibson Les Paul Custom. it's 7 grand. Epiphone gave her voice actor an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Ebony (around $730), which looks pretty close to Bocchi's except the edge around the body is white. I went around looking at Les Pauls for a bit, then found the exact model Epiphone. After sitting on it for a bit, I bought it. The sales guy even gave me a deal setting me up with a service plan. Funnily enough after I didn't like how it felt after getting it set up the first time, I learned guitar set-up myself. It's not that bad. Although good tools cost money.

I did a search for the Epiphone Les Paul Custom Ebony while the show was airing and saw a couple on Sweetwater. The next week they were gone.

Then I wanted Bocchi's new guitar, a Pacifica PAC611VFM. Not sure I really needed it since I already had enough guitars. I tried to mod my Squier Strat to look more like it. Unfortunately Squier pickups don't match Fender's. I managed to replace the pick guard and knobs although one of the pick guard screws was misaligned with the body. Probably bad manufacturing, but it mostly fits just without the one screw.

Pacificas in general have been on back order in Japan due to the anime. The PAC611VFM is surprisingly hard to find. The black color in particular. All the other finishes look kind of ugly. It showed up on Ebay one day and I got it. I love it. Hoping to mod it as well. This anime has made me spend more money than any other show has. I even bought a new pedal and might get some more.

I also bought all the Bocchi manga.

Still trying to learn all of the Bocchi songs. Haven't had as much time as I'd like.

Alright I think that's enough writing for now.