#I'll add shading at some point I just don't have time today

[tundrakatiebeanart]

in honor of the mayhem happening here (affectionate) I've added a boop emote on my twitch! You can boop your favorite streamers!

[peachsayshi]

I have an a request!!! What about boy dad gojo taking care of his son while his s/o is sick? Maybe he takes him to work and face time her with his son when he has a break or between classes?? And his son misses her a lot cause it’s his first time seeing her sick🥹

➳  minors / ageless / blank blogs dni   ➳  tags: fluff; dad gojo and son reader

"mama! wanna talk to mama!"

"easy, tiger," satoru consoles, using his long arm to pull the phone away from his son's grabbing fingers.

"dada, wanna talk to mama!" his son insists, inching his body forward which prompts satoru to adjust his legs so his boy doesn't climb off his thighs. using his other hand, the sorcerer lightly runs his fingers through his child's soft locks to calm down his excitement while and in the meantime taps away at the screen to video call you.

"there you go," he whispers as he brings the phone to his son's line of sight, his heart swelling when you finally answer the call.

"hi," you croak softly, your voice thick and hoarse while you rub your tired eyes. "what time is it?"

"it's lunch-"

"mama!" your son interrupts, his small hands curling over satoru's fingers as he holds both sides of the screen. "mama, miss you!"

"hey, cutie", you reply with a tiny smile, but satoru can see the exhaustion weighing heavy on your face. "miss you soo much,"

you've been sick for the last four days. a terrible cold that's kept you bedridden. satoru and your son have been isolating to make sure that they don't catch what you have, but your boys have been wallowing without you around. your son has been extra needy and keeps bringing up his "mama" every chance he can get. satoru is in the same position as well, hating that he can't cuddle up to you in the middle of the night, or that he can't wake up to your good morning kisses.

"mama sick," your son says with a furrow of his brows, moving his hand over the screen like he's trying to touch your face. "mama get better ok?"

he's still learning his words, trying to form whatever sentences he can with the vocabulary that he has.

you nod your head, "yeah, baby, I'll be better soon,"

your son smiles at the camera, his eyes twinkling with delight. "kisses!" he announces, before leaning forward and pressing his lips onto the phone screen.

you blow him back three kisses in return.

at this point satoru can't help but feel a little left out, so he arches forward to rest his chin on his son's shoulder, the two of them now centering the screen.

it's wild seeing them both together because they really do look like twins. your son's hair stands as a harsh contrast because it is identical to yours, but his eyes are a blend of your love. there's an icy blue that pierces through his natural color on the left side, a unique trait that distinguishes him entirely.

"can I get some kisses too?" satoru pouts at the camera, and your son obliges but placing one kiss on his cheek.

satoru can't help but grin, "thanks, rugrat, but I was hoping the kisses would come from your mama..."

"but mama sick," your son answers nonchalantly, twisting his body slightly so he was turning toward's his father's instead.

"she just blew you some kisses," he answers back with a raised brow. "I can't get any?"

your son blatantly shakes his head no.

satoru deadpans at the phone screen, and you have to use the blanket to cover your amused grin but you clear your throat as a cough escapes you, and satoru can't help but wince.

"how are you feeling? is the medicine helping at all?" he adds.

"yeah, it is. I'm feeling much better today actually."

"there's a pot of soup in the fridge " he continues, his cheeks tinting a slight shade of pink. "I made it last night"

satoru toiling away in the kitchen is a rare sight. the man grew up spoiled, and rarely ever had to take care of himself. you're the only person who knows that the first time he ever touched a stove was in his late teens, with shoko and suguru assisting in teaching him. he doesn't experiment much, but he was able to perfect a handful of recipes over time.

your eyes widen, glisten with absolute love. "thanks, handsome. I'll be sure to heat some up..."

"just want to see you back on your feet, angel," satoru murmurs, and presses his cheek against' the plush surface of his son's. "you've got us pining over here, isn't that right?"

your son nods his head, bringing one hand to hold his father's jaw. "sick bad, want mama t'get better now..." he acknowledges.

(meanwhile, you sneakily take a screenshot of the two of them in frame)

requests are open for dad gojo.

[genericpuff]

On today's episode of "Rachel exaggerates things to make herself sound cooler-"

Soooo this is a lie.

No seriously, this has to be a lie. I don't make these kinds of accusations willy-nilly. This has to be a lie.

First of all, if her file sizes are truly 11GB for each episode, that would mean her file resolutions would have to be stupid high, and I just ain't buying that when so much of her art comes out looking like fried chicken.

But again, look at the backgrounds. Crystal clear. Which supports my theory that Rachel has her assistants draw the characters flat and exports them as PNG's so that she (or another one of her assistants) can slap the backgrounds in afterwards which is why when they pinch and zoom, the backgrounds look fine (as they're added in afterwards) and the characters look like they've been drawn with chalk. The shading itself isn't deep fried though, which is, again, because Rachel adds in the shading in post after her assistants have sent her all the flats.

Anyways, moving on from that, if her file sizes are actually 11GB per episode, that would mean her resolution would have to be STUPID high and that would mean there's no excuse for panels to look like this. This is not a Webtoons compression problem, Webtoons does compress images for you if you don't do it yourself but they don't result in specifically deep fried textures like this, that's ALL happening on Rachel's side. If it were a Webtoons' problem, the entire comic would look like that, not just select panels.

This is also what the panels tend to look like in book form. The book art is clearly very compressed and blurred from being too low of a resolution for print, which means either the editor is not being provided the root files, or the root files weren't ever that crisp to begin with. Either one is plausible and either one isn't good.

But of course, I'm not going to make these claims without my own proof. So here's the file sizes for Episode 12 of Rekindled, the longest episode in the series so far by panel count and page length, clocking in at 42 panels and an average of 25 layers per page (and that's including the text layers which adds a good chunk on its own, the actual art layers are like, half of that).

Also, here's what a pinch and zoom panel in Rekindled comes out looking like:

You can still pick up on some fuzziness, but the lineart doesn't look straight up chunky like it does in LO.

Meanwhile, one of my longest episodes of TIME GATE: [AFTERBIRTH] has a file size that honestly shocked me with how small it was.

Guess how many panels that episode had?

Go on, guess. Take a second. Compare it to the file size of Episode 12 of Rekindled, take your best educated guess. Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH] is also a full color webtoon with full shading and rendering that I used to upload once a week. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Ninety-seven.

Ninety. Seven.

Not only is that more panels than what LO dishes out on a weekly basis, but its overall file size doesn't even come out to be 10% of what Rachel is claiming LO's file sizes to be.

This is what Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH] looks like, by the way:

(don't mind the blurriness that's working against my point, that's Tumblr, not me LMAO)

But, let's face it, I didn't want to just use my own examples as a comparison, because that seems unfair. I'm not an Originals creator, I just put myself under similar pressures as one because I'm an idiot who tries too hard.

So I asked one of my Originals pals. I will not disclose their name, but they are someone who works for Webtoons Originals and has similar panel requirements and deadlines. They also work with a similar flatting + shade workflow as LO, they have cel-shaded colors and bold flat coloring.

When I asked them how big their file sizes were, they said that at 2500px width - similar to what I draw at, 2400px width - and 200-300k pixel length (again, they're drawing an entire episode on one canvas) their episode file sizes come out to roughly one gigabyte, very rarely much bigger than that.

Rachel is full of shit. This is some Tommy Tallarico level shit, exaggerating stupid things that don't matter to try and make herself seem impressive. It isn't impressive. It makes her look like an unorganized dunderhead at best, and at worst, makes her look like a flat out liar who needs to prop herself up on the dumbest shit to make herself look good. File gigabyte size isn't impressive or indicative of anything, you can achieve high quality art without your file size amounting to 11 GB, and let's face it, Lore Olympus is not high quality art. You're telling me art like this:

amounts to 11 GB?

Now the only way I can see this happening is if maybe, maybe she had like, a bajillion layers full of garbage-

Oh. Oh no. Lore Olympus. Is a sprite comic.*

(*edit for clarification: I've had people confused over what I mean by sprite comic because LO clearly isn't made with 16/8 bit sprites. Sprite comic was a term universally used back in the day for comics that reused the same body parts, heads, expressions, etc. much like how sprites are designed, often keeping an entire file full of different layers made up of these assets to make for easier development. This technique was utilized in comics like CTRL + ALT + DEL. LO is definitely not literally a sprite comic but the way its layers are designed feel very much like something that's being cobbled together like 'sprite' comics were. I'm old.)

Even with these pics for proof, with 600+ layers on one canvas, if there's barely anything on those layers, then it still wouldn't make up that 11GB file size because the amount of layers doesn't necessarily add to file size on its own, at least not by that much, unless they're actually filled with stuff. And again, Rachel's art in LO doesn't scream "highly detailed with many layers". It only had many layers because for some reason she insists on working that way even to its own detriment.

From the looks of it, Rachel's importing all of her assistants' PNG's as separate layers and adding all the shading and the extra details on their own separate layers and basically dividing everything up into tiny bite sized pieces. That's the only clear explanation I can come up with. But if so, that means she's being INCREDIBLY inefficient with her workflow that it's amounting to SIX HUNDRED+ LAYERS AT 11 GB PER EPISODE. THAT IS ABSURD. THIS COMIC IS WAY TOO LOW QUALITY TO JUSTIFY THESE FILE SIZES AND LAYER COUNTS. RACHEL DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK SHE'S DOING-

She's also very clearly using the cloud as a way to backup her work and work with her assistants. God knows how much she's spending on cloud space because of her own incompetency.

Honestly, at this point, as I sit here playing the Photoshop equivalent of Cookie Clicker, clicking the 'new layer' button over and over and over again with my mouse to truly understand what it would feel like to operate at 600+ layers per episode of a webtoon, I'm more inclined to believe she's just lying. Capping. Pulling shit out of her ass. Straight up making shit up. It wouldn't be the first time she's done that. But also because the alternative is a lot more grim - the #1 best selling webtoon on the platform is being operated like the world's worst group project and still coming out on the other side looking like deep fried garbage despite its stupid high file size.

[icant-speel]

How are you? 💚 I have others requests but Please a (Legend Of Korra) wing beifong x shy!fem!reader? where she’s the adoptive daughter the granddaughter of Sokka and Suki who’s a powerful earth & metal master & a (leader) kyoshi warrior and dating Wing. At varrick and zhu li wedding , someone made a joke who’s stronger: the reader or wing so they fought against each other obviously the reader won while her family cheer her on, the loudest tenzin and his kids, even maybe toph

https://youtu.be/o74KrIf_ndo?feature=shared

Hello! I'm doing great!! Thank you so much for my first request 🌷

Enjoy reading 😸

The wedding of Varrick and Zhu Li was stunning to witness. The space was colored shades of blue, and snow came down from the sky. Everyone felt better about having the wedding after the conflict with Kuvira. Two lovers at the altar, holding hands, prepared to spend the remainder of their lives together. 

Wing and I share a table with his family. The two of us held hands as we fed each other different foods we found around, Wei looking appalled. Wei looked away in disgust, and his exaggerated attitude made us laugh uncontrollably. Suddenly my (second) cousins Meelo and Ikki started racing to us, interrupting our laughter.

"Y/NNNN tell Meelo you're stronger than Wing!!" Ikki demands

Meelo states, "No way! Wing is stronger!"

Wing and I exchange puzzled looks as we turn to face one another.

I question the two bickering kids, "What are you two babbling about?"

Their words get mixed up when they speak simultaneously.

 "Slow down, one at a time," I say.

"Well me and Meelo were talking about how would win a fight. I said you, which is obvious, but Meelo is saying Wing!" Ikki screams.

"Cause it's the right answer." Meelo quickly responds.

"Y/N is a Kyoshi Warrior AND a powerful earthbender!"

"Nuh uh." 

The two argued back and forth, getting more agitated each time. sending each other threatening looks that said, "I will end you if you don't believe me." Meelo, who calls himself "the man," began to stomp his feet while Ikki pointed fingers..

Wing scrunched his brow, not sure what to do with the two kids. I was preoccupied with how their noisy argument attracted the attention of guests who were attempting to have a good time. I even tried in an attempt to get them to stop fighting.

“Guys, please-”

Wei, eager to add salt to injury, jumps into the conversation, "Y/N can totally beat Wing's butt.”

Wing exclaimed with lightning speed, “NO!”

I slowly turned my head, slightly offended by what my boyfriend said. 

“Excuse me.” 

“ Babe, I meant-”

Meelo jumps onto the table and points at us, “HOW ABOUT YOU TWO FIGHT RIGHT NOW!! I NEED TO SEE SOME ACTION!” 

Okay, now we have everyone's attention.

“Meelo, I don't think that's really necessary. I mean it's a wedding.”

"Why? Wing asks, "Are you scared I'll beat you?" while crossing his arms and grinning foolishly. Everyone is watching, waiting for a response. 

Zhu Li and Varrick enter, curious to see what all the commotion is about.

"What's all the fuss about!? It's my wedding," Varrick butts in, hand in hand with Zhu Li.

Ikki declares, "We want Wing and Y/N to fight to see who's stronger."

Varrick appeared to be thinking about it as he raised his eyebrows. "At my wedding? ... Yes, please. Y/N and Wing, prepare for action; it begins in ten."

 "Varrick—" Trying to tell Varrick that I'm not interested in fighting.

“You're just worried Wing's gonna beat you,” Meelo said, arms crossed, moving towards Wing, who gave him a fist bump.

That's it, I've had it with this kid. I'm going to beat Wing's ass. I got to my feet.

“Fight in 10, meet me in the back.” 

~

There stood Wing a few feet away from me, clad in armor. The breezy wind blew his hair in the wind. 

Everyone crowded around, anticipating the fight. The crowd begins to roar. Amidst the shouting, I could hear Tenzin and his family (except Meelo) cheering me on. They were in fact the loudest. 

Varrick stood in the middle. 

“We are gathered here today, to watch these two lovebirds, Wing and Y/N, fight to prove who is stronger…May the fight begin!” Varrick quickly moves out of the way, running to Zhu Li.

Wing gives me a quick wink before he bends the solid ground. I flip into the air dodging the blow. I knew Wing does this to get his opponent in the air, then hits them with a rock. As expected he fires a rock my way, when my feet touch the rock, I send it his way. 

Wing is caught off guard by his rock being thrown back to him. His eyes are wide with surprise, he ducks out of the way in time. I send Wing a metal cable without wasting a beat. I grab the cool surface with my hand and pull it back, bringing Wing closer to me.

The sound of the crowd grows louder, filled with ohs and ahs. Even hearing, “KICK MY GRANDSON’S BUTT!” from Toph. 

He staggers forward, startled by a sudden force drawing him at me. His smile vanishes and is replaced by a shocked expression.

The next element of my plan was the fan I had hidden up my sleeve. Once he was close enough, I jerked my arm sending the fan out of my sleeve. In the blink of an eye, I jabbed the spot where the arm joined the body. Sending a sharp agony throughout his body. 

"Sorry sweetie," I say before I bend to the ground to seize his body.

The crowd erupted into deafening cheers, I could see Tenzin's proud smile and his family's (again except Meelo's) enthusiastic cheers. 

Once I let Wing go, I kissed his hands hoping he would forgive me for what I just did. All he did was smile and stare. 

“Sorry again sweetie.” 

“Don’t be that was amazing!” Wing screams holding my shoulders, then kisses my forehead. Our foreheads touch, staring into each other's eyes, “You were always the best out of both of us.”

Varrick came running and he grabbed my arm and raised it into the air, declaring me the winner. 

Wing and I took it easy by dancing gently together after that exciting fight. We swayed to the music, hand in hand.

Wing asked in his soothing voice, "So, when are we getting married?"

My tone is playful as I say, "I'll think about it."

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #131

I tried to have a normal day today. And this time, it worked out quite nicely.

I brewed a nice tea today. This time, I combined my vanilla-rose black tea with the strawberry rooibos; of all the teas I have, I think you'd like these two the best. This one starts out a shade of amber:

...You will also see Mogwai on the windowsill, being very cute, as Mogwai is wont to do.

I'm really glad that I was able to figure out how to photograph the subtle swirling in the water as the tea brews; I think it's a really neat effect, and I'm glad that it's one that I get to witness as a result of the glass mug:

Once it brews for a while, both kinds of tea end up resolving into a shade of red:

...And you'll see that by this time, Hoshi has taken Mogwai's place on the windowsill, as Hoshi is wont to do. It's nice outside, so the windows are open today.

From here, we add the honey and cream; the swirls made by the cream were particularly mesmerizing today, and I'm glad I was able to snap a good picture of it for you this time:

...If nothing else, I really wish I could share this part of my day with you. I think you'd like it a lot if you could be here.

Once that was done, J and I took a short walk around where I live. I tried to take a few good pictures for you; it's not much - just some flowers and some ferns in various stages of sprouting, but I hope you'll like these:

After this, J and I watched some Zeta Project together, and that was very nice. And then shortly after that, I went to meet with a friend and her little son at the local nature discovery center. I haven't really had an excuse to go there in a while, so I took some more pictures, just in case there might have been anything you might like...

This is a tree that they just... have. The whole thing and its whole root system is visible for all to see; one of these pictures has a tiny chipmunk statue, if you look hard enough:

I also met two turtles. This one is a common musk turtle; it's very excited about something:

...This one is a painted turtle. This one was perhaps slightly more chill:

...I also found an adorable book full of owl stickers:

...I love owls (especially barn owls!) a lot, but I did not get them. I did not get them, because I cannot be trusted with stickers. Even if I were to put them somewhere, the fact remains that I'm dyspraxic; I WILL put it on wrong, and I will be instantly filled with regret as a result, and then I will try to fix it, and end up destroying the sticker in the process (it's really very sad). And that's even if I make it far enough to the point where I can decide conclusively what I wanna put it on.

Hey, Sephiroth? Do you like stickers? Have you ever had stickers? If you had stickers, what would you get stickers of? And where would you put them? I wonder.

I did, however, get a cardinal plush that I found in the gift shop, in honor of our recently-passed feathered friend, as written about in yesterday's letter. If you squeeze this plush, it makes cardinal sounds:

...Maybe, at least in spirit, the one that died in my hands can live at my house if he wants to, where he can sing to his heart's content without worrying about his safety. My house is a good house; I hope he'd be able to feel the love and joy that permeates this space.

Finally, after that, J and I went to the local food co-op in order to hang with Br. There's a lounge space there and tasty food; so Br was over there doing her homework. It was pretty neat to hang out! J got some kind of hibiscus drink that smelled kind of like cinnamon. For whatever reason, hibiscus and cinnamon are, so far, my least favorite food smells. I don't know why. I know I should like them. I wish I did like them. Alas.

So of course, this meant I had to try it. I'm a little weird like that; sometimes I'll try things that I know I won't like, just for the sake of having the experience, especially if it's a thing that most people enjoy. Or sometimes I'll try things I know I hate, just because I know that my tastes do occasionally change. J felt it necessary to record the whole thing, and it was pretty funny. So here, maybe this will make you laugh:

Oh right. From the co-op, I got all the ingredients I need to make an epic breakfast, and a bunch of other tasty treats, too. I didn't take pictures of it though, because I wanted to leave it as a surprise and make it for you tomorrow! So look forward to it, okay?

...The last bunch of days have been really weird. So today I tried to have a normal day, and I succeeded.

This is all I have for today. It's nothing inspiring or insightful or profound, and... I think I'm pretty relieved about that, actually.

I love you. I'll write all about a good breakfast tomorrow, so please stay safe so you can read about it, okay?

Your friend, Lumine

[apuff]

Today i will rate the skies in the covers of the stuff i have on spotify

Because i am offline while writing this i am naturally restricted by what it will display for me

1. collide with the sky (ptv)

9/10. lighter towards the horizon, great hue shifting, nice fluffy clouds, i love how saturated and blue it all is. one thing i really like is how the field is green and the treeline is so dark because that's just how it is irl for realsies. i guess the only thing that's subpar iis that i feel like for that type of cloud, it would look much more defined? but i guess that's cause the sky can't be distracting too much from the subject. anyways, really nice work. 

2. Master of puppets (metallica)

2/10. Just getting some mixed messaging here. Like, the idea of it being all spooky and warm colors like that is cool, but it just…it all muddles into itself a little much. The light on the crosses doesn't look quite right and it's really hard to parse which parts of the sky are glowing or reflecting or clouds or the background or mountains. This album is really good though so i'll add a point for that

3. Danger days: the true lives of the fabulous killjoys (mcr)

10/10. What is there to say? I mean, awesome gradient…great mixture of scrappiness and fullness in the clouds…those colors are just beautiful…i love how the sun rays are radiating out from the spider in the middle…gotta rep the rest of this composition cause it slays. Seriously, great sky. 

4. Joke cover of my demolition lovers playlsit (mcr)

4/10. This is very standard and pedestrian but seeing as it's literally just a normal stock photo of a construction worker i can't judge it too harshly 

5. Glow (pkch)

9/10. Pukicho is a great photographer and i really appreciate the artistry of this one. My personal preference is for a more crisp and thick cloud but i really like the vagueness and fogginess of these ones. It gives off the impression of a sunset or a sunrise without putting a literal glowing sun or garish colors in, and i like the perspective of the clouds as they approach the horizon seen through how the bands of dark and light get closer and blend into one shade. Just a very beautiful photograph altogether, great colors. 

6. Spirit phone (lemon demon)

5/10. Wasn't even sure if this counted as a sky or not, and i eventually decided it takes place outside during the night, but i did have to dock points for barely even being what i'm rating. I love the strange abstractness of it, the smeared perspective lines that have no purpose other than to look weird. Honorary mention goes out to the characters in the foreground that, though ghosts, can be understood as weather phenomena due to the song in this album "soft fuzzy man" (about a sentient storm that wants to date the listener); giving them the dubious honor of the weirdest clouds ever.  

7. Embers (beetlebug)

8/10 Another edge case, but i decided the patches were clouds so it counted. As a fellow watercolor artist i'm naturaly drawn to this, but who wouldn't be? It's another one that handles the sunset situation with tact and depth; the white edges aren't just a great painting move- they express light shining onto the edges of clouds. Another very clever composition utilizing the sun. just great. 

8. Until the end (beetlebug) 

6/10. Less stunning than the last one, but it's charming in an understated way. It feels very simple and childlike, but does have touches of maturity from the nuanced colors and defined clouds. I really appreciate the bold choice to make the sun red, it's unexpected but striking. 

9. Ride the lighting (metallica)

3/10. Perhaps this is due to my complete lack of experience with thunderstorms, but i just don't like the black thin scrappy clouds. It feels so noncommittal. I'm guilty about rating it so low because i feel like the album cover, overall, looks great (especially the awesome 80s colors, those get compensation points from me) but every time i zero in on the sky itself, i'm just perplexed. 

10. Purrple cat💜 (purrple cat)

1/10. This is just fine. It's a normal sky. It has normal stars and normal planets and normal nebulae. It's so uninteresting. Doesn't attract the eye. Every item evenly spaced out from the other. I don't understand why that planet is glowing but so dark. it just doesn't make sense. 

11. Hallows eve masquerade (beetlebug)

10/10. This is basically the epitome of what's good about beetlebug covers- like, there's a kidlike charm to how simple it is, but there's a finesse to the colors and concept. This one just has such an expertly handled warm color pallete. Love the subtle glow and the centered composition. 

12. Bee and puppycat- official soundtrack playlist [[star swirling emoji]] (milan records)

10/10. See, THIS is how to do a space sky properly. The glowing things glow and it's not desaturated as all get out. This has a good handle on the subtle pink-and-green nebula glow and it's cohesive with the rest of the palette-- I guess that makes sense, because this show is interested in that retro look where chromatic aberration like that is common. 

13. Fly by night (rush)

5/10. Even though i'm not the hugest fan of it, i respect the choice to keep the background elements a solid color. It plain and cohesive, and making everything blue except for the yellow of the eyes is a good idea. 

14. ???? (??)

7/10. This is like 20 pixels but it looks very nice. Going into this i wasn't expecting so many of these to use the sun or moon as a focal point of the composition but i guess it makes sense. I like the color shifting to the horizon. 

15. Kingdom in blue (kupla)

10/10. AAAAAH!! I love how this is a sunset but much more cool colors than all the rest! You don't see the pink + teal a lot but it looks great. The floating island adds a nice flow to the whole thing and a fantastical edge to the more common lo-fi vibe. 

16. Let's cheers to this (sws)

10/10. You know, this would look great if i could SEE it. I'm too miffed to explain why it's good. 

17. Dracula reading playlist (elizabeth)

8/10. i feel like this matches the vibe of the playlist and the book very well. i'm not a huge fan of fog as a stated before but in this instance it really works to punch out the silhouette of the castle, which is the main point. I also like how it's just straight up red. evil.

18. Teal album (weezer)

0/10 i'm mad that i thought this was a sky but it's just a teal background

[sirsirgirl]

Men of the Harem is now officially COMPLETED!

Happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time...

But, my dear Tumblr readers, this is more miserable than it is magical sorry your girl's a swiftie. The number of questions left flying in the air is suffocating, scandalous. And, please, believe me when I say this: I'm completely, entirely, totally aware that MOTH lasted longer than most of us expected. However, ever since the main story ended I felt something was off. And let me tell you... I don't think it has anything to do with Naver pushing the novel to an end nor the author getting tired of it.

Anyways, let me share some of the highlights and curiosities of the last chapter.

We still don't know the name of two of Latil's children.

That's right. Tasir's son and Meradim's daughter were always named as "Fourth Prince" and "Fifth Princess" respectively. Funny thing is, they've been mentioned many times, even in the last chapters. Was it that difficult to reveal their names? Maybe! Unless... they play an important role in Alphatart's next work? Latil did mention once she thought it'd be romantic if her son and Meradim's daughter fall in love in the future. Who knows?

We never got to meet Guesta's child.

This might be one of the most disappointing things for fans. You know Guesta isn't exactly my favourite, but if she wanted to rush things up, why wasting time showing Sonnaught's fake future and not showing Guesta's baby? Not trying to shade the Three Nuts, but a fake future is definitely less relevant than this, he wouldn't be the only one to not get one... I actually have a theory for this, but I will first wait to see if there are any news today.

Guesta's baby will have three official fathers.

Guesta is obviously the biological father of the baby, but Zaicin and Klein will also be in charge of the kid. Can we really believe that Guesta would accept this so easily? Not a chance.

Latil will not choose a heir now.

She says she doesn't need to choose one because she'll live longer than the ministers anyway... Yeah, sure, Latil, but Tasir and your kids won't Another odd thing is that they delayed this arc for so long, only to never choose anyone and for her to say something we know since 2003. Sus.

The chapter ended with Latil and Tasir holding hands.

Listen, I'll take that LOL. No, but seriously, I found it somewhat sus that, when the main story ended, all the consorts were gathered next to Latil, and this time we don't know where everyone else is, and only Tasir is next to her.

All right, I'll save some of my thoughts, theories, and expectations for the next days. However, I do wanna point out something that's key to me in this case: a novel can be finished, even when the story isn't. I find it very hard to believe that Alphatart would, not only not close very critical stuff in the main story, but also add new ones in the extras just to leave them unfinished. Why would someone who's rushing a story add new dramas two chapters before the ending? Maybe I'm wrong, this wouldn't be the first time I am, but isn't it indeed counterintuitive and sus?

[monochromatictoad]

I don't know much about Castlevania, but.... what's your favorite game, and why?

It's the Lords of Shadow Trilogy. Genuinely, my favorite games of all time. One day I'll have a full post as to why LoS affected me so much and why I love it so much, but that's for when my brain starts to function with me.

Either way, there are a number of reasons why I think LoS is a phenomenal trilogy. The atmosphere and art of the game is so beautiful, it's a bit more of a serious game than most of the other Castlevania games, but it keeps you enraptured with the story. You want to learn more and see what happens next! The art is stunning, with both a hand drawn style for the journals and when you learn new moves, the models are stunning to watch in action, the backgrounds and scenery adds so much to it as well! The games start out so bright and vibrant in LoS1, before having some vibrancy with the cell shading, and then having the darker, muted colors of LoS2! It plays so well with the characters you play as, with LoS1 starting vibrantly and brightly, showing Gabriel's hope and belief, before it ends in the muted tones of the Land of the Dead, signifying his loss of hope and faith.

Like? The symbolism and details of the game!!! It's so good!!! The characters are mostly well made and thought out, with interesting lore for all of them, including the bosses! The replay value is also so good! Especially for LoS2 and MoF. Unfortunately, LoS1 replay value gets points docked due to a bug that never got sorted out.

The voice acting?! Everyone put their souls into the voice acting of the trilogy! Gabriel being voiced by Robert Carlyle was a brilliant idea, because his softer tone brings so much more to Dracul than if they just went with a louder person. It matches the character of Gabriel so well, and even Dracul! And the growl he does when he does the voice lines for Inner Dracul? Perfection.

And the fact that it ends with Dracul redeeming himself and getting his family back? Amazing. It's a perfect ending for one who is God's Champion 🩷

Like, I get why many fans of the series don't like the Trilogy, but to me, this was my introduction to Castlevania. This was my escape during lockdown. I cried when my PS3 stopped working, because I would load up the game after work just to unwind for a while.

But it's also led me to such an amazing community. It even led me to talking to someone I'd admired for a while within the LoS community, but was too shy then to make a Tumblr to talk to them. But now I get to talk to them on a regular basis!!! And so many others!!! And they genuinely are interested in hearing me gush when the brain does function long enough to form semi coherent thoughts!!!!

Basically, I literally wouldn't be where I am today without having stumbled upon the first game used for $5 at a GameStop.

That's part of why Castlevania Lords of Shadow Trilogy will always be my number 1 game of all time.

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Hello dear. Hope you are well. I am not sure how best to articulate my thoughts but here we go. It's very very long but you inspired me today. You've been a beacon of change in questioning and challenging ITV. I wanted to quip in. Hope you don't mind. Arnav anger is often excused as coming from trauma and his 'grey/anti-hero' character is often glamorized. He is without a doubt compelling and attractive. Plus, he has his strengths such as honesty and forthrightness.

Ok, so this is a LONG question with a lot of your own analysis and I wouldn't touch that at all cause analyzing is a beautiful thing and I wouldn't want to add/remove from your lovely analysis. I'll just be adding some of my thoughts here and there :D

(rest of the ask below)

His greyness amplifies a lot of the hypermasculine stereotypical traits such as aggression, strength, power etc. In the narrative like in Kabir Singh this makes us discount the wrongs when perhaps his treatment of Khushi in many ways in similar. Rather we swoon over his charm when in reality most 'charming' men have similar shades and unfortunately, never change. The sense of entitlement and the joy of wielding power over others is observed in abusive men.

Tbh though, Arnav doesn't have any charm. Shyam has all the charm in the world and that's interesting considering he's a villain.

Often we excuse this behavior by comparing them to worse portrayals when again abuse usually escalates with time. For example, at least Arnav didn't violate Khushi's consent. How different were Shyam and Arnav? Weren't they both ultimately two sides of the same coin? Isn't this afterall a way to build tolerance towards worse behavior? Shyam is the 'bad' guy because he plans things deliberately, but aren't Arnav's actions also not something he is accountable for?

Fun fact, Arnav and Shyam were written to mirror each other in multiple situations. It was very intentional of the creators to draw a thin line between the anti-hero and villain and to be honest, at one point we all simply believed Arnav is the hero of the story only because he is Khushi's choice.

I wish Arnav's actions were far more accountable for - hence the guesthouse and resignation scenes are some of my favorites.

We don't talk much about Arnav and Anjali here. They are incredibly close, but the co-dependency is discernible. He is obligated to her for being the 'mother' but she is his first and Khushi the second. It does perhaps from trauma but Anjali has a lot of control over Arnav and he is guilt-ridden if she is hurt. We blame Khushi for her mistakes but do we ever consider that it is her desparation to receive unconditional love which is missing.

Arnav and Anjali have developed codependency over their trauma -which is what Shyam exploits.

Coming to Khushi, she is often criticized for her world revolving around Arnav, being infantilized, that she should 'stand up' etc. However, it's not a new fact that abusive relationships can be incredibly difficult to leave and can have a huge physical and emptional impact on a person's self-esteem. Is this not victim blaming? We also dismiss the impact Arnav's family has on Khushi. Anjali,Akash,Dadi -all had a role to play as their support was conditional or inadequate.

Hmm interesting. To share my opinion and take on this - my gripe with Khushi rarely comes from considering her and Arnav as real people and assessing their relationship as such. My gripe is with the writing in the show coming to Khushi. Khushi recessing to childlike behavior is a signal of trauma that @honeybellexox had once brilliantly discussed.

But the show is not portraying the delicate pained layers of emotions you described. The rest of the family is left out to hype TRP forced romance or family politics (not plot) and Khushi's weight of being in an abusive relationship is seriously traded for terrible writing which things suicide is funny, pissing off an abusive husband is hilarious.

We do not SEE Khushi's behavior as a response to a terrible marriage. We are made to see this is how Khushi is 'one upping' against Arnav by irritating him the way she poured juice in his shoes. And wow how intelligent.

There's no depth, no gravity, nothing in Khushi. She becomes hollow - not because of the pain you aptly put above - but due to a very Star Plus enforced 'bahu' trope.

Victim blaming would be wondering why Khushi didn't shove Shyam off the terrace scene and froze when Shyam hugged her - no, any reaction she had at that point is absolutely justified!

But wondering why Khushi acts around Arnav post revelation that she is having an affair of Shyam instead of providing facts or actual reasonings is a flaw in the show. Why? Because the intention of the show at that point was to ensure that Arnav's misunderstanding does not break and he is 'justified' in the audience's eye to mistreat Khushi. Now that is a problem.

The complication of Payal being married into the same family, lack of societal, financial and family support almost meant that Khushi had no choice but to humor situations and find happiness in meaningless trivalities. He child-like behavior and adherence to patriarchal traditions/rituals was her only resort to be accepted. That is so ingrained in her mind, that any attempt to tilt the balance might cause her more problems. Perhaps Khushi's character arc was realistic.

I absolutely wish the show showed the nuance you are writing. Her dancing to Nani for Holi was beautiful - it conveys everything you're saying. Her force-feeding Arnav mid meeting, forbidding anyone to give him food, then eating up food that can feed upto five people and still tasting the food before she gives him to eat is... ridiculous and demeaning as a character.

I do disagree with you on Khushi's arc because her arc, after a moment, is stunted to serve Arnav as a character. An excellent character that displays everything you wrote is Gauri from Ishqbaaz. They lend her the grace and gravity that one can only dream of in Khushi.

(I'll show it to you!!! You'll absolutely love it - it's a solid recommend from @aye-masakalii)

It wasn't the lack of strength or that she had certain traits. Her reality and worth had been controlled, toyed with and manipulated that she no longer could see things clearly which made her sink deeper into the marriage. Should the IPK writers be criticized for mirroring the reality many women still live in or is it an eye-opener which makes us very uncomfortable in acknowleding the sad reality that many women meet the same fate?

Our innate optimism makes us favor the idealized world that Arnav and Khushi were a fairytale. Perhaps they do end up being together but is that the only yardstick to measure marriage? More questions than answers, but isn't is critical to shift the repsonisbility towards Arnav rather than victim-blame Khushi? Love, RDX

I loved your analysis, and if the writing hadn't been so flat and actually conveyed everything you wrote - I would've never wanted Arnav and Khushi together.

Lol, maybe that's why my edits and fanfics exist.

Arnav needed to be held more accountable and Khushi needed to be written further as an independent character - these are perhaps some of my main grievances against the show only because they proved they could do it.

Best,

Soapy

[melissamasakari]

Confessions you didn`t notice

Chapter eleven. Martial arts

“Kid, are you ignoring social calls again?” Sam asked reproachfully as she leaned on my fence.

“Has it already started? I signed up yesterday.”

“Almost, and your match is scheduled after lunch. But Arlo was real upset that you didn’t even come to cheer for him. His fight is coming soon; shall we go?”

“Well, since the boss wants to see me, let's run. Wait, how do I look like?”

“Good enough to crush just everyone. But I won’t give in to you, don’t get your hopes up.”

I climbed over the fence to her side and we quickly ran across the field. Oh, here are the standings. Wow, looks like I'm going to have a tough fight today. Sam and I pushed our way closer to the arena.

Qualifiers. First round. Arlo vs Russo. What a competition! Right away, two of the most powerful fighters in the city opened the festival. I watched in fascination as they thrashed, threw each other around and on the mats. Alas, as expected, the butler won the first match. My redhead (Bro? I wish he isn’t!) had only recently recovered from an injury, and he is still nursing his hand, so this is why he has a clink in his armor. For such an experienced fighter as Russo, noticing that was not a problem.

Break.

“Come on, Arlo! Beat him!”I shouted, finally making my way to the first row. Why not? I’m the smallest one here, I can hardly see behind other people’s backs.

“Oh, you’re here! I didn’t notice you in the crowd earlier,” but he clearly perked up. Arlo smiled at me, stood up and began the second round.

This time it turned out much better. It looked like Russo was already tired. Or the support of friends had such a serious impact. Arlo was very dangerously close to losing a couple of times, but managed to level up and even win, albeit with a minimal advantage in points. The third round ended as a loss to Russo. Everything happened so quickly that I almost missed the ending by simply blinking at the wrong time. I greeted my hero with a standing ovation.

“YAY! And you said there was no chance. I KNEW you could do it. How are you?” Where did Sam go?

“Fine. I should go rest on the stands. Let's go to the shade, this heat is killing me.”

“Well, yes, going home is not an option now. All of us are in qualifiers today. Do need some water?”

“Yep. Did you submit your application at the last minute? I haven't seen your name in standings this morning.”

“Remy said, I now have to. Well, I comply. By the way, am I not entitled to your beautiful uniform now?”

“We don’t have any uniform! But you really should order stripes with medical information.”

“Which ones? I didn't pay attention to it.”

“So here it is. On the shoulder,” he pointed to what I thought was just a decoration on the jacket. So, height, weight, date of birth. Oh. Blood type, AB +. I have to remember it; it might come in handy later.

“Our Corps wears badges. I still have mine if it's needed. So I didn’t take a closer look at those stripes. Do I have to sew this on all of my clothes? Will you help me to review Regulations?”

“What do you mean about having your own badges?”

“And I see you still didn’t read my profile careful enough. Don't go off topic. What should I do with these patches?”

“Evening gowns don’t qualify, if that’s what you’re asking. Just add it on your outerwear in a visible place. How much patches should I order for you?”

“Based on the number of jackets I guess it should be four. That’s all I’ve got except my copycat one, I just won’t ruin it. For that one I’ll just put a patch in my pocket. Will it work?”

“Then go see Phyllis and sign the permission. I'll arrange everything. Let's go, Remy is going to have his match soon.”

The fight between Remy and Paulie did not bring any surprises. Even though they are nearly even, the furniture maker was efficiently dispatched two rounds in a row. Flawless victory.

“Well done! So, it turns out that tomorrow we will spar, won’t we”

“That's right, Captain. I try to keep up.” Remy smiled cheerfully and punched Arlo at his open palm.

“Well, kid, you're next. Are you ready?” Sam appeared from somewhere and hugged me from behind by my shoulders.

“Yes. Would you hold my bag for a moment?”

Putting on a calm expression, I slowly walked into the arena. My opponent today is Django. Well, that will hurt. If not physically, then emotionally, for sure. I also knew that he's as bouncy as desert hopper. Looking at me, he somehow immediately shrivelled, but got ready for battle regardless. Seems that I greatly offended him with my refusal.

Signal to start fight sounded.

Breathe deeper!

It was strike, turn, retreat. Step, kick, rebound. Almost like a dance. Another blow, left, right, bend down, strike from bottom to top. I was going well. Distracted by Arlo, who was looking very carefully, I missed a very sensitive blow which Django landed on my belly with a knee. Ouch, that hurts! The stands became agitated. I resisted and didn’t fall down. My opponent was speeding up. Great. I crawled under him, rolled over and kicked him in the back of the leg. Django lost his balance and fell onto the mats. The first round was mine.

Break.

Oh, here came pacifists, what a dubious honor. It's surprising that SHE wasn't here during the first battle. But now she has cheerfully joined the Civil Corps team. What are they whispering about? And why do I so want to show her an obscene gesture? Jealous, or what? What nonsense, they're not dating so I have no need to be jealous.

“Melissa! You can do it!” My redhead shouted and waved his hand at me, smiling encouragingly. Take that, Nora.

I flexed my fists, stretched and stood up. It was time to settle this matter. Django quickly rushed to attack. I missed a couple of blows but broke through his defense on the right. Did he guess who I had in mind when I returned his heart knot? Well, by now, everyone probably had already guessed it, except for Arlo himself. But that doesn't matter right now. Ouch, it hurts so much. He got me again. I should try to go around it on the left. Jump, turn, hit. Wow! I didn’t even know I can do THAT! Django received a powerful kick to the jaw, took a few hesitant steps back and sank down. Didn't I break him any bones?

“Are you alive? Are your teeth intact? Should I call the doctor?”

“It's okay, my princess!” He stroked the bruised area and slowly stood up. “Victory is rightfully yours. Losing to you is a great honor.”

Yell louder, I'm not your princess! I'll kick you for this! Oh, yes, I already did it. Well, okay, I won.

Next is Sam so I need to take my bag from her. While I was going down to my friends, Nora got lost somewhere. Scared? It’s better for me, I don’t really want to stand next to her. My friends met me and immediately hugged me all together. Sam rubbed the top of my head and went to prepare for her fight, after having returned my belongings.

Sam's opponent was Sanwa. I had no doubt at all about her victory, although the hairdresser is very agile for his size. That’s all spectacular. Wow, what a great jump and strike. I wonder if I looked just as cool?

Oh, did she finish with him already?

“Well, little fella, now there’s no escape. Tomorrow at lunch, second round. It will be tough.”

“Do you promise?”

“I guarantee it.”

“In total, it turns out that... The entire Corps team is in the finals? A tournament for our own people?”

“Ha ha, so funny. I didn't expect that.”

“Maybe we can agree on two by two?”

“And we’ll get a scourge of redheads against everyone? No way, kid, we’ve already been through this in the winter.”

“And guys against girls isn’t too fair,” Remy said.

“I would suggest a celebration, but the restaurant seems to be closed today.”

“You knocked him out great. It's like you've been possessed by an imp.”

“Plierimp,” I joked, taking pliers out of my bag and clicking them with a clanking sound.

[ellies-cycling-notes]

Day 16: Mill Creek to Findley Park

Distance Covered: 84.48 miles

Total Time (including rests): 7:52 (8:01am-3:53pm)

Time spent riding: 6:56

Average Speed: 12.2 mph

Apples Eaten: 4 (fuji - 7/10, fuji - 5.5/10, fuji - 6/10, fuji - 6/10)

Today's ride was fine. I don't really know how else to describe it. It was another long one, one that I tried to take a little slow. Almost all the ride was on state roads, except a little bit on a rail trail called the Freedom Trail. That trail was really nice, with good pavement and flat ground. However, I was only on it for a few miles.

Most of the ride was rather flat, with only a few hills here and there. Even when there were hills, the inclines were usually rather gradual, making them a lot easier to ride on than on previous days. Overall, today kinda felt like a nothing day. There wasn't much of interest along the ride, but I still spent most of the time focusing on riding.

I ended up taking 2 breaks, at about 1/3 and 2/3 of the way through the ride. First one was a snack break at Kent State. It was actually a great place to stop, cause I could actually use the wifi there, so I could check a few things I hadn't been able to in the last couple of days. The other stop was under some random tree in the shade in the middle of nowhere, where I had lunch.

Probably the most interesting part of the ride apart from the Freedom Trail was the last 20 miles of the ride. Those last 20 miles were all on a single long straight road, with almost no hills, just cutting across rural Ohio. It perfectly encompassed how I felt about the entire ride today.

After getting to my campsite and getting set up, I took my bike for a short ride (without any of my luggage) to a nearby grocery store to refill on bread and apples, as I was beginning to run out. I should now have enough to last me through arriving in Ann Arbor in 2 days' time.

Small Notes:

Water bottle - I kept the bottled water I got yesterday and have been keeping filled and in my front bag. It's been helpful in allowing me to make the additional push I sometimes need to get to a proper resting spot to refill my water

Croc - I carry Crocs on the back of my bike to wear when I'm not riding (you might've seen them in a pic or two). I'm sorry to say that the strap on one of them has broken. I can still wear them and walk around, but it's now going to be harder putting them in my bike, because I don't have an easy way to loop a bungee cord through that croc (I'll figure something out, though)

Design Notes

It's the return of design notes! Today I actually had something that came to mind naturally that I spent a lot of time thinking about, so I don't feel awkward and like I'm pushing myself to think of something to write about.

Procedural Generation

I'm gonna talk a bit about procedural generation, and specifically about how I like using it in cases other than map-making. This thought came to mind because I was thinking about Time Loop, and how the Assistance App in that game might decide what events should occur and why. For example, I don't want too many events that do similar things to occur, and you also want the threat of events to grow realistically over time. I don't know quite yet how I'd do this Proc-Gen, but I do have two other theoretical cases I've thought about before that will probably help me:

Proc-Gen in Dominion: For those who do not know, Dominion is a tabletop deckbuilder card game, where players are given a random assortment of cards which they can buy 1 or more copies of throughout the game, and they make use od those cards ro gain Victory Points. And also, it's probably my favorite game of all time. The base game of Dominion has about 25 different cards which can be in the Supply or shop, and you play with 10 each game. But then, you add in expansions, and the number of possible card combinations becomes near limitless. I mentioned earlier that you pick cards for the shop randomly, but that's not quite true. You can do that, but that will often lead to unbalanced or unfun game setups. Instead, there are generally a few heuristic rules you follow when selecting cards, such as not having too many or too little of any cost of card, or not having multiple different cards whose effects are too similar. With that in mind, I've thought in the past about coding a program that selects a set of 10 cards, such that cards are selected randomly yet it minimizes the possibility of poor setups. How I think I'd do it is by giving each card various tags/attributes, such as their cost and generalities about their effects (such as "trashers" or "villages"). Then, the first card would be picked completely randomly. However, whatever card that is will change the weight of other cards in the pool such that you're more likely to pick a wider variety of cards. Of course, the system as it is has a few problems, such as the fact that it may lead to certain cards being picked too often or almost never, just because of what attributes they have. It could also still lead to situations where you have too many or too few cards of certain costs, because it doesn't account for that.

Characters Inc: Two years ago, I made a game called Characters, Inc. for a programming class, where you are given randomly generated characters, and have to equip them with items and send them on quests in order to make enough money to survive. Unfortunately, I never got to do one of the things I wanted to with that game, which was to have a system that procedurally generates items with stat bonuses and effects, as selected from a random list. Instead, I just had a list of possible items, and they would just be randomly picked. However, the idea stuck in my mind, so I had some thoughts on how it would work. What's important to know as a precursor to this is that Characters Inc is a rather simplistic game when it comes to characters and their items: you just send them on a quest, and depending on their stats, they come back with a certain amount of loot and damage taken. Because of that, it was really easy to design equipment that basically all just had conditional stat changes and related effects (for example, a Bloodied item would give a basic stat increase, but would give a larger stat increase if the character carrying it started the quest already damaged). Thus, most item effects could be represented as quantitative values. My idea for the Proc-Gen for this would be the following steps: (1) randomly select the level of the item, as this would determine how powerful it is. With that, you get a quantitative power level in the bank (2) randomly select an ability for the item to have, and increase or decrease the power level in the bank according to that ability (positive abilities would spend power, while negative would gain it). (3) decide whether the item should have another ability. If yes, return to step (2). If not, (4) randomly assign the item basic stat bonuses, spending the rest of the power in the bank. (5) decide what type of item it is, partially based on the stats it provides (e.g. defense-granting items are more likely to be shields or armor).

Both of those examples are ones which could serve as good inspirations if I decide to actually work on Time Loop, as they are more about generating a realistic creation from a list, rather than creating a picture or map.

This is all for tonight. There won't be any pictures tonight, partially because I didn't take any, and partially because the service is so bad at my campsite I don't think I'd be able to share them. Tomorrow's another long one, and it's just a straight shot West across Ohio. Luckily, at the moment it looks like I'll have a Northeast wind, but I don't know if that'll hold true.

Previous -- Next

[prismatic-starstuff]

Well, I honestly haven't played the finished version either, but my friend is playing it with their partner so I usually get their reactions, but the overhaul has caused some really funny bits of miscommunication, because sometimes they were telling me about something and I was like "??? Huh. That doesn't sound right." And I only found out that they just rewrote that guy nearly from scratch earlier today. Or, for example, I was really surprised that my friend seemed to be getting along really fine with most companions, and then I found that they made getting trust points like WAY easier.

I'm also a little surprised that Raph isn't a romancable options tbh. Like come on, people can rail Minthara but I can't have the cambion?? No shade to Minthara, she's a cool character, I'm just saying that maybe some of us would rather take Raphael lol. But hey, I have faith in the modders XD.

Otherwise I think that, from what I've gotten second hand so far, the game is pretty impressive, I understand why they changed some things like the trust points, tho when I'll play it I'm pretty sure I'll install the mod that makes it a little more difficult again, simply because I'm used to it being that way from the early days of the EA. I also think the finished companion models look great. Karlach got such a glow-up oh my god. Gale looks really great as well (imho he always did but I know that that wasn't always the universal opinion). I think they made Astarion a little less airbrushed, which is good imo.

Most of my criticisms are just "details" - for example I am a little disappointed that they didn't add more body types. For a game that has so many options, to only offer you to be either a twunk or a gigachad, or an "average" woman or a bodybuilder woman...that's kinda...I don't know. I know it's a petty criticism to have, a lot of games will not even let you pick a body type, but these are just my two cents. I think the race options are pretty solid, tho I admit that I'm a little surprised since back in EA there were a lot of datamined dialogue options for Warforged so...what happened to that? I'm wondering if Larian has plans for any DLCs with more races or something, because it just seems odd that they'd just scrap it?

Like rn I guess it must sound like I don't like the finished version and that is absolutely not true - I really like it, I think it's great, I think it's incredible that it's being sold for 60 dollars because the game is LOADS of play time and a lot of replay value, I think the music is wonderful, I love the way they improved the animation, the voice acting is incredible, the new Dark Urge backstory is fantastic, etc etc. But I just have, you know, a few nitpicks, like what I described above. At this point I am actually literally not sure HOW MANY companions there actually are, because back in EA Larian said that the companions released during EA were the ones designed for an evil playthrough. Ok, but...if I am not wrong, the only added companions are Karlach and Halsin? And Minsc, I assume? Which is enough I suppose, I guess I just expected the number of good companions to equal the number of the evil playthrough ones. I have one more nitpick that one is actually a spoiler so I can't say it.

But anyway #modders_give_us_Raphael_romance_2k23 kjdfhkdhd

Yeah!!! I remember in EA, it seemed like getting and maintaining approval was honestly a bit of a nightmare; it definitely seems like it's been made easier in the finished product (and honestly, thank fuck ALSMAOXNSJX)

It always struck me as a bit weird that they would include romance options that aren't companions (like Minthara etc.) and just— completely avoid Raphael, I was 1000% sure as soon as I saw him that he'd at least have a spicy scene

I am... honestly surprised about the body types too? Like, the game has one of the most extensive and in-depth character creation systems I've seen, I'm not throwing any shade at it either; but considering how in-depth it is, it seems odd that there aren't more body types, like... they could've done it; the differing heights on the playable races were done super well, they could've easily included more body type/shape options imo. (I was wondering the same thing about DLC; there definitely seems to be some stuff that was datamined and isn't in the game so far so— ig either there's Quite a bit on the cutting room floor or there's DLC coming at some point)

Ooooooo I am. Very Curious about the spoiler one! I personally do not mind spoilers (in fact, I welcome them, I always end up spoiling myself on everything anyway ALDKALXNSN) so you can absolutely tell me if you'd like to, but! If you'd rather not then that's 100% valid too!

But yes! In general, I do have those thoughts in my mind, but the game seems to be absolutely incredible from what I've seen; the fact it's like $60 for a game that seems so huge and looks so beautiful is really amazing, it's been really amazing to watch the progress through the alpha versions to the full release; almost kinda sentimental in a way alsnalxnanx 😭🙏

(#LarianLetUsKissTheCambion 😔 ALAMALXNAXNA)

[kinetic-elaboration]

March 11: Today's Writing and Excerpt

I wrote about 2400 words in the course of about 2 hours, which is pretty good, though right now I feel exhausted and full of second-guesses, rather than accomplished or happy. I also did not finish the scene, because it's such a long fucking scene. Feels like I'll never get it done. Most annoyingly, I just... feel like I have no idea if it's good or not or if it's capturing what I want to capture or not. I'm in too deep with this fic, I think. I just don't have the ability to judge it with any objectivity.

That's part of why it's going to go in the vault when I finally finish the draft. I need to get some distance.

This monster is also 1200 words currently and it sill has 3.5 scenes left ughhhhh.

Anyway. I wish I felt better about it but I'm just not going to think about it any more right now. I kept going as long as I possibly could before I felt the whole thing falling apart around me and now I think a rest is fair. Maybe I'll write more tomorrow or this week? We'll see.

Here is an excerpt:

There's not much to see over in this part of the room, but he thinks Raven and Lincoln have the right idea, feigning infinite fascination in a single shelf of unpacked books, a small, abstract painting, and four photographs in a 2x2 frame.

He recognizes every single one of the books from Clarke's collection, the favorites she took from her childhood bedroom and kept in their apartment, the ones she packed up again and left at her mom's before she took off. The art work, though, he's never seen before. He wonders for a moment if it's hers, if she's gone in for a new style, but Lincoln tells him that she and Finn acquired it in France. "I think it's beautiful," he adds. "I didn't know Clarke was into abstract stuff."

"Maybe it's Finn's," Raven answers, tipping back her drink to hide her smile. "An indication he actually has taste."

Lincoln snorts. "Yeah. Sure." 

He continues on, pointing out the mastery of the brush strokes and color choices, while Raven nods along and Bellamy tunes out. Every moment in this house makes his lungs feel too small and his skin ill-fitting and itchy over muscle and bone. Like he's all the wrong sizes at once. Clarke's home, half-lived in, that she's building up from scratch with someone who isn't him. He can't stop looking at the photographs placed so neatly in their frame. Four scenes from London, which he recognizes only from books and TV, photos Clarke must have taken herself and then had printed and set out on display. Photos that for her call back specifics of memory, like a breeze perhaps over the water of the Thames, or a particular shade of the light in the hour before sunset. Some terrible swell of emotion as she realized where she was and what she was seeing, right there with her own eyes, the moments she needed so desperately to capture, even though they could never be shared.

He doesn't recognize any of the photos from Instagram. He thought he'd been watching her whole life, that if what he saw was shallow, that's because it was all there was left of her to see.

He sees now a glimpse of the rest of it: how far she's gone, that he wasn't able to follow.

All of a sudden, he realizes that for some time now, she's been absent from the room. When he asks, Raven points over his shoulder with the pinkie finger of the hand still holding her glass. "I think she said she was going to the kitchen for a drink."

"Twenty minutes ago," Lincoln adds with a roll of his eyes.

"Can't believe she'd want to run away from this raucous time," Raven murmurs, and then, as Bellamy heads off without another word, "See you later, I guess."

[frogsandfries]

Getting out of the house today was kinda nice. It was nice to work in my sketchbook somewhere other than the living room or office. We picked up some stuff for the house--we had to leave a couple things at the store because I didn't know if they'd fit in my bag. They wouldn't have. I got some regular shading brushes and decided to try some brushes that are meant for gluing. I looked for the mermaid paper, like what I used for my enamel pin board.

They didn't have any. I saw a book recently on reddit that used a paper like that and I was inspired.

I got a bunch of lineworks inked today, so that was pretty cool.

I wish this city catered more to the arts. It's so hard to find like, cool papers for book making or--like, I asked the cashier at Michael's if they had Derwent colored pencils. He didn't think so. I mean, even if the next city over had a Blick or like, even a Utrecht, anything!

Anyway, I guess I should get some sleep. Looks like I'm sleeping alone again, for the second time this week.....I can't stay up all night playing video games--I can't even stay up all night working on my graphic novel. I have to try to stay mostly diurnal.

Speaking of which, between the medication, the apple cider vinegar, and the kombucha (and maybe finally upping my SSRI), I've felt a lot better--my digestion is closer to normal than it's been since I moved to New Mexico, I haven't had the same need to nap. I do feel a little guilty though: I feel like I've been given permission by several doctors to indulge my ARFID, and whenever I try to mention disordered eating, I feel like it gets completely blown off..... So I'm just over here patting myself guiltily on the back for feeling hungry most of the day...... which is probably fine? Eat less, poop less?

Like....... when does disordered eating become a problem? When I'm so used to living that way, that I'm down to 125 pounds somehow? When I'm clearly wasting away?? When I'm too fat to take the bus?? Honestly it's fucked up: I tell doctor after doctor that I would just rather choose not to eat and because I'm obese....... that's like, not concerning?? I'm not over here bingeing, I'm really not. I think being given basically permission to indulge my disordered eating will make it easy to lose the weight but...... it's not okay to willingly, easily choose hunger..... and I know this? But I'm being told..... it is? I mean, I guess luckily, I have been forced to face that it is disordered eating and as such, I've been working on overriding it. Perhaps to my detriment, as it would turn out..... Anyway.

It'd be nice to take my headphones and my sketchbook and just go hang out tomorrow, maybe at the library or a favored café. That'd be cool. I'd also love to get ahold of just a ton of cool end papers and fabrics for book binding.

I'm also starting to collect decent paper, mostly from our junk mail, so I can add it to my paper making hoard. At some point, I'll probably start by shredding it, and eventually I can pulp-ify it, dehydrate that for later, and so on. I want to make at least a sketchbook worth of paper and there are a bunch of paper making tools that I don't have: a frame and deckle, screen of any sort, a tub for the water, cloths for drying the paper, blender for blending the pulp........ probably other stuff. And I mean, I'm always complaining about how plain my paper is. As much as I scoffed about adding shaved crayon to my paper, I could grind up some water color and maybe dust that over my paper for example.

Thinking about making paper reminds me of experimenting with papier mache clay, when I would do an initial blend of my paper shreds, wring that out and crumble it, leave it to dry and then soak it back down and blend it again. I think that's really how I'm going to get a finer paper like I want.

I'm clearly obsessed with almost every aspect of bookbinding.

[nairanorica]

yesterday was DnD day, so I finished it today! so what went on: for the background so far I've only used the magenta and yellow bc I wanted to use the red for the dragon creature. so I mixed up some of the red and magenta and veeery roughly blocked in some shadows and "outlines", referencing the photo I took of my sketch. no regard for the vines that overlap the creature, I'll deal with that later

now we build up the shapes of the dragon (or whatever it is, I honestly didn't put much thought into it) by mixing some white in there and layering it up

layer by layer (and no I totally didn't forget that hump in the background, what are you even talking about)

going relatively light, bc I want the dragon to read very light in the end - for sure you could've done this more efficiently if you planned it out better, but this process of "plopping down very dark shadows roughly and then building up the lights and midtones from there" works way better for my brain, so I'm doing it this way

at this point, the dragon was kinda giving axolotl (it was probably just the colour), so instead of making the... plumes? smooth like I had initially planned, I made them a little fuzzy looking

in this stage I mostly layer the lighter paint on top, but I also keep going back to my previous mixes and use them to blend out bigger areas or darken them back up when I went too light

now that I'm happy with the base shape, we can slowly get into the really fun parts! fun part 1: colour details! I want the dragon to have some darker pink/red details. since the quin red I'm using is a quite transparent colour on it's own, I can just layer them on there like I'd do with watercolour without worrying about completely covering up my shading

that's two layers of quin red on there, mostly just glazed on but I went in with the light pink in some spots to make it look neater or go back if I covered too much of the area

now it's time for my favourite part: coloured light to get that ~glow~ so far I've basically used the magenta as my shadow colour and the yellow as my light to get some sort of atmosphere with this very analogous colour scheme (again, the difference between the quin red and quin magenta is much more visible in person, my phone just hates the magenta and turns it red - the colour of the petals is kiiinda close, but it's a lot more cool/purple than that in person). so I mix some of the red with yellow (and a bunch of white ofc) and add a first layer of light

looks a bit odd now, but we gotta trust the process and add more yellow and white to the mix and add more highlights where the light from the background would hit. bc it was blending in with the background a bit, I added a very subtle orangey outline in some spots with watered down paint

next I wanted to add some softer pink light coming from the front, but bc it is already so flooded with light and everything's so pink already, it's very subtle this time. I like doing that with a very different colour to the main light source sometimes to make dark areas read better. and just bc I think it looks very cool lol

I'll add some very bright (almost) highlights later, but I like to do that at the very end. so now it's time for the vines in the foreground for some contrast! again I use my photo of the sketch as a guide and loosely draw them in with straight magenta. same goes for the lily pads

and now I mix some white in it to add just a little more detail and depth - not a lot, I don't want too much contrast there so it won't steal the show. it looks even more subtle in the photo, I swear you can see some different values there in person. when that's done I add some bright white details to my focal point, aka the head in this case

and it's done! I tried scanning it bc my photo skills are... not the greatest to put it lightly. the colours are still not 100% accurate, but I feel it's a little better than the photo

if you read this far: thanks a lot for reading! I hope this was at least a little interesting - if you're interested in something I didn't mention, just ask and I'll try to answer it :D

Ok so a friend asked about my acrylic process - and I thought it might be fun to kinda document this little painting here! Just as a disclaimer, my acrylic process is extremely chaotic and I have no idea what I'm doing, I just throw paint on there until it looks good.

So I hope I won't forget about taking photos down the line, first batch of photos and babbling under the cut!

So let's start with what I'm using, just bc I'm always interested in seeing what others use:

Some cheap (kinda beat up at this point) small brushes, very cheap shitty white (I like to use it to thin my paints a bit without lighting them too much), liquitex heavy body acrylics in quin red, quin magenta and cad yellow medium (only these three bc it's a three colour challenge thing) and threw in some white golden soflat to have a more opaque white (purely bc it was already sitting on my desk from something else and I'm too lazy to get up and grab a different tube)

And this is what we're working on:

Some sort of water lily dragon, which already has a coat of very watered down yellow on it. I do that for multiple reasons: for one I just like how it looks and it feels less intimidating than white paper lol. But it also helps to hide the coloured lines from the initial sketch and I feel it's easier to judge values when starting with a non-white background

I sketched this a couple of weeks ago at this point, and had kind of forgotten what my plan for colouring was. Whoops. So I mixed up some of the yellow and magenta and started blocking in some background shapes -

But wait!

That's when I remembered that I wanted the background to be light, like the light is coming from back there, behind vines and leaves and stuff. So I started building up lighter colours with more yellow and my shitty white

But I wasn't really getting anywhere, so I grabbed my other white and put down some really light areas. That's better - now I can start blocking in the general colours and shapes for the plants and water

These are all different mixes of magenta, yellow and the shitty white, with one of the frayed flat brushes. I'll add details and definition later

But this felt really dark now, so I decided I had to roughly block in all the other colours too to check if it was really that dark or just looked like it next to the bright yellow

That dark colour is a very pink magenta btw, not a dark red, my phone just hates that colour. The dragon is just red + shitty white for now and wow, you can really see how transparent that white is. I'll definitely have to use more of the good white for this if I don't want to lose my mind

And that's where we're at rn! I took a break to let everything dry properly while typing this up, so it should be ready to go now - I'll report back later :D

[arcadechan]

Hello, I'm absolutely in love with your work, and most especially your use of color!

Apologizing in advance if you've answered this sort of question already, but do you have any particular methods of choosing/applying color to your pieces? I've struggled with choosing interesting colors/palettes alot personally and would love to know if you have any tips or anything about it!

Hello, thank you so much for the question!

I've been sent a similar ask before, but I also don't mind talking about art so your ask is more than welcome. Plus you touch on an interesting point! The way you apply color can be just as effective as the color itself. FUN.

The ask I linked above talks about how I choose color palettes, so check that out if you're interested~. I'll expand a little bit more down below since you got me thinking about stuff

(One note though: I primarily work digitally, and I might on purpose or accidentally frame my tips around that mindset.)

It's time for a list because I love lists so much:

If something breaks the rules of reality but looks COOLER or fits your style or theme or you just LIKE it more....maybe do it anyway. Why not? At least see what it would look like! (Make a new layer if you're working digitally, sketch it out on some scratch paper if you're going traditional) (this is especially good with color. I KNOW not many shadows are that shade of teal but it just looks good jerry, sorry!) (Light sources are good for this too)

You are not locked into anything, ESPECIALLY if you're working digitally. If you don't like how something looks, try first to figure out what WOULD make it look better and then give it a shot (I say to think about it a little bit first to try and prevent the sketch-delete-sketch-delete cycle, but....sometimes you NEED that cycle too. Even deleted art still lives in the memory of your hands and experience. It’s just trouble to get stuck there.)

When struggling with colors, look to simplify. Maybe do more pieces with JUST flat colors, see if that doesn’t help your palettes. You will find your renders more appealing if you start with a base you like, and even if you don’t like your renders…you’ll have a base you like, and that’s good enough! Flat color art is COOL. Knowing when NOT to add detail is just as masterful as knowing when and where to

When it comes to something you're struggling with, look to other artists. That's part of why I'm very happy to answer asks like this - it's good to remember you don't have to come up with every answer yourself. Even if you can't ask directly, there's a lot to learn just from...looking at art. What inspires you? What looks cool, or appealing? What solves a problem you've been struggling with? 

For example, going back to color, you learn early in digital art that a purple/blue layer on multiply (or you know, other colors, but it's an example) can be a quick and easy way to do some shadows. and it is! I use it even today! But I never really liked it. So I started struggling with shadows. So I started looking to other art for inspiration. I've just always liked vibrant colors and watercolor as a medium, so...I started trying some things with that as my inspiration point.

I began applying shadows with watercolor brushes and wash brushes, I started using teal and aqua for shadows on top of a thicker magenta base. I started doing rim-lighting (boy oh boy rim-lighting). I started pushing and pulling colors, adding layers like with colored pencils. I started using more glow dodge layers, a separate layer for more opaque hard light and less opaque blooms; making pieces brighter instead of darker. I STARTED. Doing things I just LIKED more, and found out that hey…..some of it works. Some of it sticks. 

There’s a lot of advice out there on how to overcome artblock; and while I know that isn’t the exact nature of this question, from my own experience I’ve usually found I hit an artblock when there is a specific THING I am struggling with (for a long time it was feet. Right now it’s shoulders, necks, and noses. For you, perhaps it’s color). Whenever I hit this point there are a few easy things I try and lately it’s been working out.

I start by stopping drawing. I go out and get inspired again. Reading, watching animation, going out and seeing nice scenery in some good lighting, looking at other artists’ work…I take my mind of my own stuff and refill it with Good Juice for Creatives

I wait. I wait until my hands itch and I just gotta draw again. I wait until I have at least ONE thing I know I want to draw or try (like a new brush or challenge or IDEA)

When I start drawing again, I take it easy. Sketching in the sketchbook, drawing fanart or oc’s, not trying to come up with too much from scratch. The break we took earlier at least gives me enough energy and want-to-draw to power through the struggle of any remaining artblock

When you’re learning…there can be a frustrating SLOWNESS to it. And with art, well. It’s tricky. You’re training your eyes, hands, and mind on something…almost completely subjective. That’s why I keep coming back to studying things you like! Not only does that make for a more enjoyable experience…well. When I was in college, my art teacher told us to “trust your gesture”. 

When you are actively doing or studying art, you’re building a mental catalog. When you’re LIVING you’re doing this too! That’s where trust your gesture comes into play. You know colors you like when you see them. Trust the colors you like to be some of the colors you can use. Trust some of the things you like to be things you can learn from. A lot of art will come more naturally when you say “I know I can do it this way…but I WANT to do it this way”. 

And that’s why so much of my art is Like That.