#I've already taken a lot of artistic choices here

[pridoo]

Getting closer to the moment that my next comic will be about my ocs Lin and Duke

[howtofightwrite]

Now you got me thinking...I've been thinking about writing a fic where the (in-universe) desensitization of violence for the main characters is a running theme. My main issue, however, is managing the violence within said narrative because, as you've said before, violence has diminishing returns. While I don't want it to be a gorefest from start to finish, I do want part of the horror to be having to engage in it, no matter what steps are taken to avoid it. If I'm not careful, I could end up with a weaker story for all the violence in it. What could I do to maintain this theme without it losing its impact due to these diminishing returns?

So, there's two different things going on here, and ironically, it's the same term, and mostly the same process.

When I'm talking about your audience becoming desensitized to violence, it's more that they become acclimated to the degree of violence you're comfortable with exposing them to. Again, “diminishing returns,” because as you expose them to more violence, they become more acclimated to that violence, and the shock value will subside. Similarly, the ability to build tension on the threat of violence occurring falls off when you're willing to engage in violence, but that doesn't mean you can't build tension, just that you need to be a little more careful about establishing those stakes.

Also, when most people write violence, they tend to establish implicit boundaries. It may be that only certain characters engage in violence. It may that certain areas are exempted from violence. At very mechanical abstraction, with some writers, you can tell when they've introduced a location that is exempt from violence. Even if you're getting into diminishing returns, violating these kinds of boundaries can keep the violence fresher than you'd expect. The formula of slasher films put a lot of effort into maintaining shock value by creating misleading boundaries that you'll pick up on and then violating them in new and novel ways.

Outside of some genuinely stomach churning violence, you're not likely to permanently move the needle for your readers. You're not actually desensitizing them to violence; just your willingness to depict violence.

I feel like I need to make a clarification: Too much violence doesn't mean the story will be bad. Normally, I offer advice with the assumption that you'll want to manage and maintain as much shock value as you can from your violence. However, that's not the only valid approach. That said, too much violence can cause your readers to disconnect from the work, so that is a legitimate consideration. Also, this doesn't mean the story loses impact. Unless the violence is the story, which is a somewhat weird edge case, violence won't necessarily reduce the impact of the story as a whole.

The example of slasher films, earlier, really does illustrate what I mean when I'm saying that lots of violence (even gratuitous violence) isn't going to necessarily mean that a story will be bad. (Though, this could spiral into a much deeper argument about the artistic merits of that genre.) To some extent, your choice of genre already starts to prepare the audience for a more violent experience. You're preemptively trading shock value for a higher baseline.

The second thing is your character being desensitized to violence. While there is something to be said for getting your audience into your character's head space to the point that they accept it as their own, doing that with desensitization to violence is extraordinarily difficult. (And, really, it's a tricky route to go in general. In most cases, the audience will simply assign whatever dissatisfaction they have onto you or the work, rather than realizing you were being clever.)

So, how do you show someone is desensitized to violence, without trying to simultaneously traumatize your audience? You show the consequences of that desensitization. This can show up in a character's sense of humor, their overall outlook. They may be more clinical about violence, more casual about its consequences (at least, superficially.) They might have an incredibly dark sense of humor, which might not come up most of the time.

In a larger context, a character who has been desensitized to violence may come across as basically normal, outside of a narrow band where certain concepts don't bother them. This is especially true with a specific brand of military humor, where violence has been rendered mundane for the individual, and the people they interact with on a regular basis.

Now, audience desensitization to violence can create a very weird situation. Where an absence of violence is more unsettling. Not because they're worried about what could happen, but because they're waiting for it all hell to break loose. It's one thing to simply call it, “tension,” but it is a very distinct kind of anxiety you can invoke, if you're careful. In the opening of a story, when the genre is clearly established, I've seen this compared to the ratchets on a roller coaster's first ascent. Everyone knows what they're here for, everyone's here for the ride, click, click... and then the lights go out, and the screaming starts.

I'm trying to make it sound easy, but violence is one of the more challenging things to write. That doesn't mean it's impossible, and you don't need to sit down and carefully sketch out every detail before you get going. The biggest thing to be careful of are that you don't want to overuse it, but you have a lot of flexibility to tell the story you want with the amount of violence you need to communicate that story.

Though, it might take a few tries until you get a tone you're happy with.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[charon-cries]

how do you determine your color palette...? color is something i have a lot of difficulty with and i really want to learn how to at least figure out a color palette 😅

i guess another way to phrase it is how did you go about learning color theory?

the number one most helpful thing i did for myself when teaching myself to color was to realize that every artist colors differently.

i already knew color theory in advance, i memorized every word i had been told throughout every highschool art class i had taken, but knowing the actual facts and knowing how to apply them are very different skills!

if you haven't learned the facts of color theory, i highly suggest these two videos (thing 1) (thing 2). <- the most important part of watching those videos is to hold them in your head as facts. if watching them doesn't make you necessarily understand how to apply them, that's okay! these videos are to give you the skills to be able to study color.

for a simple example, when it comes to picking colors based off the mood of your piece, pretty much everyone knows that blue will make an image feel more sad and emotional. yellow feels happy, red feels angry, pink feels affectionate.

a great way to teach yourself how to APPLY mood through color is to go back to a drawing you're already very proud of, and just mess around recoloring it. pick one thing you want to work on and try to use your color choices change the emotional effect of the piece.

it's incredibly helpful to use a piece that you have already colored, preferably one you're the most proud of. this is so that you aren't stressing yourself thinking about things like proportion or composition, and allows you to think solely about your color choices.

here's my example! for this example, my goal was to make this one feel far more bleak than my original finished piece.

i achieved this change by shifting the colors to all be more cold and desaturated, as well as making the blacks of his undershirt and tie look more washed out. most people associate cool colors with sadness, and dull colors with defeat. mixing those two makes the mood more bleak. color placement can also change a lot— for this version, i placed a lot of the blush color (which i desaturated significantly) higher up his face, which gives him a more horrified and thoughtful expression

once you've done exercises like this once or twice, a great way to decide how you want to color is to find out how other people pick their colors. one way to do this is color picking studies, and another is to watch youtube videos like this one where an artist explains their personal thought process while choosing colors.

if you'd like to know how i, personally, go about picking my colors, i would be happy to make a separate post outlining my process! it would take a pretty long time, though, because a lot of my process is to not leave things alone until i'm satisfied with how they look

the thing about being a self-taught artist is that everyone tells you that the way to get better is to "just practice," but that's not the whole story! art is a skill you have to build, and i've found the most effective ways to improve are to do studies, and to learn how to spot your mistakes and problem-solve until you can fix them.

i hope this was a good way to get you started on learning how to internalize and apply color theory! the more you study, and the more you learn, the better your results will be

[starlight-bread-blog]

"Generally I'm just.. really confused? Why wouldn't she credit one of her artist? What does she have to gain? I don't get it. It takes me back to KenDraws, why wouldn't she credit her friend? This shitty repeated behavior is unacceptable. But let's accept that Viv is willing to do shitty stuff. What would be her reasoning?" I feel like all of us are wondering this lol. We can only speculate of course, but it kinda seems to come down to Viv just being a dick about it? (From what we can see.) This isn't the first time Viv has gotten in trouble for not crediting someone properly. Such as not crediting Dollcreep for JayJay's design in her infamous Die Young video, where instead of crediting Dollcreep for JayJay's design, only put Dollcreep in the Special Thanks section IIRC. (She also had some drama with Dollcreep generally, I can't recall if it aligned directly with her not giving full credit or it didn't and she just made a poor choice, but I digress...) Gathering context clues from Squid's tweets about how they WERE properly credited before, but seemingly after speaking about their experiences working for them (which, btw, as far as I've seen Squid never named names, you had to connect the dots through context clues) crediting stopped, and at some point Viv blocked them (also don't know if Squid had already blocked Viv at that point or blocked in return.) I'd also add while generally either employee or company can terminate their agreement at any time, I'm pretty sure the employee still needs to be credited for their work? At the very least if their work was used and not completely tossed? From KenDraw's testimony I got the impression much of Viv's upset came from over-protectiveness of her project/characters. The idea that someone else might "own" a piece of them got her riled up. She called KenDraw's additions "nothing of value" and refused to credit them for any of their involvement despite them contributing a lot of their time and ideas. I feel like she wanted to be free from owing anyone anything or being "held back "or "held down" by other people sharing a piece of her work. While those are valid and common feelings, you don't get to take advantage of friends OR volunteers OR employees without making it clear to them what the terms are, and when you mess up on that there are professional ways to resolve them that don't involve demeaning them or giving legal threats. Combining all that... overall VivziePop seems to give and take credit based on how she feels towards people. She might be afraid that connecting someone she gets in a fight with to her work will lead to them trying to take her down, hold something over her, or trying to "steal" her project/characters/ideas from her--and again while that's a valid fear it's not fair nor professional and she needs to educate herself on what her rights are instead of burning bridges. And I'm pretty sure cutting people out of credit is another legal issue anyway...but it's one no one seems to know how, or have the energy, to fight. But this way Vivzie ensures she holds the "power" over her work that she wants to keep. !! THIS IS ALL SPECULATION !! But reaaaally shitty if true...

Quote taken from here.

That's just me but I don't really like speculation, I don't know the people. With that being said, I appreciate that you decided to share that with me and it's a good read.

I think at some point I saw AyyLmao out of all people, cover the Dollcreep/JayJay thing. If she had beef with Dollcreep, and considering she did remember them, but put them in "Special Thanks" – then yeah it'd be kinda ignorant of me to brush it off as an accident.

Squid's page is 18+ so I didn't want to spend too long there, but in the little time that I did I found this:

"Another"? To me this confirms that Viv and Squid aren't on good terms. Taking into consideration that Squid isn't suprised, it's likely to be the motive for the lack of credit.

But great news from Squid:

Super happy they're getting the credit they deserve and the massive support💕

I don't know a lot about the relationship between VivziePop and Ken, I don't know if I should say anything. I did read the document, but they were friends. It could be protectiveness. Which makes sense to me if we accept that Viv's go-to when having beef with people is to stop creditting them.

Like you said, at the end of the day Viv's motive could be spite, protectiveness or anxiety – but she's an adult working on a serious project with a lot of people involved. She's the boss and gained a lot of power over people (just a fact yk). Non of this makes it okay to refuse to give credit to their work. That's all, thank you so much for the ask and have a nice day💗

[marginalizedrants]

I wanna be excited for Dragon Age: The Veilguard but the character creator has me worried

The following rant will cover my concerns and problems with the following topics: top surgery scars, trans representation and body dysphoria. If you don't want to read this, you don't have to. I just needed to get this off my chest as this bothers me a lot. Also I'll try to structure the post because this is gonna be long!

First off: I'm not a dyehard DA fan of the first hour. I found the francise around the release of DAI and played it then, watched my then boyfriend play DA2 and heard a bit about DAO. I don't have a strong emotional connection to the franchise and I thus don't care how it may have changed to earlier entries but I understand the fans who do. I'd probably feel the same with other franchises I have loved for generations.

I'm a pretty casual gamer. I don't really care about combat mechanics and stuff either. I'm usually there to go on walks in pretty environments as a pretty character, to immerse myself in an interesting storyline and to abuse games as dating sims wherever they let me. I did like the first looks at the game that came out! I do like the art style that many criticize. The game looks good on an objective technical level and the art style appeals to me on a subjective one. I also do like the look of the new companions a lot and I'm so excited to meet Emmrich and Lucanis!

Then where's the problem? Well... I've taken a look at the character creator footage that has been revealed to get a feel for what my Rook could be and as I did, I felt like someone punched me in the gut. They made a separately standing specifically named toggleable option for "top surgery scars".

And I can already hear both sides. One saying "That damn queer propaganda is ruining my game!" and the other saying "Trans people need more visibility and acceptance!" while I, as a trans person who this was theoretically made for, who should theoretically be happy about this, feel seen and accepted, just stand here and feel ... utterly uncomfortable. And this isn't the first time this happened. It's not only Veilguard. Top surgery scars have become a very touchy subject for me. A trigger even, that makes anxiety and dysphoria bubble up in my chest. They have become a symbol instead of just being a trace of medical history. In recent years, I've seen top surgery scars pop up in artworks of artists I like more and more. They might have good intentions, I can not know that, but all I see, all I feel, is that they are used like an aesthetic, a trend, a style thats popular right now. But it's more than just a fashion choice, it's inherently backloaded with political statements and positions, no matter if the artist wants this or not.

Top surgery scars have become a symbol of a movement that is very lound and polarizing right now, one that puts identity and gender expression above all else. I will probably write about my opinions on this topic in detail in another post or this would become to long. What I want to say is, that those scars are a symbol of a movement and wearing them, I would involuntarily mark myself as part of that movement, no matter if I agree with their points or not. I will be recognized by both sides, the ones that are for and those that are against it and both would associate me wrongly. Thats why top surgery is a very touchy subject for me at this time. Right now I haven't had any, even though I talked to a surgeon more than a year ago. I just feel paralyzed. I'm standing in front of a huge choice. Three in fact. Do I choose the method where I end up with a nicely shaped masculine chest but potentially huge very visible scars that are immediately recognizable as female to male mastektomy scars? Or do I choose the method where the cuts are held minimal and around the areola and risk loose skin and nipples that are positioned lower than normal? Or do I choose to not do any surgery at all, avoid all potential risks that come with any kind of medical intervention but have to live with wearing binders, choosing clothing after how visible they might be at the collar as well as never going to public pools or saunas and staying dressed at the beach.

I know I'm highly emotional torwards this topic right now and this is a me-problem. This is my trigger and it's my responsibility to deal with it and either avoid or learn to live with. I don't expect anyone to do anything for me here, I just want to put my voice and my feelings out here for people who might feel the same and like me, only rarely feel represented or hear similar opinions. And I want to put it out here for people who are not themselves trans but want to support. Not all trans people think and feel the same and some might be uncomfortable with all this visibility and inclusivity.

I don't want to be visible as a trans guy. Thats why this blog is anonymous. I usually don't share that I'm trans because I don't want to be trans! I just want to be a guy!

Okay so... after this very personal rant, let me get back to DAV because I still have a bone to pick with them!

The way they put the top surgery scar option in just feels so ingenuine and shallow, as if it's just a marketing stunt for them, using a highly discussed polarizing topic.

Why put them in their own toggleable option instead of putting them with all the other types of scars? Are they superior to scars gained in battle or in a horrible accident you gladly survived? Are trans people more important than survivors of horrofic injury? Why name them? Why put such a modern concept in a historic-style fantasy game? How would that even be conducted? Do you even know how complicated and risky such a surgery is and which complex medical equipment is needed? This option not only hurts the worldbuilding of DA due to its implications, it also looks so very strange, pulled into the forefront of the character creation while all other scars stay behind.

All I feel when seeing this is trying to jump onto a band wagon of a popular topic. This has nothing to do with wanting to make trans people feel better, feel more seen, make society more accepting of them. If they wanted to do that, they would treat those scars like all other scars like trans people should be treated like all other people and not as some ultra special precious thing to be paraded around. If they wanted to do that, they would not only add the most popular afflictions over and over again like top surgery scars or vitiligo but other way more common things like cleft lip scars or port-wine stains who I see in real life on a daily basis but have never seen represented in a game ever. Nor are they ever discussed!

Of course I can't know what intentions are truly behind DAVs decisions but to me at least it feels like they either only care about polarizing topics to push their game or they tried to be inclusive but only looked very shallowly into the topic.

Those companies are not my friend. Those companies don't speak for me.

If you read this far, thanks a lot, no matter if you agree or disagree. Feel free to share your thoughts as well!

[cosgestalt]

creator commentary

a bit like a director's cut for a film, I will be going over the first four pages of Gestalt. If I left out anything that you would like to know more about, do not be afraid of the askbox!

I wasn't sure whether to call this an artist's exploration or a peek into the writing or what, so I figured "creator" is broad enough :)

and now, some notes that aren't specific to one page:

I did a lot of things I've never done before already working on this comic. I've fully rendered linework, I drew pine trees (and got sick of drawing pine trees), and I worked in a limited color palette! Each color is taken from colors of the first page with the exception of the gold which shows up increasingly over the following pages. (There is also the exception of the faaaaaint reds underneath the fingerprints in the second page and in the well in the third.) They look very nice in the first full illustration, but quickly become dull to the senses. How very Barovian! These will not be the only colors used forever, so do not worry. The palette will change for each scene, and shift gradually for other situations.

What else to say? Every choice is intentional, so if it seems like there is a discrepancy between the module and Gestalt, know that it is on purpose. Most everything sticks very close to the module, so the differences that are there were very thought out and done for a reason that will become apparent later in the exploration of the abbot's story. The only choice that was made without a deep reason is the removal of the abbot's hat. I just didn't like it.

as a fun extra, here is what I would say the theme of the prologue is: How Long by Julia Holter

though I do like how the live version droops and drags. it feels even more like someone not fitting in quite right:

for those who have read this far, i have some secret extra news for you:

we are making the backend of the site compatible with gifs. i will keep quiet about specific plans, but now moving elements are a possibility within pages!

i am considering the possibility of letting people submit work to be displayed in the sidebars next to the news on the homepage. i would love to promote work by the curse of strahd community. there are so many amazing artists and writers! i need to think more on the logistics of this, but it could be fun.

i got a new monitor from my parents for the holidays, so recording my workflow is now a possibility. if i find myself with the extra time to edit videos together, i may do more commentary in those, but for the time being i will stick to just writing posts.

i have plans for other videos. keep an eye out for two treats in the future! one for me and one for you :)

that's all I can think of for now! there will be no more updates this year, so I will see you again in 2024!

[beautifulpersonpeach]

OK sorry it's me again but holy WHAT THE FUCK!??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVfITt1GQhY

OK I admit it. I'm deep in the Enha rabbit hole BPP. I blame you and Jungwon.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT DP?

Howwww do they move like that?

That song was already hot but the choreo makes it more insane?

***

LOL!

Listen, I just had a freakout today with my bffs about this same dance practice.

Enhypen are the *sluttiest dorks I know (*use any milder adjective of your choice for Ni-ki so this post remains legal). I like them a lot.

I'm going to embed your link, Anon, and go on a bit of a ramble here:

It's the details for me.

*

I'm so proud of my boys you have no idea.

I can't even pretend, I like what HYBE is doing with their groups. It feels like many of their groups combine almost all the things I love about k-pop. (Not exactly shocking that the people behind BTS can make more of what we like to see in groups, but none of them quite feel like BTS. Almost as if by design.)

One thing I believe HYBE excels at more than any other agency, is creating performance-driven artists. People who really know how to put on a show. Idols whose sweat and running feet is their gasoline. And the personal bonus for me is that all the groups under Bang PD's influence have a sound and dance identity that's rooted in hiphop.

This is how it is in BTS, and it makes me happy to see it develop in many of the other groups. Enhypen has their trademark energy almost settled, give or take a couple more years which considering how young they are, is interesting and makes me very curious to see how the group evolves.

Also, I was never a Twilight fangirl but I can't help but enjoy how they lean into their vampire concept every. time.

Like in Chaconne, I've seen the live performances and let me tell you, they embody the energy of that song to perfection. A vampy, moody, kinda eerie-sounding club banger. In the dance practice you see all the little details that make this choreo feel like an Enhypen performance:

First of all, the choreo drips sauce. It's soaked in it. All they do on that joint is slide, groove, and pop. It's sick

The fact they keep dancing (just showing off really), until the song completely ends

Their feet squeaking in sync

The way Heeseung has to add an unnecessary hip roll to whatever he's doing when he's in center, while Sunghoon channels a mafia lord when he's center tickles me so bad

The way Jungwon uses his body when he dances is like wielding a lethal, deadly machine. He's ruthless with it, and it's the cutest thing about him lol.

Which brings me to Jay. The detail of Ni-ki holding on to him in the final chorus (Jay center)... that connection feels like Enha

Just as in Sunoo's verse when they all connect in a waterfall sequence... this too feels like Enha. The fact Jake was serving the whole time

Heeseung's catwalk at the end

Anyway, I've rambled.

They bodied this song.

It’s sweet to know you’ve taken a liking to them. I personally think they’re worth it, but you seem very excited so I have to caution you to get into them slowly lol. I've seen a few people go from Enha noobs to major delulus very quickly.

[whoiskt]

Grad School Q4 - Week 1

All my classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays, so maybe I'll bring this back for Friday summaries.

Here's a Lloyd sketch that might become part of my business card. Working on that right now among many things!

I wasn't really ready to go back to school but rarely in my life have I ever felt that after summer break. This quarter is all required classes, which isn't the most fun but I'll get by okay. Plus, all the classes are pretty much back to back, which gives me such flashbacks to high school, since I'm just in the one building all day.

Anyways, I'm currently kind of nervous because to complete my MFA by the end of summer 2025, I need to go up for review this quarter. But it's required that I have taken 45 credit hours of 700 level courses. Unfortunately, 10 of my 45 credit hours are 500 level courses, so I am technically not eligible. But, since the thesis class is only taught once a year in the winter quarter, missing this milestone would mean pushing my graduation to 2026, which I cannot do, not spiritually and definitely not financially. So, I am asking for an exception to be made, and that is TBD. Because I have a lot riding on this, so I am really very nervous for the answer. We shall see.

I guess worst comes to worst I can switch to an MA. Let's be real... I am not professor material, anyways.

But to get to my week in review: My first class is a writing class. I got excited because I imagined I could do a Lloyd Void spin-off as my main project for this class, one that is geocentric in the sense it would follow my character Earth as a slice of life comedy before the events of LV. However, for this class we were sorted into short groups, and they prefered my sailors and music idea (the one I have been writing as a movie) and I might choose that. I am stuck with the ending, and maybe working that out in the class (since the class is only writing a measly 20 pages) is a fine use of my time as well.

My second class is a studio, and I am making LLOYD VOID KEY ART for the PITCH! This honestly is the most scary thing, because I have to make 9 whole completed illustrations in 10 weeks, and I think my current record for completed illustrations in 10 weeks is something like 4, with some VERY lazy bgs, which I am not allowed here, so wish me luck.

Finally, my last class is something something coloring? Honestly not fully sure but day 1 we had A LOT of hw already due for class 2. (we also had to color a page of a comic but I am not showing that here)

The artist is Lois van Baarle. THIS IS NOT MY ARTWORK I JUST COLORED IT:

Unexpectedly my prof said, "This is very well-done, perhaps even once of the best versions of this I've ever seen." I was shook. I have been studying color all year, trying to get better, but I never expected such a compliment.

I want to get better at reflective lighting still but I have definitely been feeling more confident in palette choices, at least.

Anyways, that's all for now, definitely more artwork to show you next week, bye!

[quicktimeeventfull]

Hi I noticed you have been in the deathnote fandom for a long time. Do you know some changes the fandom/ships went through? I already know that the misogyny towards misa used to be terrible

hi! absolutely! for context i got into death note around 2006 and have spent most of my time on livejournal, deviantart, youtube, gaiaonline and then of course tumblr; i've used LJ, deviantart, quizilla, ao3, fanfiction.net and independent websites/forums for fic. i have been involved more broadly in anime/manga fandom since 2001. i say all this because people's fandom experiences will vary dramatically based on their platform of choice. broadly speaking: death note was a HUGE phenomenon with massive international popularity, and was very critically acclaimed -- it was often discussed as the most accessible series for beginners due to its high quality and its lack of fanservice. it was generally seen as being very somber. it was also well-known for being difficult to write for on account of its dialogue-heavy nature. for the most part i think the ships themselves have remained stable -- lawlight has always been the most popular by a large margin, and mello/near and matt/mello followed behind. there were a lot more fans in general, though, so mello/near and matt/mello were massive - 25% of 100 000 is a lot more than 25% of 100. the way people ship has changed dramatically, however. people used to care a lot about whether or not something was canonically viable, so there'd be loads of posts proving that lawlight was 'real.' ship wars ime used to be a lot more aggressive but were also less moralistic. people also cared a LOT about who was the seme/uke in a relationship. this was of course partially because of the lack of awareness around how real queer couples function, but it was also because of the relative popularity of doujinshi; seme/uke indicated a character's personality, not just their position. (i should say this was not at all universal, and there's plenty of content from that era which does not follow these conventions, as well as a myriad of queer people who objected to this.) because algorithmic content distribution was nonexistent and sites explicitly for fic (ff.net, ao3) hadn't yet taken over, fic rec lists were a HUGE part of the fic economy. personally i think they should come back; they're great for niche content and lesser-known artists, and they foster community. you will often notice older fans using names like raito, mero, or nia. these are holdovers from scanlations, as the official english spellings weren't available until late in the series (for mello and near) or the official translations (for light) as a point of note, you'll sometimes see people saying that 'eru' was the name used for L, but this just isn't true; L's name was spelt with the roman character even in original japanese. early scanlations are still widely available, so you can see all this (plus tonal changes re: the dialogue) for yourself. tbh i don't actually think the misogyny towards misa is worse; i think the language surrounding it has just gotten more intellectualized. i feel this way about a lot of problems in fandom. also ok here's some linguistic trivia i find very interesting but which got long enough that i decided to put it at the end, please ofc feel free to skip this:

ships used to be tagged with / \ | or & to indicate the type of relationship. how they worked were: / and \ were for slash ships, | was for het ships, and & was for platonic ships. why do all this? partially it was because it was much easier to scan if you're on a site that displays only titles. it was also used to avoid censorship on sites that cracked down on gay or sexual relationships, as the terms were less obvious and also wouldn't get picked up by automods. \ | in particular were useful in roleplaying context where users wished to request straight or gay rps; since fic and rp often involves the same people, there's crossover in the terminology. / and \ were used to indicate seme vs. uke. for example: L/light means L is the seme, and L\light means L is the uke. (the idea was that the slash pointed to the receiver.) you could also show seme vs. uke by ordering the characters. in this case, L/light indicates that L is the seme and light/L indicates that light is the seme. the \/ distinction was already falling out of popularity by the time death note hit its stride, so the latter was the much more common way of doing things. eventually we got sites with tagging systems which required consistent ship names, so the whole top/bottom naming distinction fell away, and combined ship names (ex. lawlight) became more popular. seme vs. uke were then explicitly indicated via bang paths. (seme!light.) this kind of happened concurrently with the shift from seme/uke to top/bottom. if you have an interest in early fandoms, i would highly recommend both 'everything i need i get from you' by katitlyn tiffany and 'because internet' by gretchen mcculloch. 'everything i need i get from you' focuses largely on the social and technical factors behind fandom, and 'because internet' is about linguistics.

[guineverist]

so. this is my first time doing anything in this fandom. i wrote a small 2k carobekah friendship/light slash fic last october but that was entirely different from what i'm doing here, which is 10k after 2 chapters. i'm not the most experienced writer either so i'm sure this is a little rough but i'm here anyway!

i've already posted the first chapter and it's an invisible life of addie larue fusion, which for those who don't know is about a girl who makes a deal with a devil/demon/creature/something that's never fully explained for "freedom" which ends up being immortality that comes with a side of no one ever remembering her, except who she made the bargain with. i think you can see where i'm going with this! it's not canon divergent, but it's very much not ah/au either

a lot of background for a snippet of a wip ik but i felt like it was all pretty important! so here's the start of my favorite scene from ch2 which i think shows the general vibe of the story pretty well.

.

Stealing from wealthy men was not the life that Caroline had planned for herself when she first dreamed of exploring the world. She saw visions of beautiful art, delicate dresses, and true romance, but that dream was crushed the second her father looked at her without recognition in his eyes. And even more so with every day that passed.

Instead, she started finding men with too much coin and too little sense to give a forced donation to her cause. Figuring out the exact boundaries of her curse was difficult work, and mistakes were dangerous, but eventually she discovered what strings to pull to get a desired result without technically leaving a mark on the world.

Directly poisoning a man's drink was impossible. By the time any sip from a poisoned cup was taken, her effect would have already been erased. Placing a sedative in a bottle of wine, however, and letting the man pour himself a glass remained within the boundaries of her curse. He made his own choice. She merely guided him toward it.

It would be a long time until she learned the intricacies of what she agreed to in that forest, but each hard-fought step toward mastery was a rewarding practice.

She was spending the one-year anniversary of her deal with the devil in an inn, pretending to be interested in the adventures of yet another man of means. All the men shared the same stories, activities they participated in to stand out did just the opposite, so she felt comfortable nodding in the right places as her mind was on the traveling exhibition that had come to Paris the week before.

Pieces of art from around the world had been stationed on a Parisian street for any passerby to look at. She was unable to focus on any one kind of art, constantly distracted by new things from new places. The Italian art created by artists from Florence, Siena, and Rome and metalwork from other cities in France ended up being her favorites, but even then she could not keep her eyes away from everything else.

Her attention turned back to the man, now deep in his cups. He introduced himself earlier in the night, but she did not pay enough mind to recall it. He was not far off from losing consciousness, and Caroline intended on seeing the exhibit one more time before it left for its next stop in Reims. She hoped she could find or buy a memento to remember it by.

When the man finally fell asleep, Caroline exited the inn room significantly richer. She stood outside the room for a moment and leaned back against the door. It was late enough that very few people would be wandering the hallways, and even fewer would take time to look at a single girl. 

She took the sedative out of her pocket and looked at it. She was spending the nights at a noble family's residence while the family vacationed through some part of the countryside. She had used the lady of the house's name to acquire a dress once. It only felt right that she made use of the house when no one was around to take offense. Trespassing would be the legal term, but it was hardly as though she was at risk of being prosecuted. There was a large part of her that wanted to make use of the sedative on herself as a way of getting the accursed anniversary over with, but the grogginess she felt in the morning afterward was enough to make her consider more carefully.

She had almost finished calculating the amount she'd need to take to be able to get to bed safely while still skipping as much of the night as possible when something in the air changed. It got a shade colder, as if something started drawing out the heat.

Caroline put the sedative in her pocket as she felt a presence at her back and, even after a year of silence, knew exactly who, or what, was there. The first few weeks of her new life were spent cursing the deal her past self had made and the demon who she had made it with.

It was odd, she thought, to be so aware of something she had only come across once. To be so disoriented before a conversation– a confrontation, surely, even starts.

[placeholdertracy]

Album review #1 1/15/23

Today I relistened to "A Promise" by Xiu Xiu. Now I only discovered this band a few months ago so I may not be the most educated person to tackle this record but this is one that has really clicked with me so I really would like to ramble on about it nonetheless. So without further ado here's my review!

A Promise is a record that has really meant a lot to me throughout the past few months. It was one recommended by my brother and after the second track, "Apistat Commander", I was already hooked. With Jaime Stewart's constantly shaky vocals it's hard not to be infatuated with what he's writing about. And his topics only add to the emotional atmosphere created by the abstract instrumentals. His word choice and uncomfortable vocals in my opinion force the listener to pay attention to what he has to say, see "Walnut House" as a prime example. Every song is so goddamn unique and weirdly fun to listen to when it's not making me bawl my eyes out. I REALLY hate claiming to relate to music, especially when the artist is talking about such tough topics because to me it feels a lot of times like you're taking away from the artists experiences. But in some instances, like this, it shows how incredible an artist is when they're able to take such abstract experiences and make them relatable. From what I've read the song 20,000 Deaths is about his past regrets with treating someone badly and taking (sexual/personal) advantage of people. While I can say with complete confidence I've never taken advantage of somebody I can still HEAVILY relate to the themes of past regrets. And that's due to Jaime Stewart's genius songwriting. And the same goes for his cover of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car. His tone and melodies are so incredibly uncomfortable and emotional it's truly a wild experience. He's able to make the listener feel exactly what he wants them to and is able to easily create a perfectly uncomfortable ambiance to fit this album. This record is gorgeous and quite honestly after many relistens I have found no flaws. I have absolutely no problem calling this a perfect album so that's exactly what I'm going to do.

A Promise - Xiu Xiu

Score: 10/10

P.S. - apologies if there's grammar mistakes or if some of it is ordered weirdly I wrote this in a rush and am not able to do much editing. I promise my future ones will be better

- Carter <3

[karasukarei]

For this Ask Game:

1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24!!!

no need to ask 12; I already know the answer anyway bwahahahhahahaaha

Wow, looks like a lot!

THANKS @kafkaoftherubble FOR TEACHING ME THAT ASKS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY OPEN I FEEL LIKE BIG DUMM

1: Favourite drawing from this year - The mononoke movie one!

4: Favourite character you've drawn - Kusuriuri (his face details are super fun)

5: Favourite little detail in a drawing you did - Purah (without her glasses) is somewhere in here, and one of the guardians is not acting the way it should.

6: Longest a drawing has taken to finish: if you include the initial scrapped drafts and multiple rewatches to figure out a workable composition, this one (almost 4 months from start to end, though the amount of time spent working on it was closer to 2+ weeks, which is unusually long for me)

11: Artist(s) that influenced/inspired your art style - NGL I usually follow the style of the source material as close as I can, so in a sense it's all the animators who have worked on the anime for the fandoms I've drawn for, but the period I spent spamming Promare fanart heavily influenced my workflow and colour choice.

19: Any collabs you've done/would want to do - there's that sketch/lineart/colour one ;-; but I have no guts to ask anyone to do it with me orz

20: What do you think you've improved on the most over the past year - Incorporating environmental colours into shading (received a lot of pointers on this from several kind people ;-;)

21: What do you want to work on the most next: Either something from Mononoke or Higgy (not gonna be for a long while though cos school starts next week ;-;)

22: What are you best at drawing/doing: Choosing colour palettes.

24: What do you like most about your art style: I guess the colour choices are pretty nice.

[vampireclub7]

Ask on Enhypen Choreos (Repost)

Anonymous asked:

OK sorry it's me again but holy WHAT THE FUCK!??

OK I admit it. I'm deep in the Enha rabbit hole BPP. I blame you and Jungwon.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT DP?

Howwww do they move like that?

That song was already hot but the choreo makes it more insane?

***

LOL!

Listen, I just had a freakout today with my bffs about this same dance practice.

Enhypen are the *sluttiest dorks I know (*use any milder adjective of your choice for Ni-ki so this post remains legal). I like them a lot.

I'm going to embed your link, Anon, and go on a bit of a ramble here:

It's the details for me.

*

I'm so proud of my boys you have no idea.

I can't even pretend, I like what HYBE is doing with their groups. It feels like many of their groups combine almost all the things I love about k-pop. (Not exactly shocking that the people behind BTS can make more of what we like to see in groups, but none of them quite feel like BTS. Almost as if by design.)

One thing I believe HYBE excels at more than any other agency, is creating performance-driven artists. People who really know how to put on a show. Idols whose sweat and running feet is their gasoline. And the personal bonus for me is that all the groups under Bang PD's influence have a sound and dance identity that's rooted in hiphop.

This is how it is in BTS, and it makes me happy to see it develop in many of the other groups. Enhypen has their trademark energy almost settled, give or take a couple more years which considering how young they are, is interesting and makes me very curious to see how the group evolves.

Also, I was never a Twilight fangirl but I can't help but enjoy how they lean into their vampire concept every. time.

Like in Chaconne, I've seen the live performances and let me tell you, they embody the energy of that song to perfection. A vampy, moody, kinda eerie-sounding club banger. In the dance practice you see all the little details that make this choreo feel like an Enhypen performance:

First of all, the choreo drips sauce. It's soaked in it. All they do on that joint is slide, groove, and pop. It's sick

The fact they keep dancing (just showing off really), until the song completely ends

Their feet squeaking in sync

The way Heeseung has to add an unnecessary hip roll to whatever he's doing when he's in center, while Sunghoon channels a mafia lord when he's center tickles me so bad

The way Jungwon uses his body when he dances is like wielding a lethal, deadly machine. He's ruthless with it, and it's the cutest thing about him lol.

Which brings me to Jay. The detail of Ni-ki holding on to him in the final chorus (Jay center)... that connection feels like Enha

Just as in Sunoo's verse when they all connect in a waterfall sequence... this too feels like Enha. The fact Jake was serving the whole time

Heeseung's catwalk at the end

Anyway, I've rambled.

They bodied this song.

It’s sweet to know you’ve taken a liking to them. I personally think they’re worth it, but you seem very excited so I have to caution you to get into them slowly lol. I've seen a few people go from Enha noobs to major delulus very quickly.

[khiphop-discussions]

Are any of these men still going to the military cause I could've sworn like half of them should've enlisted already but they out here having tours and doing god knows what? Did I miss anything?

Right???? So there's been lots of speculation over the last few years cause lots of people have been approaching military age.

Some people have mental health (and potentially physical health) issues that we don't know about (or at least not in the full depth). It depends on what the Korean government considers "debilitating". So those people don't have to go (People suspect Giriboy is in this category but I've also seen people say he actually does have to go. IDK I guess we'll just wait and see...but we've kinda been waiting for a LONG time already lol). People whose conditions aren't considered "debilitating" enough are allowed to do "non-active duty" work, like social work for example.

Based on recent events in KHH, some people are finding ways to dodge by making their money work for them. So Ravi and Nafla are the two most recent examples. But also, there's allegations that Gwangil Jo* did or is trying to dodge it as well.

*This was alleged during a diss song so take it with a grain of salt obviously

As for 1, there's actually quite a few people in KHH who are on medications that are related to mental health issues. I KNOW they have legal prescriptions which means they are currently, or at least at one point were, under a psychiatrists care. As for the "non-active duty" aspect, I'm not too sure how that works. I wonder if some people end up just working the equivalent of a regular 9-5 (or whatever times people work in Korea cause I know their work lives can sometimes be A LOT more hectic than ours in the US) and then go home? If that was the case, it might be easier for some people to just not announce their "enlistment" and just live their lives like a non-celebrity/entertainer. That would explain artists who just randomly go ghost for LONG periods of time. Again, I have NO clue how that really works though. This is just me thinking "out loud".

As for 2? I know it's illegal but I do NOT hold it against them. I DEFINITELY would be trying to dodge military service if it was me in that position LOL. Of course, the problem is (which I've seen some people highlighting when discussing the issue with Ravi) since some of these people are paying/bribing to get diagnosed with things they don't have, the evaluations are going to get even more strict and invasive which hurts people who are actually living with the conditions. Also, I would think some conditions (like mental health or one related to chronic pains, which are much harder to prove) might be re-evaluated as being "exempt" and even be taken off the list altogether. MC Mong some years ago had a dentist extract teeth unnecessarily in an attempt to dodge. He got caught as well. So again, people who genuinely had to have teeth removed are probably scrutinized more due to this.

The other problem is a class/money issue. Obviously only people with money are able to dodge in this way while the lower classes have no choice but to go.

[deadmandairyland]

Damn, it's really been a while since I've done this, huh? But I never forgot about it. How could I? It's such a brilliant idea for an alignment chart! So without further ado, here's the glorious return of

THE PRO WRESTLING FAN ALIGNMENT CHART: DANGANRONPA V3 EDITION!!!

(Skipping DR3 mostly because it's been way too long since I've seen it and I already had a hard enough time doing this with characters I am more familiar with)

Some quick explanations for those of you who need them... which is probably everyone:

Mark: Pro wrestling target audience

Smark: Pro wrestling fandom (into behind-the-scenes stuff, "know-it-all" fans, etc.)

Wrestling is srs bsns: Wants wrestling to be taken super seriously; no comedy wrestling allowed so help me god

Watches DDT: Can watch Kota Ibushi wrestle a blow-up doll on loop for hours on end

With that out of the way, some rationalizations:

Let's start with Himiko. It's no surprise that she's neither a mark nor a smark, because she is the goddamn promotion, baby. She is the only one in this entire chart that is taking kayfabe fucking seriously. You want to go out there and destroy the business? Spill all the fucking beans? Not on her watch. She could be on trial for murder and she would still hold kayfabe because that is just what you gotta do to keep the business alive. Kayfabe is in her blood, her fucking veins. Don't fuck with kayfabe or Himiko will fuck you back. ...Bad choice of words, there.

Keebo and Kirumi don't understand the appeal of watching Kota Ibushi wrestle a blow-up doll. Maki wants to murder the next person that tries to send her a link to that video... which would probably be Kokichi, who I guarantee would have sent that link to over half of the people in this chart.

Kokichi is a smark with a little bit of a mark streak. Miu thinks she's a smark, and certainly acts like one, but she also thinks that every move is called a Dupree Bomb thanks to a certain YouTube channel. Both of them absolutely would watch Kota Ibushi wrestle a blow-up doll for hours on end and send the link to everyone they know afterwards.

Tenko thinks you'd have to be a degenerate male to watch something as depraved as... well... Kota Ibushi blah blah blow-up doll blah blah blah. Thank female Christ that The Amazing Himiko is here to remind us all that professional wrestling is a legitimate sport and not at all athletic theater.

Rantaro is one smarky motherfucker but he don't give two shits about how serious the product is. Plus you know Ibushi is kinda hot, he can do whatever he wants with that blow-up doll as far as Rantaro is concerned. Kokichi agrees with that sentiment.

Korekiyo is an anthropologist. He would absolutely be interested in whatever cultural phenomenons led to... again, the blow-up doll thing. I'm referencing that a lot today, but for good reason. Imagine, if you will, thousands of years from now, archeologists and anthropologists stumble upon a video of a man wrestling a blow-up doll, and it is all they have to go on for knowing of our time as everything else is lost. How will they understand us? How will they come to know us? Therefore, such studies are of absolute importance. Kiyo knows this, and now, so do you. Embrace your knowledge. Embrace your wisdom. Embrace the blow-up doll. I have no idea what the fuck I'm saying anymore.

Shuichi would definitely be more of a mark than Kaede and would definitely take wrestling more seriously. Angie, ever the artist, transcends the title of mark and smark much like Sakura before her, but views pro wrestling as an art form where anything is possible, even five star matches with blow-up dolls. Tsumugi wants you to believe that she's just some plain old mark when in reality she's the smarkiest of them all. Ryoma just doesn't really care all that much. Kaito and Gonta still haven't figured out yet that wrestling is fake.

I have no explanations for the bears because I don't really care. Fuck 'em. Except Monokuma. And the red one, he's alright I guess.

[dashawfrostart]

So I Completed The GOG Survey, And It Made Me Thoughtful... (a.k.a. Artist's Rant)

... And everybody knows that I become scary when I'm thoughtful, because hello yet another one wall of text 😎 But if you're here, it means you love 'em. Otherwise you would've never come over.

Perhaps, I've already mentioned that before somewhere around here, or maybe not (Frosty does not remember absolutely every single post she writes), that the primary purpose of playing videogames for me is to draw inspirations for my own creative stuffs. I really wish I could signify that in the survey, but alas, I did not have an opportunity to do so, for there was no extra "other" field to fill out. This way, the absolutely biggest factor that drives me to play videogames had to be left out from the survey. And this is very sad, because I would really love to share that. This is not a secret to anyone that I'm very much into the development of my graphic novel right now, to the point that I sacrifice some other activities or aspects of other creative works I really enjoyed earlier (for example, as the pinned message says, I virtually stopped working on greeting cards designs, and I hardly ever do totally random artworks anymore - all for the sake of fetching out a bit more time for myself to further invest into "Time & Again", for that is my priority... and... I stopped assembling papercraft models in my leisure time as well). I have my ups and downs working on "Time & Again", too, so it does not always go smooth as I expected. Sometimes my creative spark needs a push - a thoughtful or an emotional one, or a little of both. That's especially when the videogames come into play for me. Depending on my choice of a game to play, what kind of inspiration I'm seeking, it might be incredibly impactful - sometimes even empowering! I most certainly see videogames as a form of art, there's no denial. An interactive form of art that is - and I treasure that way more than movies that usually require zero involvement from the viewer when it comes down to the story itself. (but overall, my superhuman-proportioned cringe towards movies is a whole another topic, so we'll keep that outside this post for now) I've been playing videogames since childhood - back in the day I used to have a NES/Famicom console, but soon I became a PC gamer. I truly believe that was one of the factors that contributed to my creativity and endless curiosity in visual arts, and perhaps also something that turned me into a thinking person. And by the way, I learnt a lot of interesting stuff about the world through playing videogames, heheheh!

While, perhaps, being purely a form of entertainment to some people (and I don't deny that by any means), I think over the years, with the development in the industry, video games have evolved into something more nowadays, something that can be taken more serious. Art always contains a certain message. Videogames do contain artistic messages, too. Since my priorities have been shifting ever since I started working on "Time & Again", I often think about all of that. My paradigm has cracked and now rearranges itself in a most peculiar way. In fact, I perceive videogames as a form of art more than anything else now. Because this is what it is to me. And I draw inspirations for my own projects from the other people's art. It's really that simple. Art is an experience. I want to experience art - including videogames, for this is one of my favourite forms of art - to feed myself emotion to process and thought to ponder on, that could potentially lead me to the expansion of my own artistic horizons. I think this is truly magical. People's creations inspiring other people's creations is quite possibly worth living for. This way we share our experiences and pass them on to the others. I'd say this is very precious. I could talk about this stuff for hours and hours, but I will stop here, for there's something else.

There is another one interesting point that I wanted to reflect on after completing the survey, and during the last couple years - and the last year especially - it has become fairly important to me. I am incredibly disappointed with the fact that buying a PDF artbook for a game without owning the game itself is not even an option on any of the videogame stores. That is frustrating, and honestly - it doesn't make any sense. The reason is that the artbooks are usually distributed as DLCs for the games. Logically, DLCs DO indeed require the base game, for the additional content usually is something that you can use within the game, such as an extra level, or a skin, or a weapon, etc. But artbooks are neither of those. Most of the artbooks are just separate PDF documents you can read on your desktop computer or a mobile device... and they most certainly do NOT require a base game to be owned. (the only exception to that I've seen so far was the artbook for Atomic Heart that was actually incorporated onto the game and was accessible through the in-game menu. That is, I must admit, an excellent way to prevent people from just "redistributing" (e.g. just a sophisticated word for STEALING, cough cough) the PDFs illegally in the internet - and oh boy, let me tell you, people really love doing that!😅) So why not make them purchasable separately, in case if the user wants to support the artist, but does not necessarily want to play the game (for whatever reason they have - it doesn't matter)? 😁 I was fairly disappointed when I discovered on GOG that I could not buy a Yooka-Laylee comic (that was discounted at the time, and I've been specifically waiting for it be get discounted for a long time) because I didn't have the game on my account on GOG... sadly, I actually do own the game - but on Epic only. I usually prefer to support GOG with the idea of DRM-free content, but that time it just didn't work out for me. So I ended up buying it from Epic anyway. But that's for the game I actually owned. There are plenty of other games that I don't think I will be able to play for different reasons, so I don't wanna buy them - but I sure DO wanna buy the artbooks, to support the artists (and developers, too). But I can't. Because I have to own the game first. The game that I might never play anyway. 🤷‍♀️ Working on my graphic novel sure changed my understanding of the value of art a lot, and also my views on what's important and how my works impact the others, including the fellow artists. Starting last year, I found out that the presence - or absence - of an artbook as a bonus content was one of the main deciding factors for me if I really wanted to buy a game or not. Majority of my last videogame purchases had artbooks included, usually with deluxe editions. It means a lot to me as an artist - aside from simply appreciating the art in those artbooks itself - because I relate quite well and I understand the amount of time and work put into the game development AND development of all the visual materials for the games, breathing life into something that your mind have created and materializing it through the means of pen and paper and/or digitally. And let me tell you: it's not easy at all. One might say that I'm going a bit too hardcore on this whole topic, turning it into some great issue of sorts, etc. But it is what it is. This is what's important to me, and I want to uphold the values.

A shellfish request of mine: I would've really appreciated the videogame services to allow me to search specifically for the games with artbooks as DLCs 😁 And THEN allow me to buy the PDF artboooks separately, pls 😤 That would make me very happy.

I suppose, that would be enough for today's random post on the topics that are very important to me. So I bid you farewell for now and go back to working on my story about crazy Lothar. 🙌

UPD (Oct 2024): I have realized a bit later and forgot to update the post. Shortly after I wrote that post, I have discovered that GOG actually DOES allow you to browse through the games that include artbooks! And that makes me sooooooo happy, you cannot even imagine! It's always small things that make us happy 😉 Ever since I have made that discovery, I've been often browsing GOG sales by the "artbook" tag. Now I'm just waiting for everyone to allow people to buy the artbooks without owning the games 😁