#My art is literally visibly improving as i do these what is this

[lilydoesdrawsometimes]

Paratober 2023

So I am unhinged. Very, very unhinged.

And I decided that for Inktober/Paratober I'd draw Thierry for every single one of them (or involve Thierry in some way) Because, as I said, I am violently unhinged. Of course, I did that! It took me a bit because I had a THREE PART EXAM and was a week behind with stuff, but TODAY I caught up with everything! Isn't that WONDERFUL! The days are going to be VERY out of order since some of them contain blood and I can't really "spoiler" them so some will be under a cut. I'm using three different Paratober prompt things for my own sanity. The first two are the "Main" Paratober ones, both canon and non canon, by @/themochimadeoftaro and then there's "The Stanley Drawable 2023" Prompt list made by @/a-game-of-beginnings.

All that being said, here it is!:

Note: This one is actually Mantra and Thierry's fusion! Designed by myself [insert proud grin here] Under the cut here is going to be Gore, blood, Spoilers for Chapter Ten of The Narrative Parable (Link: READ IT )and the wORsT oF aLl (HEAVY SARCASM) A shirtless man! Good god how could I...

Anyways, be wary if you proceed please :) You have been warned. Other Note that's kind of at the end but also not because wehoa;fdlsi A huge thank you to @vellichorom for being supportive of my cursed antics and violent obsession with Thierry <3 I really love your guy so much lore and all. Not only has he given me the motivation to actually draw regularly where usually I would just give up, but so have you. The rest will be posted individually each day (or every other day if I end up having to miss one) Had to PUT SPACE here because TUMBLR IS STUPID and decided to add the KEEP READING AT THE GODDAMN TOP like a STUPID IDIOT if you read it a certain way

haha get it? Fresh off the pr- [Gets blown up]

He's gonna get sunburnt I stg

[anonymouspuzzler]

HAPPY UPDATE DAY!!! 🏠

After all this time, all this hard work, I can finally tell you all more about my work on Welcome Home beyond "Dude Just Trust Me I Work On It I Swear" !!

I've been calling myself the "production manager" because a lot of what I've done has been in that realm - making checklists and spreadsheets, doing research, sending emails, and generally keeping our wonderful team on track to do the incredible things they do, with all the support they need! I'm very lucky and grateful to get to support Clown and all the incredible actors and artists we've brought on!!

that said, over the time I've been part of this project (I looked back and realized February 1st this year is when it all Officially Began, can you believe it), I've gotten to work on some more obvious, visible things you'll find on the site today as well! most prominently, I am very proud to say, I was the curator of the very real Welcome Home exhibition!! Clown was extremely generous and supportive in letting me bring his work into the world this way, and with their help it became bigger and better than I ever could have dreamed! Though this iteration was very small and private due to our venue, I hope the few of you I know who attended enjoyed it very much, and for the rest, know we hope to find ways to host the exhibition in other and more public venues in the future! (Where and when, I don't know, but I'll work hard to make it happen...!)

As part of the exhibition, I was able to create a lot of new props to help build the world of Welcome Home! Most excitingly, I was able to create a real working toy telephone, and help Clown to find our talented group of voice actors to provide the recordings! And of course, I was able to meet dear sweet Wally and Home themselves, who were the sweetest little peanuts and a true pair of professionals! Just delights to work with!!

Though this was my most prominent contribution, somehow, that wasn't all! You will find bits and pieces of my art and writing all over the newest website update (some places more obvious than others...), and I was able to contribute to building many of the new and updated site pages as well! We've all worked so hard on everything you'll find there, so I hope you all enjoy the exciting new additions to the neighborhood!

My final little statement while I have my sweet little soapbox here... every last one of you who has provided support, even just one ko-fi tip, has Directly made this update Possible!! Not only do these tips allow us very literally to pay for supplies, art, voice work and the like, it very directly Supports and Improves the livelihoods of every single person involved!! so if you have the means, and would like to do so, please do consider tipping or subscribing to Clown and/or any of the other artists and actors involved!

And with all that... thank you, neighbors!! And Welcome Home!!

[min4yu]

missed feelings • jeon wonwoo

nonidol!wonwoo x best friend!reader - warnings: fluff, oblivious!reader, simp!oblivious!wonwoo, other idols will be mentioned, a few suggestive touches, light smut is mentioned so minors DNI - synopsis: this guy is head over heels for his best friend. he's always there for her, supporting her through thick and thin. but, there's a twist. she has no idea about his feelings. he tries to drop hints and do sweet things, but she just sees him as a friend. will he ever gather the courage to confess his love? will she realize her true feelings? - wc: 1.5k - masterlist

a/n: this is my first long fic! i hope you guys enjoy! it's not the best but i hope to improve in the future! this is not proofread either! i know this is very rushed but i do hope to get better so please be patient! also thank you for 50 followers! stay tuned and feel free to send some asks! much love >.< !

you and wonwoo had met through your communications class in your college, years ago. you two never spoke to each other until you were partnered up to work on a project.

he was always quiet, focusing on photography. you only spoke when spoken too, focusing on art.

now here you are; mid twenties and at a bar with a few of your friends. you two weren't the party type, only coming to keep each other company. you had only been there for a few hours, watching the people dance around you. wonwoo had walked up to you, seeing you alone watching everyone.

"not enjoying yourself?" he yelled over the loud music. you shook your head no. "it's not really my cup of tea!" he chuckled at your response. he always laughed at your silly jokes. most of the time the jokes wouldn't even funny.

"wanna go back to my place?" you nodded at his words. "let me say goodbye to my friends then we can head out!" you departed from him for a minute before walking over to your friends karina and giselle, giving them a quick hug. "i'm heading out with wonwoo! please get home safely!"

the girls held onto you, giggling drunkenly, karina speaking first. "we will girly! go get your man!" you dismissed her words before waving goodbye.

you walked up to the bar entrance where wonwoo waited for you. "ready to go?" you smiled before walking out of the bar, being hit with a fresh breeze, "it feels great out here."

wonwoo nodded in response, his gazing shifting to your features. he couldn't help but notice the subtle relief in your face since you exited the bar. his eyes gazed from your lips, your face, your hair, your outfit, making his way back up to your eyes. you turned to face wonwoo again, completely missing his eyes on you.

"let's go back to my place, hm?" he half-smiled at your words before you both got into your car and you began driving.

ᡣ𐭩

you and wonwoo arrived at your apartment not long ago, the both of you sitting in the living room chatting about things going on in each others lives.

you took a sip of your drink before speaking, "what's your love life looking like?" he almost choked on his own drink.

"well- ahem- there's this girl that i've liked; for years now. every time i try to make a move of some sort, she never notices, like ever. i would try to be as obvious as possible but i guess she doesn't feel the same?", he spoke. you stared at him, feeling sorry about his situation and frustrated with the girl. it was you.

"how dare she?! you're literally the best person to know! you're so sweet, you're caring, you even laugh at my non funny jokes so what is not to notice? you're a good friend to me so i'm sure you'll be a great boyfriend to her!"

friend. a good friend. he let your words sink in, almost feeling a pang in his heart of frustration, confusion, and so many more things. he just nodded along with what you were saying. his thoughts were getting the best of him as you spoke. it's you! how can he be anymore visible with his feelings? you're all he wants and you can't even take the signs that he wants you!

"what's your love live like?", he asked the same question, putting his drink down to have his full attention on you. "i don't know really. i liked this one guy back when we were in college but we stopped talking. he was kind of a prick if you ask me. there's someone else i like but i'm sure he's going to get a girlfriend soon." it was him.

you and wonwoo talked for a bit before you decided to watch a movie to end your late night, settling on the new movie inside out 2.

you moved closer to wonwoo, cuddling into his side before resting your head on his chest. he played with your hair, trying to focus on the movie that was playing. he could lie and say that he wasn't phase by you laying on his chest, but his breathing and subtle tent in his pants would say otherwise.

as the movie came to an end, you sat up from his chest and stretched, "it was so good! i'm so happy that they decided to make a second movie because i think everyone needed a part two."

he nodded at you before standing up, pulling out his phone to place an uber for his departure. "i'll be out of here soon, my uber is on his way." realistically, he didn't want to leave you. he wanted to stay, laying beside you in your bed, holding you, kissing you, fucking you.

you gave him a hug before he left. "get home safe wonwoo. text me." he hugged you back tighter, speaking into your ear with an almost husky voice, "will do." with that, he walked to the uber with a hard-on and a mind telling him to go back and confess.

a few days later, you called wonwoo crying when your date stood you up, leaving you outside of the fancy restaurant with your pretty white dress and heels.

"hey pretty, what's the matter?" his voice was smooth like chocolate, making you sniffle. he would hate to admit it but the sound of your cries turned him on.

"he stood me up! he left me out here and made me look like a dumbass!" you've gone on countless dates, trying to get wonwoo out of your mind. the only thing that plagued your mind nowadays was wonwoo. his touch. his voice. the thought of what his dick looked like.

"i'll come get you. just send me your address and i'll be on the way. stay somewhere safe," he said as he grabbed his car keys before heading out to his car. you followed his directions; going somewhere safe and sending the address before hanging up on him.

ᡣ𐭩

around ten minutes later, he pulled up outside of the restaurant, honking his horn. you came out with dried tears on your face, your purse and phone in hand before opening the door and taking a seat on the passenger side. you turned to look at wonwoo. "thank you."

he nodded, taking his thumbs to wipe your tears. "don't cry. he was probably a douche bag anyway. let me take you to my place, hm?" you leaned into his touch before nodding. you sat straight in the seat, pulling down the visor to observe yourself. "i look a mess."

he smiled as he pulled off. "you look anything less than a mess y/n." you heart skipped a beat at his words, his doing the same, yet neither of you knew.

he drove you both to his apartment, small talk on the way there. he noticed the way your fingers played with your rings. he noticed the way you fiddled with the necklace on your neck. he noticed everything little detail about you and didn't have the guts to tell you how he really felt. but today would be the day. your shitty hookup left you behind at a restaurant, all dolled up just for him not to show.

today was the day he makes his move.

ᡣ𐭩

you both arrived to his apartment, now sitting on the couch. you faced wonwoo and he faced you.

you took in every details on his face. his eyes, his lips, his nose, him. everything you wanted in a guy, right in front of you. but don't think he didn't do the same; he took in your everything.

he took your hand in his before speaking. "y/n, can i tell you something? and when i tell you this, promise me you won't look at me any differently?" you nodded, gesturing for him to continue. "you were the girl i talked about when we had came back from the bar. i never said anything because i'm positive you don't feel the same way, and that's okay! i just wanted to tell you before you actually got into a relationship but i-"

you cut him off with a simple kiss to his lips, his hands immediately going to your face, cupping your cheeks. you pulled back slightly before speaking, "you were the guy i spoke about."

that's all he needed to hear before you both kissed again. both of your hands were moving quickly; taking over clothes, trying to savor each others touch, everything you've both completely missed.

when you both pulled back for air, you were both left in your undergarments, breathing heavily. everything you both missed in front of your eyes.

you climbed onto of his hips, leaning in to kiss him again. he spoke between each kiss, almost feeling like it was a dream. "need you... right now... waited so damn long."

you moved his underwear down his hips, him doing the same for you before you sunk down onto his cock, both of you whining out in pleasure. you didn't move just yet before you spoke. "please wonwoo.... no more waiting."

ᡣ𐭩

tag list: open! just put it in my asks!

[beesmygod]

There aren't many careers that do make the world a better place or fulfill some unmet need tbh. I've worked on a lot of farms and that's heart-rending because it's all profit based (even when we were growing to sell to the county foodbank) and I'm currently a teacher and you can imagine the ulcer I've gotten trying to make education worthwhile in a parent-panopticon/ test heavy world. You just have to do what you can with your career without working for a defense contractor or the bloodmongers of freer sackler and try to live life outside of work as an activist (communist) too. Which I think everyone who follows your work sees that commitment. You should check out Gran Fury's oral histories about A Day Without Art and their days of action.

i want to be more clear so we arent talking past each other: both of the careers you cited are both careers i would view, regardless of their profit motive or bureaucratic nightmarishness, are jobs with visible and inarguable immense material impact on the world. a farmer grows food, a teacher is a surrogate caretaker for 6 hours a day with the additionally difficulty of needing to impart information to their wards. these are not small or inconsequential jobs.

im not talking exclusively about political impact; i think aiming to make political waves this as an individual is extremely out of touch with reality. i literally mean material impact. i also am not discounting the importance of art creation individually as a balm for the human soul. like, im not saying art is not important, esp the creation process. but im seriously questioning the monetary and mass societal/political value of it. which sounds really extreme i guess lol. i am really cynical and a lot of the talking point conjured up by my peers explaining their dedication to the arts read like self-congratulatory fanfiction based on how they think art should impact the world, as opposed to how it actually does.

let's be honest: i post for a living. some of my posts are higher effort and include paneled images, but its posting. at best, the art i make is a luxury product in a world where luxury is becoming increasingly unaffordable and unjustifiable. its getting increasingly more difficult to enjoy what i do when i know the ppl who support me are people with real jobs, doing the material improvements, who live paycheck to paycheck

[meirimerens]

how do i get into drawing more? i've enjoyed drawing since i was a child but i never really practiced it that much and as such most of my stuff is pretty rudimentary from a technique standpoint. i only have physical supplies and i cannot afford an ipad or a drawing pad any time soon

there is no need for an ipad or a tablet if you don't already draw something expansive you don't even have to worry about that. I (and i imagine many/most artists who began drawing young) got my start on normal paper sheets the one they call "printer paper" because it's thin and textureless. Actually that might be a lie because I think that even before that I was drawing on walls so truly full circle of a thing.

The only stuff you need to draw are something To Draw With, whether it be a pencil or a pen; if it is a pencil also have an eraser, a no-bullshit rectangular eraser, I've literally never understood what the good was in the pink & blue ones beyond making holes & stamps in them, just get a normal good eraser, slightly squishy so it doesn't pull at the paper like a maniac when you use; And paper to draw in. I'd say get a sketchbook for the convenience + the chill of it all. Doesn't even have to be thicker "drawing paper" it can just be a random, lineless notebook. I like mine to have a spiral spine so I can take full advantage of the page but don't even need that. Genuinely for years this was my drawing material (+ whatever paper I found, including my school supplies)

(Staedtler eraser very good actually I've been using it for 10yrs among the better I've used if you find it get yourself one. This shit was like 1.50€ at my local papeteries and then again they mightve inflated the price)

Now I'm gonna tell you about my life because I think it colors the way I approach drawing and as such the advice I'll give you: I started drawing really young (like pre-dates knowing how to read or write) and never stopped. That means I, technically, have some 20+ years of drawing, but I still struggle with what are kinda "fundamentals". I only quite late, technically speaking, gotten into trying my hand as perspective & naturalistic anatomy. That's because I had, at the start, nothing but passion.

And that's gonna be the one piece of advice I have for you:

Get really, really into something, and start trying like the devil to get good at drawing it.

When I was a wee lad I loved horses so much (and I still do.) and all I wanted to do was get good at drawing horses so I could draw stories with horses, so I practiced drawing horses from the horse magazines i had. Around 11, I got really into manga and all I wanted to do was get good at drawing manga so I could draw my own (a lot of my actually like Formative Years of drawing was manga, and I think it's still visible especially when I draw cartoony faces these days), so I practiced drawing manga from the how-to books their were at the library (and we had actually good ones, including Japanese mangaka's translated into french). Around 14, I got really into Video Game, and all I wanted to do was get real good at drawing the characters, so i practiced from youtube tutorials & other internet finds. Nowadays I'm into art history & archeology, and go out of my way to see and grasp and understand #whateverthiswas and try to pepper it (or sometimes dump the whole bag) in my images.

If you're starting "from nothing", I feel like practicing anatomy for the sake of anatomy (for example) will just piss you off. When you get more into the groove of things, and actually want to Get Serious, you'll sit down to Actually Practice, but I personally have always found that Learning for the Passionate Goal makes the whole thing more interesting than Learning To Learn To Then Attempt The Passionate Goal.

It's gonna suck for a while. It truly will. You'll see every improvement so drastic you'll be like ewww what was that 2 months ago. But you will HAVE HAD FUN DOING IT!!!

Tldr

1) get into something. Whatever it is.

2) collect tools and tutorial to serve whatever it is you're into, and not try to get into the tools: that will come later, once you're already in the habit of drawing.

3) you don't need fancy material

4) never underestimate the power of the humble ballpoint pen and clicky pencil

5) train your brain, the muscle of your brain, to conjure up images until there is nothing you can do BUT exteriorize them lest they poison you

6) you don't have to post anything online btw. In fact, I attribute the fact that I have always loved art so much to the fact that for the first 15yrs of my life I could truly just enjoy the process and vibe. I still do, don't take me wrong, and truly I draw for myself and you're all trapped in here with me. Looking at the slop i feed you. But there is an inherent, new dimension added with Being The Blogger. So have fun and vibe.

7) the heart is the horse, the hands are the rider

[divorcetual]

🔥+animanga

I asked ppl to do this n then fell asleep im so sorry

ANIME ADAPTATIONS ARE NOTTTTT NECESSARY FOR ALL MANGA OH MY GOD. ACTUALLY IT WLD MAKE A LOT OF THEM WORSE. Anime adaptation baseline for animation has been getting a lot better lately (a very standard studio now could be on par with the most beloved and highly praised studio ten or twenty years ago) but NO MATTER WHAT the art- especially lighting- of a manga will almost always look worlds better than the anime adaptation, simply because more detail can be added when its a still image. Similarly, some things CANT be reasonably added from a manga without it looking weird. Comics can get away with noy having a background on a panel, be it out of ease or influencing the mood of the panel, but animation has a lot harder of a time switching from a background to a solid coor or design without good reason- its not impossible, and in fact very common of you look for it, but its just... not smth you can do as often as in manga

[ID: The manga and anime versions of the "I am L" scene in Death Note. In the manga, lights shocked reaction is visible and ghe background has a flash of white to show that. Both L and Light have more detail.

In the anime, the visuals are a lot closer to L's face, with light not seen at all. There is less detail, but there is a shadow cast over half of L's face /End ID]

Take the "I am L" scene for example. The original manga has more shock to it. More of a creepy feeling, even. The anime maintains that in a way, but it also sacrifices a lot of the original appeal of that panel- the bacground flash, Light's face, etc. I wont discredit the anime and say that they didnt do a great job replicating the feeling with great music and voice dubbing, but visual-wise its. a little lacking. I will give credit to them, the shadow over the face does a more than you would think to improve this scene.

This is a manhwa, but a lot of fans bashed the solo leveling anime for this exact reason- the art of the manhwa had so much more detail and complex lighting than the anime, bcs it would be unreasonable for animators for spend time on the lighting for a minor scene in the show, but its easy for a manhwa artist to do it. And this is DESPITE solo levelling animation and visuals being an INCREDIBLE adaptation of the mood and original panels

[ID: A screenshot of the anime vs manhwa adaptatiom of a character shooting a magic blast. The manhwa has more detail in the character and harsher lighting, and the anime has brighter light and a larger blast /End ID]

Pleaseeee click on the manhwa one to see the full thing. One thing about the manhwa vs anime is the fact that manhwas are often made to be scrolled vetically, where anime is a horizontal screen. The screenshot above of the manhwa isnt even the entire thing, it didnt fit in my screen. Imo the anime is AMAZING and does a fantastic job adapting it, but literally it Cant Do It Perfectly because of the difference in media form.

ALSO !! ppl forget that comics are an art form in of themself- the way the story is told goes beyond just showing the characters doing things. Panelling specifically is an incredibly influential aspect of it. YES, many authors dont put so much into the panels that a major facet is lost if made into an anime, but SOME DO

[ID: Two Tokyo Goul pages. One is almost entrely empty besides Kaneki sitting in a chair saying "Mother". Above him is a text box reading "Instead of a person who hurts others, become a person who...".

The second page shows Kaneki's torture, the words "Over and over" written many times across the page, in various sizes and layouts. Through yhe page Kaneki narrates "When the injections wore off Yamori would give me "food" and wait for the injured areas to heal. Then, he would start all over again and give me an injection. Repeatedly. My fingers and toes regrew as if they were nails and hair, over and over. They. Regrew. Every. Time. and I felt like I was truly a monster." /End ID]

Sui Ishida is a genius in terms of panelling and using the art form to his advantage- I didnt even include my fav page of his here, bcs theres soooo many good ones and I hit the image limit lolz. He utilizes text in a way unreplicatable by an anime adaptation, which doesnt use that. Even if it did, text shown in an animation has a different feel to it than a comic, where thoughts, diologue, and narration all use text. Much like the formatting of Solo Levellinng, TG text cant be replicated in another medium.

[ID: A page from Chainsaw Man, in which all the panels are seperates by arms /End ID]

Fujimoto has some amazing panelling in CSM, in the way he seperates panels. While this is the most notable one, theres SO many worth sharing if I wasnt constrained by an image limit. Utilizing the characters and scenes themselves as the panel borders enhances the atmosphere, and creates an even mote sinister feeling to the page.

[ID: Two panels and a page from Witch Hat Ateliar. The panels are formatted by being indented into a wall. The page has a scenic panel with a complex, storybook-like border /End ID]

Kamome Shirahama is anothet author with amazing usage of panels and formatting- when background or lore is given, the panels have a fancy, intricate border to indicate its a story being told- see the right image. She also uses the parts of other panels to interact with new ones (see left image), and often has characters interact with the borders themselves. There is SO much I can say about her work but actually I think watching this video will do you better.

im getting exhausted writing all of this I may come back and talk abt gnpp since that was the one I actually meant to write abt. Augh whatever take this for now

[jetaloen]

i LOVE the way you draw faces and expressions—where do you usually get references/learn how to do it? i’ve been trying to make characters of my own and the face just always throws me off

thank u!!! faces are the most important thing about a character to me and they are my absolute FAV thing to draw

i feel like i learned mostly from manga, but have been bolstering that foundation by just LOOKING at art in general. i dedicate a lot of time for looking at art and finding inspiration. i mainly use twitter to find cool artists and pinterest to find everything else, ie manga panels, fashion photography, random insp stuff. helps to find a lot of artists u like so u can have an idea of where u wanna take your style

nothing beats refs of actual ppl/studies but sometimes it can be kinda hard to know where to start. i personally pull a lot from the manga i read. i'll use takehiko inoue's art as an example for this post bc hes my fav artist.

these are some of the characters from vagabond. takehiko inoue's style is super realistic w unique faces. i esp like how he does his characters' eyebrows and the ridge of the eye socket. the latter literally was a revelation to me earlier this year in establishing shading and planes of the face, which always gave me trouble before.

each character is super consistent. no matter his age, this guy's (kohei tsujikaze) face is unmistakeable bc of his bottom eyelashes, eyebrow shape, light irises, and full bottom lip. kohei makes that same smirk with the left corner of his mouth all throughout his life. i think details like that are cool so i try to keep my character's facial features and expressions consistent too. it depends on the character a bit. some characters are more emotional than others and might show a wider variety of expressions.

so what i usually do is define in my brain what each facial feature looks like for each character. for example, rohan has bold eyebrows and small, downturned eyes w no visible pupil. he has heavy eyelids, a strong nose w a bump, :3 mouth expression, and a wide chin. he looks calm, gentle, and mature. he has a lot of square-ish shapes

vs volo, who has a pretty mid appearance in game (lol) so i like to exaggerate the sharpness of his features to show his energy. he is loud and passionate, so i like making him look kinda wild. his points make him look like a dangerous porcupine beast which is funny but also cool and fun to draw

takehiko inoue is like my one example here bc if i had to pic a singular artist who's had notable influence over my style, it'd be him. but really the list of influences is enormous. i really stress just looking at art while making time to practice. with time your eyes and hands improve, so keep pushing

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-09-02

Do you rember. Wen day is dark, sember.

Listening: @cyelatm released a new album Habit Prism that I've been listening to in bits and pieces. Even, rhythmic folk, good music to have on when you have people around.

In that vein, Bandcamp Friday this coming Friday! Make your lists!

Watching: Watched The Raid which I've had kicking around for a bit. Do you want to watch guys punch each other all over for like 15 minutes at a time for an hour? No? Get better taste in movies and then watch guys punch each other all over for like 15 minutes at a time for an hour.

The Raid is so obviously made for like two dollars, there's one building, every single gun and piece of armour is airsoft gear, the camera is visibly some mid-tier hardware that suffers from severe rolling shutter, and it kicks so much ass.

There's some really interesting things happening with camera movement in this movie. Really really complicated multi-axis camera moves, the same shot will take like six different dutch angles in a single move, or will lock on to different objects and follow them, it's great for martial arts but it's also used to pretty good effect in some interstitial scenes.

The culminating fight with Mad Dog is so wild, literally just three guys in an empty concrete cube fighting for a solid ten or twelve minutes and it works! Does not seem possible. They actively remove almost every prop from the room so it's just guys hitting each other but they keep doing incredible stunts.

It's funny looking at the gifsets on here because they're unreadable, everything happens so fast and requires so much context that is only delivered in the full flow of the movie. My favourite part is when he said "It's Raiding Time" and raided all over those guys.

Reading: Finally sat down and got through the Phalanx's Twilight, Legion's Triumph series on acoup.

Sections IVa-c mostly slid off my brain because it's a bunch of wars I don't know enough about to contextualize but it's mostly justification for what's explained in parts I-III which were great, and it's an interesting look at how the political and military structures of Rome interwove to improve the effectiveness of the Legion.

Also reading Skin Horse, which I started ages ago but never got very far, I think because I started a job around that time and lost track of it. Sticking webcomic tabs on my little ARM tablet is really convenient, I've jammed Out Of Placers and Laika's Comet in there as well, it's been a while since I did a big archive dive on a comic.

Skin Horse is very much of its time, not really in sensibility but just in content. The nerds are characterized by liking Harry Potter.

Making: Resolved the power delivery issues that were causing me to have mysterious failures with the LED driver. That was annoying. Anyway remember to split your power supply when you could potentially pull like 10A@5V to drive LED's.

Playing: Tactical Breach Wizards campaign is ongoing, as you get deeper into the campaign your team expands which dramatically complicates operations, your possible actions explode, and I'm not even halfway through.

Dall was my newest operator at time of writing and she's probably the hardest to use, she can deal a lot of damage but relies more so than anyone else on good positioning, it's really easy to end up way out of place and waste her moves, and she's too heavy to shunt around with Jen's storm attacks the way you can with the others.

Speaking of those, I really like how the short turns and deterministic actions mean you can get really into the weeds. The first time I used a gale grenade to shunt Zan over one extra block to line him up I assumed this would be a sometimes food but you really find yourself doing stuff like that all the time.

I'm heading back and picking through some of the challenge missions concurrently with playing partially to stretch out overall gameplay and partially because I think having fewer abilities unlocked will make those more interesting.

Tools and Equipment: You know, I think we know each other pretty well, I can put this here. The Doxy USB-C Wand is a safe and legal thrill.

[zoeythebee]

Horror game idea I have.

So Fnaf Security Breach fucking sucks right?

But I thought it could be vastly improved by

- Making the animatronics way more threatening

- Make your visibility / ability to navigate limited shit so you have to use the cameras to navigate

- Remove all your defenses

So here is my idea. You are a repair dude called into some building to do repairs.

Uh oh it's full of monsters.

So your repairs and get out.

Game play takes place in a top down view. Single consistantly sized rooms similar to Legend of Zelda.

Your character has a flashlight that eliminates a cone of light, everything outside of that besides vague outlines are pitch black.

Use security cameras to check for threats in neighboring rooms. Different monsters require different strategies.

No weapons, and no hiding. Your only options are to evade or avoid.

I have some ideas for monsters that require unique strategies. And I have a design concept in mind for the monsters to.

So in fnaf one there is a pretty unique dynamic in night four and five where Freddy is the most threatening but the most predictable. You have to keep watching him otherwise he will move. Now bonnie and chica are more predictable since you can literally just check your lights, but juggling all of them at once creates a unique tension that I want to try to mimic.

I'm shooting for either black and white pixel art or maybe a slightly surreal rpg-maker visual style.

This is also going to be made completely from scratch without a graphics library. Because in my brain all this game really needs for graphics is tile rendering, Sprite rendering, and basic buffer writing. Which I think wont be too hard. Especially with Sokol taking care of the boring stuff.

From scratch is also good because I cant actually think of a way to impliment some of the visuals with SDL or even Raylib.

But I can think of how to do it with shaders.

Anyway that's kinda what I'm working on, well see how it turns out.

[shinsources-archived]

Visibility Features + Preventing Third-Parties Sharing Our Info.

So I was in the process of making my new blog strictly for advertising my fanfics, original fiction, worldbuilding, and what have you. Now because of the recent events that came about with Tumblr being Stupidr and giving out everybody's shenanigans "to train AI models" as they claim, I wanted to go ahead and go out of my way to Enable it (something I strongly encourage literally everybody to do btw).

Hide <username> from people without an account. This blog will only be viewable to people that are logged into Tumblr and its submission form will only be available on mobile apps. Learn more.

Discourage external searching of <username>. External search engines like Google or Yahoo will be discouraged from indexing your blog and showing it in search results. It is ultimately up to them to honor your request. Learn more.

Exclude <username> from Tumblr Search. Your blog will be hidden from Tumblr search results, and the in-blog search function will be disabled for everyone, including you. Learn more.

Prevent third-party sharing for <username>. Prevent this blog's content—even in reblogs—from being shaerd with our licensed network of content and research partners, including those that train AI models. Learn more.

Three of the four things listed above are, in my opinion, strictly optional (for the most part) whereas one of them is obligatory. And that, once again, happens to be the Prevent third-party sharing for <username> option.

Now using programs such as DeepL, Grammarly, Hemmingway, ProWritingAid, and what have you are fine since they're writing assistants. What that means is that they're used for improving our grammar, punctuation, phrasing, etc. But using AI Programs to "create" fanfics or original stories or fanart or adoptables to sell?? No. That's not okay.

It's one thing to trace over things to learn how to make body parts proportionate in various angles. In fact, it's encouraged for young artists to start out by tracing and then watching/reading/viewing tutorials on how to draw things via freestyle and by merely looking at them. And when it comes to improving our writing styles it's best to read a lot of books, poetry, scripts, articles, songs, etc. because this helps us learn a wide variety of different literary devices and point of views and writing styles. Not only that but it also broadens our vocabulary. The same is equally true for constantly writing. The more we write the better our writing, style, vocabulary, and what have you improve.

This is why so many of us are anti-AI. There are so many people who pour their hearts and souls into their art (be it writing, gfx, drawing, or whatever) and these AI Bots are taking all of these away from us. They're also very privacy invasive (in which the internet is already hella problematic when it comes to being invasive and not caring about our privacy so there's that to consider).

[iraprince]

Sorry if you've already said but can I ask what age you started drawing? I'm in my twenties wondering what sort of skill level I can acquire if I haven't been applying myself very much before this point

i have been drawing for as long as i can remember. i started wanting to actively improve my technical skills when i was a teenager; i think i started learning how to actually actively improve my technical skills (on purpose instead of by accident, lol!) in my 20s.

(also -- as wordy as it may be, you'll notice i'm really particular about saying "technical skill" over and over! this is because it is only one factor of what drawing is, but a lot of times when ppl talk about being "good at" drawing, tech skill is what they really mean. when i say technical skill, i'm usually referring to draftsmanship, the ability to draw things not just accurately/realistically, but as they appear in your head; your hand doing what your mind tells you to, your ability to meet your own intentions/expectations for a piece, however it makes sense to conceptualize it. it is NOT the most important part of drawing, not by a long shot, but realistically it's often the sticking point for people who are learning + it can be one of the big struggles in keeping morale up.)

these may seem like finicky distinctions to make, but to me they make sense! bc the benefit we may have starting as adults is a better grasp of how to CONSCIOUSLY study and improve on specific areas of a skill, vs the passive improvement that will generally happen from pure directionless repetition. i feel that i've had jumps in my technical skill level over the course of a year or two as an adult that are bigger than my improvement through all of middle + high school, for example -- and i bring this up bc if what ur concerned about is technical skill, that is not purely 100% about time invested, and starting later than some does not mean you're at some kind of massive insurmountable disadvantage.

in that specific example, the difference as an adult was going into it with intentional curiosity and a drive to specifically improve, vs middle + high school was six years of me happily drawing the same 4-5 characters floating from the waist up in perpetuity. were those years wasted bc i wasn't drilling myself and doing studies? fuck no! but my progress was different, bc i was focused on other, equally important parts of learning to draw. (like discovering + honing my own tastes, consuming a lot of media that inspired me, and having fun!!!!)

SO, anyway, my personal perspective on the skill level u can attain if u start now: the same as anyone else!! and i don't think i'm being like, sunny or unreasonably optimistic in saying so. i think keeping ur chin up and being patient w urself as u learn to draw is generally way harder than actually drawing, for literally everyone. u have to make a lot of dogshit drawings to eventually make good ones, and that is the part that's actually really really hard. but u can make decisions about how and where to apply the time u invest that may show u visible progress in ways you'll find surprising! (pls balance that time with shit that's just fun, too.)

in case it's helpful, i'll leave u with a different very wordy multi-para response where i talk about where to start if you'd like to learn to draw with no/little prior experience: here! it's def not comprehensive and is totally colored by my own opinions/perspective on art, and specifically on illustration/comics, but i hope it might be a starting point :)

[argumentalist]

...and now for something completely different!

I'd expressed some interest in learning to crochet and my Wife got me this "learn to crochet" kit. The bag contains basically everything needed to make a cute little fox plushie. I think the only thing that wasn't included were some scissors.

May be kind of trivial, but I was a little annoyed that there weren't actually any instructions in the bag. The whole guide is online.

That's honestly probably a good thing... I don't know how to crochet and the guided instruction was absolutely necessary. But I really like having something physical to look at and work off of. I didn't like needing to have a screen handy for pretty much the whole project.

I mean, to be fair, there is a downloadable/printable guide online... But it's clearly not intended to be your primary reference. It's not super beginner-friendly.

The kit includes a pre-started piece and I had no idea what that meant when I was getting started. I was just kind of like "oh, ok, that's good I guess?" Later on you have to start a couple pieces yourself and it's definitely a little challenging. Not impossible, obviously. But having that pre-started piece right at the beginning of the project made it much, much easier to get started. Much less intimidating. Very smart move to include that.

I guess this isn't really my very first time doing fiber arts... I took a home economics class in highschool back in the '80s. We sewed some shirts or something as a project - so I at least know how to do some basic stuff. But I've never done any kind of crochet or knitting or anything.

The whole first section of this project was very easy and unintimidating.

This is where things kind of started to go sideways - almost literally.

They suggested a kind of "easy mode" chain stitch thing to start the white belly piece because it was easier than doing a magic loop. I'm not sure I agree? I used the magic loop for later bits and I don't think it was that hard. And I really don't like the visible hole in the middle of this belly piece.

I clearly attached the belly a bit off-center and it doesn't look great.

And this is about where I noticed my stitches were really pretty tight. Like occasionally I was having a hard time getting the hook through some bits. And I guess I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong there? I mean, obviously, just don't make everything so tight... But it's not something I was doing on purpose. And none of the instructions/help sections had any tips for what to do if your stitches were just consistently too tight.

So the whole project wound up feeling kind of stiff and solid. Not as soft and fluffy as I had wanted.

I guess I probably over-stuffed this thing? Or maybe it's because the stitches are all so tight and the whole thing is kind of stiff? It doesn't want to sit upright. I can't really flatten-out the bottom and it keeps tipping over. And I'm not convinced I've got things positioned right... The belly seems a little low, the tail a little high...

It's hard starting off something completely new. Obviously I don't know what I'm doing and it's not right - but I don't know how to fix it either. I don't even really know what to search for to find solutions.

And there it is - my very first crochet project!

My Wife tells me it looks good and I should be proud... And I guess I am kind of proud that I at least stuck with it and finished the project... But all I can see are the flaws and issues. All the things I wish I could fix.

Looking at all the left-over yarn and stuffing... It feels like I could probably make a whole other plushie. The only thing that'd be missing are the eyes. The kit came with three eyes - I guess one was a spare? If they'd included four eyes I could make a whole second fox. Maybe I could just embroider the eyes?

I'm tempted to try making another one just to see if I can improve... But, also, I'm kind of annoyed and intimidated and just glad it's done.

[muninnhuginn]

for all that Stranger is a very plotty series I really appreciate how it always makes the time for little character moments. things like han yeo-jin’s drawings, hwang si-mok vs food, kang won-chul’s silly office habits. and then it builds on these to give actual character insight?

han yeo-jin likes her drawings, a load of her doodles are actively anime-style which is fitting considering how much she’s into animanga, she likes to gift them and they mean a lot to her. they’re literally part of how she shows her appreciation for others, from her coworkers to si-mok. so in s2 when she’s suddenly *not* drawing? that shows something is severely wrong even before si-mok points it out. her returning to doodling later on after starting to mend the rift with si-mok therefore pulls some weight in showing that she’s healing, but at the same time, when her co-workers look over she still hides what’s she’s doing. this contrasts with her old work where she literally left post-its of her art as gifts on full display. she may be improved from her lowest state but she’s still not comfortable in her current environment.

si-mok vs food, better people than me have explained, but he’s constantly interrupted from having meals because of cases. it starts mostly as a running gag but it does get built upon. when he’s at odds with another character and they try to have a meal with him it’s inevitably cut short (kang won-chul’s s1 manager intervention, lee yeon-jae meeting the team) or he actively dislikes the food (and this part gets more blatant as he starts to express more emotions in general. initially it’s other characters who have to directly comment on or ask him about not approving of the food whereas by the time he has the meal with woo tae-ha the disgust is visible on his face). the only times he’s able to have a proper meal is when he’s started to let people in, so si-mok accepting the invite to the team meal in s1 (just before everything all falls to pieces) is a big step. it catches everyone off-guard for a reason. beyond that, there are the meetings with han yeo-jin which are some of the few times he’s actually able to have a proper meal with someone.

si-mok vs alcohol is another indicator. much of s1 is spent refusing alcohol and saying he doesn’t drink. in situations where someone else is drinking and it would be socially acceptable for him to mirror them (see eun-soo drinking alone in the pop-up bar) he is notable for how he refuses to do so. it takes most of the season for him to ‘give in’ enough to drink and when he does it shows that he may not be showing it in other ways but he has hit a low point. and that he chooses to share his history with yeo-jin when he’s in that state speaks volumes as to how much more he trusts her now. (I could speculate here about how him avoiding alcohol seems to be rooted in a not wanting to lose control kind of thing which is at odds with his whole emotionless deal in the same way his repeated lying about his pain is but that’s a tangent so I’ll leave it be) and at the end of s1 he drinks socially with yeo-jin and later on in that episode shows a full smile, showing him choosing to ease up re: alcohol is actually a *positive* development for him in some way. so him then reverting back in s2 to not drinking alcohol? it’s either his development being stunted/reverted or he’s not in the position where he’s with someone he trusts enough to drink with.

as for kang won-chul? I don’t think there’s any real *development* as such with his office habits (spinny chair, trying to get the paper into the bin), but it does demonstrate he doesn’t conform as much as he seems to at first glance. he’s a character who at first glance knows the ways this all works and blends in with it, but he doesn’t quite fit.

my point is just, the show didn’t have to bother with any of this. they could have still hit all the plot points and it would have made sense. the characters would have still stood up to scrutiny. but they chose to include all these little indicators that build up a picture of all the characters and where they are in their respective arcs. and I appreciate it so much that the show trusts the audience to complete the puzzle.

[ranticore]

hello... 5-15 of those asks if you'd like for John (any iteration!) and Nico... hehe

yay 🧡

5. Is there any significance behind their hair color? 

not really lol. john's hair is brown because it's the most common hair colour, nico [pascal's object of obsession from 2017 inver] has black hair because i wanted to further visually distinguish him from bowman. both have visible grey streaks because it's an easy way to help define the shape of the hair when drawing it

6. Is there any significance behind their eye color? 

yes but only in that they (and all my characters) have brown eyes because i got tired of ppl seemingly on purpose avoiding brown eyes for their interesting characters. so i only make brown-eyed characters on purpose. the only exception is cuinn (harpy) because he has albinism but typical members of his species have dark brown eyes.

7. Is there any significance behind their height? 

yes, john is my height on purpose (5'4") and nico is 5'3" because i'd unintentionally made my previous trans man characters pretty tall so i thought well let's make one who is short hashtag representation

8. What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story? 

i relate to john because i'm also a beautiful brunette who sucks so much. nico is unrelatable to me because he's a cop (he's not really but the plot does follow a buddy cop format)

9. Are they based off of you, in some way? 

john from long long ago (2011, my first major setting) was a direct self insert thus the similarities in appearance. he has some parts of me in him because he's my main dnd character and it's hard not to project when doing 5 hour improv sessions once a week but he has never been less like me tbh. nico ehhh not really, we don't align personality-wise because i would not tolerate pascal for more than 5 seconds without wanting to hit him with my car

10. If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person? 

for john yeah 100%, they were made for each other. the angle i'm going with for their arc is a "perfectly synchronous" relationship being no protection for some bad shit going down between them, showing that if two people are SOO perfectly made for one another, it can often lead to one person taking the other for granted, assuming they can predict how the other person will react in any given situation, and ultimately it all results in a messy breakdown of communication.

for nico i meannnnnnnn he is a horse trainer and pascal is a horse so there is that, but in terms of personality they are intentionally very opposed and clash frequently, get on each other's nerves, fight, and not always smooth over those incidences. they are not very compatible.

11. Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation? 

yep

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

I'm going to be real with u I could draw and write John in my sleep. Nico i find difficult to write, I have a hard time finding his voice. The ranger uniform also annoys me.

13. How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all? 

john as a dnd character has no future whatsoever aside from a planned multiclass, he could fall off a cliff next session and die idk. Nico is one of the few characters i haven't thought much about post-canon, i don't feel like it's relevant.

14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? 

john: 1. literally just say the first thing that comes to mind, always. 2. keep em guessing

nico: 1. hes scared of boats and this is surprisingly relevant, i keep forgetting it lol. 2. i try to keep in mind my studies of horse trainers & their work, how they interact with their animals and what subtle body language they might use; these are people who frequently have to convince giant frightened animals that they are in charge here, this translates into how they hold themselves, how they speak, how they approach conflict etc.

15. What is something about your OC can make you laugh? 

john's secret fear which we have discussed in dms (iykyk)

nico let himself get tricked into going on a theme park date with pascal while on duty and didn't even realise until afterwards that it was an elaborate setup of fabricated evidence all so that pascal could get him in the tunnel of love

[macfrog]

firstly you are so talented it makes me want to gag and die and climb a mountain 🫶💘 second i’m about to start posting my first fic ever and i was wondering if you had any suggestions for more logistical stuff to make the thing better to read? like formatting/time to post/adding pictures etc etc. sending besos y abrazos💓💓

hey dude! waaah thank you for this you're far, far too kind 🩵

how exciting!! i just checked out the little preview you posted and what a beautiful little droplet of writing!!! i cannot wait to read the rest. please please please tag me when you post it; jackson joel is my favorite joel and i am soooo intrigued to read and devour 🍓

formatting-wise, i pretty much just laid things out how i thought they looked best. you always want your warnings to be visible just in case there's anything that might require a heads up for some readers, also helps to include a summary of the fic somewhere, and i always pop a word count on there, too...but whatever works for you! i guess just consider what info you look for before reading a fic and piece it together that way.

i took inspo from many other writers on here with the whole three-photo header thing. i just pick three images that either capture the vibe of the fic or literally just pieces of the plot lol and put them up top. i try my best to be as inclusive as possible so where i can help it: i try not to use specific skintones or hair colors, body types etc. this isn't always perfect, though, and it's something i always want to be improving on. (straying from specific bodies in your mbs does mean that you can get a little more creative with em and use fun art over real-life images, which a lot of wonderful writers do!)

as for posting: i have posted at all times of day before...in all honesty, i'm not sure when is best as a. there are so many readers on here from all over the world who will eat up your work at any time, and b. i typically hit post and then toss my phone for a few hours - but i guess the later in the day, the better for exposure and engagement? as people will be home from work and school etc., and have the time to check it out.

try not to get hung up on this part, tho! i live by the mantra that the people the fic is for, will come across it one way or another - and not all fics are instant hitters. that's ok! sometimes it takes time for something to gain eyes on it. post for yourself. have fun with it. numbers mean nothing 🤍

if there's anything else you wanna ask or chat about, feel free to dm me anytime! can't wait to read when you post the rest! sending love right back to ya 🫂🩷

xx

[skinnytuna]

there's a certain stubbornness to my approach to art.

i'm always trying to improve, trying to make something that's better than the last, but there are clear shortcomings i have no interest in fixing. in music, for example, there's an arms race. and this arms race takes many forms, be it plugins, guitar tone, composition, or just a general vibe.

it's competitive. and there's a clear, visible delineation between the people competing and the people not competing. a lot of people in my life are competing. they're always hunting for a sound no one else has their hands on yet. to be honest, this competition doesn't interest me at all. it bores me, and it sets you up with this constant win/loss dynamic depending on where your arsenal stands relative to everyone else's. it makes me uncomfortable to participate in. so i, either deliberately or just due to being a creature of habit, resist upgrades at every turn. i will use the oldest shittiest tools i can for as long as they last, and begrudgingly upgrade when i have literally no other option.

but even an an out-opter of this race, it still feels like failure to not participate. oh my god. did you hear that one part of that essential mix. how the fuck did he make that sound. i don't know man. i thought we left the "technical skill = good" argument in the 70s. you'll often see people who find themself winning try to scratch their way out of the competition as soon as possible, too. skrillex left the vocoder growl --the sound that made him famous-- in the past after only a handful of tracks.

it's also possible that all of this is in my head. i still seek growth… through feeling, through structure, maybe others just seek growth through tools and HOLY FUCK!s instead. i'm well aware i have a tendancy to seek complex patternic explanations for my own inadequacy complex. it's also true that the amount of validation you receive is not necessarily correlated with how good of a job you are doing. the landscape is very chaotic, and oftentimes the simpler and less expert art is what connects because it's closer in proximity to the brain of a consumer.

i often think of what sort of life i would be leading if i had devoted my life to illustration rather than writing and composition. if i would grapple between integrity and accessibility, if my fanart blowing up would make me depressed in relation to my unloved original stories. if i would find myself frustrated that my technically gifted allies couldn't find an audience next to my memey dysgraphic catscratches. if i would come up with a whole neurotic structure in my mind, of the way the game works, of the way i don't fit within it, of the way everyone else knows what they're doing and i don't. i wonder if people who are equally devoted to two things find themselves understanding the world better. a formatiel bilingua. another wall to synthesize between. maybe if i care about writing enough i'll learn the answer myself.

really it all comes down to narcissism. i have somehow convinced myself that, if i maybe try a little bit, not exceptionally hard, but only a little bit, maybe i will somehow magically be good enough and worthy of critical praise. lol! how bold! how entitled! you think you could be better than people who bled and cried for it? who dedicated every waking moment? who didnt spend the first 15 years of their life playing call of duty? by doing fucking nothing? you should be so lucky.

whatever happened to me that made me like this i sure don't seem to have any way to fix it. since basically the moment i discovered i can make whatever i want with a computer i have not stopped or slowed down and as a matter of fact it has probably gotten worse this decade than any other. i'm doing better in my real life at least.

what was i talking about, again? oh yeah, systems.

i still think, on the whole, there is something radical about art made with very few man-hours behind it. if we know being world-class at something requires time and money and being in the right places and having the right people around you, why is it valued as inherently good? is it not spitting in the face of the structure to hit the cello with a hammer? im a junkie for bad art, i try to walk as perpendicularly to the line of objective quality as possible. oh this extremely coveted painting is just a black canvas? tight. okay maybe the millions of dollars in laundered money being passed around to exchange ownership of it isn't tight… you know what i mean. i think thats why i like friend art so much. or things that have big nasty warts on them to scare away anyone who grew up on pristine, 40 person projects being churned out by industries who stand to profit.

the arms race to me is an idealism. an appeal to the systems that say effort = good. inaccessible = good. difficult = good. if you suffered more its more better. well fucking maybe i dont like suffering. sue me. whatever.