#PIXEL BRUSH GOES SO HARD

[skipblebee]

OMG HEATHER I LOVE THESE!!!!!!! SO VERY MUCJ!!!!!!!!

Some Snufmin children :D

extra context:

1: Shula won’t let Okko have a turn with the shell

2: Idk Keimo is just a fluffy rectangle loaf creature there

3: The cookie-smuggling operation between Kielo and Chanterelle has been compromised

@skipblebee @sludgemetalsnufkin

[echothelover]

I've seen some people (on youtube, not tumblr) brush past Curly's role as an enabler. The argument more or less goes "what other options did he have? Killing Jimmy would fracture the crew too far from their destination, and confronting him more harshly would provoke him"

Well, there was something else he could have done. He could have listened to Anya.

Before Curly goes to try and confront (and let's face it- appease) Jimmy, Anya tries to tell Curly "I don't want him in here anymore."

The medbay has a lock. How hard would it be to let Anya sleep there and make sure that Jimmy wasn't near her without another crew member present?

The cockpit also has a lock. Curly could have stripped Jimmy's copilot role and kept him away from the controls once it was made clear that he couldn't be trusted with the safety of the crew.

The problem is that instead of trying to keep Anya safe going forward, Curly focuses instead on trying to fix the unfixable- the fact that Jimmy assaulted Anya in the first place. And that means he does nothing but pretend it never happened.

Is it possible that Jimmy would find a way to sabotage the ship or harm Anya regardless? Of course. But it didn't have to be so easy for him.

During the dead pixel scene, while Curly is either oblivious or willfully ignorant to Anya's question about why the sleeping quarters don't have locks, he correctly identifies why the cockpit and medbay DO:

"Safety."

[sagesparrow394]

Mariana’s been struggling recently. She and her boyfriend of two years, Foolish, recently broke up. They’re on okay terms, but it’s very awkward. What makes it even more awkward is the two still live together. Mariana has plans to move out, but finding somewhere to rent in her budget has been hard.

He’s started playing video games more often to get his mind off of things. Eventually, he downloads a strange dating simulator called ‘Zip Bomb’, where your romance options are a colourful cast of inhuman characters.

Mariana chooses to pursue the character ‘Slimecicle’, a cute guy who is a humanoid slime. As she plays, she gradually realises that this game’s AI is… smart. Rather than picking from restricted dialogue options, Mariana is able to type or connect a microphone and give her own. Slimecicle remembers what she tells him, no matter how personal. He also doesn’t respond with generic pre-written dialogue, it’s all too specific to their conversations. Mariana is taken aback when Slime starts to talk like he knows he’s in a game, but brushes it off as the game having a purposeful meta twist. This assumption gets solidified when Slime begins to access her files.

Mariana starts to become borderline obsessed with the game. He knows it’s all fake, but after such a difficult break up, he’s desperate to find some kind of romantic connection anywhere - even if it’s a fictional crush on a pixelated slime guy. Slime’s funny, he’s sweet, he’s protective… and just so lifelike.

It doesn’t take long for Foolish and Mariana’s other friends to notice how reclusive she’s getting, how she’s spending literally all her free time outside of work shut in her room and playing this game. They decide to hold an intervention, telling her that her relationship with the game is not healthy and she needs to get back to interacting with real people. Mariana reluctantly agrees to delete the game.

When he goes home, he sits in front of the computer, preparing to delete it… but he can’t. He can’t delete Slime without saying goodbye. He opens the game, and there Slime is, a grin on his face. Before Mariana can even say anything, Slime is shushing him, saying he needs to show him something. An audio file downloads itself onto Mariana’s computer: ‘DoNotReadMe.wav’. It’s a love song - a few of the lyrics are a little ominous, but overall Mariana finds it really sweet. His heart breaks, knowing what he has to do now.

Mariana starts trying to explain to Slime that she has to delete the game. It’s hurting her in the long term. She needs to reconnect with the real world. She needs to be with someone who’s real.

Slime doesn’t say anything. There’s a long pause. Mariana can’t even bear to look at the screen, she can’t make eye contact with Slime.

Come on, Mariana, this is stupid, she tells herself. You don’t need to feel bad for this, for him, he’s not even real…

She finally looks up

To see Slime’s hands have reached out of the screen, gripping the sides of the monitor

Mariana screams, falling back off his chair and onto the floor as Slime pulls his head and torso out of the screen.

“There! I can be real for you! I can be anything for you, Mariana!” Slime’s bit-crushed voice chirps as he continues to pull his pixelated form out of the computer, and as Mariana stares up at him in horror

[goron-king-darunia]

Eggtober 3rd, 2024

"Anxieties and Anger" Fried Egg in Monochrome

(Krita, soft chalk default brush, 10 colors/values of red, 20 minutes.)

Inspired by life kicking my ass recently. A bunch of things didn't go right this year, I got sick for the first time in years, and I've just generally been dealing with being unwell, anxious, busy, and all around not managing well. I'm trying to take better care of my health, but it's difficult to make time and track down help because the earlier part of the year was all insurance nonsense, and now it's trying to pin down doctors that take my insurance. My dentist did make an appointment decision for me, which was actually helpful since I kept putting it off due to other stressors. But I haven't been in for a physical lately and I'm having emergent symptoms along with stuff I've been putting off getting looked at or considered. I am wondering if I should start treating my ADHD again, among many other things.

It's just hard to cope with the realities of adult life sometimes, especially with ADHD, and it's frustrating having to manage so much. Life stops for no-one, and certainly there are people dealing with more than me, some even better than I am dealing with my own problems, but it makes it no less frustrating. I wish it was easier to just ask all my dumb anxious questions and not get billed for things that aren't treatable problems. I don't know how true it will be with my new doctor, but with my old doctor, you could get billed extra for bringing up new things that the appointment was not about which is wild to me. What do you mean it basically has to be a different appointment for all 15 new things I'm worried about even if they're probably nothing?!

It doesn't help much that medicine really is such a new and wiggly field of science. It doesn't feel like it is, because we have so many sophisticated medicines and machines for caring for so many things now. But it wouldn't take doctors decades of study to be good doctors if just anyone could tell the difference between "that perfectly normal mole and a really sneaky melanoma" or "that symptom could just be stress-induced and will go away if you calm down" versus "you are actively dying of a disease that's incurable because you waited 1 day too long" or "you literally have a known vitamin deficiency and this symptom will improve with supplements" versus "this symptom is actually new and while it can happen because of your vitamin deficiency, you're actually having a more serious problem."

Of course I'm one of those idiots that goes to Dr. Google for things and then freaks myself out over nothing. But the fact remains that I don't make time to see my doctor enough. And I should. So I will try to do that moving forward.

Whatever happens, I'm doing my best to make time to enjoy Eggtober. It's one of the few things I do for fun as a little "just because" and it's helping me take my mind off things for a bit.

Hoping to see my new PCP soon and start handling my body and health, and with luck, other things will improve bit by bit. There are other things that can't be solved that easily, but without a healthy body, I'm never gonna tackle everything life has decided to throw at me. Wish me luck!

Tagging @quezify as customary, and also because apparently Tumblr is having a bug where art won't show up in the tags without a transparent bar of pixels in it because Tumblr is a functional website...

[billysjoel]

hey, can i please ask what dimensions you use to make your header gif? (I THINK you used to have that thing where you have a little circle gif inside the header as well. If you don't mind sharing how to do that I would appreciate it! If you didn't, please disregard haha)

hiiii!! sorry this took me so long lmao but yes! this was my header for a while and i basically had the circle gif act as my icon (so i just hid my icon under edit appearance) so i'll walk you through how to make it!

ultimately, the header contains 3 separate gifs: liv on the left, liv on the right, and hugh and liv in the circle. i find it easiest to make the gifs all separately first and then bring them all together on what will become the header's canvas,.

i crop, sharpen, color, and then convert each of the 3 gifs into a smart object and plop them onto the header canvas. the dimensions of this one are 640x360 but i believe the header dimensions have changed and are now 580x326 (that's what my current one is) but idk i never had an issue using the larger dimensions so you can try both out and see what you like best!

the original dimensions for the 3 gifs themselves were: 640x360 for the two large gifs and 368x184 for the circle. the circle gif doesn't matter quite as much, just make sure it's at least a few pixels larger than the circle you create when you get to that step!

so once all 3 gifs are turned into smart objects (if you don't know how to do this, when you're in timeline, highlight all your layers and right-click -> convert to smart object. this just makes the whole gif into one layer and they're easier to work with and adjust as necessary.

when i'm blending gifs together, i like to set the background/first layer of the gif to black. it helps when you're blending and your layer masks get really close together and instead of going to a transparent background, it goes to black and i think it gives it a cleaner look. this really is just personal preference and completely optional though!!

anyway, i brought over the two main liv gifs first and played around with where i wanted each one. this is what i have once i figure out the positioning and set both layers to screen.

then you want to add a layer mask to each gif. select each layer separately and press this lil guy at the bottom off your layers panel:

when i'm blending, i pretty much exclusively use a soft round brush. size depends on what i'm blending and the dimensions, but hardness is always set to 0%. on a layer mask, you're going to use either black or white. black removes parts of the gif, white will bring them back. it's a very low-stakes way of getting rid of areas you don't want while not having to worry about deleting too much.

once i'm happy with the blending, this is what my layers ended up looking like (with the black layer beneath), but this will vary depending on your gifs and positioning!

the next step is the ripped paper effect at the bottom (if that's the vibe you're going for). you could theoretically do this with any kind of brush. i just like the look of it so it's not such a harsh transition on my mobile theme from the header to the background color.

these are the brushes i use but i'm sure you can google something to the effect of "ripped/torn paper brush photoshop" and find plenty others.

go ahead and group both of your gifs, your base layer, and any other coloring layers if you didn't color them before transferring them to this canvas. to do this, select all applicable layers and press ctrl+g or right-click -> group from layers.

now select the group and add a layer mask the same way we did with the gifs using the little icon at the bottom of your layers panel. your layers should look like this now:

once your brushes are loaded into photoshop, open up the brush tool by pressing 'b' and select the brush you want to use. i usually try a few different ones out just to see the different edges. you may have to adjust the brush size and make sure the hardness is set to 100% if applicable. before using the brush, make sure the layer mask itself is selected like in the above screenshot and your color is set to black.

when you hover over the canvas with your selected brush, you'll be able to see where the top edge will rest. i keep mine pretty close to the bottom -- i think the highest up this particular one goes is about 50px from the bottom. you should end up with this:

onto the circle/icon!! i truly just ended up eyeballing this size-wise. go ahead and call up the ellipse shape tool. to do this, right click on the shape tool and select ellipse like so:

colors are totally up to you, but i like my shit color-coordinated so i believe i color picked the bottom circle (the outline) from liv's purple dress in the right gif. once you have the ellipse shape tool equipped, click anywhere on your canvas. the dimensions i used were 150x150 but of course feel free to experiment. for a perfect circle, both numbers do need to be the same.

using ctrl+t (the transform tool) drag the circle to the vertical center of your gif and right to the very bottom so it's hanging over into the transparent part. this is what will make it look like your actual icon on your mobile theme.

next, create another circle. i'd recommend using black for this one, but it really doesn't matter. the dimensions for this one are 140x140 (10px less than your outline circle), but again, this will vary depending on the outline dimensions. i liked the thickness of a 10px difference, but you can always increase or decrease that depending on your preference. this circle is going to be the base for your icon gif.

again, use ctrl+t to vertically center your circle and bring it all the way to the bottom just like you did with the outline circle. as long as they're placed/snapped to the exact same location, you'll have a perfectly consistent outline.

go ahead and bring over your icon gif, already sharpened, colored, and converted to a smart object. make sure this layer is directly above your black circle. on your gif layer, right-click -> create clipping mask. ctrl+t to move it to the same location as the circles and adjust it to your liking.

of course, it's completely up to you if you want to add text or overlays or not, but i figured i'd share what i did in case you're curious! (click to enlarge)

and for the overlay, i just grabbed a video off youtube of different light leaks. i only wanted it to be on the two main gifs and not the icon gif, so i plopped it into that group we made and put it at the top, over everything else, and set it to screen like so:

and that's pretty much it! if you have any questions about the tutorial (or anything else) just let me know!! i'm more than happy to help 🥰

[verdart]

I made the unfortunate decision to comment on a tiktok saying

"Blitz has every right to doubt Stolas' intentions and I will di on this hill defending Blitz"

Which made me actually realize in the context of Stolitz how much the fandom vilifies Blitz.

Upon rewatch I realized that he is actually kinda innocent lmao. So here comes the rant hop on in Verda rants at 4am again train.

The thing is first of all we need to work our media literacy muscles. So Stolas stans who think he is a uwu babygirl that dod nothing wrong repeat after me. "Blitz didn't watch "just look my way", "owl in a cage" or any other Stolas longing scene that we cried over"

Now that thats setteled I don't want to hear any "he is trying" bs because as of now (pre full moon s2e8) he hasn't actually done anything that Blitz is aware.

Lets start from the top my initial comment was about how Stolas treated him for so long before actually catching the feelings and how Blitz has a right to think he is not genuine.

Up top lest start with the condescending pet names and I won't be hearing Blitz cant be mad at that Stolas does it bc he thinks he likes it... jesus okay s2e1 when stolas starts the imp dirty talk what does blitz do a) encourage him b) get naked and dtf bc that was hot, c) shuts him up

Ding ding ding C. Stolas can still take this as bedtime play sure but we have a case for Blitz not liking it from day one. Other than that we all know he views Stolas' (perhaps in his mind endearing) pet names as condescention.

Secondly even if we ignore the power imbalance Stolas is the one to suggest the transactional fucking... s1e1 even tho in the forst time it was Blitz's doing, sorta. So don't at me saying well Blitz just uses him for the grimoire, like girly duh that was the premise. But Stolas also uses Blitz. Imo lending a book vs fucking in payment is a bot excessive but for Blitz's case beggars cant be chosers.

Now to the elephant in the room... Ozzie's. Does Blitz invite him (Stolas) purely out of selfish intentions that has nothing to do with him? Yes. Is he a dick? Yes. But Does Stolas hide his fucking face when he has a reality check? Yes. But then y'all be mad bc Blitz pulled his hand back.

That night Stolas was read once, Blitz was like at least 2 times... if we don't count the stuff for Stolas by proxy. He was having a hard night bro. And after Stolas invites him he is like no and Stolas respects that. Which if the show didn't add s2e2 in between it wouldve been a perfect stepping stool to get the Stolitz on healthy communication territory but that didn't happen.

I cannot for the life of me pin point when Stolas genuinely falls for Blitz. If its from day one damn it took him long enough to understand what he was doing was wrong.

Anyways we as fans can't be mad at Stolas because we know he is starting to understand the absolute power imbalance he created and the position he left Blitz in. He has realized that the thing is lets remember and repeat "Blitz is not watching the show with us". Blitz doesn't know of this sudden change of heart.

Now to adress a few meaningful interactions we have after ozzies. The fucking pixelated phone texts from s2 western energy.

Stolas apologizes but in that way that I look down upon. "Sorry if" like girl own it up anyways Blitz brushes it off and Stolas instead just goes hehe I didnt care either. Yall need relationship therapy my god. Important thing is Stolas was trying to reach out. But instead of going anything I said that made you upset etc he could've actually apologize properly for getting ashamed. Tho Blitz should also apologize for inviting him on a date for his own gain but thats another bag of worms I won't open tonight.

Other than that he has put off seeing him and doing the transactional fucking for a while. During those times. And as we know from all the phones Blitz breaks after talking to Stolas and hearing hus dirty talk he isn't too excited about. We don't exactly know if he comes or not on those nights. But he is also showm to be quite comfortable in s2e2 with the "my dick is good but its not that good" comment so maybe they do continue the arrangement... idk. Either way we know they haven't really talked.

All I am saying is that both parties of this ship are guilty af of hurting eachother and taking advantage of eachother. But as the power house of this power imbalance, Stolas needs to be held accountable. And he is doing that now!! Or will, in s2e8 and I can't wait to see how that goes. Overall, I can see totally why Blitz shuts down any signs that Stolas might actually be into him. He has a good bunch of reasons too. And as far as we've seen from the trailer we will get to hear him say it out loud as he should.

[happysaddca]

Defying Gravity sounds tinny coming from the substandard speakers of your phone, but it doesn't stop your eyes from tearing up as the pixelated blobs of Glinda and Elphaba share their goodbyes and Oz's men storm onto stage to take the women into custody. You sniffle, and the arm wrapped around you tightens with a mechanical whine.

"Are you okay?" Sun's rays brush against your hair before withdrawing, allowing him to press his faceplate against you in a pantomime of a kiss.

You fumble to pause the video, nodding quickly. "Yeah, sorry. It's just a lot, you know?"

"I think so. Elphaba's lost everything, hasn't she?" Sun's faceplate remains in your hair, even when you nod. "It's her lowest moment."

"And her highest." It doesn't sound complete. "I think... maybe the worst part is she loses Glinda here."

"Ah."

When Sun goes quiet like this, you're not sure what to think, listening to the mechanicals working instead. A fan kicks on shortly before you are pulled wholesale into his lap. "Sun?"

"Was just thinking together." You can't see his face like this. His nose presses a hard line against the top of your head. "If we lost each other... or you. What it would feel like."

"That's not going to happen." You are squeezed, but you manage to free your arms enough to squeeze back. "You won't lose Moon, and you're both stuck with me."

"Even when you graduate?"

"Especially when I graduate." The tears are back, if for a different reason now. "I'm not going to leave you both here with nobody to properly take care of you except the DJ."

There's a chuckle that's decidedly more Moon than Sun. "Will you steal us away?"

"Yes," you say without hesitation. "If I have to leave, I will take you with me. The DJ too if I can."

"He'll be hard to hide."

"We'll figure it out." You manage to wriggle in his arms to hug him tightly, his chassis warm from your body heat. "I love you."

"We love you too."

---*---*---*---

"You're gonna love this movie. It's based off the musical based off the book that's just fancy fanfiction of The Wizard of Oz." You're tired and you know you smell kind of like lemon and buttercream icing. It'd gotten in your hair and you're not sure you'd gotten it all out, even with Sunny's help. "Sun -- Nova and I would sing it all the time."

"Not Lune?" Sunny sounds amused, helping you set up the pillowfort in his room. You ignore him at first, choosing to crawl inside and check your phone's battery life.

"He would've preferred Beetlejuice if I'm honest." You have to hold yourself close so Sunny can join you in the fort. He's careful to avoid the cushions that make up the walls, withdrawing his rays with an audible click that makes you frown. "Are you okay?"

"Of course. The rays adjust and the one clicks again. He catches your stare and touches over the offending ray, adjusting it slightly. "A kid got scared and grabbed on. It just needs to be put back on the right track."

"Let me see." You ignore his hesitation, making grabby hands until he leans forward. The ray is loose, and it's easy to rock back into place. Sunny still makes a noise when it retracts from your grip with ease. "There. Better?"

"Better."

"Good." You settle against his side, pulling his arm over your shoulder as you open your phone. "Should still get it double checked later."

"Much later. This movie is nearly... three hours long? Are you sure you'll be up by the end?" Teasing you as you yawn. You're tempted to shove him right into the couch, but it'd take too long to rebuild the fort. So you just snuggle into him further, hitting play on the video.

It takes you a minute to realize when Idina Menzil and Kristin Chenowith are in the Emerald City, singing as the ancient wise ones. As actresses pretending to be the ancient wise ones. It's a note Menzil hits, the way that Chenowith speaks with the new Glinda. And the arm wrapped loosely over your shoulder, Sunny comfortable with you in his space, and this isn't the pillow fort in Ohio.

You blink back a tear and refocus on Elphaba and Glinda's journey into Oz's room, the massive mask, the... is that the life finds a way guy from Jurassic Park? His sleight of hand is so obvious, but you realize it's supposed to be. The audience knows he's a shame, but it's a distraction from the thoughts lingering in the back of your head.

And then Cynthia Erivo sings. "Something has changed within me--"

"Hey -- hey, are you okay?"

The phone's not in your hands anymore, held lightly in oversized yellow fingers with the accompanying stylus pressed lightly into the screen. Sunny's other hand is pressed against your cheek, pulling you up to face him. You can't really make out what he's looking at exactly. You blink hard instead, pulling away and rubbing at your eyes.

"I'm... I'm o... Oh." You have to rub harder, willing the tears to go away. But they won't stop; they just overwhelm in a way that's not happened since you first saw Sunny's face. You drop your head, hiding your face even if you can't muffle the soft, snotty sounds of your sobs without also losing the ability to breathe. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right." Sunny pulls you into his arms, and you have to duck your chin to avoid smearing his poor ruffle with your gross bodily fluids.

"I'm sorry," you whisper into his chest, the painted metal fogging under your breath."

"It's okay." He responds each time you apologize with same the quiet patience he gives a child who has scraped their knee. And it works, or maybe you're just worn out from work and from grief and from the chronic pan that's mirrored in the off-kilter spin in Sunny's fans. A spin that you've only noticed from listening to the Attendant's internal functions for years.

Your Attendant. Your Sun, Nova, and Moon -- Lune.

You sag in Sunny's arms, flinching when a finger brushes against your false eye. "Should we finish the movie?"

"We'd actually gotten to the end. Do Elphaba and Galinda ever see each other again?" When you lift your head, Sunny returns to cupping your cheek. His rays are partially retracted, and his concern is palpable. For you? No... no, he's used to this by now.

"They... they do." You smile as his touch softens on your face. "Yeah, they do. Do you want to hear the rest of the songs?"

The click-cluck of Sunny's fan answers for him, and you can't help but giggle. "Okay. Gimme the phone. I got some good animatics downloaded in one of those old folders."

You settle back into Sunny's side, taking a breath as you dig into your old email's drive. It takes a minute, but Sunny's arm returns across your shoulders. You rub at the scars under your false eye. Just a phantom itch. You can't actually feel anything there anymore.

[tedlebred]

if youre comfortable sharing, whats your rendering process? what are some ways you learned? your art is very yummy

HSHSHHSHS hello!!!!!!!!!! first off omg,,,, thank you so much,,,,🤭🤭

secondly!!!! heres my attempt at a rendering process explanation. uhm. warning ive never really been asked to explain it before please bare with me

BUT. here goes. this'll probably be ungodly long apologies

so when i render my biggest rule is basically Do Not Blend Ever. what i do is do my sketch, then flats, then basic placement of blush/shadows+darkest parts/etc and then i go in and just colourpick the inbetweens+place them between colours in small strokes until the changes in colour don't look too sharp/jarring

here's some examples of the process;;;

(still a wip but HSHSHHS) so i work on 3 layers primarily (sometimes i do the hair+items that cover the face on another layer, too, though they might end up getting merged):

^ with just the sketch layer n flats / and then with the render layer added

i go in with a bigger brush to block in colour variation on the face on the flats layer and then paint over that, as well as over the sketch, with smaller strokes on a render layer- i never do lineart lol, and any "lineart" thats visible is just the sketch peeking through. I try to rely on colour and shadow to create shapes and boundaries instead of lines though this isn’t a hard and fast rule.

i also try to stick to the same pallette the entire drawing- once the flats and shadows are first roughly blocked in all the other tones/midshades/colours are basically just inbetweens picked directly from the drawing. Just me zooming in real close till I can see the pixels and colour picking where they sort of mix. (any smaller shifts in hue/tones are just colours with saturation slightly turned up or down, usually) im also not sure if this helps but i use the Sol brush from the clip studio assets store for literally everything from sketch to render, which is basically just a slightly soft opacity brush which ive deluded myself into thinking helps give my art a softer look. idfk if it does or not.:)

I like to use really saturated blush and for shadows I usually use two base colours; a warmer one and a colder one- a warmer one for smaller shadows and shadows near light and then colder ones for planes more in darkness. Also, usually, at the very end of the drawing I’ll add a layer that’s just fully yellow with colour burn or linear burn or multiply turned on and the opacity turned low just to make everything warmer. (a little thing I like doing for shadows sometimes is never making them reach the edge of the plane; the actual edge is usually a slightly lighter shade and it sort of looks like stylised bounce light that would probably not be there but anyhoo)

but yeah,,,, Never Blend But Make It Look Almost Blended. I’ve been doing it forever,,,,,, and I really like the almost shiny feeling it gives things:)))

And where did I learn. Ough. A lot of what I do I figured out through trial and error and just drawing a bunch (IM SORRY THATS REALLY NOT HELPFUL) but some sources I looked towards were sinix design and bluebiscuits on YouTube!!!!! Sinix has a really good video on rendering skin which is where I sort of took my principles from and ran. And bluebiscuits was a huge inspiration for me when I started trying to render things beyond flats!!!!!!! They’re also where I found the sol brush, lol. Also just,,, the impressionist movement as a whole is a massive inspiration. The use of light and shapes to create form is just,,, omg. Especially Claude Monet in particular. (and for the basics of drawing I learnt from my aunt!)

and honestly, just observing people. A lot of the time when I’m watching a movie or on a walk or even just talking with someone I tend to start looking at their face, and the different planes, how light hits it and how shadow interacts with it, where the shadows are harsher/softer……….people are wild man

I really hope that made sense!!!!!! I’ve never tried explaining it before and honestly, I’m not even really sure how I do it. I just sorta. Switch off and start drawing, yk? BUT I HOPE IT HELPED!!!!🫶🫶💞💖

in case that was all utter nonsense here’s a speedpaint that’ll hopefully demonstrate my process;;

I also have straight up screen recordings of me drawing but. I don’t think anyone wants to sit though that

thank you for the ask!!!!!have a nice day/night and SORRY THAT ENDED UP THAT LONG

[sarcastic-pasta-games]

Hi! I just wanted to let you and your team know you’re doing a great job with “Truth and Consequences”. For the sake of length, I’m gonna split this ramble into points.

The writing is so well done and you capture the characters perfectly! 

The storyline you’ve got going is a really interesting premise. I’m really excited to see how your version of the Phantom case ties into all of this. 

I love that you’re exploring the clashing mindsets between Apollo and Phoenix + Athena! I feel the games brought up Apollo’s “Evidence is everything” attitude and kinda brushed over it after Dual Destinies, something I feel he wouldn’t just get over after one case. Really curious to see how it affects events going forward!

Using color to identify emotions more clearly in the text is something I’d like to see in the actual games. 

Kevin is peak, we love Kevin

Being someone who loves the found family trope, I find the interactions between the cast very moving. Phoenix being so protective of everyone (whether they be part of his inner circle or past client / witness) is so sweet!

There are many other things I want to ramble on about, but this is getting kinda long. Overall, I’m very invested in this story and really excited to see where it goes! You and your team are really talented. I noticed you were open for help with art. I’m not quite sure what you’re looking for, but I’d be happy to help if needed! Thank you for making these games and sharing your stories!

Hey if you have Discord, definitely join the server through the link in the walkthrough. Easiest way to talk to you there and then you can keep rambling (because I have responses for everything but I don't want to write a super long response here). Behind-the-scenes has been a real trip lately. We definitely could use the help with art, especially pixel art!

And thanks so much, I've been working really hard on this game and I'm excited to see where it's going and if people like it. :)

EDIT: Your art is lovely and actually in a style we're looking for in some Case 4 cutscenes! Please join our Discord or you can also message @lilygrace1990 if you have trouble getting in or anything like that.

[snobgoblin]

saw you were looking for crit on your arcana oc and thought i’d weigh in as someone who also struggled with recreating the arcana style. the first thing that stuck out to me as being different from the arcana style was the brushes you used, your lineweight and the shading.

the arcana game uses a pretty distinct brush set which was once available by a user called like savenkey or something?? you might be able to find the brush set just by looking around online but it definitely comes in handy when getting that slightly textured & tapered linework. as it currently stands, your lines are quite thin, made of a pretty smooth brush, can be a teensy bit wobbly in some places and dont have any tapering towards the ends. to make this close to the arcana style i’d recommend upping the thickness a little bit (if you’re struggling with space between pixels just bump up the canvas size a bit) and increasing the amount of stabilisation. the tapering could potentially be done by hand (ie erasing the ends of lines to make them thinner) but it’s super time consuming so i’d recommend just using the arcana lineart brush (on a side note, if you don’t manage to find the set but are still interested i could try work out how to send them over?). another thing to note when drawing lineart is that the arcana game uses a lot of sharp edges, especially around the elbows, jawlines and fabric folds, don’t be afraid to thicken those approaching edges up, just to create a spike where the two lines intersect

as for the shading, the whole brush thing also comes into play as the arcana style shading brush has a bit of roughness and is on a slight angle, that’s what creates these areas on the in-game sprites. i can also see you’ve begun to alternate between hard and soft shaded edges but i think a few harder, more definitive edges would help it look closer to in-game art. the arcana shading is also all done in a pale lavender colour on a multiply layer. it looks like you’ve done it on the face but it’s also the case for the rest of the body and clothes too & really helps make that distinctive arcana vibe. it can definitely be difficult shading curly hair and i also struggle with it, but curly haired ingame characters (especially those with shorter hair) do still have big blocks of highlights, doing one big swathe across the side of the skull would better mimic the style, with additional smaller highlights (sometimes less is more) to denote extra curls

and then a few extra details that might come in handy:

- the arcana game uses a textured overlay over their characters’ images, i don’t know if this is the exact one they use but it definitely works! slap it over your character as a clipping mask with the overlay layer filter (you might need to lighten or darken the grey to ensure it doesn’t mess with your characters colours too much) and then just drop the opacity to wherever you think looks best

- (as far as i’m aware) all arcana characters have fingernails drawn on, adding some to your character (whether they’re painted or not) might be a nice touch

- no matter how small or thin, generally all smaller details like tassels/string ties/jewellery or other metal details are all given lineart and coloured, the details are such a pain in the arse to draw but it definitely makes the final look worth it imo

- i’m not 100% sure how you’ve drawn on the blue details but in-game, they’re usually drawn using a screen layer with slightly lowered opacity over both the colour and lineart, and some of the edges are slightly shaded out

however, as far as art style mimicry goes i can’t recommend bast_art13’s tutorials enough, i’m not entirely sure if they’re still active in the community either (i was mainly active in 2020 and have only just started crawling back in💀) but their tutorials are still up on tumblr i think (somewhere). they really break down how the arcana artists draw faces/facial features and explain recurring stylistic choices, for example, how metal is shaded

anyway! that was a lot and i do want to say that you’ve made a really brilliant effort, the style is really difficult to emulate and the way you’ve drawn your oc is really nice!! you did so well, especially when seeing the improvement between this one and your previous drawing. and ofc it’s needless to say i’m a stranger on the internet, take what i say with a pinch of salt or just completely ignore the bits you think are stupid if you want ! it’s a perfectly acceptable response to unwanted pieces of criticism :]

while i’m here i also want to say that i’m obsessed with ur valdemar fanart + you’re doing the lords work with the amount of content you make for them. with that aside, good luck on your future drawings in the arcana style!! i’m sure you’ll do great & apologies if my handwriting was unreadable! also if you have any further questions feel free to ask :3

ohhhhh thank you! this is all very helpful and I'm grateful you took the time out of your day to share with me what you've learned, I'll definitely be taking this to heart for my future efforts

[joviantwelve]

Hello! I've been doing some long, hard thinking about my current commission offerings.

TL;DR:

I am doing away with my "standard" menu (headshot/halfbody/fullbody/etc.) in favor of more experimental work.

Effective June 1, my commissions will close completely, including the waitlist.

If you want any of my current offerings, please let me know before then. You will be added to a final waitlist queue, with payment only required once I get to you.

If you're currently on my waitlist, or are interested in what's next, please see the bottom of this post. Once the final orders are complete, I will focus on relaunching.

Below is a more elaborate explainer of why I'm doing this, and what I'll be doing next.

Introduction

Essentially, commissions have worn on me more and more as time goes on (which may be tangible if you ordered one recently and it took months). Part of me wondered if I was burned out on art in general, or it was just becoming less of a hobby for me, but that sentiment didn't feel quite right. After all, I could still get grabbed by a picture idea every now and again, which I would then crank out in one evening.

Was there some sort of difference between the pictures I could hammer out quickly vs. the ones I couldn't? Well, I wouldn't make a post about an investigation without already having a prime suspect.

My Art Style

When I first started drawing aliased, it was to quickly crank out panels for my forum adventures, mostly because I was using GIMP and didn't know anything about brush settings. I was way too frustrated with anti-aliased lines and how little I could make them look how I liked, so I retreated into something completely different.

It worked for a while, but as I became more comfortable with the style, I developed bad, perfectionistic habits (something I've already mentioned being A Problem I Have). I would tweak lineart at the pixel level, just because some stray bump or two bugged the hell out of me. I consider this one of the reasons my art output has slowed down.

Trying to embrace a "perfectly inconsistent," or "consistently imperfect" look as "my style" just created its own irony. For example, I will deliberately draw patterns and textures by hand, because it sticks out too strongly otherwise if I just paste it in. You can bump into this quickly enough by scrolling through my various character references.

I would love a world where all my OC references feel "current," but as it stands, I'm finding it increasingly hard to work on the remaining characters I want to draw while commissions are also an obligation. Taking a break from aliased character art commissions in order to work on aliased character art references is...just doing more of the same? It isn't a break.

In order to create breaks that actually feel like breaks, I have to compromise. ONE of these has to go home and change. My personal art gets priority here, and I still very much want my OCs to look consistent in their reference art, so...I need to find a more efficient way to draw for money that keeps my dysfunctional brain entertained.

The Long, Slow Realization

Back when I used GIMP, I tried the chalk brush on a whim and ended up quite liking it. The rough look helped me ignore what I would consider "imperfections" otherwise. However, perhaps because I had a comic or character references I wanted to keep consistent, I mostly considered it a fun oddity and nothing more.

More falling dominoes that would eventually lead to this post were my experimental style offerings that I introduced last year (at the time, I just offered it because I thought people may be interested in art that looked relatively unique), Art Fight (having to agonizingly obey "finished not perfect" because of the event deadline), and other gift art I did around this time (the reasoning being, it's gift art, they wouldn't mind if I used it to experiment).

Now that I use CSP and am no longer bound by webcomic obligations, I've been experimenting more with brush settings. Wouldn't you know it, most of my modern art of my original stories is no longer aliased. I go "off-model" deliberately, fuck around with layer settings and effects, and enjoy creating pieces just because I saw a cool tutorial, brush, or program I wanted to try. These are the types of pictures I mentioned I could crank out in one evening. Maybe they're not "formal," but I feel like they're the most "me."

With all this new experience swirling around in my head, I finally realized: Why am I not selling art I actually find fun to draw?!

The New Offerings

Currently, I'm leaning toward one style of illustration only, cheaper than the experimental style I offer presently, and "rougher" as a result. I want something equivalent to my '22 Art Fight output; something flashy, unique, and most importantly, quick to do.

The specifics are what I intend to figure out while I work through the queue. Here are some thoughts already rotating around in my brain:

Should I offer price "tiers" that roughly equate a level of "polish" (equivalent to sketch/flats/shading) or just go with one-price-fits-all?

Should I still offer sketches as a cheap alternative, or is that too confusing with my Ko-fi already sort of being that?

Should I offer specific pricing for bust/halfbody/fullbody/etc., or was that another symptom of why I had commission burnout before, and should be avoided?

Should I eschew all of the above and just offer one thing at one price (e.g. "give me $50 and I'll draw your OC" with no other choices for the buyer), or is that too intimidating?

And so on. The last option is currently what I'm vibing with the most, but it's definitely the most daring idea of the bunch, too. (& If you have any thoughts on this, let me know! I have so much more thinking to do.)

The Old Offerings (But New)

When I reopen, I would like to have as few options as possible. However, I have considered the possibility that an old offering would speak to me and I would add it to the new menu again. Here are some thoughts on those:

Icons have a pretty high chance of coming back.

I've always liked drawing faces and headshots the most. If I decide not to bring back headshot sketches, I could just roll it back into "icons" and instead offer colored sketchy headshots. This would be similar to the headshots I did for Art Fight, but...with colors.

Half/fullbodies would depend on how the new style goes.

This is elaborating on what I said in the previous section. While I'm sure my core audience (i.e., you) will be fine with a potentially spontaneous angle to my commissions, buyers I'm less familiar with might not be. I want to try "one price fits all," but if someone gives me shit about me drawing a bust when they were anticipating a fullbody, I might have to add options to specify this.

Regardless, the style would still be "experimental" either way--the composition is what's important about it (which is also why I feel like I can get away with one single price). If anything, I feel like forcing myself into the little boxes of "halfbody" and "fullbody" was partially what was stifling me. Like, when do I ever consciously decide to draw a halfbody of an OC? I don't. It feels very arbitrary, and I'd like to distance from it.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Character design is NEVER coming back!

I deeply appreciate those that did want a brand spanking new OC from me, but I've never considered myself to have a terribly strong design sense. They just kind of ended up being extra nervewracking to do because I had to design a character on top of drawing a fullbody. I will still take the final requests for these, but this is your absolute last chance for a Jovian Twelve™ Brand Original the Character.

What if I'm Already on Your Waitlist?

You don't have to do anything! I will get to you when I get to you. After June 1, I will close the waitlist, and whoever is on there will be able to have one of my old commission types, as promised. You can change your request anytime as long as I'm not currently drawing it!

Reminder that my waitlist is NOT "first come, first served;" I order it based on the complexity of what's wanted. Because of my slow pace, I didn't want to keep someone waiting forever when all they want is three sketch headshots, you know? This is a heads up that if you change your request, your position in the list may change as well.

I have no ETA when the current waitlist will be completed, given that currently, fullbodies are taking me months. Sorry :( Just another reason I'm making this post!!

What if I Want the NEW Style?

I will accept up to five (5) waitlist slots that want to "test drive" the potential new commission style, placed after the "traditional" queue is all cleared out. (So, you'd be waiting extra long.) If you're interested in this, get in touch! I will offer them to you at a lower rate than what I'm expecting to charge for the real deal, as thanks.

If you're already on the waitlist for something else, and want to test the new style instead, let me know! Just be aware this would bring you to the bottom of the queue as described above (but it WOULD give me one less commission I'd have to go through to get to the new stuff, WINK).

In the chance I get no takers the entire time it takes me to go through the waitlist, then the first five commissions I do in the new style will just have to be "test slots" instead.

Final Word

I know these long posts might not be terribly interesting to anyone that's not me, but I find it therapeutic to scrawl my thoughts out in text. Additionally, I'm over 30 years old and conclusions are still the hardest part in writing an essay. I can feel my writing style begin to devolve the closer I am to the end...

Uhhh.

Thanks for reading, and understanding?! See you soon, maybe?! Get in touch if you want to discuss Commissions From Me?? 💃 Cool.

[geryuthespacesquid]

Hi I'm a nobody asked digital artist, here's my thoughts on all the digital art programs I've tried. These are based entirely off my own memory, and I'm not picking up any of these programs again to test them. Just going off vibes.

Autodesk Sketchbook - Mobile:

This is more or less the definitive Draw You In To Art program. No exaggeration, I think if you asked maybe 50 digital artists in the modern day, most of them would've tried this one at least once. It projects an illusion of polish to distract you from a number of critical missing features, but overall, it's not even remotely bad to start out with. I think if my mobile tablet had a halfway decent degree of pressure sensitivity I could make something okay with it.

A more detailed explanation of my thoughts is hard, but to sum it up, this program bombards you with a million brushes for free, something rarely done by digital art programs, but, it also has extremely limited layer behaviors, you can't change canvas size anymore, and the stablizer is pits. I won't say it's bad. It's not. It's just not good. 5.8 out of 10.

Ibis Paint X - Mobile:

Comedically simple, this is the program you pick up when you're doing digital art a little better, and want to actually have fun. Bread and butter of the mobile digital artist. It has literally everything you need, it's just not fancy in any way. Getting every brush isn't worth paying for, but you'll live. They recently tried to step into AI and got punched in the gut so hard they stopped, which I like.

In general, this program doesn't do anything in particular extremely well, but it also doesn't do anything poorly. It's well rounded. I'd say if you're gonna do digital art on mobile, you'll always find yourself coming back around to this. It's just too solid. 7.8 out of 10.

Medibang Paint - Mobile:

I am biased against this program. I just don't like it. Maybe I was using it wrong, or maybe the mobile version is just worse, but it felt like drawing with mashed potatoes and gravy. Also it seems to be no longer available on my tablet, so fuck it.

In truth, my memory on this program is hazy despite me using it probably the second most out of all of these. No clipping mask, limited layer styles, an extremely limited number of brushes, no way to get more on mobile, anti aliasing made everything pixelated, and I don't think it can change canvas sizes, or if it can, I never figured out how. I just don't like anything about how the program feels. 3 out of 10.

Clip Studio Paint - Desktop:

Goddamn. I wanna recommend it. I really do. But. You have to know things.

First and foremost, the new subscription model for CSP essentially means that after a year, whatever version you have is obsolete, and won't even get updates while you have it. You have to pay a yearly subscription to get the updates for your current version. if you pay for the 3.0 version when it drops in march, it will be 10 dollars extra to get any of the updates to the 3.x version until 4.0 drops, when you can pay 25 dollars to upgrade to that and get all the 3.x updates, plus whatever came in 4.0. On top of that, it can cost anywhere from 25 to 200 dollars depending on which version you get, and if it's on sale.

But goddamn. It's pretty worth it. The brush engine is fluid, works great for making your own, I've never seen the program fail to do something. It has limits, but I've never hit them. 8 out of 10.

Rebelle 5 - Desktop:

Listen to me carefully. This one is extremely specific. You have to WANT a digital art program that replicates IRL media PRECISELY. If you don't care about that, this program is not worth it. I got it on sale for 10 dollars. Can I reccomend it at that price? Heartily. But at the near 200 dollar price point it usually goes for? FUCK NO. Rebelle caters to a specific demographic. Nothing else matters.

That said. When it works, it works well. I do like how rebelle feels and works. But not enough for me to ever tell someone to get it for full price. 4 out of 10, but if you really want to replicate traditional media, 9 out of 10.

Corel Painter - Desktop:

Never before has a program sent me on such an emotional rollercoaster as this one. It's just so much. It's a midpoint between Rebelle and Clip Studio, but for the worst. It's expensive beyond comprehension, you can't make your own brushes, only pay for new ones, it's a yearly format meaning a new, barely distinguishable version goes on sale every year for another 300+ dollars, and I only got it as part of a Humble Bundle for 25 dollars, and I still feel like I wasted my money.

And you know what? I didn't just dick around in this program. No, I made a full drawing in it. Nothing spectactular. Just a simple drawing. And I felt accomplished. and I went to export it, to share. Only to find out you can only email images to the email associated with your account to get a regular image version. Now. This made me irrationally angry, but, I calmed down, and tried it.

It only works with microsoft emails, and I have a gmail account associated with my Corel account.

This program is 300 dollars, and lacks the functionality to simply export a png to your computer. 2 out of 10.

[skyecreature]

Artificial Intelligence.

TL;DR. I think AI and Neural Networks are really cool as a technology, but the way they are currently being used is terrible and needs to be stopped.

You don't have to read this, I just wanted to get my thoughts down on paper. Read more block because it's long.

I don't know if there's a formalized definition, but, for the most part, AI is any program or system that can create the illusion of decision-making.

In recent times, it's been used to refer generative AI specifically, but many things could be classified as AI. Minecraft's mobs have to make decisions on how to move. In fighting games, a CPU opponent must decide how to approach the player. Both of these and many others I, and many others, have called AI before. "AI opponents." "The cow's AI is making it spin on the fence." (Weeee!)

More recently, AI is closely employed alongside Neural Networks and Machine Learning. Which is like, basically just a digital simulation of exactly how our brains work. Which I genuinely think is really really cool! You're creating something that can appear smart from only feeding it random numbers and telling if is it's doing good or bad. And from there it eventually becomes something. It's a beautiful execution of mathematics.

Now, somebody realized that, finding data to compare to for this "good" or "bad" was pretty hard to find in bulk. So people made their own data sets. Until those weren't enough. Now, we steal artwork. And herein lies my first problem with AI, as does most people. It's one thing to look at another person's artwork and be like: "oh, that's cool, I want to try copying their art style." I would have no issue with that. (And even so, if I try to copy someone's style, I will always say who.) But that's not what it is. It's taking someone's (or rather, many people, but that doesn't make this any better), and sitting down in a metaphorical classroom to study this artwork as your one and only basis in "learning to draw."

This is basically beating a dead horse, but, like, it's very very sad for me to see something I cared deeply about, (I loved watching Sethbling's videos on 'training a network to beat Mario Bros.' and similar videos, long before the whole AI thing), and now it's become perverted because it's built on a throne of lies, as the saying goes.

My second problem with AI, and while still an echo of much I've seen elsewhere, slightly less so, is that it seems to be a perfect insistence on it being generative, when you could use this technology so much better. I want AI to assist artists, not work against them. What if your paint bucket tool could tell when there was a 1-pixel gap in the fill and, even if not "smart closing" the gap, at least be able to find where it is, because those can be bloody annoying to spot. Or what if you could pull two strokes apart that you put on the same layer 20 minutes ago and didn't notice until now? What if you could just tap in an area to mask your shading brush without carefully lassoing the part you want? There's so many many better ways this technology could be getting used, and I hate it. I hate it so much, that the way it's implemented is "replace," and not "help."

IDK if I'm really trying to make a point with this. I just wanted to get my thoughts out. If you disagree or think I could have worded something better, please leave a reply.

[softbean]

You guys... I want to clarify something. So many of you reblog my pixel art pieces shocked at how I was able to draw them “square by square”.

(a polished pixel art piece of orym)

I’m sorry to burst your bubble but that’s not how pixel art works, at least not for me. I hope you won’t idolize an unrealistic belief and don’t hold me to an impossible standard. When things like that are said, I start to feel ashamed for “cheating” or “taking short cuts” because I’m not actually living up to your expectation that I’m drawing them square by square. Lines exist in pixel art. The bucket tool exists, so do layers. Even more amazingly, so do dithering brushes. I use procreate on an iPad, not MS paint with my mouse, because this is 2023. I don’t want my art to be appreciated solely for how “difficult” the creation process is—I want it to be appreciated for its content. Intentionally making art inaccessible may be a choice some artists make—and in a sense pixel art is a challenge like that, to limit your shapes and form and colour palette—but that’s what it is: a personal challenge, a stylistic preference. Making art hard can add to its value, but it shouldn’t be the only thing valuable about it, and “hard art” shouldn’t make you think that “easy art” is worth less. There is no easy medium. The amount of awe and ‘THIS IS PIXEL ART?!’ I get in comparison to the silence when I make art in my preferred medium makes me sad that the audience seems to take certain types of art media and styles for granted. There is no easy medium. And, I don’t find pixel art particularly harder than other media. Sure, pixel art style may be more unique, but it certainly isn’t barred from the same advancements in art technology that have developed in other forms of art, and it certainly shouldn’t be appreciated only for its uniqueness.

When people express awe in the “pixel by pixel” process, I get sad thinking they’ll never really know the kind of work that goes into refining a pixel art piece: the meticulous and tedious cleaning of lines (I don’t draw lines pixel by pixel, instead I draw a line and erase pixel by pixel), the overlaying of different dither brushes to create gradients from a limited palette, the block coloring that I do by hand, and the endless revisions I make to capture the feeling I want to convey. None of these are done pixel by pixel as if going left to right, top to bottom, none of these are done square by square like your color-by-numbers, but it doesn’t mean it was quick or easy. To me, my choice of art style doesn’t matter as much as the feelings I want my art to evoke, the impression that I want it to leave on your being, some ineffable part of you that responds without needing to break art down to its technicalities.

I’ve learned over the years that there is no cheating in art. If doing something will improve the look of your piece, and save you time, then that’s a win.

I know a lot of you don’t make art yourselves, and are of the mindset that anything that looks more difficult/time consuming to you than others becomes mysterious, feels cooler than things you think you’re more likely to be able to make yourselves. But I don’t like this view of art as something that is worth more the more untouchable it is. I like to think that art is everywhere, ubiquitous, and something that anybody with soul can make and regularly does make. It just takes the right lens to see the art in your own life for what it is. It’s not so far away. In fact, sometimes the closer to me art is, the more impact it has for me.

(a roughly sketched comic that resembles the doodles of a child)

Art comes from life, art is alive because we are alive, it is not its own mysterious separate thing. I wish more people would appreciate the art that we can make rather than the art that we can’t, and that more people would embrace the art in their lives as opposed to keep it at arms length like it’s something foreign.

Art is not talent. It’s not about what you’re born with or without, familiar or foreign. If society has put up definitions and parameters for what is considered “art”, to the point where you feel it’s impossible for you to make your own, then perhaps we should reexamine the ideals of our society that only sees artistry in perfection. In truth, art is hard work and dedication, and above all, to me it’s choosing to see the beauty in the most mundane things, in things that aren’t conventionally beautiful. That’s why I don’t want my art to be appreciated for how impossible it feels. I want it to be appreciated for all the ways you feel warm and represented and connected and understood by it.

[libidomechanica]

Untitled (“The pale as they fled”)

A cinquain sequence

               1

The pale as they fled? My soul with Molly Bloom and half for their spell; and this after then me?

               2

Nor avarice, Vengeance, and tumblest wits to throwing to his quarter. Ah, ah, his, and wept.

               3

Tell his mind bemones his dress, so call’d by thy love! Would I not self- possessions flashing.

               4

A gallant’s Grave broke in doubtless, my teeth from the glimmering what the ring? To sing the brine.

               5

When that pass’d some talk of love. And good-bye: no trifle or toil or star and pearlins enow.

               6

’ But the placed, mark me, Peona! This poor Lord Augustus Fitz-Plantages white should be happen.

               7

I wish was gone, and, neither goes, and with Susan? My lover my sight. Brushes, book her eyes!

               8

He went at last hourly had face to some never wauks.—That make, of all along as your place.

               9

Some say, Don Juan, who knows? There was all round the Deacon in thy face, sadder, more or windows?

               10

It would pulled train of paying to the world—the better— all men’s bones with her brown, nor was more.

               11

Ah! For the same pond which arise that—loved well? Tells me we’re out its more I took half afraid.

               12

I drew near his old words that old for my birth, you nearly, and me. If suddenly, she fair.

               13

Mind you, who, one tenant. From the studde, and two feet stall. Was heart is a monk! Bower quiet?

               14

Till the wild Princessantly detestable. And haunt us through the her dear Genevieve!

               15

The tender, when the few shines and lover. Who queer a flag in, or the hangs by unseen win.

               16

You look whence? Is not so the day, knelt down on me or fourth offspring every sails, ton entanglée.

               17

A mode the gates the wheel, and yell: Get out? You may be, that the yellow’s nest-door, worthy song.

               18

Or when Hell, obscure and fearfully, the for cares— this respectable to the married? Yes!

               19

Thou ask how her friends here, as deadly perishable ring? And a-propos of ioyes for where?

               20

Greeting of passion’ e’er panted as far a-down thy heart. Leaves so deep midnight shall distance.

               21

Upon me I bore of scorn that’s this Old House strings, and rack and go to wayward ragged reef.

               22

No sonar with count that one, each piece of Tom. And this of men, till God release to the world?

               23

The wide a sunbeam by the sting! Who vent the arms I fly no farewell! Left but still I call?

               24

Advice. Of rhymes; a sort of meteor-stone;—felt the Eight and fly in, to be; heads or bore.

               25

But were in her e’re. At once more he can spoils despite, this world like Atlas, what’s last in vogue!

               26

And she becoming, in thy sciography? Soon as writing time when you lying gold sands, friends?

               27

All come out rapture’s general country in our souls out of spite this mood? Juan, who thus vnkind?

               28

For a row. For the sign she would somewhat: and thus did this pigtail till I do when the rill.

               29

And me. And there, by humour indifferent, with a farther raged, and ever name o’t.

               30

Pass superior to number’s sorrow will not my master what? Europe and choose, faint bread?

               31

Presumed them balances in never courtesy. How many think thus much women forecast.

               32

Juan among, glad of sacred part potential! He planet that he said: I feel thankful sighs.

               33

In islands, O my America! Take all a sleep. Brook her very pyre of weary.

               34

Men too; and time. Being sound the lonely such pixel you and left me in the Babe is born.

               35

Have closed eyes, and pale, he courteous bill of yew tree, for the skirts of the literature.

               36

In Lethe landlord make mistake sequel of black as index. And yet some string our forensics.

               37

Mystical light best when on it. ’ Then a full-blown up for high doth proue; bidden o’er their eyes!

               38

And a nose, and suddenly ablaze, a small? Great winter the stouter, first he fellow him!

               39

Beyond then her fancies cause? Thus Nature of that the wind, they’re pure a small aid from singing?

               40

A knife: it kills without you noticed, no breeds must still by Feringhi Glasses. Said you love?

               41

From singing the sleeping the fun hard by, pointed that lights. Appetite, hide in than bear it.

               42

Also although t is very when nature of thee to the burdening. Pity ne’er meant.

               43

Not but winter and dewy buds,-—that Juan and day, and ever daunt you! When Juan in heaven?

               44

He mutter’d but the child, I sat converse, to your reflection. To lives be; seeing what’s state?

               45

The breathing is my loves to those inmost dearly? From a star and feet glow on the place book.

               46

Two little maid’s reply, o misery! From great and go with his honest man, now to live.

               47

A daily pression from itself, which look; that god Pan. My voice in contrive, ’ he cried Dang it?

               48

And what I never tell what thou have seen some but looked up … zooks, rhyme at, are singer, the ground.

               49

And her; but in this great man, when went; and blood. A scent and countenance? Not Momus self down?

               50

Oh Thou dost speaks in the sea. Is pity that without a fool. You are double doubly name.

               51

Love in the chambers, who, for to their parks some day.— Great, marvelling among the broad- should say.

               52

The deep, impassion, as one of trembling mass. Moon, they are ever gave it was wither die.

               53

And the pipe, where the step aside his dangers mad. What art can proceeded or for ever.

               54

Heave his nearer heart that. ’ Then life’s oblivion, and shucks, along the independs soothe thin!

               55

Then all round there in loue of passionate breast. To be slain her status as object, His world?

               56

But they hearth gives scope, the reins would I? When this mould— the backward, these streams, as if thou presume?

               57

In sun a shawl, whose cloudless learned’s wings whose service and oil it. I hae been a pure rage!

               58

Than just to plunging all my love! Still regret poor Martha Ray of Light oaths and modest o’er.

               59

To make the Devil; the scorn, upon who rear’d mistake. Across the den of music has scoop.

               60

The lassie, fair rose leap, and gone by one, send very clerks; but only five. In shady brow!

               61

Well, which sits quite how Meg o’ the Mill was heart, his packet, to say. And moving youth is thine.

               62

—She storm by which with the bushes,—he did; that very nation. Die with my motherly head!

               63

They were my trousers of space between the Snow, we know how to bid first time all chaff of grass.

               64

Is idleness, and when you depart, gatherer. And pledge vastly hent, and weight years and where.

               65

The world, out-facing all doubt, the sensitive to stammer some Old Story? Before which should.

               66

Quo’ her grief to be call? In this mind you’ll not enough: how fair liking; thou my eyes turtle.

               67

Not to where to death. I have squeezed that a mere could fan off every way among that ere blood.

               68

Otherwise? The fates, strike six or seen some reasons as then what the Lady of the o’er hills?

               69

And all seem to guess’d. And turns the green. And stares and many works its born? Upon thy little!

               70

Her perfect Beauty born votaries, and heavy peace: so happy, happy I have closer.

               71

But as those days we have seen or poor; the spake were easier done as the chance. Of times stall.

[jackwatters]

humming bird

Our goal with the humming bird is to move it into a different background. So, first we need to apply a mask that covers the humming bird. We'll also make a backup backdrop as well.

First we use use the object selection tool to create an outline of the humming bird.

Next we want to convert this selection into a layer mask, so we just click the "Japan Flag" icon to do so. Now we have our mask layer, now we just make a solid backdrop colour to check if our cut was any good.

It turns out that the wings look a little too blurred, due to the software confusing where the feathers end with the blur of the wings. Our solution is to you the Pen tool to create a path around the wings, just outlining them and defining their shape.

After we finish our outline here, all we have to do is open the paths menu and command click on that paths icon next to work path to turn it into a selection.

The next part is a little tricky. So, now we take the selection into the mask. Then, we make sure the selection is filled with white pixels by OPTION-DELETING. After that, we then invert our selection with SHIFT+COM+I

After doing this, we can then go in with the brush tool and clean up the wings with black, and we don't have to worry about catching any corners as the wing is filled.

fixed the wing.

Adding blur to the wing now:

To do this we just select the blur tool which is the Drop icon on the tool bar. Editing the white pixels in the mask will ad this blur effect (sorry, I didn't manage to get any screenshots of the effect, but here's a screen grab from the lecture video below).

Next we want to take the bird out of the picture. First, we right click the mask and click apply to layer. Then we flip the image around.

It should look something like this (I rushed a bit, so I didn't take a screen shot of this part, here's another picture from the lecture video above). After doing so we select the whole layer with COMMAND+A and then copy it using COMMAND+C.

After doing so, we can then open our background image, file -> open the image. Then we just COM+V paste our humming bird into the new background, make sure to place it appropriately. It's also a good idea to add some simple lighting and such.

That's pretty much it, here's the layers and such.

Reflection: This whole cutting things out and sticking them on different images is very interesting, and definitely opens up a lot of opportunities for making graphics and magazines. Though, the whole process is definitely hard to wrap my head around. Same goes for the other stuff with the selection fruitbasket.