#Tangent

[avatar-masterofallfandoms]

I really like I was a teenage exocolonist... You'll never guess who my favorite characters are...

[spooky-something]

I'm so genuinely gutted that of the big three Gothic horror stories, Frankenstein; the biggest of them all, is the ONLY ONE who doesn't have this relatively huge Tumblr fanbase. Like, yeah. Don't get me wrong, it exists... but compared to DRACULA??? Or even J&H???? Not even CLOSEEE. And it's because they both got some cool thing Tumblr enjoys, like Dracula Weekly/Re; Dracula, or The Glass Scientists. BUT I GET NOTHING OVER HERE. WHEN WILL IT BE MY TURN.

[helioscopepdx]

The Schweizer Guide to Spotting Tangents

A fantastic resource from friend-of-the-studio @schweizercomics, who wrote this guide back in 2011. Read on for a goldmine of information (and visual examples) about avoiding tangents in your work!

Comic art is, as a general rule, a line-based medium. I know, I know, there are plenty of artists whose work is painted, or who depict their subject in ink using solely light and shadow. But these folks are unquestioningly in the minority, as the history of printing technology originally dictated the use of line to depict form in the early days of comics. This became a stylistic expectation, and it’s an expectation that I enthusiastically embrace, as have many others. But using line to draw the world invites chances for that cardinal sin of composition: the tangent. 

A tangent is when two or more lines interact in a way that insinuates a relationship between them that the artist did not intend. It can create confusion on the part of the audience as to what it is that they’re looking at. It can cause the spatial depth that one attempts to cultivate through the use of planes to become flattened. Most of all, it creates a decidedly unwelcome aesthetic response: tangents are just plain ugly. There are a lot of different types of tangents, as least according to the way I define them. In order to make it easier on my students when giving critiques, I’ve categorized them and named them. This may have been done before, but I’ve not encountered it. My hope is that, by making this “spot-the-enemy” guide, fewer artists will fall into the tangent trap by knowing what to look for.   

1. The Long Line

The long line is when a line from one object runs directly into the line of another. This is the tangent that everybody knows. The one that’s easiest to spot, easiest to avoid.  For a lot of folks, this is the only thing meant when one refers to a “tangent.” Even in the work of the very best comic artists, a vigilant eye can find the occasional tangent.  Even when a cartoonist is constantly on the lookout, a tangent can slip through.  But, as each of strive to better ourselves and the quality of our work and our medium, 

2. The Parallel

The parallel tangent is when the containing lines of two objects run alongside each other.  This causes one of two negative outcomes.  Either one object becomes “lost,” as the other overpowers it (figure 1), or one object feels strangely contained by another (figure 2). This can be avoided by ensuring that any object that COULD run alongside another is angled at least 45 degrees from the first. The next two are REALLY tough to spot, and most artists have fallen victim to them before.   

3. The Corner

The corner tangent is when two lines in an object meet in a way intended by the artist, but another (accidental) line runs directly into the place where they meet.   

4. The Bump-Up

A bump-up tangent is when the containing line of one object “bumps up” against the containing line of another object.   When these two lines touch, it creates a bump-up tangent (and even when they don’t technically touch, if it’s close enough to raise eyebrows, they might as well).  The bump-up gives the impression of containment.  In figure 1, it seems as though her ponytail is physically unable to enter the space occupied by the pole.  In figure 2, it feels as though her elbow is unable to LEAVE that space.

Also, be careful not to let elements of the drawing bump up against your panel borders!  Either give them room to breathe or decisively crop them.   

5. The Directional

A directional tangent is basically just a long-line tangent that’s been broken by empty space.  Now, this one isn’t always bad – it can, on occasion, be used to draw the reader’s eye through the image on a specifically determined path.

6. The Panel-to-Panel

This one is exactly the same thing as the directional (in fact, I shouldn’t even classify it as its own thing), save that instead of empty space dividing a long-line it’s a panel gutter. My gutters are crazy wide, but with normal-sized gutters this can be a real problem.   One more thing… This ain’t a tangent, but it is a compositional no-no. 

Fake Panels

Comics generally have panel borders, so readers are used to having images contained by straight lines.  Some artists don’t allow gutters between their borders.  Though I believe that, as a rule, this can make it harder for new comics readers to follow the story (and new readers are always important), it’s done with enough regularity that we must expect the audience to feel comfortable with gutterless pages.  What does this mean?  It means that we can’t draw a straight line in any panel, either vertical or horizontal, without having some object overlap it.  If we do, readers may think that it is a panel border, incorrectly breaking one moment into two.

See how the overlap of the elbow causes there to be no question?

That's it for Lesson #1!

[manaquartz]

Happy Pride Month

[sapocururunabeira]

I'd like to see more people talking about how so much of deity work is trust, at least in the beginning. And not the "your deities have your best interent in mind" kinda trust. But trusting our deities are really there, that They are listening to us, that the answers given by the divination method we choose to use to communicate are really Them.

Most of the people on witchblr that talk about interacting with their deities do so in a manner that makes it seem so effortless. Like they were talking to another human in front of them. And I'm not invalidating them, I really think it's awesome they could form this connection, but it takes so much time and effort to achieve this level.

My energy sensing abilities are non-existent, I have intrusive thoughts and I'm just now sucking a little less at divination. It took so long for me to get the hang of my deity's communication style to feel a bit more confident that I'm really receiving Their messages. But most of the time, it still feels like radio silence, and all I can do is pray and trust.

[ravenkwok]

[notomys-mordax-blog]

The dynamic between Tang and Dys was one of my favorite parts of the game. I've been trying to pry myself from Baldur's Gate and get back to some of my other hobbies. My focus here was speed -- this took about 3 hours from start-to-finish

[smath-or-pass]

[zuszab]

I hope this drawing will help someone remember and understand how to count this :]

[selfportrait27]

HD version of a classic Ween photo (probably AI upscaled). 1992-ish.

[she-is-ovarit]

It's all connected. Corporations began marketing gay pride themed merchandise. An increase in "I-identify-as" populations began to flood gay bars and events, where outward appearance (marketed as "gender expression") became heavily emphasized.

Commercial visibility and marketability does not equal human rights progress.

Ability to consume does not equal citizenship to an oppressed group.

Biology, (referring to sexual orientation and sex) is not a brand you can buy into or boycott out of.

Corporations selling rainbows do not reflect our values.

The churning out of new "all inclusive" pride flags to pledge allegiance to is not indicative of liberation.

A historical homosexual slur being sold by the multi-billion dollar media obfuscates predominantly lesbian relationships ("queer women", "queer relationship") and retraumatizes many gay and lesbian people.

Gay pride only extending to people able to purchase detracts from the meaning of gay pride and distracts from the struggles of the most vulnerable. It positions the most privileged within marginalized and oppressed groups as those who represent the whole.

And associating body modification, aestheticism, and "expression" with self identity turns the lived experiences and material realities of entire subgroups of people into niche market categories that people who aren't even a part of these groups can identify into and out of based on social trends.

Biology becomes devalued, overshadowed by the social and manufactured "genders". Infinite genders means infinite target audiences. Lived, material realities of certain groups of people become materialism.

Human rights movements are becoming human rights industries, with the wealthy more directly capitalizing off of the exploitation of the poor, of the homosexual, of the female, of the immigrant, of the dark skinned, of the mentally ill, of the disabled, of the sick, of the marginalized and oppressed.

Don't buy into it.

[aashiyancha]

Well, y'all know the drill. When i get really into a game I gotta express that love through doodles so here's the gang in their pre/early teens!

[crusadingeggplant]

First Playthrough / Second Playthrough:

[zegalba]

Dimitris Ladopoulos: Tangent (2022)

[star-lacedd]

i feel like i’ve barely just scraped the surface of the mechanisms lore, but omg THE BRAINROT IS SETTING IN. i’m listening to every song/talking thingy in order and ive gotten through the whole of “once upon a time (in space)” and im onto their next album AND ITS JUST SO GOOD. THANK YOU JONATHAN SIMS I OWE YOU MY LIFE. not even just him, ALL OF THE BAND IS SO FUCKING GOOD and like the music is just SO WELL THOUGHT THROUGH and the LYRICS and their VOICES and the VOICE ACTING. i’m genuinely having the time of my life here just cooped up in my dorm room and listening to them. i’m going full swing into this hyperfixation and im so not upset about it LIKE AHHHH ITS SO GOOD!!!! i’m going to go back and relisten to things and also read the fan wiki and such to get a better grasp on the lore details after listening to their entire discography because of course i am. because it’s beautiful beautiful genius art and im so happy it exists.

in summary, i am completely normal about the mechanisms.