#Workflow Win

[mentorshelly]

Unleashing Efficiency: The 4 Indispensable Benefits of SOPs in Business

Navigating the complexities of business can be daunting, but with well-crafted Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), your enterprise can move with precision and confidence. Let’s delve into four transformative benefits of SOPs: 1. Unmatched Consistency: SOPs are the secret ingredient to uniform excellence. They ensure every product and service meets your high standards, reflecting the reliability…

[kradeelav]

drawing observations as of late:

* krita is absurdly powerful for manga. it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of current day CSP, but it is far more versatile + lightweight than what classic mangaka had only 10-15 years ago. you truly can make genuine timeless masterworks to print with it (and on linux) - don't let people tell you otherwise. after i finish this current doujinshi i'm hoping to put together a tutorial for my panel + speech bubble workflow because i really do think people severely underestimate what a powerhouse it is; finally as a digital art creative you don't have to be shackled to win/mac.

* something clicked recently with toning; if gradients or flashy textures can't do better than one flat patch of light grey halftones, don't add it. simplicity is better. there are rare exceptions for large landscapes (skies for instance) benefiting from gradients but they're an exception. often times if you're good at textures with the ink/blacks you can make the inks do it for you.

* generally if you spend more than 20 minutes on a (non splash) panel it probably sucks. stay loose, stay messy, eye tracking across the page is king.

* so much of kinky eros is texture and sensation; i've found it's quite efficient to hyper-render specific focal textures (eg leather, semen, saliva, blood), and let that lead the eye across the panels whilst keeping everything simple.

[yuurei20]

Trey Info Compilation part 17: Rook

Rook refers to Trey as “Chevalier des Roses,” but this nickname apparently did not appear until their second year when Riddle enrolled at NRC, as, “One must have a roi—a king—to be a chevalier, or a knight.”

Trey does not like this nickname and often asks Rook to stop using it, which Rook tends to ignore.

Rook seems very fond of Trey (“All Rook did was sing praises about your smooth workflow,” says a Science club student), and when Sebek calls Rook creepy for bursting into song during Spectral Soiree Trey explains, “The random singing isn’t all that uncommon, actually. He does that sometimes during club meetings.”

When Sebek prepares to attack Rook for being suspiciously calm Trey defends Rook, explaining “Okay, sure, Rook’s a little weird. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking, and sometimes he does that thing where he looks at the sky and smiles…but he’s not a bad guy.”

Rook wins Sebek over by telling a story ostensibly from his childhood, which Trey does not believe saying, “You just can’t get enough of these elaborate jokes, can you?…Just don’t go overboard with our remarkably gullible freshman, okay?”

When Sebek tries to pressure Rook into sharing personal stories from his childhood Trey comes to Rook’s rescue, pretending to see a ghost behind a pillar.

Trey explains, “I just figured you wouldn’t want people prying into your private life. I’ve noticed you tend to steer clear of that kind of stuff when we talk at club meetings. But I’m sorry if I read too much into it and overstepped.”

Ever sensitive to embarrassing situations, in a science club-based vignette, Trey asks Rook to not talk to the plants while they’re watering them, saying, “you are your eccentricities.”

Rook gives Trey “a fancy feathered cap” for his birthday, but Trey cannot figure out what he is supposed to wear it with.

Trey says Rook roped him into researching classic vampire moves for Halloween, but while he pretended to be scared, Rook was not convinced.

Trey says that if he had to pick someone to take with him to a deserted island, it would be Rook.

During Beanfest Rook gives a long monologue about how it was that he knew where to wait out in order to meet with Trey, explaining, “You strive to achieve exceptional marks in any situation that could reflect upon your dorm and its housewarden, the Roi de Roses. Moreso in exams or extracurriculars—any occasion with discernible outcomes for all dorms involved. But you don’t like drawing attention to yourself…You weren’t likely to take an aggressive stance. You are not a proactive man when it comes to events such as the one we find ourselves in today…and indeed, the Trey Clover I know wouldn’t go out of his way to seek out and and farmers for a chance in the spotlight...you would hunker down in territory familiar to you, behind natural fortifications, and wait out the enemy for a spell.”

When looking for people amongst the school third-year students that he thinks are the most approachable, Trey chooses Rook and Vil.

After Rook gives a dramatic description of his plans for post-NRC, Trey responds without acknowledging the curious way in which Rook expresses himself. Cater observes, "Rook's hype didn't even faze you at all" and Trey explains, "I'm used to it."

[crazykuroneko]

A chance to watch IWTV S2 premiere!

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[nestedneons]

I didn't realize I had created a structured midjourney workflow for my tezos collection till I joined a challenge today and used it, I'll add to the collection if I don't win...

Bubblegum Warrior Nuns by jilt with midjourney

Cyberpunk art commissions

Ko-Fi

My ai models

[tallerthantale]

What Does Aziraphale Actually Believe, Part 4: Heaven is Wrong

This is a series of my takes on what Aziraphale believes through the timeline of the show. It is all my personal interpretation, and I am happy to hear others. You don’t need to read them all in order, but know that I am coming from a perspective on Aziraphale’s machinations that can be difficult for people without a psychology background to follow without the first two as a primer. The quick version is that Aziraphale has a set of beliefs that exist in some form or another within his mind. However, at any given moment, only some of them exist ‘with awareness’ or as I am putting it here, conscious!Aziraphale only has access to the beliefs that the rest of his mind, veil!Aziraphale, allows him to know about. The context of the moment will determine what lives on the surface and what stays buried behind the veil, whatever arrangement best prevents a threat to Aziraphale’s sense of self and makes whatever he is inclined to do feel right.

This post is all concentrated Job saga, though it skips over the ox rib, which I’m saving for the next post. About 3.5k words. I got carried away with the length again. I really meant to keep it shorter.

Uz is where things get really interesting. It's also where a lot of the fandom, in my opinion, gets a bit thrown off. That's because the events at Uz are 4500 years before the modern era. All the character growth we see here is well over 4k years old, and that has a lot of people wondering, where the fuck did that character growth go? How could the angel that did all that so far back still not understand heaven is just as bad all that time later? The first answer is that Aziraphale doesn’t have consistent beliefs, he has options for what he can believe that get selected from to fit the situation. The second answer is that there are some very particular ways Aziraphale manages his rationalisations, and they are going to have a lot to do with Aziraphale's opinions on God’s ineffability. 

His Children!?

When we first see Aziraphale interrupt Crowley’s workflow, he is incredibly performative. “Avaunt Foul Demon!” He drops it immediately on recognising Crowley, but he also puts it back on after. The character of “Angel of the Lord” is put on for show, and not just because he didn’t know it was Crowley in particular. “Despised Tool of Satan” is also a character that Crowley is playing. When Aziraphale calls him that, he is referring to the role, not the person. Aziraphale is popping in and out of being himself and being his job with very clear distinctions. He likewise has distinctions between Crowley’s job as the “Foul Demon” and Crowley the person, who is tasked with that job. Crowley may have been assigned the job of kill the goats, Aziraphale is determined to thwart the assignment, that doesn’t mean he has ill will towards the person tasked with it. 

After the business about the permit, when it moves onto the children, his first attempt to step in about the kids is to insist to Crowley that he doesn’t HAVE TO destroy Job’s children. “Surely the great thing about being a demon is that you can do whatever you want.” It’s jealously, and Crowley calls him on it. Aziraphale insists that he is happy to have the opportunity to do whatever God wants. He believes he believes this. 

Aziraphale is also revealing himself to be painfully unaware of how bad Crowley’s situation is. While this series in general and this post in particular focuses on how Aziraphale’s circumstances are really shit, I don't want to give the impression of a trauma olympics argument. I’m focusing on Aziraphale because I think he is more confusing, not because I think he has it worse.

When Crowley asks "Like killing innocent children to win a bet with Satan?" Aziraphale’s response, hushing his voice and looking to be sure the other angel’s aren’t listening, "I don't think that is what God wants." This is huge. My big recurring question for how Aziraphale deals with ineffability is: if Aziraphale doesn’t think it is possible to communicate or understand God’s will, what makes him think he knows what God wants? The only direct evidence he has of God’s opinion is God signing off on the bargain with Satan, and that doesn’t support Aziraphale’s position at all. He is clearly aware that the other angels would not support his interpretation, and has already abandoned any attempt to convince them.

The only reason Aziraphale has to conclude that God doesn’t want the kids dead is that he doesn’t like it. If something is God’s will, and he doesn't like it, that’s an existential crisis. So Aziraphale’s mind rejects that by keeping that possibility behind the veil. Remember, this is not Aziraphale debating with himself and presenting, “But if God’s opinion is Y, I don’t like that so God’s opinion must therefore be X” as an actual philosophical argument, this is veil!Aziraphale will not allow the idea “God believes Y,” to exist in conscious!Aziraphale’s perception or thoughts, and as a result “God believes X,” is the only observable opinion to consider. The reason why Aziraphale inexplicably believes a thing generally boils down to: Aziraphale isn’t emotionally prepared to deal with a reality where that thing isn’t true. 

While this is the same pattern as Aziraphale being happy about the destruction of the universe / fancy wall paper plan, in that the opinion veil!Aziraphale prefers is the only observable opinion, it has one main reversal. Before Aziraphale was believing in something reprehensible to protect his personal safety. Now he is believing something dangerous to himself to protect his principles. That switch signals to me that Aziraphale has grown to a point where he has become invested enough in his experiences in the world that he is more ok with being against the institution of heaven than he is with wanton destruction.

Aziraphale can’t cope with a reality where he is misaligned with God’s will, but neither can he cope with a reality where God’s will is for him to condone child murder. Enter ineffability. God’s will is incapable of being put into words. That long permit / contract sure does seem like it’s a bunch of words. If God’s will can’t be put into words, what is She doing dicking around with contracts and permits? Being told 'this subject can't be put into words, here's a book on it' is certainly an experience, let me tell you. (Or well, I would tell you, but it would be in words, so... soz.) But if God is playing games and misrepresenting Her own will, and it is impossible to really know what God really wants, Aziraphale can just decide whatever intuitively feels right to him is God’s will. Ineffability is the life hack to end all life hacks. (This is a dangerous one IRL, see end note.)

Who’s Side Are You On?

Aziraphale thinks he knows Crowley. Crowley disagrees. Aziraphale shifts his phrasing. I know the angel you were. Crowley doesn’t disagree, but insists that isn’t who he is now. This is a point of misaligned communication. Crowley is being honest when he says that the angel he was isn’t who he is now. But in the context of the conversation, it is a statement made to support what is soon after revealed to be a lie by obfuscation. The fact that Crowley was serious about not being the angel he used to be gets lost in the reveal that Aziraphale was right about him not wanting to kill kids, human or otherwise. This lets Aziraphale hang on to the idea that Crowley is essentially still the entity that existed as an angel, and lets him read Crowley’s demonic status as a temporary state of being he is suffering under, possibly as one of God’s games. 

Aziraphale sounds very smug at the revelation that Crowley did not kill the goats, and Crowley insists that they aren’t on the same side, irritated by Aziraphale’s smugness. I think this is because the way Aziraphale framed the situation, “I don’t think that is what God wants, and I don’t think you want that either” puts Crowley and God on the same side, which Crowley will not accept. Crowley thinks God wants all the kids dead. Crowley expresses that they are “(temporarily not on) (opposite sides),” since they are both going off script with their bosses. Aziraphale says “just as you say.” I think Aziraphale has changed some definitions though, and is parsing it as “(temporarily) (not on opposite sides)” where Crowley is temporarily a demon who, due to temporary demonic status, can’t technically be considered on God’s side, but is destined to return to it later. 

When Jemimah asks if Crowley is a demon, Aziraphale answers “Yes, well. He is in fact, technically, a demon…”. I don’t think this is just him being embarrassed about being seen with a demon, I think Aziraphale really does think of Crowley’s demonic status as a kind of technicality. Aziraphale sees Crowley as a sort of double agent for God, whether or not Crowley sees himself that way. He digs in his heels in the cellar. “Come on, you’re a little bit on our[God’s] side.”  “Well you're not on hell’s side.” “Well who’s side are you on?” 

Crowley suggests he isn’t as opposed to hell as Aziraphale is framing, but ultimately characterises himself as on "My side.” Aziraphale’s response telegraphs what his line of questioning is really about. “Ours?” It's a question not an opinion, trying out what Crowley’s interpretation would mean for himself. He can’t consider himself on his own side, his mind won’t let that be an option.

When Crowley asks, Aziraphale insists that the side he’s on is “God’s, of course.” Crowley works for hell, and they talk about to what extent Crowley is on hell’s side. Aziraphale works for heaven, and in that role, and in the parallels of the language they have been using, you might expect Aziraphale to insist that he is on heaven’s side. He doesn’t, because he isn’t. He’s on God’s side, and heaven sometimes isn’t. I think at this point Aziraphale is still fairly confident God doesn’t want the children killed. 

Crowley asks, “same God that wants me to whack the kids?” Aziraphale starts to answer, “Yes, but-” and Crowley cuts him off. Aziraphale doesn’t argue the point like he did before, but I think it’s mostly to do with him knowing he has no evidence. Aziraphale knows how unconvincing his own faith based reasoning is to other people, and he is smart enough to know when to leave it alone. He can’t convince the other angels to believe God secretly wants something completely different to what She’s signed off on, and right now Crowley doesn’t seem any more likely to believe something that far out of left field. Crowley hasn't been shy about his disdain for ineffability.

Can Aziraphale see himself and Crowley as together on their own side? I think not yet, not without them being the secretly aligned playing pieces of an ineffable God, or they end up avowed by the same side. For now it’s only “our side” if God is there too, or the other option, as Crowley puts it, “see you in hell.”

While I’m Wide-Eyed and I’m So Damn Caught in the Middle

(Lyrics from Strong, by London Grammar)

Aziraphale is very confident and determined to rescue the kids when he isn’t being stared down by Michael and Gabriel. He looks terrified and ashamed when he actually has to lie to them. His determination pulls him through, it helps that his default shame response is to lie, but it doesn’t feel right, and Aziraphale gets messy when it comes to things that don’t feel right.

From lying to Michael and Gabriel to waiting at the shore, Aziraphale does believe he went against God’s will, but I will argue it was only for that span and no further. Aziraphale initially thinks he has been cast out as an angel and has been turned into a demon. He has not been. He expresses that he lied to thwart the will of God. This is a departure from his earlier claim that he doesn't think killing the kids is what God wants. While Crowley agrees with the ‘thwarting the will of God’ description, I think Crowley has accidentally and unknowingly talked Aziraphale out of that interpretation by the end of the scene. (I sometimes read “the will of God” in this sentence as a term of art for the policy positions of heaven, but that feels like a cop out, so I’m going to ignore that interpretation.)

Aziraphale's claim to have lied to thwart the will of God happens when he is under the impression he is already a demon and is about to be escorted to hell. If Aziraphale believes things based on what maintains his sense of self, how did he end up putting himself, however temporarily, into the worldview that he was a fallen angel who lied to thwart the will of God? When someone motivated reasonings their way into believing something terrible, it is to prevent themselves from believing something worse. Here lies one of the biggest tragedies of Aziraphale. 

At least for that span of time, waiting at the shore of Uz, he would have preferred to be a demon over being caught in the middle. When Crowley doesn’t understand why Aziraphale thinks they are going to hell together, his first choice of words to express to Crowley that he thinks he has fallen are “I’m like you now.” He could hope that the reason he didn’t fit in with heaven was because he was always supposed to be a demon, hope that he would fit in with hell and gt to work together with Crowley. The forces of hell exist because God wills it to be so, maybe he could do better as an extension of God’s will as a demon. At least then he would know what he was supposed to do, and what he was supposed to be. He could go back to just doing what he was told. None of that is realistic of course. He is trying to find something to cling to that he could believe more readily than he could cope with reality. 

He now lives with a sword of Damocles on him, and will for the next 4500 years. Heaven isn’t for him, he doesn’t fit in anywhere, he will likely spend the rest of his immortal interactions with the angels locked into half honesty at best, and the only person who knows why is still his enemy on paper. Speaking freely is something he may never be able to do again. Aziraphale is stuck being internally alienated from the institution of heaven while still on opposite sides to Crowley. He is trapped in the worst of both worlds. His question to Crowley towards the end of the minisode, “but what am I?” might be the saddest line we hear from him in the show.

The Canary in the Coal Mine

By the end of the conversation he is aware he is still an angel. I believe after the sword incident, Aziraphale believes God to be omniscient, and the lack of divine punishment raining down on him is proof of God's tolerance if not approval of his actions. He thought he went too far this time, and assumed he had fallen because he assumed God would know he lied about the children. He had no reason to believe that the institution had found out, and I don’t think he believes Crowley would have told on him, certainly not as a confidently assumed given.  

“You think you’re a demon? With your curly little… and your neat white…” Now that Crowley has essentially told him 'you would know if you became a demon because it would metaphysically change you,' and we saw Crowley’s wings flickering in Before the Beginning suggesting that starts kicking in at the first sign of wavering, Aziraphale can use his metaphysical state of still being fully an angel to prove that whatever he has done isn’t grounds to fall in the eyes of God. If he does ‘the wrong thing’ God would immediately know, and he would immediately change. As long as that hasn’t happened, he is aligned with God. (Crowley doesn’t interpret things the same way because he considers God to be some combination of not entirely omniscient due to not always paying attention, “God, ya listening?” and being too indifferent these days for it to matter, “That’s all it took to be a demon in the old days.”)

In Aziraphale’s mind, God instantly knows everything he did, and if he hasn't become a demon, that means his original take, that God didn't want the kids whacked, was correct. He gets to preserve the idea that he is fully aligned with God’s will. However, this opens the can of worms he had been avoiding by thinking he was getting sent to hell for thwarting the will of God. The entire rest of the population of heaven was down to whack the kids. Aziraphale now lives in a universe where publicly acting in accordance with his best guess at God's plan could be a death sentence, not because he might get it wrong, but because he might be the only one to get it right.

But if the other angels are also still angels, doesn’t that validate them too? Yes and no, but mostly no. I’m going to circle back to this in a later post, because it is big and important and needs to be discussed while integrating a lot of other things from other points on the timeline. For the time being let us understand it as: He thinks they have things wrong, but he only thinks of himself as being potentially accountable for getting things wrong.

As Aziraphale sees it in this moment, he now lives in a universe where the entire institution of heaven is dramatically misaligned with God's will, he has no power to fix it, and will be instantly crushed if he tries. Situations like these are where it gets really useful to not always consciously believe everything you believe. This is now something Aziraphale can believe when he needs to, but won’t look at when he doesn’t. A lot of the shift we will see him go through over the next 4500 years is not really how strongly he believes heaven is misaligned with his values and God’s will, it’s how easily and how often he can allow himself to believe it. 

Part 4/10

End Note: Deciding that God’s will is (whatever your intuition tells you) is a very dangerous life hack that leads to a lot of extremely toxic behaviour IRL. The worst of the toxic Christians often have some version of this, where they are convinced that everything that feels right to them has been rubber stamped by God, and everything that feels wrong to them is punishable across the board. When an authoritative religion decides something is God’s will, that tends to come along with an insistence that it is everyone’s responsibility to act accordingly. If you consider yourself able to intuit what God wants, that can extend to putting yourself on a hierarchy, because what God wants is universal and has implications for everyone. 

As I brought up in the ineffability post (part 3/10), Aziraphale’s concept of ineffability is a mix of Christian and Daoist themes. When Aziraphale is at his most Christian themed he can slip into the toxic controlling pattern, early Edinburgh, some of the bandstand fight, some aspects of the Ball. Where he is at his most Daoist themed, he will only apply the lifehack to deciding if his behaviour is the right choice for himself. 

On a book on a subject that can't be put into words: The Daodejing opens by telling you that the Dao can't be described in words, and then proceeds to be a book on the Dao, written in words. It never presents itself as infallible or as a work of the divine, but the contradiction does still raise eyebrows for obvious reasons. The legendary origin story reconciles the contradictions by saying Laozi was essentially badgered into writing it. The text likely had multiple historical authors, so as funny as I find the Laozi being nagged into it story, I think it is better explained by an analogy from Chan Buddhism (the half Daoism precursor to Zen).

You can see the moon (the way) for yourself with or without someone pointing at it. A finger (words) pointing at the moon should not be mistaken for the moon, and no amount of pointing at the moon will force someone to see it. It's not like it's some kind of heresy to try pointing at the moon, so naturally people try. Sometimes it might help, and sometimes people decide it's actually a coded manual for how to live forever by drinking mercury. Individual results will vary.

[littleststarfighter]

You don't have to answer this at all, just wanted to give some perspective/info from someone who's been doing illustration commissions for about 15 years: in my opinion, it's always better to work backwards from an hourly rate rather than doing value-based pricing.

When working with private individuals as clients, US$30-50/hr is pretty standard for custom freelance stuff depending on experience, but since you're new to commissions I'd recommend offering a discount for the first few slots (both to get things moving, and also to give yourself lower-stakes "training" until you get used to the process—sometimes your workflow will change in ways you didn't expect under the conditions).

Personally, I prefer to offer a fixed quote based on my hourly rate, because that gets any kind of sticker shock out of the way. I estimate the amount of time it'll take me, add ~10% as a buffer, and apply my hourly rate. The fixed quote also gives me a little freedom not to stress out if it's taking more or less time than anticipated; I just make a note for my next quote and adjust accordingly.

The hourly rate might seem high to you, as it often does to people who are used to more traditional salary structures. But keep in mind that as a freelancer, you're also your own admin support: you don't bill for time spent emailing, researching, invoicing, etc. Tax can also get a bit complicated if you start doing a lot of freelance work.

My own base (non-commercial) rate is US$60/hr, because I've been doing this for a very long time. Frankly, the reason I have a lot of long-term repeat clients who pay my rate is because I communicate well and deliver on time. I set out a timeline up front with scheduled check-ins at various stages, and then I stick to that timeline no matter what. As someone who's also hired many freelance artists in the past, I know that reliability will win over genius every single time.

Speaking of timelines, ALWAYS be specific about the number and scope of revisions you offer. Depending on the project, I might phrase it as "2 rounds of revisions, with up to 1 hour of work per round" or similar. I bill anything beyond that scope at a higher hourly rate, usually about US$90/hr, billed by the half-hour. This also gives you leverage to say "Sure, I can add a whole new character and completely change the background; that will take about X hours which will put us into hourly billing territory at X rate." Either they'll back down or you'll be well compensated for the trouble, and most importantly (from a client services perspective) you've not told them no, you've given them options and reminded them what they've already agreed to.

In terms of payment plans, I normally require 50% up front (non-refundable) and 50% on final delivery. Since you haven't yet built up a rep as a commission artist, I recommend a lower up-front rate (maybe 20-30%). I do strongly advise getting SOMETHING up front to lock clients in and make sure they can't completely ditch if something happens. Plus, refusing to pay a small deposit is a major red flag.

I offer a 5% discount for complete payment up front, because it's honestly worth that 5% just to not have to deal with chasing people down and sending invoice reminders and whatnot.

I'm sorry to hear you've been going through such a tough time, and I hope this was helpful and not too overwhelming; it's just stuff I wish someone had told me when I was first starting out, and I think it's important for working artists to share info about business practices. I wasn't strict about a lot of things back then (like number of revisions), and it always ended up coming back to bite me. It might seem counter-intuitive, but I promise that thinking through and setting a lot of rules/boundaries up front will save you a lot of stress and trouble in the end.

I seriously want to thank you for this. It's incredibly informative not just for me but I'm sure other start out artists too. You've gone over things that I'd have no idea to do, thank you.

I'm certainly looking into how to pay tax as being in the UK I've never had to work that out before as we have it done for us in most jobs. So that would have been something I'd have forgotten about and it's not something you want to miss. I definitely have to time myself working as I don't know how long I take as I've never thought about that either. I just know I'm slow. It's interesting to see what you'd charge hourly as I see a lot of fan commissions having a low fixed rate depending on what you offer.  So definitely have to look whether to offer that or like you suggest a more freelance rate of pay. I'll admit US$30-50/hr made me gasp but that's because I'm used to working for UK minimum wage (roughly $13 a hr) so that seems a lot to me. Gives me something to think about. Though I worry about pricing people out to begin with what with being quite slow and a nobody. And yes! Never forget about getting a deposit. I learnt that the bad way decades ago when I did try to do a commission and was never paid. That's what made me nervous to even begin as I can be a pushover. So need to be more strict in what I can offer and of course revise too.

Seriously thank you this is so helpful. Like you say there's so much people don't share about getting into freelance and commission work. Getting that step up, even if it's me doing it, is something I've no idea how to even start on. I get people saying why aren't you working in art? But my answer is always 'how?' It's something no one's told me about. How to sell yourself and your work. Even commission work confused me. So please don't worry this is beyond helpful and I'm very grateful for you taking your time to help me. It's been a very rough few months but I'm trying to stay positive. This may help me while I find work. Much love, Lucy 💖

[elianacatie]

Image-Line FL Studio Producer Edition v21.2.3 Build [4004]

Image-Line FL Studio is a complete music production software environment or digital audio workstation (DAW). With more than 20 years of innovative developments, it combines everything you need for composing, arranging, recording, editing, mixing, and producing professional quality music.

Feature of FL Studio 21.2.3:

Record multiple tracks, stretch time, and bend notes with ease during editing.

Industry-leading piano roll lets you craft intricate melodies and control MIDI patterns like a maestro.

Multi-track mixer, automation control, and VST plugin support – mix and polish your tracks to perfection.

Create complex productions with ease. Effect chains, audio sends, sidechain control, advanced automation – it’s all here.

Experience the smoothest piano roll in the game. Edit notes, work with scores, and unleash your creative potential.

No DAW does playlist-ing like FL Studio. Sequence notes, audio, and automation freely, creating unique sonic tapestries.

Explore a massive library of native instruments and effects. Still not enough? Dive into the vast world of VST plugins.

Resize, rearrange, personalize – the user interface adapts to your workflow, not the other way around.

Record and edit automation in real-time, breathing life into your music.

Use FL Studio as a VST plugin or connect with ReWire for seamless integration.

FL Studio is designed for touch control, letting you express your creativity in a whole new way.

Powerful clip-triggering and intuitive controls unleash your inner DJ.

Context-sensitive guidance is always available with a simple press of F1.

Bind your MIDI controllers with ease, taking command of your sounds.

Render mesmerizing 4K videos directly from your FL Studio projects.

More Info

Version: v21.2.3 Build [4004]

Developer: Image-Line

Format: STANDALONE, VST

Bit depth: 64bit

Interface language: English, German, Spanish, French, Chinese.

System requirements: WIN 10+

Size: 1.23 GB

Installation:

Install FL.Studio.v21.2.3 [4004].exe

 Install

Edison Declipper Windows.exe

 FL Cloud mastering Windows.exe

Stem extractor Windows.exe

Download Setup

[alicornze7]

-EMERGENCY INTERRUPTION POST/hj-

idc if it’s 4 days late have this April Fools special!!

this took longer than it should but it’s more of a treat for myself so win-win

I don't actually have an official persona so have this lil’ guy I made in 6th grade instead (he's gonna represent me until I design my actual sona)

Close-ups :

this drawing single-handedly destroyed my workflow

-we will return to our regular posting schedule shortly-

[brokehorrorfan]

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[animethottywithnobody]

“Sit. Don’t move.”

~ Kenma x Cockwarming

CW: nsfw, dom! Kenma, sub! reader, black-coded reader, afab reader, pet names are used, mention of punishments 

WC: 1.1k

Synopsis: Kenma doesn’t like doing too much work or being disturbed when he actually decided to do it. So when you bring up an idea that lets him do his work and not have to do much to please you, he agrees to try it since it’s a win-win situation. Too bad it doesn’t stay that way for long. 

AN: Was this rushed because I really wanted to get day two out before midnight? yes. I’m so sorry this one was late but today was a very wild day for me so I didn’t get the chance to work on it like I really wanted to. This one is a rewrite as well and will be having a part two so stay tuned and enjoy!

❗️minors & blank blogs DNI❗️

Second Person Pov

“You just… sit on it.” You nod softly though he isn’t watching you since he’s typing away on an essay he has due in four days. “And you don’t move.” You nod again with a small smile growing on your face since you can tell he’s thinking about the plan you’re proposing to him. “And I don’t have to move either.” This time he looks at you, finally able to see the giant smile you wear as you nod eagerly. 

“Yup! That’s what cockwarming is Kozu.” Your eyes are hopeful that your boyfriend is going to take your idea into consideration since he doesn’t have too much of a reason to really disagree. 

Kenma works a lot and he doesn’t like being distracted because he says it ‘ruins his workflow’ and that he ‘can’t get back to work properly after’. He still gives you attention but sometimes when you desperately need it, he’s really busy and you don’t want to break him away from his work especially since he doesn’t understand the desperation since he isn’t as affectionate as you are. You looked all over for things to satisfy both people and cockwarming seemed like the best option. So good that you’ve been spending fifteen minutes trying to convince your intelligent and moody boyfriend of the same thing. 

He stops typing for a bit before he nods his head slowly in understanding. “How long has that idea been sitting in that pretty head of yours?” He glances at you slightly with a small smirk before he goes back to work. The glance was one way he shows you that he’s interested in something or that he’s still listening, in this case, both things simultaneously. 

You giggle shyly as you rock back and forth on the balls of your feet. “For a little while now but I had to bring it to you the right way, ya know?” You reach out and play with his hair softly, watching him relax in your touch a bit. “It’s a pretty good idea, right? You still get to do everything you have to do and I get to be close to you without being a bother.”

He grabs your hand and looks up at you. “You’ve never been a bother to me.” He goes back to work as you continue playing with his hair until he stops and turns his chair to you abruptly causing you to back up in fear that you’re disturbing him. “You really want this, huh?” You nod with hopeful eyes, that grew wide when he pushes his sweatpants and underwear down to reveal that he’s semi-hard already. “Well? Get your underwear off and c’mere.”

You gladly follow his instructions before walking over to him with only one of his T-shirts on you. You lean down and kiss him gently as you whisper against his lips. “Thank you for trying this with me, I really appreciate it Kozu.” 

He smiles lazily as he pushes the shirt up a bit, exposing your pretty pussy to him. “Mm beautiful as always.” He kisses your stomach right above your belly button and looks up at you. “You know I like seeing you.” Kenma moves his hands to your waist and pulls you closer. “Now come sit on my cock so I can get back to work.”

You giggle softly with a nod and slowly straddle his waist, making sure both of you are comfortable before holding his dick and giving it slow gentle strokes. You line it up to your opening and slowly sink yourself onto him with his hands on your hips to help guide you. The two of you let out small sounds of pleasure as you take every inch of him, feeling the stretch and fulness you love.

“Fuck your so wet.” Kenma groans softly while you move a bit before he halts your movements, shaking his head. “That’s not what we agreed to do. Be a good girl and keep still.”  You pout but nod your head obediently, laying it on his shoulder as he goes back to work. 

He strokes your hair from time to time, careful not to get his fingers tangled in your curls. You kiss his neck gently and whisper words of encouragement when you feel him get tense from stress. The whole thing feels so intimate and comforting, two people feeling so close and just happy in each other’s embrace. You’re still for about thirty minutes but the want to move grows stronger as you feel him fully harden inside you. You don’t know if he’s in the mood or if it’s just a reflexive thing for his body to do but you understand it as the former.

You take this as your opportunity to please your lovely boyfriend who deserves this for working so hard. You slowly start rocking your hips back and forth and shockingly, after five minutes, he doesn’t react at all so you take that as your signal to do more. You make small circles in his lap, gripping his shirt with the pleasure you feel flowing through your body. Moans fall from your lips since he’s hitting all the right spots without actually doing anything at all. 

You did small bounces on his cock as your slick that pooled between you both makes a wet noise reverberate through the room. You’re such a desperate mess that you don’t even notice that he stops typing or that his hands ghost over your hips as if he was waiting for the right moment. You clench around him a few times causing him to grab your hips with good strength behind it. “Y/n, what are you supposed to be doing?” 

You pull back to be face to face with your stoic boyfriend while a pout decorates your face. “Keeping still.”

“And what are you not doing?” He raises his eyebrow slightly as you look down sadly. “Eyes over here.”

You look up at him and sigh softly. “Kozu, I need you so bad.” The want in your voice is heavy as the desperation in your eyes floods your face. “I need you to fuck me Kouz, I need you to fuck me now.”

Kenma is a patient and understanding man… when it comes to his beautiful girl. But though you were doing really good, you still didn’t listen to him so you have to deal with the consequences. “I’m proud of how well you did baby, but you still have to get punished since you didn’t complete the task properly.” He kisses your pouty lips softly as he taps your hips gently. “Go to the room and sit on the bed, I’ll be there in a bit.”

To not make your punishment worse, you’re going to do what you’re told. Slowly pulling up from his dick, leaving a puddle in his lap as you reluctantly make your way to the room. Kenma’s punishments always depend on what you do and his mood. You sit on the edge of the bed wondering what it’s going to be today. 

[arealtrashact]

I just wanna say that I LOVE your art style, especially the Elvis Presley ones. You actually inspire me 👉👈 (though you got any tips for art-)

Thank you (I greatly enjoy drawing the guy and will probably never stop, so to know that at least one person doesn't find it exasperating is truly a Win for me).

Art tips hmmm. Well, I suck at explaining anything that has to do with drawing but here we go -

Something that has worked for me is the whole idea of 'less is more' . I prioritize readability, clarity and appeal over pretty much everything else. My art is fairly simple because of this but I think it works (for me). I tend to focus on clear silhouettes and . . . little else ! I think simple-but strong-shapes make for interesting illustrations aaaaand it suits my workflow because I have zero patience and I want to finish everything as quickly as I can. I love looking at detailed artwork done by others but I know it's not something I could dedicate myself to so . . . flat coloring, simple shapes and little-to-no shading, AHOY !

But that's just me. Everyone's different ! Get the fundamentals down and then try to find a way of drawing that's truly fun for you. That's the real key to success. Finding a way to draw that doesn't feel like a chore or a struggle. Because drawing should be fun. A fun challenge at times, sure, but still fun.

[dreamtigress]

#79 please!

79. Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

I am seriously honored to be asked this one.

Of note, my advice is geared towards the way my neurodivergent brain works, so mileage may vary. AuDHD for the win.

In whatever way you like to write/keep notes, make an Ideas/Notes document, and jot down all of the ideas that come to you. Be they snippets, a new piece of headcannon, a chunk of dialogue, whatever. Whenever they come, and you can get 'em down, nail those suckers down. You might never use them, or they might get edited beyond recognition, but I know that if I make note of them, I won't lose them to the ether. To that end, if I'm driving and an IDEA comes, I call and leave myself a voicemail. I can access my notes doc from any internet connection, and jot down ideas ALL the time. It is so advantageous.

I don't always write linearly. I have a ongoing timeline to keep track of my stories and ideas in order, and what things happen when, but I tend to write when the muse hits for a specific piece. I do sit down and try to finish things, in some semblance of order, but I don't force it. I allow myself to work on the piece that is speaking to me, that is delivering the dopamine. I can swap back and forth between WIPs fairly easily now.

Go back and re-read your own work when trying to find or remember a specific characters voice. Often, when I sit down to write a POV, I will go and skim other sections by that same character to give myself a refresher on how they sound in my head and look on the page. As I expand into more varied character POVs, this has become super helpful.

My workflow tends to go:

Rough/First Draft (get it all down, even if it is a little choppy.)

First Edit Run (soon after finishing the rough draft, if not immediately. Refine dialogue, add in bits of background, describe emotions/moods, double check if the physical blocking makes sense.)

Second Edit Run (Usually a day or three after the First Edit. Double check that all the additions FLOW.)

Find _ Edit Run (Using Find to look for repeated/overused words, like 'look', and any 'had hads' or '*'d hads'. I dislike repeating words, and the Thesaurus is my friend. This one goes super quick.)

Read Aloud Edit Run (Read the entire work aloud to myself. This is so key in finding hidden repeated words, badly placed alliteration, clunky dialogue, and run on sentences. It also helps me place punctuation better.)

Final Edit Run (Usually weeks after the original writing. I give myself time and space to 'forget' the work, and then come back with fresh eyes. I usually change very little at this stage, but sometime there's last minute tweaks. If Beta readers have given me feedback, this is usually when I implement it.)

@stormkpr I am so jazzed to get to answer this question, seriously. And it has actually helped me clarify some of my own thoughts on writing, so THANK YOU!!

From here: https://www.tumblr.com/dreamtigress/745684465673748480/fanfiction-writing-asks?source=share

[itsjellybone]

Ultimate Haunted House was such a devastating experience I completely forgot that we watched the disastrous debut of Silent Hill: Ascension this evening. The technological bugs seem to be wide and varied, but for me personally, the audio for the introductory tutorials(?) and explanations were overlaid with the “game” stream, making everything immediately overwhelming and incomprehensible. You would think this would be resolved by getting into stream early, but you are a fool! I DID get to stream early, and had to back out because those same introductory screens were then overlaid with the dev (I assume) preshow talk. A mess! I played (“played”) through the website, but I’m seeing people experience other bugs on app.

Also the story is an absolutely incomprehensible mess of quibi style scenes with minimal connective tissue, and the choose your own adventure element is monetized with fake currency called “inspiration points.” Each player is NOT equal in the vote for scene outcomes, if you buy more points you can put more into a decision to make sure it wins

There’s a season pass!

You get cosmetics for your completely arbitrary and baffling avatar (very ugly) (it does not have any use except that it can potentially make a cameo(??) in “game” scenes???) and completely atonal and sometimes simply inappropriate emotes for the unmoderated in-game chat. I turned off the chat whenever it made an appearance, but I read that the word “kill” is censored in chat. Somebody pointed out that chatters aren’t allowed to say “kill” on the decision about whether a character believes her dad(?) killed his wife or not.

The ui is overwhelming at any and every moment, and it just looks like a cheap mobile game? I suppose it’s not really surprising from the company that microtransactioned additional save slots, but it still managed to surpass my expectations (negative). They’re so busy tripping over themselves to demand money they forgot to make a sellable product!

The qte section came on out of nowhere, completely divorced from the narrative section— not just in gameplay (which they did not explain before it started or allowed viewers to prepare for), but also the scene was….impossible to place in any sort of context?

It’s really only worth examining as a Silent Hill property for its disastrous Konami influence. The only consistent thread tying Silent Hill games together was tone (and then reference to the first 3 games for every release after The Room), and at least in this INTRODUCTORY EPISODE(!) they have neither tone nor reference! Until the bizarre otherworld qte segment I guess.

Bizarre, absurd experience. If it wasn’t so exhausting, I’d almost think it would be funny to see where it goes first-hand, but EVERY DAY? FOR SIX MONTHS?? I expect the audience dropoff will be swift and vicious. I’ll admit it! I’m delightfully anticipating the backlash from high profile silent hill fans (the kind who explore development more than lore).

I feel for the devs though. Apparently a lot of them are refugees from the Telltale layoffs, and given Konami’s history and the product as it released today, development seems nightmarish. It looks like there were about 3 different studios (for various aspects of the development?) involved, and I have to wonder how the communication and workflow worked out between them all. The results suggest….not well. I assume they really tried to make something good, and I’m sorry it turned out this way. It’s important to keep that human element in mind. (That doesn’t mean anybody should put any money into this oh my god please)

[tadpole-apocalypse]

Your art is definitely improving ever since you did those tav portraits. It inspired me to do the same as a warm up and jumpstart my own art-making workflow. It's really amazing how a quick sketch/drawing can help overall improvement over time

Thank you! Yes you are so right; drawing consistently and drawing a LOT is really the best thing you can do for your skills and workflow and overall drawing speed. Games like bg3 are perfect for it because most people on tumblr have screenshots ready to go and are super happy to see art of their ocs; everyone wins!

Ofc for me I tend to go overboard so it’s important not to overwhelm yourself. Not everything you post has to be a finished, final illustration, people are happy to see art of any kind and I can’t speak for other artists, but I personally love when artists post their in progress drawings, wips and unfinished sketches as I like seeing a piece of art in all its different stages; so I decided to start doing that more.

I’ve barely drawn anything in years so I’m gonna ride this bg3 hyperfixation into the ground 🤭

Good luck with your art journey!

[dragonofeternal]

So one of the coolest bits of animanga ephemera that I own is probably these two volumes of the Epic Comics printing of AKIRA.

In 1988, American comics publishers were starting to take notice of the growing popularity of Japanese animation, and Marvel wanted a slice of the pie. A few years earlier, they had made the Epic Comics imprint to run more adult stories free of Comics Code censorship, including both standalone titles and non-canonical spinoffs of their more popular characters. The fledgling imprint seemed like the perfect place for a slice of that cool, weird Japanamation pie. They set their sights on Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA, which had done well in Japan and was set to get film adaptation that year. The editor of Epic at the time felt that the disaffected youth, psychic powers, and post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting would be familiar enough touch points to make the series resonate with American readers.

However, Epic didn't think that American comics readers would be as drawn to something that read "backwards" and was black and white. So, they did what would become the standard for many years- they flipped the pages to read left-to-right. They then enlisted colorist Steve Oliff to create a full-color version of AKIRA. While it's easy to jump to thinking of this as a butchering of the original work, Otomo was actually fully on board, as he wanted his work to reach as many people as possible. Otomo collaborated with Oliff directly at first, flying out to meet with him and share some of his personal desires for the coloring. He had some initial color guides, stills from the as-of-yet unreleased movie, and a deep passion and desire for his work to do well in the west. For the first five or six issues, Oliff sent all of his colorings off to Otomo for approval, but after that, Otomo was pleased enough that he gave Oliff free reign to go with his instincts for the rest of the comic's run. The colored version was even re-licensed, flipped back to the Japanese order, and released in Japan! I've never seen any copies of that, but I bet it's cool as hell!

I got these as a Christmas present sometime in the mid '00s from my Aunt Ing and Uncle David, who knew I liked anime and manga, but knew absolutely nothing about the stuff. They picked them up at a garage sale in DC for pocket change, and gave them to me along with a second hand copy of the DEVILMAN live action movie from 2004. I clearly remember them saying something along the lines of "Here, I hope you like this! We know you like that manga stuff. Hopefully 'Akira' isn't Japanese for like hardcore donkey porn or something, hahaha!" ...As if you couldn't flip the book open and see what was in it for yourself, Uncle David?

(Also worth noting that I had already seen the Akira movie at this point, so it's not like I didn't know what I was getting into!)

The manga (and the not-long-after release of the anime) made AKIRA a hit in the states. The Epic Comics run split the series into 38 issues that ran from 1988 to 1994. However, the legacy of Epic's colored run has an influence outside of just helping to introduce this iconic series to American readers.

It was also one of the first digitally colored comics.

Oliff and his company, Olyopitcs, were pioneers in using digital coloring methods. While he made initial color guides on paper versions of the pages using traditional methods like pantone films and paint, the finalized versions were all colored digitally, allowing for a wide, rich range of colors. This style of coloring incentivized Marvel to print it on slightly higher quality paper, and the series' success made Marvel more interested in looking to computers as a way to enhance their art and workflow. Perhaps he overstates it a bit, but Oliff credits his Eisner award-winning run as the colorist for AKIRA as the turning point for digital art's acceptance in comics.

It's unlikely that the colored version of AKIRA will ever be re-released, as the rights that Marvel held have LONG since traded hands, first to Dark Horse and then back to Kodansha. Copies of the colored version of AKIRA are hard to come by and pricy now, ranging from $10-100 for a single issue on eBay depending on condition and what particular issue it is (climactic issues are obviously more expensive than more laid back ones). It's not completely out of the question that it'll see the light of day again, however; Oliff still has all the digital files of the colored version of AKIRA, and he has expressed that he would be more than happy to have them reprinted if Kodansha wished to.

If not, though, I still have my two issues, and a very cool piece of anime localization history.

Historical info for this post was fact checked/sourced from this Japan Times article from their 30th anniversary retrospective and this 2016 ANN interview with Oliff. Feel free to check them out if you want to know more!