#a few edits and this could make a decent print tbh

[dieanywhereelseart]

a ray of light in the darkness

[rigelmejo]

Idk if anyone’s studying French but googling Merlin saison 1, buffy contre les vampires saison 1, dailymotion will be there for u with the whole show dubbed (which is good listening practice for my ass that can read ok but barely follow listening)

Also any French show recs? Particularly modern fantasy or sci fi? Or detective/mystery?

—

On the Listening Reading Method front i have HIT A SWEET SPOT. FINALLY. Months of trying and I found a way to do it more conveniently and in a way much more doable if you like me cannot fucking focus for long periods.

Step 1: read the chapter in a language you fully understand (or some chapters ahead so you don’t have to do this as much later, or the whole book). Aka read in your native language (or a language you understand well) to get context. This is L1 language. You don’t have to do this if it’s a book you already read once and remember well, and you don’t have to do this right before you do the rest (if you can remember the overall context you’re good even if there’s a month between this and the other steps etc).

This is obviously tolerant of breaks - read however you like, just get some context.

Step 2: listen to target language (L2) audiobook, while following target language (L2) text.

Ideally, this is where you might read it in the target language if you can keep up with the audio. If you are reading digitally then a quick popup dictionary will benefit you (if you want to comprehend what text you’re following along and need the dictionary). Alternatively if you have a parallel text next to each other - that also helps if you want to look up a word. But word lookup isn’t necessary.

I’ve been doing this either in Pleco - just clicking a word as desired, or by looking at an online parallel text (bilinguis.com works amazing). Both of these options work very easily IF YOU GET AUDIO THAT MATCHES TEXT. The key here is FIND MATCHING AUDIO AND TEXT.

I can’t emphasize how much easier Listening Reading Method is when the text and audio MATCH. Mine FINALLY match and it makes my life so much fucking easier.

Ideally if these match you will find this much easier: audio starts and ends at same time chapter text starts and ends (seriously this is the biggest thing). The audio ideally does not shorten/omit sections of text (however you can adapt if it’s only small changes like a few missing sentences/changed phrases in a while chapter). The text is the same as the audio generally (not edited text - I tried to use the print text guardian with the audiobook based on the webnovel and wayyy too many sections were different it was too hard to follow). If you can find a source where everything (except maybe a few sentences/phrases) are the same, it will be much easier. It will be so easy you can start and pause whenever you want - breaking L R into 5-10 minute chunks if you like me can’t fucking do something too long without breaks. If the text and audio match very well, it is much easier to just pause the audio, notice the place u left the text, and come back to it.

Step 3: follow along with your L1 text (native language/language you understand) while trying to understand the L2 target language audio.

How to make this easier: if you have Pleco, simply click the dictate text button. It will popup every definition as it reads it. I actually find I practice LISTENING skills more when during this step I don’t look at the Chinese text much (because when I look at the Chinese I start tuning out the audio more). I have noticed I can often predict what the word means before I actually see a definition. Also in Pleco since it’s word by word, you don’t spend time figuring out the place in the English text the audio corresponds to - the audio dictation tool highlights the Chinese it’s reading constantly. For me, constantly following along to the Chinese text (or French if doing it for french) makes this step much easier. Alternately: use a parallel text, and glance at L2 target language text whenever you get lost/it gets hard to follow where you’re at. Simply having the target language L2 to refer to makes it so much easier to NOT get lost when listening.

Tools that make L R easier:

Literally look up on YouTube “audio target-language” and “target-language text.” Do it. Make your life easier! There’s a lot of them on YouTube that have for example both Chinese and English text on screen, Chinese audio. All of the work is done for you - you don’t have to keep your place in a text, you can pause and continue whenever! Even if you can just find target language audio-text, makes life much easier that someone else set it up for you.

Also japanese audiobooks sometimes have auto captions which are decent enough.

If you’re doing a Chinese book, get on ximayala app you might find well a matching audiobook. Youtube may also have a decent audiobook (also try bilibili i just found an unofficial 天涯客 audiobook - also tbh sometimes with Chinese the unofficial audiobooks will match chapter beginning/ends better than official ones but it depends).

For text, try bilinguis.com. While the selection of stories is small, they have very convienient parallel texts (which makes keeping yourself from getting lost easier). I was easily able to find audiobooks on YouTube or ximayala that would match the bilinguis texts.

Bidireader, a tool I linked the other day, can generate parallel texts if you can copy paste the texts in. Again, makes it so much easier to not have to focus so hard if you have a parallel text and can glance at the target language to keep yourself from getting lost.

Screen Reader tools - if you have a phone/computer, you may have a screen reader tool to read audio on screen aloud. Not ideal, but will work if you just want some audio practice with text you see and can’t get an audiobook to match it! Also Idiom app can read text aloud.

I mentioned above - I just use Pleco app dictation to do step 3, so that’s my step 3 audio. It’s not as good as the audiobook! But for quickly giving me a chance to match audio to definition, it works fine. Sort of like using a textbook with very stilted audio/just a pronunciation guide (Pleco), and a natural audiobook. It works fine. If you can find a parallel text, you can technically just do some computer generated audio (Idiom app, Pleco, Screen Reader, etc) and look at the L1 language for step 3 (if you absolutely can’t find an audiobook that you like that matches and want to use that text).

—

Notes:

Native audiobooks do sound so much better than generated audio, so if you CAN use them, do. At least for step 2 I think (target language audio with target language text).

Bilinguis.com has nice free parallel texts, YouTube has some perfect premade videos to do L R, Pleco can do step 3 in a pinch (if you can’t find a parallel text). Bidireader tool allows you to make parallel texts.

I find I actually find step 2 THEN step 3, as originally intended, helps me most? I’ve tried it both orders.

When I do step 2 first I practice extensive reading since I don’t look words up generally, I practice listening to audio in the bg so I can skim ahead and skim backwards (so training myself to pay partial attention to listening). I get an overall context for the story (I pick up most of what’s going on), I work on speeding up my reading speed (I need to keep up with audio, and often I’ll read a little ahead of the audio). I like it a lot - it’s like regular extensive reading, but I get some sound reinforcement. And I can look up a handful of words if I want. And I’m forced to CONTINUE so I don’t read too slow. (However - regular extensive reading has its place, I have more time in regular extensive reading to figure out new Hanzi and sayings and remember them).

When I do step 3 LAST I find that because I already know most of the chapter (since in step 2 I followed almost everything), I can focus all of my attention into listening. I really hear what words are being said (especially since I just practiced listening once before in step 2). Especially doing it in Pleco, where the English popup definitions show up and disappear so FAST, I really rely on my ears most. Especially when I barely look at the Chinese - because the English shows up so fast and isn’t always the best definition, so I mostly am following based on my listening skills. Also it means in step 3 since I’m comfortable with the main plot, and sound, I can focus my attention on really looking at the new words I want to learn. 插 缩 宿舍楼 权利 were some words I could focus on last time, actually listening to their pronunciation better. Etc. So I do think... for me doing it as actual step 3 when doing it this specific way seems to help more. That way step 2 is mostly reading and sentence flow when listening, and step 3 is more time for new word focus and listening skills in general. Also I find the word-reinforcement I get in the next chapters step 2 anyway.

I’ve done 5 chapters of Guardian in 2 days (so yeah I’d say this way of L R is easier for me to do lol!). 1 chapter of Alice in wonderland in chinese (again bilinguis with a good audio from ximayala worked perfect), 1 chapter from a YouTube premade video. I do think in some ways step 2 actually helps me the most (reading wise, and maybe even over all?). I find there’s definitely value in me doing step 2 on its own, even if I don’t do any of the other steps.

I find the L R combo steps have already helped my listening skills this small amount I’ve done. Which is kinda shocking to me tbh. When I did the Alice in wonderland chinese chapter, first I just listened to the audio in the background. I could follow all of it about Alice’s sister reading, her following a rabbit and falling, her picking up a jar and setting it on another shelf as she fell, without any text to look at. I think part of it is simply Alice in wonderland has more short words I know and less descriptive words I do Not know compared to Guardian. And I have prior context for what happens in the chapter. Still. I found it much easier to catch some details since last time I tried. So I’m going to keep doing L R while I feel like it, see if it helps any more.

[shushvera]

*toy story shark vc* howdy howdy howdy ! i would like to make it known i’ve been unabashedly eyeing this since it opened ! anyway ! i’ve lost my ooc intro groove so we gonna move down to my ic intro down below:

oh hi there, welcome to holiday, VERA FLOROS. you’ve been here for TWO MONTHS? awesome! you look just like MARINA DIAMANDIS, it’s crazy. oh, so you’re a 30 year old ‘FORTUNE TELLER’/’MUSICIAN’. and you’re FEMALE and use SHE/HER? okay, just checking! oh, people say you’re INTUITIVE & DILIGENT but DECEITFUL & RASH? well, i’m sure that you can prove yourself here. you’re looking forward to the HALLOWEEN celebration? that’s a good one, you’ll love it. i have to get going now, bye! [fleur, 19, est, she/her]

i would like to start by saying i’ve played vera once (1 time) before and it was,, so much fun,, the dumbest smart person to exist. i’ve tweaked her bg a little (because..... that’s what happens when you read lucille ball’s autobiography that was SUMN.....), but ! who cares !

update: this got rly long so there’s a tl;dr at the bottom if that better floats your boat !

INTRO-WORTHY STATS

aka, stats that aren’t that deep™

FULL NAME: Vera Floros DOB: August 17th, 1989 AGE: thirty FROM: Abergavenny, Wales OCCUPATION: “fortune teller” & a musician who doesn’t understand marketing ORIENTATION: bisexual CLASS: middle class ( that inheritance kicked in ! )

BACKGROUND: 

CHILDHOOD

triggers: parental death, brief mentions of child abuse

alright, vera was born to a very young couple in wales. they’d gotten married fresh out of high school and had a child (her) just two years later. that being said, for about two years after, her mother began distancing herself from the father... not because he was a bad guy, but he moved cities entirely and she was NOT about that.

to be perfectly redundant, for about two years, it was just vera and her mother. 

grandparents weren’t about their daughter being married. at 18. did they help pay rent for a separate living space? until vera’s mom was 21, yes. but was she welcomed in their house? lmao!!!!!

THEN her father blew back into town. they reconnected, they both began working more so that vera’s mother didn’t have to rely on her own (we’ll get to her dad’s parent’s in a second). 

vera, at the Tender Age of Three™ learned that she was a complete Daddy’s Girl™. although she loved her mom for obvious reasons, she connected with her dad on an entirely different level. he was fun! he was playful! he was young, but he was the perfect dad! he even told dad jokes! which she didn’t get until she was five because three year olds usually aren’t that smart! they did little ‘acrobatic’ things! it was cute and fun and good!

but? this is a roleplay character?

our man died from unexpected heart failure. the autopsy showed an abnormality that hadn’t previously been discovered, and we know our man rarely went to the doctor. vera was six at the time.

her mom: married at 18, mother at 20, widow at 26. 

because she and her mom had never developed that Close Bond™, it was difficult for her mother to figure out how to... like... keep her from wandering around... because just telling her not to wasn’t working... so she was like “you know what.... a leash.”

we love ‘puppy’ by george saunders

so whenever her mom was at work and vera wasn’t in school, she was tied to a tree in the backyard.

cruel and unusual punishment!

eventually, her mom kind of just... threw in the towel... she left completely for a change of pace. she said she would be back and that vera would be under the care of her father’s parents in athens until then.

her father’s parents had always been more accepting of the young marriage. they’d been more supportive of them being young parents, in spite of her father having left for a while. they’d definitely been supportive of vera and her mother during that time because they were like “omg mood”

there were a few other kids under their care, all related or not. they did some work for her father’s parents, but nothing very laborious – just sort of... Bonding™ ja feel?

so her mom DID keep her promise and returned three years later when vera was nine. mind you, vera had never held any feelings of resentment towards her mother. when she was six, she... just didn’t get it. at nine, she was old enough to be like “i get u.”

BUT her mother DID get remarried. she didn’t resent her for that, but... she was not fond of the new husband. he wouldn’t accept the ‘dad’ title, was very stern, very serious, made her mom seem like an absolute joy, etc. 

but her mom was in love, so what could she do? and then they had a son together, so what could she do? nothing.

that summer, to learn more Discipline™, vera was sent to live with her step-father’s parents in london. boy howdy, it was nothing like her father’s parents! they had a knack for pointing out flaws, induced actual laborious work, constantly quoted the bible at the worst of times, and thought that a single head nod was the equivalent of “good job!” there were a couple of other kids there too, but yikes.

TEENS ( *hang ten emoji* ) + COLLEGE

triggers: brief domestic abuse implications

early was filled with Drama™ surrounding her step-father’s parents and her step-father himself. the overall consensus was that he was not a dope dude, nor were his parents. vera’s mother filed for divorce and gained sole custody of their son (keeping in mind.... she basically already had sole custody of vera.... considering she was her only legal guardian left lmao)

after the divorce was filed, vera’s mother was like “u kno what. my parents hate me. my first husband is dead. my second husband was a douche. i have no reason to be here anymore.” so they went to the land of golden opportunity

but wound up in america instead

(joke patented by dr. doofenshmirtz)

vera, around sixteen at the time (y’all i’m figuring out ages as i go along bear with me), now attended some strange high-school where they were like “fahrenheit.” 

by the way! it was in holiday! that’s important to note for possible future connections!

it wasn’t an unwelcome change, though. starting over... was nice...

but the problem was that she was like her father in that she always acted before she thought... which made her a very dumb smart person. 

alright get ready for the single idea that drove this entire thing:

she majored in philosophy then was *pikachu shocked face* when she realized there were no jobs out there for philosophy majors.

ADULTHOOD

alright... so what do you do when you have no good opportunities for things in your major?

you would think you would do something like... idk... find a well-paying job that doesn’t require a major?

or maybe a job that just requires experience in ___?

or maybe a job that just requires a bachelor’s degree of any sort?

or maybe a job that doesn’t require a major, but would like a major similar to yours, thus giving you a leg up?

etc.?

lmao no. you go to new orleans and become one of many phony fortune tellers using the one good thing you got from your weird upbringing: easy analysis of body language.

in addition, you try to make something of your life through music, but have no clue what ‘marketing’ is because you really don’t understand social media and probably still have the egg as your twitter profile picture.

what do you mean print is out of style?

what do you mean no one listens to CDs anymore?

what do you mean garageband isn’t acceptable to record on?

that being said, it’s not like... she wasn’t good at it... i mean she was v good at it... but musician is in quotes because she has made NOTHING of her LIFE with it. DOES NOT UNDERSTAND MARKETING.

*sonic kid vc* WHEN WILL YOU LEARN? WHEN WILL YOU LEARN? *end vc*

she got some decent pay from being a ‘fortune teller,’ though. tourists totally flocked and using a fake russian accent helped, as did... just speaking a language they didn’t know while pretending to contact spirits...

at least she’s a good scam artist

can’t market very well, but could probs create the next big ponzi scheme

returned to holiday when she heard news from her brother that her mother had fallen ill.

honestly rest in peace.

is still around because... that’s her home! sentiment! also rip!

also marketing isn’t as hard in holiday so???

also testing fortune telling out in holiday is more interesting so???

DOPE.

PERSONALITY

either really dumb for a smart person or really smart for a dumb person.

still has a childlike trait tbh. i mean when ur growing up just laying beneath child labor laws, ur gonna have to become a kid again eventually.

really bad at technology for reasons unknown to... everyone, but really good at scams.

has not thought before she acted even ONCE.

hasn’t used her degree since she was 22. the closest she’s come is buying some misc. philosophy books and sharing tidbits with strangers. 

“now this is a taoist anthem” - vera @ ‘soak up the sun’ by sheryl crow

so many ragrets.

will find a way to bring up she’s half greek in every conversation. 

“and i’ve had mental illness since i was in middle school. good night.” - that video someone edited of professor tox

im so bad at personality sections but she’s got a fun one y’all one of the few characters i’ve played who’s had a Sad Backstory™ but wound up being a Fun And Comedic Character™

TL;DR

that was my first time ever writing this whole thing out, so it got real long. so we gonna give a tl;dr:

triggers: v brief mentions of parental death, brief mentions of child abuse, v brief implication of domestic abuse

born to a v young couple in wales. dad was like “brb” then he did, indeed, come rb. loved dad. but dad died when she was six lmao get wreckt this is a roleplay character.

mom was like “idk what 2 do” so she took notes from george saunders’s ‘puppy’ and just tied vera to a tree when she was gone adjsflka. went away for a while and vera stayed with her dad’s parent’s in greece. came back three years later and reunitedanditfeelssogood.mp3.

got married tho and vera was like “i don’t like this guy” and mom was like “i’m having his child.” lived with his parents over the next few summers. they almost violate child labor laws. like. just a hair more. hare? became source of any self-hatred lmao get wreckt

vera’s mom and step-dad divorced bc he was horrible and they moved to holiday when she was sixteen. she left for college when she was eighteen. she decided to major in philosophy which was a bad idea and the source of her entire character. 

decided to become a phony fortune teller in new orleans instead of... idk... just getting a job that didn’t require a degree or sumn? pretty successful tho! talked in a fake russian accent around tourists bc? why not? 

also did/does music but has no idea how marketing works. bad at social media. records things on garageband. an overall fool. good but a fool.

back in holiday bc mom died lmao get wreckt we’re an orphan now boizzzz

Sad But Rad™

WANTED CONNECTIONS

it’s 2:38AM as i write this part and i still have to go back and include a stats thing bc i love those then post ic but i’ll update this w/ some when im done i suppose?? but we do love brainstorming in this house!!

like this or hmu if you’d like to plot !

[comicteaparty]

October 4th, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on October 4th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Finding Home by Hari.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Finding Home by Hari~! (https://tapas.io/series/FindingHome)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

keii4ii

I don't know if this counts as a "scene," but I really liked seeing the flowers bloom on Chepi from his emotions.

Superjustinbros

Aww~

Also hello there!

RebelVampire

yeah i thought that was a really interesting and unique detail. but also felt kind of sorry for chepi cause i mean, thats a dead give away youre feeling an emotion. cannot hide anything. cannot be a tsundere that says its not like i like you or anything

hi SJ~!

Superjustinbros

Thanks for the welcome, Rebel~

keii4ii

I wonder if it's possible to lie with the flowers, like how some people are able to fake tears/ blushing/ etc when they're an exceptionally good actor/liar? Probably not the case with Chepi, though

Superjustinbros

Maybe, or each mood gets represented by different kinds of flowers

RebelVampire

yeah i dont forsee chepi being the best liar persay. but maybe. and tbf have we seen any other dryad do it? this may be a unique feature of chepi because chepi has a unique situation

Superjustinbros

Maybe

RebelVampire

my favorite scene is the one where chepi speads to a bug and janek is like what. but chepi doesnt register that its not the language thing but the fact hes talking to a bug.

i also like in that scene how real the convo was. where janek sounds unintentionally ignorant and kind of racist, but not out of malicious intent. just out of the fact janek never really thought about it before.

keii4ii

Yeah, there's been quite a few examples of non-malicious ignorance

as well as other kinds of misunderstandings

I'm really curious about how they met. This seems to be a relatively new relationship, as in they weren't like... longtime friends or anything, so the beginning of it may still have a lot of relevance

mathtans

Made it. That was a real interesting way to get across some of the language stuff for the universe too, I thought.

RebelVampire

yeah ive been wondering that myself. how the two even met up in the first place. although it seems like they had some form of acquaintanceship

mathtans

A lot of their conversations are pretty realistic.

Seems like they just met because the chef was trying to get home?

RebelVampire

yeah it could be as simple as they were in the same town. chepi was like "i like helping ppl i will help this person"

cause chepi is a good dude

who does good dude things

except for the part where he jeapordizes his own health

thats a bad dude thing

mathtans

Yeah, he's had a rough go of it.

keii4ii

There's probably a little more to that, or at least that's the impression I get

I mean, it seemed like he wanted Janek's company for personal reasons too, even if they weren't Compelling Super Important Goals

Superjustinbros

Christ, definitely not a good thing

The jeopardizing your health part

mathtans

One of the scenes I particularly liked was early on. Where the one guy was "filling the silence" by talking a lot. It was an interesting visual in how it was laid out, and I've been on both sides of that... wanting to fill what I feel is an awkward silence as well as just wanting to enjoy stillness.

There might be a little more to it, but I'm not certain either of them are keen to acknowledge it.

keii4ii

Weird. I started reading this comic when it was still pretty new, and this scene I remember reading isn't there anymore. O_o

I wonder if it was deleted because of not fitting with the creator's vision anymore, because the impression I got from that scene was rather different

RebelVampire

that could be. i think a print volume was kickstartered and that is generally the time when heavy editing occurs

mathtans

Oh? You mean the flower blooming one? Because I remember seeing that...

I also looked at the holiday bonus that was linked away, incidentally. The mistletoe one. That was amusing and touching.

RebelVampire

i also liked that scene too, math. the one with the silence filling. but more than that i really appreciate the understanding that happened between the two. in that chepi didnt mind janek was busy rambling on and on and on. cause i understood how janek felt in feeling awkward about filling the silence too

keii4ii

No, I remember this scene where one of them is talking to some soldiers?

mathtans

Rebel: Right, that aspect of it helped it to stand out for me, I think. One of those times they had an understanding, almost unspoken.

keii4ii

(I could be remembering it wrong )

mathtans

In a flashback, I guess...?

RebelVampire

yeah i dont remember any scene with soldiers. it couldve been an extra of some sort? cause i generally dont look at extras

keii4ii

Yeah, it's not there. I might be mixing things up, unless the comic was rebooted at some point

RebelVampire

thats okay. i like to think its opportunity to speculate

cause there probably is something more

cause despite saying it, even i find it more believable there was something else going on besides chepi is a good dude

QUESTION 2. Throughout the comic, Chepi is shown to be a somewhat anxious person due to past experiences. How do you think Chepi came to be born in the first place? Do you think it has anything to do with why Chepi was encouraged to not like humans? What do you think happened exactly between Chepi and Ishaan that made the relationship have such a traumatic impact on Chepi? Do you think it was a bad relationship from the start, or do you think there were genuine, mutual feelings at the beginning? Do you think the person helping Chepi to publish his works is really altruistic, or is said person just out for their own gain? Lastly, do you think Chepi will be able to overcome all his trauma (and will Janek help or hurt these personal issues)?

keii4ii

TBH I've seen zero reasons to trust that dude

mathtans

Which one?

Superjustinbros

The publisher?

RebelVampire

idk how i feel about ishaan. i wanna give ishaan the benefit of the doubt at least for the beginning of the relationship. but even when ishaan was being all impressed by chepi i got sleezy impressions.

mathtans

As far as Chepi being born... fun fact, in the prologue, at first I thought maybe we were seeing Chepi's father. And, like, he was born of two guys or something, like that's the only way to get a mixed race type.

RebelVampire

LOL. well i mean, not impossible. we are dealing with fae and such.

mathtans

Ishaan's that smoking guy in the flashbacks...? (I'm so bad with names.) I figure there had to be something initially other than "here's an easy mark". But it morphed into something else. Also, profound effect due to his first romantic rejection, that's gotta hurt more than being rejected from the university (and even being shunned in the library).

RebelVampire

yes smoking guy who chepi dated is ishaan

i wanna say that maybe ishaan didnt start with bad intentions. but i also think he might have been attracted to chepi for the novelty of it. cause then he could brag to all his friends about his cool significant other

granted not sure if that logic matches up with the fact ishaan wanted chepi to look more human

so it could be the exact opposite in that ishaan genuinely liked chepi but did not like chepi was half dryad. and ishaan dealt with that in the most toxic way possible

mathtans

Except I don't think he could brag either, as his friends would say he was hanging around with a weirdo freak.

That last theory possibly works.

keii4ii

I get the impression that even if he was genuinely attracted to Chepi, he was always the type of a guy who manipulates and gaslights people whenever given the opportunity

mathtans

keii: There is that. Guy should just get his own oranges.

RebelVampire

i get the impression that ishaan is used to just getting what he wants and is some spoiled rich guy or something. so yeah, manipulation and gaslighting very probable

although i also dont trust the person chepi is using as a cover to publish his papers

that person rubs be the wrong way

cause the convo just seemed really manipulative

mathtans

That's kind of funny though, because Chepi is also a rich guy who prefers to do his own thing. Maybe that's partly why they ended up together.

I'm okay with her (I think it was a her). True that they might be getting more out of the arrangement, but I think it comes from a good place. Also, Chepi has access to the basement books, which seems like a decent thing to do.

Also, I want a backpack like that. O.o

RebelVampire

yeah at the end they havent done anything evil yet. so i could be be overly suspicious. but chepi sure is getting the short end of the stick and it makes me sad and hurts my poor heart

mathtans

He does, yeah. I think he's kind of closed himself off in order to deal with it.

Superjustinbros

That seems reasonable

RebelVampire

i do think chepi is gonna learn to deal with his trauma better. cause i mean hes already taking those critical first steps of talking about the problem a bit. not all the way, but hes said more than he probably would have previously

keii4ii

Yes

mathtans

I wonder if he'll manage to deal with his crowds situation too. (I know that feeling, though not to the extent of being triggered or anything.)

RebelVampire

the crowds one may take more time ironically imo. just because the issue behind that is harder to fix. since even if chepi was like "lets go cold turkey into a crowd," it is more likely his fears will get reaffirmed

Superjustinbros

Perhaps.

Seems like a fear that’s hard to remove anyways

mathtans

Yes, though he's got the travelling companion now, so small steps.

RebelVampire

yeah although that may forever be his comfort level. and i dont blame him for that cause he may just be an introvert who prefers setups like that. cause even with the dryads he seemed very much a soloist

mathtans

True.

Superjustinbros

Same.

mathtans

Also means less making demands on him.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Janek and Chepi grow ever closer throughout their journey, though some issues seem to get between the two. Do you think the relationship between the two will ever become something more, or will trauma and other issues continue to get in the way? Even if they do become romantically involved, do you think it would work out? What about when the two reach Erkesh? Will their relationship last (whether romantically or as friends) even then? Or, will Chepi simply move on to his next destination? For that matter, do you think the two will even make it to Erkesh? Additionally, given the title of the comic is “Finding Home,” what do you think that means for each character and their personal journeys? In other words, what is “home?”

Superjustinbros

There's people that struggle lots with groups

mathtans

(Ones he'd be inclined to help with.)

I feel like they're building towards a relationship, a healing one, so I'd be a bit surprised if that doesn't happen. There'll still be bumps along the way though, for sure.

Like, they keep finding out things about each other that alter their perceptions.

Superjustinbros

Yea

mathtans

Also, home is where the heart is?

RebelVampire

part of me would be surprised if they dont cross that threshold from friends to something more. cause they keep bonding and the chemistry is super strong. but on the otherhand, this comic feels a lot like a journey wherein i feel the destination is gonna throw me a bit. so i could also see them not being able to. or ya know, there being a dramatic fakeout where chepi leaves janek in erkesh but then comes back being like "what was i thinking"

keii4ii

I feel that it's not about forming a relationship (though that's a strong possibility). It's about finding "home" and if both of them grow and reach a point where they simply become more comfortable with the self, separately, I can see them going separate ways too...

mathtans

I suppose that could happen (the fakeout), but really rooting for Chepi to have a happy ending. Versus, saying, dying in Janek's arms while saying "I'm finally happy".

keii4ii

omg

mathtans

I can see them going separate ways, but somehow not before being intimate. Could be the shipper in me.

RebelVampire

well tbf the comic is genred romance so...

mathtans

Chepi might totally sacrifice himself to deal Janek though.

RebelVampire

theres kind of high expectations here for some romance

mathtans

(Speaking of, I like his dry sense of humour... "come down from there, it would be a pain to heal every bone in your body" or words to that effect.)

RebelVampire

im gonna hope this comic doesnt go chepi death route. mostly cause despite its serious issues, its a pretty light-hearted comic.

keii4ii

It's got very gentle, soft vibes

Superjustinbros

Ye

Not every comic needs death

mathtans

I don't know if I'd say light-hearted? It has chuckle moments to be sure.

My opinion, anyway. Yes, vibes.

RebelVampire

imo the sense of home in this comic's case is a place where you feel comfortable and can be yourself. and if that place happens to be wherever another person is, well then...

yeah light-hearted might not be the right word but on 3 hours of sleep its the word i got O_O

mathtans

Home is where the wisps aren't.

I feel you, I only got about 4 hours sleep.

RebelVampire

i will also accept that answer. home is where the wisps arent

cause those wisps are creepy

now if there is tragedy in this comic, the thing i could see happening is they get to erkesh....but erkesh isnt there anymore

and janek has nowhere to go

home is gone

very sad

ah i forgot to say i do like chepi's dry sense of humor. partly cause i like that he has a sense of humor despite seeming so serious all the time

Superjustinbros

r.i.p. home

mathtans

Ooooh. I could see that too, that the wisps have destroyed the old home. That might be bittersweet.

His sense of humour sometimes flies a bit under the radar for me. Like, when he talked about studying since he was a baby I was like, 'dryads do that?' then I realized I was a species-ist.

RebelVampire

yeah i have to agree that sometimes it takes a moment for chepi's jokes to register as jokes. but then i have a good laugh.

mathtans

Because there's times when he's not, like when he's just going for a swim and all.

The hair discussion was pretty interesting though. It's funny, in a way growing the hair out long seemed like an emotional, human thing to do, and the guy had been trying to get Chepi to be more human.

RebelVampire

yeah i liked this little act of rebellion for chepi. cause i mean it feels really realistic too. because lots of ppl getting out of bad relationships do trivial things like this, even though for them the emotional impact is significant

i really liked the swimming scene in general though

cause i think something about it really illustrated the individual diffs between janek and chepi

and how both their selves and upbringings brought about different attitudes

QUESTION 4. Though not the focus, the comic’s world has a lot of interesting aspects that affect the characters. Do you think things will improve for Fae within the world, or will Chepi always suffer from negative policies and views from both sides? Do you think spending time with Janek will give Chepi new insight into how he can better help people? Alternatively, will spending time with Janek show Chepi a way to convince more Fae to help mortals? Speaking of the supernatural, do you think the Wisps will continue to be a danger to Janek and Chepi? Do you think the amount of Wisps about is normal, or do you feel it’s foreshadowing something sinister is about? Finally, Chepi at one point mentions a magical surge that has been growing. How might this affect the world in general, and do you think Chepi will be the one to figure out what’s going on?

mathtans

Yeah, definitely from two different worlds.

Oh yeah, the magical surge... maybe that does explain the wisps too? And if that map he found is really old, maybe it's all happened before, like decades ago, and it stopped surging after the Imperials lost or something.

Superjustinbros

I'd say maybe a mixture of both? Things will improve, but our protagonists will slowly encounter new problems.(edited)

RebelVampire

true, the world is rarely ever perma fixed.

the magical surge really has me interested because something about it was so ominous

mostly the abandoned house

and cause it made me suspicious that besides the destroyed village they really havent come across any form of civilization

or other ppl

what if theyre in some time paradox in the future and the world is destroyed

mathtans

So it becomes about fleeing to another realm, which was foreshadowed in that talk about whether Chepi even could.(edited)

RebelVampire

i dont remember this convo but im gonna gasp anyway

Superjustinbros

Paradoxes why must you exist

RebelVampire

idk. it just felt like something suspicious was going on. and i do feel the wisp situation has an abnormal quality to it. at the very least i dont think they go around village destroying on the regular

mathtans

He said they were old too, right? Could be relevant... Chopi's mom was over 200 or something...

It's interesting how we're gradually learning more about the world, including the urban centres, while we're pretty far removed from them. Incidentally, I think Janek would be dead a few times over if not for his friend, what with wisps and poison mushrooms and no map.

RebelVampire

yeah. like i wonder what janek intended to do if chepi hadnt offered to guide the way. would janek just be stuck at wherever theyre traveling from?

but yeah i really like how the world is being told in the story

because its never in a way thats separate from teh characters

if its being told, its somehow relavent to how the world has effected them

mathtans

Maybe he'd have to have taken public transit.

Yeah, it's all connected. But the characters have their own families and backstories thought out, like Janek's sister.

RebelVampire

LOL chepi and janek take forest route, but then the whole time theres like an express train system that couldve had janek to erkesh in an hour

that would be hilarious

very unfitting

but hilarious

Superjustinbros

lol

mathtans

"We built it a couple days after you left."

RebelVampire

back to the question, i dont think anything chepi or janek will do will actually improve relationships between humans and fae. because theyre just kind of two people...wandering a forest. so for the moment they cant make that big a world impact.

unless theyre the last two ppl in the world

mathtans

There were imperial forces and everything though, I wonder what sort of technology level their warfare was.

RebelVampire

then relations improved

mathtans

Yeah, prejudice like that is pretty deep seated. Can only change individuals on the travels, I think.

Unless the magic surge helps others to feel the emotions Chepi has.

Like, "oh crud, that's what we've driven you to?"

RebelVampire

yeah. cause at the end magical surge is pretty vague. although imo a magical surge could be detrimental to humans and actually shrink their territory. because the magical surge could be why the wisps be destroying villages

mathtans

Shrink their "territory".

Magical surge is like cold water.

RebelVampire

oh dear

since there are only some moments, i want to take this chance to talk about the illustrations. because its a sad thing they havent been mentioned because the illustrations are really gorgeous. like nature is a hard thing to draw, but here this comic just puts it everywhere O_O

Superjustinbros

Can I have some of that surge? It's super warm here lol(edited)

RebelVampire

everywhere

mathtans

Yes, that's a great point. One of those things that would stand out if it was done wrong, the comic gets it very right.

Also, that whole thing with the flowers connecting to moods, that's kind of amazing. I didn't know that was a thing.

Superjustinbros

I'd love to see more of that

RebelVampire

yeah. like the flora in general is used in a very interesting way in the comic. because usually whats shown helps emphasis the tone and atmosphere of the scenes.

and honestly i give points to any comic that doesnt shy from the backgrounds

mathtans

That's a good point. I'm not great at noticing those sorts of details.

Superjustinbros

^

mathtans

The output's been pretty consistent for that too... like, 100 pages in less than two years?

I couldn't manage that.

Superjustinbros

Anyways, good luck with the comic, Hari, you're putting together something really magical here.(edited)

RebelVampireToday at 6:59 PM

yeah. although even if the pages took longer i wouldnt mind it. the backgrounds are honestly worth it because i feel theyre integral to showcasing the world at this point

mathtans

Yup, best with it!

Also the romance.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Hari, as well, for making Finding Home. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Hari’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://tapas.io/series/FindingHome

Hari’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/haridraws

Hari’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/haridraws

Comic Tea Party- Thursday Book Club

Next week’s Thursday Book Club will be about Four Corners by Boniae. For participants, you have the next week to read as much of the comic as you would like~! We hope to see you on Thursday, October 11th, from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat in #thursday_bookclub!

Comic’s Main Site: http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/

Comic’s Tapas Mirror: https://tapas.io/series/four-corners

Comic’s LINE Webtoon Mirror: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/four-corners/list?title_no=28768

[pantstomatch]

The Tuesday Chat on Wednesday

(1/17/18) 

Official second posting! Still not on Tuesday! Under the cut find: my thoughts and feelings about the wonder that is RPF, suspiciously incoherent ramblings about creating original characters, and then at the end there I talk a little about a few of my favorite fanfic authors.

Anonymous said:  hi!! This question might seem out of the blue but as one of my fave authors, I've always valued your opinion and I just want to hear your thoughts on RPF? TBH, I've always felt a bit... iffy about this but I just joined a fandom whose lead actors have an, IDK, "shippable" bromance?? But then, we do have Louis who finally spoke about the 'Larry' thing, and afjdlasf, I just feel a bit guilty reading RPF fics. :( Thoughts?

Oh, my friend, you have come to the right place! If you haven’t checked out my back catalog, you would not have known that I was in bandom for over 3 years and wrote around 80 fics about real live people.  I’ve been a rabid fangirl of Brendon Urie & Spencer Smith’s undying love. I’ve made Joe Trohman a hobo. I’ve written about Gabe Saporta being a demon. @lissadiane and I invented Mike Carden/Kevin Jonas (just in case anyone forgot that Skippy was a thing).  I’ve poked fun of the purity rings. I’ve put them all—all, EVERYONE—in space. Man, that was a time.

Anyway, here’s my take on it all:

a) they’re famous people. I’m not saying they’re totally fair game, but it’s not like you’re writing steamy hot sex about your neighbor, right? (although would they really know if you were?? I’m not going to judge.) 

b) you don’t shove it in their face (or you definitely shouldn’t). Sharing your thoughts with them about their fictional characters being in love is one thing (although honestly I don’t particularly go for that either), but this is an entirely different animal. That would be creepy and invasive. Some people like to lock their fics, but honestly I was in bandom during the livejournal craze, so other than making it so anons couldn’t comment, it was a little hard to gather an audience if it wasn’t open to the public. There was definitely an oh-shit please don’t google yourself (pete) vibe, but other than that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

c) you have to be able to distinguish the real person from the character you’re creating. You’re essentially writing a real life person into a fictional character. You can’t confuse the two. My fanon Brendon Urie was a bouncy little guy afraid of girls, in love with Spencer’s beard, and overly fond of jazz hands.  I’m pretty sure the real Brendon liked to jizz on girl’s faces.  So, you know, essentially completely different people. 

So conclusion: I’m super down with it. Some people aren’t, and that’s totally fine (but should leave off judging people who are).  So it really depends on how much you can look at that person as a character wholly separate from who they really are.

@slightestcomplication said:  Happy T/W chat! You talked a little about this in the writing meme, but I'd love to hear more about your process with regard to characters. Do they stay how you first envision them, or shift as you write? Mike, in Whatever, is such a great and authentic-feeling character - did you know how he would be from the start? 

Characters! Oh man, I love creating characters, it’s my favorite! So most of the time, they stay mainly how I envision them. Mike’s pretty much the same guy he was from the start. I wanted to create a kind of lovable asshole who thinks he’s cooler than he actually is. Basically a deep down decent guy with a lot of problematic quirks. He’s just not as foul-mouthed as I originally made him (apparently there is such a thing as too many ‘fucks’).  

For the most part, I know my characters before I know what the hell the story is going to be. This doesn’t always work out well—I have a bunch of characters in a folder just waiting for a story to resolve around them. On the other hand, I’m up for changing them if I absolutely need to.

I mentioned in last week’s chat that I had to rewrite my latest book 3 (4?) times.  My original editor, the one I had for Whatever, was able to tell me what was and wasn’t working while being great about it. She’s really good at making me see what I already knew, deep down: nothing was working and everything sucked. I couldn’t get the story OR the characters right, mainly because I had been working on it so long I didn’t want to. So she had me start over with a first person journal. I wrote until I could get the main character’s voice right in my head and THEN I started the story again. Same premise, better dude: all the angles changed. It was a totally different book.

So then what happens is that my editor goes on maternity leave, and I’m passed off to someone else. She’s super nice and helpful, but our editing is slow going. She wasn’t sure how I’d react criticism & major changes, and knows some authors hate getting their stuff edited too much—she was going soft on me. She openly admitted it in a phone call, in which essentially I was like: dude, rip me apart, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing 90 percent of the time.  

We ended up cutting an entire chapter, an entire character, making another one meaner (she still might not be mean enough), and basically doing a bunch of stuff that a more possessive author might balk at. 

I’m attached to my guys, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I gotta collect my guys in a little boxed room and give them snuggies and water bottles and let them wait it out while they try on various different hats.

From @drgrlfriend: favorite fanfic authors.

There are SO MANY, and this is just a very few amount, and I tend to hang on to older ones I’ve known for a couple fandoms:

@rageprufrock – her stuff is a delight. A delight. Most especially all the SGA stuff, like the mummy au and the one where they all watch an alien soap opera  or John gets pregnant or the one with the stitch and bitch.  Also: McDonald Hall fic. 

lilysaid – my favorite popslash writer, though she’s mostly closed up shop and you can find her stuff on the wayback machine.  Her fic beyond reproach is nostalgically my favorite fic of all time, and one of the only ones I’ve ever printed out for my bedside table.

@lissadiane – what is a favorite author list without my writing buddy? Some of you may know her from Harry Potter for breaking hearts with Beautiful World   (Cinnamon), or because she wrote a truly wonderful Kevin Jonas (little mermaid IN SPACE or the Robin Hood au)  (starflowers), or because she made Stiles see ghost animals and bleed magic and go to Hogwarts. Also PUNISHER AU. She’s just all around wonderful basically.

@mklutz – who wrote one of my favorite hockey RPFs  (hockey RPFs are my secret weakness), also wrote some of my favorite TW fics, and also also SGA, and a story about witches. 

harriet_vane – mostly because of the Forever, Now series, but also a little bit because of the Negotiation Limerick File. 

@astolat – The only author that could get me to read Transformers fic.  Probably.

I could go on, but I won’t, because it’s late and the dogs want to go to bed and cats are hovering ominously. Happy Wednesday everyone!

[shirewalker]

tag games!

I’ll just tag a few people and then you choose your fave games, ok?

tagging @alarkvling​ @artemeis​ @ohmystarsy​ @captainvkirk​ @theleiaskywalker​ @lilabard​ @detmeter​ @starkova​ @caradocdearborn​ @julliettesferrars​ @roryglimore

all games under the cut

1st game! Ten Questions Tag Game

tagged by @aesterea​

How messy is your writing process?

Not as messy as it should be, I think. I’ve always been a perfectionist and unlearning that when being creative (doing first drafts, etc) is HARD. So I can’t say it’s messy-messy, but I try to make it a little messier so I can move on with things xD

Do you plan/outline before you write?

Oh yeah, yeah I do. Sometimes it’s just a paragraph with the general gist of the thing, other times I just develop the story in my head, but I always do some level of planning/outlining before writing. I wouldn’t be able to do it any other way tbh.

Which OCs are dearest to your heart?

The four MCs from my nano novel. I love them, so much I have to stop myself from fixing everything in one go xD 

Has your own writing ever made you cry?

Nope, not really. But it takes a lot for books in general to make me cry and it’s always, always when I do a reread. You’d think I was ready for the cry triggers? Well, THINK AGAIN.

How much of yourself do you think you put into your characters?

Probably more than some people would like? I try not to do self-insert, but we’re always bound to take inspiration from ourselves. As to avoid doing it all in an obvious and ridiculous way, I try to take bits of myself and put them in different characters. A habit, a taste, a crazy situation, etc.

What do you hope to achieve through writing?

To change the world~* Lol, to tell my stories, to make others dream with me. Why do we tell stories if not to change something about the world and make others dream?

How would you describe your style?

Still trying to figure that one out.

What works of writing have influenced your style the most?

Austen, Agatha Christie, LOTR, Shatter Me (Mafi’s writing is epic ok??), The Lunar Chronicles... Every book I’ve ready has influenced me in one way or another.

Do you have a “support team”? Who’s in it?

My fanfic readers? askflakj I don’t think I have a support team other than them tbh xD

Which OC would be your best friend in real life?

aaskhdajfls I don’t know. Maybe Jean and Maeve from my nano novel. But tbh, the four Roses being my friends? That’d be awesome, ok? I’d finally have my knit-tight group of friends :’)

My questions:

What’s the earliest story you remember writing?

Which do you prefer to write? Short stories of longer ones?

Do you think your writing is ready to be seen by the world?

Which OC would be the best company when writing and which would be the worst?

Do you have a favourite world you’d give anything to visit?

Any writing rituals? Special place, special time of the day, special medium to write a draft on, etc.

What’s your favourite genre to read AND to write? 

Do you have friends that write too?

If you could have a writing cottage anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Favourite author and how have they inspired you/your writing.

2nd game! 5 Things

tagged by @alarkvling​

5 things you’ll find in my bag: wallet, a book, water, food, bus card 5 things you’ll find in my room: books, my bookmark-making materials, a dreamcatcher I bought last year from an american indian, my first nikolina piece printed and framed <3 5 things that make me happy: rainy days, reading an amazing book, talking with my friends for hours (it’s been a while since that tho..), a warm cup of milk/cappuccino/hot chocolate, my nerdy otps 5 things i’m currently into: writing, drawing, bookmark making, shovel knight, nikolina lol 5 things on my to-do list: pass driving code exam, have a fun bday, be a better person, improve my writing, get a decent job.

3rd game! Music Game

tagged by @artemeis​

rules: set your entire (I don’t have all my music in one place lol) music library on shuffle and report the first ten songs that pop up.

The River by The Family Crest

Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home by Keira Knightley

La Vie En Rose by Louis Armstrong

Superstar by Broods

Make You Believe by Lucy Hale

Coming Up Roses by Keira Knightley

Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift

Howl by The Family Crest

Conscious by Broods

So It Goes... by Taylor Swift

4th game! I’ve never...

rules: list 10 curious things you’ve never done and tag 10 people

I’ve never had a sleepover

I’ve never had my first kiss

I’ve never worn contacts

I’ve never been to a nightclub

I’ve never gone farther than Seville (outside country)

I’ve never had birthday surprises (the good ones ofc)

I’ve never seen snow other than the tiny flurry we had over a year ago (so like, not the kind you see all white and stuff)

I’ve never been to another continent

I’ve never had bff(s)

I’ve never seen a musical on stage

5th game! Get To Know Me

tagged by @becpunzel​

How tall are you? 154 cm which is a itsy bit over 5ft...? *shrugs*

What color are your eyes? Blue+grey+green.

Do you wear contacts and/or glasses? Glasses

Do you wear braces? No, and never had.

What is your fashion style? Cute? Girly? *shrugs* I don’t know but it’s something like that xD

When were you born? 14th March 1991

Do you have any siblings? A younger sister

What school/college do you go to? I have a degree on animation.

What kind of student are you? The kind that has to do well lol.

What are your favorite subjects? History, art, books...? xD 

What are your favorite movies? Tangled, Star Wars, LOTR, Clueless, Laws of Attraction, Pacific Rim, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road, Megamind, The Princess and the Frog, Ghibli movies, The 10th Kingdom, etc 

What are your favorite pastimes? Reading, writing, drawing, trying to talk with friends I haven’t talked in a while, playing games, photography, bookmark making, making edits for books/shows/ships I love <3

Do you have any regrets? I think we all have those.

What’s your dream job? Something I’m good at and I enjoy doing and allows me a happy life.

Would you like to get married? Yeah, I would. Gotta do everything else before that point in life, starting with being remotely appealing for dating haha..

Do you want kids? Maybe one day yeah. It’s not out of the question but it’s not a must-do either.

How many countries have you visited? 2

What is your scariest dream? I went to a christmas party with all my ex-classmates from various moments in my life and I was ignored the whole dinner, my gift got stolen and no one tried to help. Probably not a traditional scary dream but it was a big-fears-fest

Do you have a significant other? Hahahaha, no.

not doing the music part since I did it in the other game already xP

6th Game! Another Get To Know

tagged by @alexclovere

Age - 26 soon 27

Birthplace - Portugal

Current time - 1:46 pm

Drink you had last - water

Easiest person to talk to - the rare close friends

Favorite song - I have a lot but lets go with a classic: Can’t Help Falling In Love

Grossest memory - (: Last year, the week before my bday. It was so much fun! not! AND SO GROSS AND AWFUL D:<

Hogwarts house - Slytherin

In Love - no :\

Jealous of people - always a little

Killed someone - ofc not wth

Love at first sight or should I walk by you again - I think you have to walk by several times and even then there’s no guarantee *shrugs*

Middle name - I don’t have

Number of siblings - one sister

One wish - a good job

Person you called last - my mom

Question you are always asked - job?????

Reason to smile - in spite of things being bad, it always gets better, even if it doesn’t feel like it. also, cute pets!

Song you sang last -Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home by Keira Knightley

Time you woke up - 9:30 am

Underwear color - huh

Worst habit - either thinking the worst is happening or thinking I’m friends with someone when they probs don’t even remember I exist

X-rays - it’s been a while

Your favorite food - pizza, homemade

Zodiac sign - Pisces

[jeremy5165882-blog]

Week 9 - Rendering presentation and photoshop process

Intro: This week we completed our Project 2 assessment by doing a presentation on the rendering we had poured blood, coffee and tears into. p.s (as this week9 post consists of more than one post and is rather lengthy, I’ll be splitting it up and structuring it like this:       -intro       -reflection and critical evaluation on presentation       -photoshop process       -research board process       - 2 separate posts with all the images, documentation of rendering, and work process

Reflection and critical evaluation on presentation:

-Was I adequately prepared? I think I was prepared enough to give a simple presentation, but as I wasn’t sure what type of presentation we would be expected to give; thus i retained a few basic ideas on presenting which could be applicable to what we were doing. Looking back, I think if I had written a few notes, memorised them and practiced speaking in front of a mirror, it would have assisted me better on the day.

-Did I speak clearly and articulately? Unfortunately, while I think my attempt to speak was passable in a way, I don’t think I spoke that clearly or articulately. I’ve always had trouble speaking in front of people while doing a presentation, and I have difficulty transferring what is in my mind, into a worded explanation. (tbh a small part of the reason I transferred from my previous course was to avoid public speaking and presentations… I obviously dug a bigger grave when I chose industrial design). This is something I’ll have to practice I guess, as I realise presenting is a big part of this course, and if you’re able to convey in an articulate and aesthetic way the concept you have, it’ll be extremely useful in the future.

-Was the pace of my delivery appropriate? It was decent but not great. Instead of pacing the content out in even segments, I accidentally spoke a little too long on some and hurried on others due to nervousness. If I made a small structure such as: -introduce process/name, describe, background info, tie into next topic] for each thing I talked about, it would’ve helped pace my delivery more appropriately.

-How did I feel before / after the presentation? Before: Nervous reck.      After: relief.

-Was my support material effective / helpful Yes, I found my support material to be very helpful and effective in conveying my idea and process across to the audience. My research board/support material helped to guide me as I had organised it in a step by step process of what I had done. So if I ever got lost during the presentation, I just had to refer back to the board and continue. It was also quite easy to point to each quadrant of the board when presenting, as it referred the audience with a square of visual images to the idea/process I was talking about.

What did I do well and what would I do differently next time? -I’ve pretty much summed up all the pros and cons in each question above, but something which I think I did normally was the support material and the simple but effective concept behind It. For next time, I hope to practice different small aspects of public speaking such as overcoming stage fright and learning to articulate words clearly so that I can be more equipped to present something in upcoming assessments.

Photoshop Process: This unfortunately reminded me a lot of our course in fundamentals where each project takes around 20+hrs, and if you haven’t considered once taking the easy way out before the census date or through an accidental topple over a cliff, you’re either extremely gifted or not doing it right. The product I chose to render was an Ultrasone Edition 8 EX headphone, and looking back, I reckon I should’ve chose something easier. As this was my second time ever using photoshop, the darn headphones took around 20-25hrs to render, not including the research board, printing process, indesign and illustrator programs.

I’m really bad at computers in general, so opening photoshop gave me nightmares. I started off by: -drawing and pencilling an outline of the headphones and then scanned it in and opened the file on photoshop. Next, I -constructed layers Using the basic Colourfill ayer + Light layer + Dark layer which the hairdryer tutorial introduced to us, I created a set of layers for each segmented part as well as ordering them into groups and files. Next I -created paths for the individual segments which made up the headphones. After fiddling a bit with illustrator, its apparently easier to draw paths and then import them to photoshop instead of drawing with the pen tool. Once all the paths were complete, I assigned them as -masks to each respective layer with its corresponding part. I then -coloured each layer and discovered that if you’re working with a black/silver coloured object with lots of reflections, shiny aspects/facets, it’s better to colour everything in shades of grey and then use the brush tool to whiten or darken the grey to achieve the desired look. This way you can achieve both a black and a white from a base grey colour, as well as create differences between light and dark to replicate a mirror finish. Once each segment was coloured, I painted -aesthetic replication of mirror finishes, shine etc over the segments which were shiny/reflective on the original product. Using the brush tool, and modifying the opacity, brush size (all the way from 1-2ppx – 300 – 400), hardness and colour, I painted over the parts with my mouse cursor resembling a real life brush stroke. This part took me hours as I had to research light reflection and mirror finishes as well as creating even brush strokes with a mouse and the varying degrees of light and dark around each painted stroke to create the desired surface aesthetics of the matte ceramic, chrome/aluminium and polished pvd (physical vapour deposition). I came to a realisation that no matter how the object looks or feels in real life, the only tools you can recreate it with photoshop is an aesthetic manipulation of light, colour and texture to deceive the perception that it is actually like the real object. Thus I then moved on to -textures By finding an image of the texture on google and then cutting and shaping to fit over the required segment. The grill/net pattern over the flat part of the inner earpad of the headphone was relatively easy to construct as I only had to shade it whiter in the middle and darker on the edge of the circle, but the real complexity came from recreating the pleather (synthetic leather) look on the earpads and headband. I drew tiny white and black lines across a black surface, then layered the texture on top and then used a satin layer and a few other changes to create that soft rippling effect of tense stretched pleather. I then applied -logos and text For the logo and grouped text, I copied it from the product/website and photoshopped it to fit onto the headphones, as the tutors advised us against just typing a company’s logo, and to make it more realistic and appropriate if we just transferred the original logo across. Finally, I moved to the -background Where I created a gradient fill of black to white to accentuate the products shine and black and white tonal qualities.

This concludes a brief summary on the photoshop process that I completed to construct the headphones

Research Board Process:

For the research board, I used InDesign to construct the layout and appearance. I allocated my board into 6 quadrants, with each quadrant being able to hold 4 images. From left to right, each box showed a step of my processes. 1st box –Inspiration, 2nd box – pinterest, 3rd –research, 4th –form/materials, 5th – documentation of photoshop progress, 6th – surface/materials finishing. Thus I was able to show a glimpse of each of my steps, while retaining the ordered and aesthetic construct within one board.