#aesthetic cumulative

[naturally1]

Aesthetic enhancement for anyone who likes that sense of ambiance!

[wickershells]

If i have to see one more “this is so ethel cain core” comment i am gouging out my eyes And offering them to the heavens as penitence for the horrors of the human race. We have failed o lord

[terabyte-teddybear]

cumulous rocks moodboard for @ylfas-bottleneck!

[keendaanmaa]

Peace // Portland Japanese Garden

November 9, 2023

[rusedrabbles]

Follows a reveal gone mostly right (Danny had to drag his parents to the Ghost Zone, because Ghost Writer banned him from checking out books. If they refuse to listen to their son, then may they'll listen to the cumulative research the many scientists who call the Zone home in their afterlife. It was a bit hilarious watching Darwin and Linnaeus lecture them while Muir chipped in about the Zone's relation to the living world. (Muir definitely advocated for the Ghost Zone section of the Infinite Realms to be designated a national park. In the future, Amity Park would come to be unofficially known as Afterlife Park, for the large gateway to the Ghost Zone. The dead are far more talkative than anyone realized, but it's nice to be able to see ancestors, and the scientists and historians love the first-hand accounts. As long as you don't ask about their death.))

Now that his parents, sister, and friends have given up the ghost, as well as their children and grandchildren, Danny had decided to explore the Realms some more, but a fight with Skulker (a scuffle, really, more for the fun than anything), and a natural portal later, and now he's being pseudo-adopted by a villain. At least they fit his ice aesthetic, and hey, it could be worse, he could be in Gotham! Oh, did he mention? He's stuck a seven years old. Still better than Gotham and its clown problem!

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Josh designs part Three- Arkanis

I've drawn and painted his Arkanis design the most. This one is when he starts taking the Nerevarine thing seriously and starts incorporating a lot of Ashlander aesthetics into his over all look. It's also when he and Erra become an item and he starts using his father's last name (Ensirhaddon) a lot more.

Josh in his ash gear. Complete with amulets made by Erra.

He's in a constant fight between himself and the call of the Ascended and often loses himself to their calls. (Hence amulets). After Kogoruhn he gets a second scar on his nose (he breaks it a lot).

As can be seen here. He uses a lot of Ashlander motifs from this point onwards. He starts applying kohl around his eyes and a dark paint on his fingers.

It cumulates in the bois getting married and Josh realising his destiny...and all the shit that comes along with it.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

I’m going to be writing my first novel (original fiction) and I’m already stressing myself out about creating good prose and character dynamics. I have so many ships that I admire and I can tell so much thought went into their dialogue and backgrounds but how are writers writing thousands of words a day with that type of thoughtful writing?? AHHHHH. I think I could only write like 200 words a day to create stuff with the depth of character that I love and want for my own writing

I think your fanfic is good so that’s why I’m asking 🙂‍↕️

That’s really exciting!! Good luck!

Writing is very much a cumulative skill in my experience, the more you write the easier it will be to balance the various elements of plot, prose, character, etc. You’ll also just get a better handle on the patterns of these things. It’ll be easier to quickly formulate plots, to make interesting character choices without having to think about it as hard. So definitely, don’t get discouraged if you’re struggling with the balancing act now! The more you work on it, the more naturally it will come to you.

That being said, a big part of writing efficiently is having a good method. The saying that you can’t edit a blank page is very true. Stressing over getting everything perfect on the first try is just going to needlessly slow you down. Just get it done, and then you can fix it later!

For original projects, I personally like to outline heavily before the drafting process. And then I use that as a roadmap during drafting. Once I have a draft, I go over it several times with a particular focus for each pass (subplots, nailing character arcs, worldbuilding details, etc)

I think it’s just really important to work with purpose. Otherwise you can get lost in the weeds.

Re: character dynamics and dialogue, I think dialogue tends to come organically from character. And then character itself should go hand in hand with plot/premise.

It’s a bit of a chicken or the egg scenario, but I think it’s important to nail down what kind of story you’re trying to tell and what characters can best carry that. I do think that theme is really *really* important, and that’s how you get a cohesive, compelling story as opposed to ten tropes in a trenchcoat.

But yeah like basic questions, who are your characters, what are their arcs? Can you sketch out a basic starting point and end point for them and meaningfully talk about how they’re meant to change? Are these changes cohesive?

Good ships are good because they have interesting premises, conflicts, and interactions. You need to make sure everything is solid on a conceptual level. So much of writing advice rn is like “throw in a dagger to the throat scene, that’s sexy” but like shfhff what does it fucking mean! There needs to be a point to sexy scenes. And vulnerable moments need to be earned. A relationship needs to develop from somewhere.

It’s way more important to flesh out what about the characters are appealing or disruptive to each other, where they align and clash, and to make sure it makes sense, than to write perfect dialogue.

I’m very much a proponent of getting the foundation right and then fixing the aesthetic dressings later. My first drafts, my dialogue is usually in short hand, just to get the gist of it down, and my prose is pretty dry. There’s always room to fix that stuff later.

But yeah my personal tips:

Outline as much as you can! it’s easier to rewrite an outline than an entire book. And you’ll have to rewrite the book multiple times anyway, so might as well make it a bit easier for yourself. I like to personally have a shorter birds eye view outline, and then one that goes into scene level detail. But also I am insane. So, use whatever level of detail works for you.

Be aware of why you make every choice in your story. Could be because of a theme, because you want to set up a later plotline, or because it’s cool. Whatever the reason just make sure you know! That makes it easier to weigh any potential changes against each other, and to figure out your priorities. But also to tell if any elements end up becoming superfluous over your editing process. if you introduced scene A to set up scene B and you end up cutting B, then A doesn’t need to exist anymore.

Each scene should have an arc! You don’t need to outline scenes if you don’t want to (… I like to) but make sure there’s movement in them. My personal rule of thumb is that a scene needs to accomplish at least three things to justify its existence. Those things can be developing character, particular relationships, a subplot, the main plot, or just showcasing a fun setting, but I just like to make sure that multiple things are happening to be efficient.

Start out with high concepts and recognizable tropes (if you want!) but once you get into the details, then you need to aim for specificity. Specificity is so important, that’s where things get interesting. Similarly, characters are most endearing for their flaws and vulnerability. A character written to be generically likeable is less interesting and memorable than a specific character.

Also, be aware of each character’s perspective, both over the course of the story, but also in every scene. What are their goals? How much do they know, what are their impression of events, and how do they want to present themselves to others? Particularly for side characters, is there anything they need to react to that you might not have considered?

This might all sound unrelated to writing quickly, but in my experience the better understanding you have of your story and your characters, the easier it is to draft. That way, you’ve done all the thinking beforehand, so you don’t need to pause and figure everything out as you write!

[luxe-pauvre]

25 years after its initial publication, Theory of the Young-Girl remains remarkably prescient, with influencers now serving as the corporate mirrors through which the Young-Girl forms her identity. “The Young-Girl is part of the new lifestyle-police,” the writers argue, “making sure that each person fulfills his or her function, and sticks exclusively to it.” The Young-Girl is risk-averse; she doesn’t engage with other people, but rather with their cumulative qualities amassed into the specific character or social situation “in which one is supposed to conform no matter what the circumstance.” Alienation, but make it aesthetic. In Majuscule, Emmeline Clein wrote that “Pleasure, facilitated by purchases, replaces any fuzzy feelings fostered by a community of fellow women for both bimbos and tradwives, and it’s this will to ownership that unites them.” Here we see how the Young-Girl may naturally evolve into the bimbo or the tradwife. Perhaps their escape into an “individualistic, fatalistic mindset” might be how they grin and bear the realities of patriarchy and capitalism, “but it does nothing to make life less miserable for women as a class.”

Raquel Alvarado, The myopia of youth

[mousemilf]

my home looks like a failing antique mall booth but it is so cringefail and annoying when people try to position maximalism as a leftist aesthetic. the most beautiful maximalist home ive been in belonged to a trust fund kid and most of the delightful little tchotchkes were purchased new. it means nothing. even my home has taken yearsss of strategic thrifting and probably thousands of dollars cumulatively to decorate like this. and it still looks off in my soulless modern rental. like it literally just takes way more time or money or both than greige ikea minimalism. again i love it but i do nott understand how people are painting it as a working class anti-consumption thing.

[moviesludge]

aesthetic of the day is the way you create art in little steps, bit by bit over time, resulting in an altogether complex work, but the viewer sees your work all at once. The cumulative nature of the artistic process to create a final product vs the viewing of the result of that process in an instant

[parcy-anda-but-with-actual-posts]

Okay, so first time in a long time tackling a monthly challenge, I'll go ahead and make cumulative weekly posts here for Smaugust (2024). Just having fun, not trying to impress anyone, but I also want a convenient place to come back to it. =v=; General Warning: Creativity is not my strong suit, but I've tried not to be too predictable.

Day 1: Fruit — A scorpion pepper dragon. Peppers are fruits, technically, but I tried to mix it up by having this dragon be super chill, or at least lazy. It's content to be left to its naps as it overheats easily in its hot, arid environment, being more active at night, and even then, not too active. XD I can expand on lore for this, but keeping things simple for now.

Day 2: Ash — medieval/monk illustration inspired, apologies

For this one, I took a photo of the ash tree out front, and used its outline to create a cloud-breathing false hydra of sorts. Sad hypothetical story time: in reality, this is a mass of separate serpents all coiled up together and spewing thick vapors to obscure what lies at its center. These are the various children of an immortal great mother serpent, of whom all that remains is her head. They wouldn't leave her behind, and their home has decidedly not been safe since the incident; they carry her with them everywhere, hiding in misty places and masquerading as a large tree.

Day 3: Storm — I defaulted to scenic, because design on the word storm alone, I was really struggling with. Have a storm drake-like thing. ^^' I created pale yellow glows that shone through and lit up surrounding foliage as it stalks and prepares to attack something. I also let the colors that come to mind with dark clouds and stormy nights take this thing over completely. Fun experiment. C'X

Day 4+5: Fossil+Hybrid — this doesn't bode well, having to combine to make up for lost days this early. >v<; Here, though, have the unholy spawn of anatomically-somewhat-accurate Aerodactyl and the proportions and vibe of an Azhdarchid. I adore these pterosaurs on an aesthetic and imaginative level... would just about wet myself in fear if faced with one. Maybe someday I'll come back to prompts like this and actually put some respectable time into posing and rendering, but for now, just quick ideas for fun. :3

Day 6: Mist — WHOOPS, I missed one - adding this one in belatedly, but it was done on time... might have overlooked this because it really was thrown together in a hurry, and highly self-indulgent. Like, more than most of these. ^^' Have a cotton ball mass of dragon that curiously rolls up on little towns at pre-sunrise hours, especially at the base of mountains. It's a lazy and harmless enough creature, but it has a way of scaring little ones sh*tless, just the same. The sun rays coming through don't hurt it, luckily, but it does add to the "be not afraid" vibes. X'D

Day 7: Striped —Along with nostalgic inspiration of a friend's character, I based this one on a Cheshire Cat vibe, spiraling shapes vaguely snuck in. I'm still having much too much fun with the rough wash brush... but that's what I've decided to do this whole month, is have fun. ^^ Hopefully you're having a nice day!

Each week will be a different post, since the 30 image limit leaves us just shy of fitting the challenge into one post. >v<; See Week 2, if you like! (or Week 3, or 4, for that matter!)

[albontology]

would you be willing to explain the geochalex tag on the angel/fae/machine rules post. i am assuming george = machine rules but i don't know about alex or charles and i am interested

oh yeah great question!! thank you for asking, i'll say tl;dr: in my mind, george = fae rules, charles = angel rules, and alex = machine rules. reasoning and extreme yapping under the cut o7

first massive disclaimer is this is rpf-goggles equipped i dont actually know shit and am making half of this up. naturally. so from there.

so what initially drew me to think of that/tag the post as geochalex is because of the inherent disciplinary quality of being a driver: not only do f1 drivers have to abide by a multitude of rules, but they're often one of two representatives of a mass of people and a brand, and further they have to be in control of their bodies at all times. so in this very flowery sense, the figure of the driver is one defined in relation to the rules they have to abide by both in the established system and in the larger expectations of the industry. following that, the way that i matched geochalex to their respective alignments has to do with this framing of relationship of driver to authoritative power, the 'rule-arbiter'

the first and immediate association to me was george with fae rules because of his status as gpda prez and resident rulebook consumer. this has recency bias, ofc, but in particular, think back to all the posts on how george being called to the stewards is just an exercise in his memorization of the fia rulebook. george respects the rules and abides by them, but does not take them for face value, and is more than willing to flex his expertise with them to augment his own position in relation to them. there's also the association here of fia rules-fae rules as a power tied up in the nuances of class and society, though that's more tonally tenuous. the more important aesthetic consideration is those massive and haunting baby blue peepers of his. they must be borne of some sort of otherwordly magicks.

second is charles and angel rules. ofc, here, 'god' is the religiously fervent spirit of ferrari. was there ever any question. coming from a very catholic slant, the components of love, awe, and fear as necessary motivators to follow the rules are key. charles loves ferrari, and, i would say, does fear it in the christian sense of the word. to disobey ferrari, or to vocally express his displeasure with it (or its extensions i.e. engineers), is not necessarily disallowed, but like.. you can feel how those rifts kind of marr this massive tapestry of ferrari lore and how charles is woven into it. how do i express this?? the "irreversible consequences" of the og post has to do with how the entire ecosystem, legacy, and history of ferrari are tied up into how charles represents them, and how 'rule breaking' is not only a transgression but a betrayal.

finally is alex and machine/ai rules. alex, i love you, but this was a bit of a shoehorn to complete the trifecta. still, i think out of all three this one fits alex best, because, in the system of dynamics we've established, alex is the one that doesn't have this single entity to be set in opposition to. in the ai-allegory, alex is a cumulation of information he's gathered from various experience, and the rules he has aren't necessarily prescribed by a single creator, but instead are a self-imposed disciplinary practice that runs embedded into his every behaviour. this to me is very alex!! as the media-designated 'personable funny guy on the grid', alex is constantly receiving input from all directions on how he should behave, and in my view has baked into his being the need to be highly functional, agreeable, yet disciplined in every regard. if he intentionally transgresses upon this model, it fundamentally shifts who he is (largely by reshaping how people perceive him). also, the idea of willingly breaking one's self to surpass their limits, while equally applicable to many other drivers, really resonates with alex's story to me given how much he's been through and sacrificed.

the final meme in the original post, where representatives of fae, angel, and machine come together in a meeting of the minds to discuss what the fuck god's problem is. that's what they're talking about in the driver debriefs. among other things, like the shanghai good boy collar and when in your career is too early to get a full-back tattoo.

[albi-bumblebee]

OLIIIII HELLO HIII TSH IS LIKE ONE OF MY FAVE BOOKS AND I RLLY WANNA HEAR ANY OF UR THOUGHTS ON IT

WHOS UR FAVE CHARACTER

AND UR LEAST FAVE

AND UR FAVE SCENE

DID U LIKE IT?

- kiaran 🐌

Omg, hiiii, sorry you had to submit this @seductive-snail, I forgot that I closed my askbox a few weeks ago.

I really loved the novel! I feel like it was written in a very engaging way, and the relationships between the characters are interesting. I feel like the theme of desiring a beautiful life so badly that you do fucked up things to achieve is very relevant nowadays, maybe more so than when the book was published, what with the way many people strive so hard to live an “aesthetic life” sometimes to their own detriment.

I don’t really think there’s an obvious favorite for me? I have mixed feelings on Bunny, Charles…is Charles, Richard doesn’t really think of Camilla has a full person the same as the men in the group so she’s kinda an enigma to me, Henry is interesting but definitely not a fave for me, so Ig Richard or Francis? Francis’s scenes were usually the most entertaining, but he’s not that intriguing for me personally. Richard’s interesting to me, and I am not categorically turned off by him the way I am turned off by Henry, so ig Richard.

Almost dying of hypothermia is very meow meow of him and that’s what I like in a protagonist(/j).

I can very much empathize with his motivations, even if the way he goes about literally everything is at least a bit frustrating.

(The way I have talked about the characters may make it seem like I don’t like them. I like all of them, the point is obviously that they’re all pretentious assholes to at least an extant though ofc.’ My least favorite is Charles. I don’t think he’s like horrendously worse than Henry just because the crimes he commits are ones that would be familiar/more relatable and therefore scarier & eviler to most readers, it’s just that he is isn’t as interesting as the rest of the characters to me.

Probably basic, but my fave scene is the one where Richard is told about the first murder. I feel like it’s hard to pin down favorite scenes for this book because it’s very cumulative for me, like the character relationships especially are so good because of all the little details peppered in.

So yeah I really really liked this book, it was also very nice to get off the internet and screens for a bit. I haven’t really devoured a physical book like this in a while and now I have added several books to my Christmas list lol.

[shisasan]

It may have been the Edna SV Millay quote or the Royksopp and Grimes tracks, a mention of sorcery (which I cannot resist in any manifestation or formal structure), or the cumulative effect of your choices for posts. But once more all that has provided an aesthetic boost (for lack of a better phrase) on a grim Sunday when any kind of positive element is like rain in the desert for me.

Your reflection illustrates the significant influence that art, music, and literature can impart upon our emotions and uplift or transform even the bleakest of days. Grateful for your words, wishing you more blissful Sundays in contrast to the grim ones.

[closet-of-nikki]

Dark Butterfly

This is Dark Butterfly! Released November 2019 as a cumulative recharge, it is now available from the Secret Shop. You can get it on its own for $17.99 USD or with Colorful Moment for $19.99 USD altogether, which you can find a breakdown of over here.

It comes with a posed dress, posed wings, makeup, and three moveables. I'm absolutely tagging this thing with #blood, but I'm sure it's supposed to be aesthetically pleasing red liquid. Don't come for me, Elex.

Full breakdown below the cut!

I put the gloves on a black background because there's a very faint white glow around the butterflies holding up the gloves. There's both a posed dress and posed wings in this suit, and as a wing enjoyer I liked it a lot.

And finally, you get three moveables. Dead butterflies, a set of pins to affix your dead butterflies to a display board, and a super neat crashed window/mirror/drapery thing. The drapery is not layered, unfortunately.

[maklodes]

Sometimes it annoys me in fantasy when elves simultaneously have, like, an aesthetic of living in graceful harmony with the natural world and would never have sooty cities darkened with coal fires like the filthy humans, but they also have all the end products of industrial power; like, they have cool armor and the best swords for the warriors, the best textiles, the finest bejeweled diadems, etc. Dwarves feel like they come about their industrial success honestly, with fiery blast furnaces and deep mines. Elves feel like an aristocratic clique who get their stuff from… somewhere else.

I suppose it’s not really indefensible. A Toyota Prius uses less fuel and is faster and is more comfortable and reliable and safer than a Ford Model T. That’s humans separated by about a century. Elves being something like a 20th century-equivalent ahead of humans or more doesn’t seem unreasonable – not to mention that they really could be more capable than humans at some natural biological or even magical level, whereas humans of 1923 and 2023 have the same capabilities other than cumulative technological progress.

Nor does it seem unreasonable that elves might use the further-out production possibilities frontier enabled by their superior magical/technological abilities to acquire some combination of “cleaner and greener” industry and greater quality/quantity of production. (Humans have mostly used our technological progress to increase production a lot while accelerating our destruction of the natural world, although there are some exceptions like the reduction of air particulates. It wouldn’t be surprising if elves had a lower time preference than humans if they have greater longevity, though, and also wouldn’t be surprising if lower time preference lead to greater emphasis on environmental conservation.)

Still, I suppose at a visceral level, part of me doesn’t like the idea of elves who just have the best of everything with no tradeoffs. (Although I think the idea annoys me less if it’s a fantasy novel/comic/whatever and more if it’s a MMORPG/TTRPG/strategy game/whatever, where elves are supposed to be balanced mechanically but are uniformly superior in lore. Although you could take, like, a Hearts of Iron strat-game type approach and say “yeah, being the Kuomintang Chinese circa 1930 is just fucking harder than being the United States of America, and that’s how it is.” Or you could have stuff like D&D 3.5 level-adjustments or GURPS higher base point costs.)