#also i wasn't as versed in photoshop

[ginger-grimm]

A LOOK INTO MARLOW STILINSKI’S PHONE

(TEMPLATE)

TAGGING: @waterloou @firsthorror @eddysocs @ocs-supporting-ocs @foxesandmagic @veetlegeuse @decennia @hiddenqveendom @arrthurpendragon @luucypevensie @richitozier @noratilney @jvstjewels @oneirataxia-girl @wordspin-shares @booty-boggins

[a-snow-decahedron]

Not me projecting specific songs on characters again. But bear with me.

Anyways, this time it's Chara and the no mercy run, and how I can definitely see an animatic of this in my head so I must inflict it on you too. Here is a link to the song on youtube, I have translated the lyrics for you

I saved all my evil for you I saved all my evil for you

So, Imagine you, the player just finished the no mercy run after hours of trying. And this child shows up. The Fallen Child shows up. They greet you, but they won't lie, they want to hurt you (and they have every reason to want to)

(more under the cut because this gets long haha, and the song is 3 minutes long)

This was a wolf that filed its teeth In front of a sheep that sharpened its own [teeth] To stop being just another number In the dream of another animal

I like the idea that, in this scenario, Chara is the wolf, Frisk is the sheep, and you are the other animal. Because in essence this is saying that both Frisk and Chara had to change who they (think) they were in order to try to do the best to get through.

I think Chara works as the wolf because they were a kid with a pretty rough life who, from what we can infer from Asriel's words, has a lot of hatred for humanity, but they couldnt act on it when they went back to the surface. Frisk, on the other hand, is described as someone who becomes stronger as the run progresses, even if it wasn't out of their own volition. They had to toughen up to get through this despite the difficulty.

And you, the player, are the other animal that's caused this scenario. But the kids, especially Chara, do not just wanna be part of "the numbers" which is a metaphor that's been used before, when Chara mentions the feeling they got whenever your stats increased.

Look, at your mercy is all that I was told was wrong with me is all that I was taught to hide, as you were too

Chara has a weird relationship with mercy, but I think the main message here is "Look at what you've done, I get you. I was told what I wanted to do was wrong, I had to repress it, and do better. And you were also taught what's corrent, but what did you do instead?" In the end there is a defying tone in them, present in all their final monologue.

The truth, without moral Photoshop The truth, without so much bluh bluh bluh The truth, without moral Photoshop The truth, the good and the bad

But whatever, this is the end, so it doesn't really matter anymore to sugarcoat things, does it? There is no need to make this conversation long and complicated, let's just say the truth, good and bad.

And I know that everything I say Can be used against me And what do I care [about...]

What they'll say, a lot What they'll say, a little What they'll say, nothing What they'll say, it depends What they will say

I think this pasrt is fun, if you consider how controversial Chara tends to be in fan discussions. And they don't care. Yes you see them saying they could feel something when they progressed, yes they said they're not up to good, they know that they've thought of hurting others for a purpose. But they really don't think what others think is important. Let alone in this confrontation with you.

Give it all or else why try? Give it all or else why try? Give it all or else why try? Always give it all, or else why try? Never ungive it all, or else why try?

This is when they propose to you to end this world for good, and go for the next. You already did so much to destroy it and bring it to its limit, you better commit to the end. If not, what was everything else for? And then the last two verses reinforce this idea. It's the moment you as a player realize you don't have a choice in what's about to happen, because Chara wants you to see the consequences of what you did.

I saved all my evil for you I saved all my evil for you

And so this verses wrap things up, as you see what has happened. They had anger, hatred, pain, and so much grief over what you did, and they didn't want to simply let you get away with it. So now they're not restraining themselves and they're letting their "bad side" out.

Having said this, I personally hate takes that see Chara as a bad person or who demonize everything they do. They're a traumatized kid here, one that likely saw little worth in themself, and wanted to get back at those that hurt them and the ones they love. So now when THEY have the power to end things for good and stop you from getting away with stuff? They do something.

[blcdcarnage]

Good Morning, everyone. Thank You all for the follow, and Welcome! I have added two verses up for now, more will be added soon I promise. Also, I went in and changed the size on some off the font on my Carrd. Cause it was small, and I understand some , can't see small font like that, very well. So, I wanted to make it visible to all. And I noticed, if you read my rules. That there were some places where it said she, or her. I changed that and do apologize, I had taken my rules from my Female Muse @traumablcd , and reused them. And I wasn't thinking, I did those late last night. So, I wasn't quite thinking. Anyhow, I have Starters to pump out, as well as I need to work on some Icons for him and his Dash Banners. While I am making Icons, and Dash Banners, you all may send me in some Memes. I have reblogged a few, I will reblog a few more before I head into Photoshop! Thank You,

{ Pssst, Levi is being a good boy right now. I don't know how long this will last. }

[2022-504-joshualowe]

Rationale

In the second half of semester two, our paper was to create four different social media-type animations for Instagram. Working on this project, this class has made me well-versed in creating animations in Adobe Photoshop. Using the skill learnt in my Design Studio class last semester creating my animatics, I found making these four animations easier and felt there wasn't a steep learning curve.

This project continues with using my assigned typeface ASAP and ASAP Condensed and the colour palette from my Type Specimen Book. In my four type animations I wanted them to be very simple but informative, it displays many of my specimen book assets, my first animation is a quick introduction to ASAP, the name of the developer and displays the type anatomy diagram from my specimen book, my second animation displays all the variations of the typeface, my third displays the glyphs and languages that ASAP supports and my fourth animation is dedicated to my 27th letter created earlier this semester and includes a type anatomy diagram from my book. They are a culmination of the skills learnt for the in-class task we have done. This is seen on my Tumblr blog with my SDLs.

This semester I have learnt many new skills from Trajano and Karol. The main takeaway I will be using from this paper is using Video timelines in Photoshop.

Overall making these animations was very informative and enjoyable. It has given me a deeper understanding of Animations and Gifs. I will be using these skills in future assignments and projects and will also further my skills. A criticism for myself is to plan more. I am proud of the work I’ve created and looking forward to the next year in Materials and Media.

[klainelynch]

15 year old me after watching The Crossroads of Destiny in 2006

[slutforchocorobos]

Since it's still mermay, H2O verse mermaid tail ranking:

(idk how this came to be so long, so it under a read more)

out of any music videos, commercials, TV shows, movies, H2O verse tails are still miles, MILES ahead in terms of construction and quality than almost any other production. (psh psh shoutout to JMB FX Studio) BUT i will blabber opinions bc i can

ON WITH THE RANKING:

#4 Mako Mermaids mermaid tails

Jonathan decided to expand everything: lore, universe, cast (so many tails and tops you guys, if I was the one in charge of gluing all those scales I would've killed myself on the spot) but his budget obviously wore thin.

so weak, so flimsy, need milk

These make me sigh to no end, why whyyy the same design as h2o when they have NO budget to afford the same tails.

Look at how they murdered my girls, the tails can no longer stand on its own, they look so sad. THE TAIL PHOTO IS PART OF THE ESSENCE OF H2O,THE MAIN DRAW OF A MERMAID SHOW. They really had to photoshop the tails on later seasons 😔. Tragic.

i appreciate that each tail has a fun unique pattern kinda animal inspired under the scales. it gives the tails an opportunity to blend with the characters and their personalities. also them tails still hit my little nostalgia bones.

#3: Mako Mermaids Merman tails

The addition of mermen was so good and the production fucked up the overall design of the mermen (no upper body fish details? for real? it really bothers me).

this tail wouldn't be so low in the list if it wasn't in the h2o verse. it's clearly the most creative design of the bunch (again getting killed by the lack of structure) but there's an established look to the tails, getting 3 similar designs with a realistic approach and a blue fantasy outlier???, not a fan of the color but I get why it happened, the shape tho????.

poor mako mermaids 😔 the tails don't have the same structural strength and intense detailing as the h2o ones. BUT COMMON ZAC IS THE MAIN CHARACTER (and on s1 the only merman). Mah boi Chai is too strong for these tails😭 look at how it bends at the ankles.

#2 H2O season 3 mermaid tails.

these have the opposite problem. these are so thick lol why do these weight 40 kilos lmao.

these look different from s1, not a problem. they look yellower and lighter in color. the fish detailing is thicker. the tail has glitter in it now?? this simplified design helped me understand the anatomy of the tail, so my art skills owe to this design a lil bit lol, and it looks pretty underwater tbh.

I don't get the change tho, the show has a darker plot, the characters have grown up but the tails have a more kid friendly look??? I don't remember toys of them.

why make a whole new set of tails when the new mermaid got transformed on the opposite side of the world and the other two already had tails

sidenote: these ruined all fan edits that wanted all 4 mermaids together (5 if you include Charlotte) bc they had to edit either Emma or Bella with the other tail and it looked weird and mismatched.

Honorable mention: H2O Season 1 Miriam costume contest tail

this one is so funny, it mocks the practicality of mermaid costumes. it looks opposite of what our "real" mermaids look like. all colorful and shiny and over the top. Also this look gives miriam a good amount of karma thanks to kim lol.

#1 H2O season 1 mermaid tails

LOOK AT THEMMMM. 2006, the start of the gritty realistic aesthetic in TV and movies, and those mermaid tails fit so beautifully in that era. the bright campy 2000s beach fashion + dark "realistic" fantasy is such a *chef kiss* combination.

the tails are designed to look as real as possible, a tail for an animal that big needs muscles, the tails need to look strong enough to push the mermaid and flexible enough to believe the fluke is still a movable body part.

The brown-orange kinda fits into the realistic fish colors plus those naturally occuring in human skin + hair. also the top gives a unified whole bodyness to the transformation 💕

THE TEXTURE, oh god those scales were glued with love istg and that fluke was carved with so much detail and care.

these tails oof they invented mermaids istg any future mermaid media owes them BIG TIME. if it's cgi the tail needs to look strong, integrated into the body, and affect the movement accordingly, if it's practical effect they need to hide them knees and ankles!!, those breaks ruin the illusion of flow and hydrodynamics while swimming ( + recognizing a human body underneath kinda breaks the immersion).

h2o season 4 when 😔😔😔

[storiesoftaylor]

18. Daylight

reWritten by: Taylor Swift Produced by: Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift Length: 4:53

This song was written by Taylor alone. And "Daylight" was originally going to be the name of the album Lover! After Taylor wrote "Lover" she knew that was going to be the title. I love this song because there are so many comparisons to what she believed love was, specifically the RED album. That entire album is Taylor comparing love to colors. Red, blue, gray, etc. But here, 7 years after releasing RED for the first time, she has learned that love isn't red, it's golden.

In Taylor's prologue for the album RED she writes, "And there’s something to be proud of about moving on and realizing that real love shines golden like starlight, and doesn’t fade or spontaneously combust. Maybe I’ll write a whole album about that kind of love if I ever find it. But this album is about the other kids of love that I’ve recently fallen in and out of. Love that was treacherous, sad, beautiful, and tragic. But most of all, this record is about love that was red."

She did write an entire album about what love is, and it's called Lover!

[Verse One] My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in Everyone looked worse in the light There are so many lines that I've crossed unforgiven I'll tell you the truth, but never goodbye In this verse, Taylor is saying that she doesn't have the best luck with finding love. And she is also saying that there are some things that she has done that she regrets, and she will tell him all about it, but she's not going to say goodbye to him. Joe is too good.

[Chorus] I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night And now I see daylight, I only see daylight This means Joe is the only person that she wants, the only person that she thinks about. He means everything to her, and he brought her out of the darkness. We have to remember Taylor wasn't in a great place mentally when Joe and she started dating, but the love that he showed her pulled her out of all that darkness.

[Verse Two] Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky And so I became the butt of the joke I think here she is referring to her past failed relationships and the scrutiny that she faced for it. I wounded the good, and I trusted the wicked Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke This part I believe to be about the clowns to the West, and you can't convince me otherwise. Because Taylor did try to clear the air with Clown 1, she really did. She presented said Clown with an award! Only to be backstabbed over the phone. So by answering that call, she's saying she breathed in the smoke.

(I choose to not use the names of people that Taylor is singing about or inspired by because I don't want to bring any more attention to them unless it is Joe... BUUUTTTT, I will show you photos of them where I photoshop something Taylor related to their face :) We love to talk about Joe on this blog!) Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down Maybe I've stormed out of every single room in this town Threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it's morning now It's brighter now, now These last 3 lines to me sound like she is saying "maybe you were a player and afraid of commitment, and maybe I was a drama queen. But we have grown up now!"

[Chorus] I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you (I can never look away) I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you (Things will never be the same) I've been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night (Now I'm wide awake) Now I see daylight (daylight), I only see daylight (daylight) I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight

[Bridge] And I can still see it all (in my mind) All of me, all of you, (intertwined) I once believed love would be (black and while) But it's golden To refer to something as "black and white" means there's no room for shades of gray. It means simple and no complications. Love is not black and white at all, but it is golden. And I can still see it all (in my head) Back and forth from New York (sneaking in your bed) I once believed love would be (burning red) But it's golden THIS IS THE BEST COUPLE OF LINES EVER! Especially because she is calling back to her old work! She's calling back to RED, we've talked about this before... She has a lot of RED comparisons in this song. In the song, "Red" Taylor sings about how loving this man was red because it burned just as bright with passion as it did pain. That's not what love is supposed to be. Love is supposed to be golden, calm, and serene and it makes you feel warm and tingly, like the sun! Like daylight! Like daylight, like daylight Like daylight, daylight

[Chorus] I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you (I can never look away) I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you (Things will never be the same) I've been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night (Now I'm wide awake) And now I see daylight (I see daylight), I only see daylight (daylight) I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight (Ah) (And I can still see it all) I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight (And I can still see it all, back and fourth from New York) I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight (I once believed love would be burning red)

[Outro] Like daylight It's golden like daylight You gotta step into the daylight and let it go Just let it go, let it go

[Spoken Outro] I wanna be defined by the things that I love Not the things I hate Not the things I'm afraid of, I'm afraid of The things that haunt me in the middle of the night I just think that You are what you love Ugh stop Taylor! You are literally perfect, I can't.

[marksinn]

Passion Project: Inspiration

I don’t think I’m starting at the beginning with this post. Keep your eyes peeled for later posts that explain what I’m doing and why.

After a month of thinking about, sketching and painting designs, I have finally done something. Essentially, recently watching two films has pushed me into action, and a part of me is ashamed to admit it. There isn’t a word count or any typesetting to curtail my thoughts here, so strap in.

When I created this brief I figured I’d draw a million wee skateboards, colour a few of them in, then fling my favourites into Adobe illustrator and make them look good. From there I would take the 5 best up to the skatepark and ask some of the patrons there which designs stood out to them. Next, I would adapt the three front-runners and create sweet PhotoShop mockups that would show what my designs would look like as skateboards. If I had the time, inclination or money by the end of the project, I would have the design laid onto a real skateboard (I’ve been looking to buy a new one for some time) and then be proud of myself.

So I’ve drawn some wee skateboards. Then I started upscaling the designs onto the floorboards of my loft:

This was an exercise to let me see how small things need to be adapted to be blown up. Skateboards can have any level of detail that you like on them, I hadn’t considered this until I was trying to draw a semi-perfect triangle for the traffic cone, or until I was using chalk to recreate four cubes. It’s also been fun to work with different media on chipboard - I have learned that most kinds of pencil, paint, chalk and charcoal do not like being used on chipboard. Decorating paint, however, has no such issues. Thanks, Dulux!

And so, with a few of these under my belt, I decided to try some digital designs. So I jumped into Illustrator and totally ignored my sketchbook, coming up with three designs that were all inspired by the day I had just had. The top design, I’ll focus on last, for reasons that will become apparent (unless you follow me on Instagram, where you’ll already know that it’s an absolute hit, with over 19 likes already!). I was told by a guy at the skatepark that he likes decks with very basic designs, just a colour or two, nothing overly detailed. Another skater told me that he often likes the basic wood background with one small emblem or sticker just beside the wheels.

The duo-tone design felt nice, I’m usually one for over-complicating things. I definitely have an attitude of “If there’s more in it, there’s a greater chance someone will find something they like”. The first colour choice put my girlfriend in the mind of a hand-bag she had seen photographed in the arms of Carrie Fisher - it was designed to look like a Prozac pill. So I changed the colours up, and added the separating black lines and textures to give it some subtle character. I then went full meta with the Minimal design. And, if I’m being honest, I’m incredibly happy with how it looks like a wee character. Expect to see that making a comeback in the very near future. But the top design is what really got me going. 

I’ve recently been watching...

...Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and have been loving Miles Morales’ multiple hobbies of graffiti, mixing beats and saving his neighbourhood from a variety of dangers. 

I then went to the cinema to see In The Heights, telling the tale of the Latin community during a blackout in North Manhattan. I found myself wrapped up in the romance, tribulations and music of the cast, and was felt oddly proud of Lin Manuel Miranda - who wrote this as a stage-musical while he was in college, had a modicum of success with it, then went on to create Hamilton, one of the most important musicals of our time. With the success of that particular show taking the entire world by storm, he was given the opportunity to make his old, relatively only semi-popular play into a blockbuster film. You can’t help but be inspired by someone like that.

I often find towards the end of a film I’m inspired by the characters’ journeys: be that from zero to hero, from lonely to loved or from rags to riches. Then I walk out and carry on with my normal life doing normal things. And as the hero of the story’s dreams all came true in the closing minutes (sorry for the spoiler, but it’s a musical, they rarely end in despair), a thought floated across my mind:

I’m utterly sick of being inspired

Now, to my credit, I did figure out in the car home that ‘tired’ would be a far more fitting and rhythmic word to use in this sentence, but this was a mentality that I found resonated really strongly with me. I’m very good at being inspired, I think most people are. We hear stories of people starting their own business, achieving some sporting brilliance or overcoming a personal hurdle and we say “Wow, isn’t that inspiring?” or

“It really inspires you to go out and make a difference!” or

“They are such an inspirational speaker!”

Then we go off about our day, not acting on the inspiration, and, for the most part, remaining uninspired. So I decided to act. 

I did some very quick research (/acquiring of images of graffiti) in order to get the right shapes and textures to create a spray paint effect in Illustrator. I did some very quick research (/confirming the colours) of South American flags, taking the blue and red used in flags of the home nations of Miles Morales from Spider-Man and Usnavi from In The Heights. And I created the top design.

YES! I had been inspired and I had drawn a wee picture to show that - I had acted on my inspirations!

Then I looked to my left and spotted three, blank skate decks that I had bought on a whim from Re:Ply (a wonderful wee company who do a great deal of charity work supplying boards to people who need them, selling boards to people who can afford them, and for a very reasonable fee, providing unusable decks to people who want to use them for artistic purposes). I realised I hadn’t acted on my inspiration, I had just drawn a few pictures of skateboards with the eventual aim of PhotoShopping them onto other pictures of skateboards.

So I took myself...

... into the city centre with a shoddily prepared speech: “I’m looking for some cheap, small cans of spray paint. I’ve no idea what I’m doing, or if I’ll be good at it, so don’t want to invest too much into this.” Hiding behind this self-deprecating shield I barged into multiple art-, pound- and model-shops and pleaded with the staff to help a young idiot out. Amazingly, a very kind shop assistant pointed me in the direction of Fat Buddha, a clothes shop I’d always ignored as it seemed a bit to “...” for me. I don’t know what it seemed, but I knew it wasn't my kind of shop. Happy to prove me wrong, the guys in there were super helpful and they helped me buy my first cans of spray paint. 

Now I’d spent money...

... and as a skinflint, that meant I had to get use out of my purchases. I had tricked myself into being inspired. Inspiration led me to the drawing, inspiration had led me to buy decks and the paint, now inspiration had to make me spray paint.

I’ll stop yammering on now. Essentially, I had planned on creating some analogue designs then digitising them (I’m guessing I should do a post on my brief, yeah? Might just upload the PDF to save me talking more), but then I found that I was doing the complete opposite. Genuinely accidentally. I had played with a few typefaces from various websites to get fonts that represented the ideas I wanted. The top one was semi-stolen (I can’t use the word ‘inspired’ any more in this post) from the end credits of In The Heights. The larger font is something of a nod to inspirational quotes you see on Facebook or on glittery frames in B&M.

I printed those out and cut them into stencils (very impressed that my digital boards have been drawn to a workable scale, thanks Maths). And after putting down a tack-layer (GRAFFITI JARGON (I think)) I sprayed the whole lot in blue.

Next, I tried to get a little fancy. Using cardboard blockers to create straight lines I added stars* (borrowed from the Puerto Rican flag) and made the bottom stripes vaguely reminiscent of America’s Old Glory.

I peeled the lettering off, and I’d done it. I may have to explain the overtly-negative inspirational quote to people, but to me it’s a clear sign that there’s no point in just being inspired, and that’s all I wanted.

A weight I didn’t know I was carrying was lifted from my shoulders. The plan was to possibly end up with a self-designed skateboard. And now I have one.

*Yes, I know they’re crosses.