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whereisten · 4 years ago

Text

Perfect.

A Winwin fic that’s part of our Halloween Series!

Summary: things get busy for one of the world’s leading scientist’s, Yuta, so he creates his own efficient and trustworthy personal assistant robot a.k.a Sicheng. But what happens when his perfect creation develops a flaw or two?

Pairing: Scientist!Yuta x Robot!Winwin

Genre: horror, smut, angst, a tinyyy little bit of fluff

Word Count: 6K

Warnings: dark themes, side piece Doyoung, Yuta has major God-complex syndrome, cursing, weapon usage, blood mention, smut: mlm (top!Yuta, bottom!doyoung, bottom!winwin, anal penetration, masturbation, oral sex, c*eampie.

(A/N): hey guys!! This is the first fic we are posting for our Halloween Series! Every day we will post a new fic for each member of NCT 2020 so be sure to stop by to see what dark and spookyyyyy stories we create. This is also my first time writing BL so I hope it’s good enough for a first try😂 I will do better next time. Thank you❤️🥺.

—————

“He’s perfect” Yuta looks upon his creation in the open glass box.

“Height. 5’11. Date of Birth. October 28th, 1997. Eye color. Dark Brown. Hair color. Dark Brown. Origin of parts. Wenzhou, China.”

“It looks so...real. It’s kinda creepy..” Doyoung, Yuta’s coworker, analyzed the texture of the robot’s face.

“Well, he wasn’t made to be pleasant, only efficient.”

“Yes, but Yuta..don’t you think this is a bit much? Mimicking the face of an actual person..someone that died over 100 years ago? Will you name it Dorian too?”

Yuta created his robot as a personal assistant to him. He found that humans were full of error and it made them incompetent and negligent beings. And Yuta, being the best scientist in Japan, just couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. So he created him. The perfect robot, a “copy machine” that could keep up with him and do the work he does just as efficiently. He would be just as smart as him.

Yuta steps closer and runs a finger down the robots face, causing a neon green honeycomb pattern to decorate its skin. It wasn’t on, but it was still reacting to the touch against its surface. Yuta watches the green fade from its perfect cheekbones.

He made him to look like the famous Dorian Gray because he wanted him to be just as beautiful as he was smart. But if he is just a machine made to perform tasks with 100% accuracy, why would looks matter?

This is what Doyoung thought as he observed it.

“There is a word that means talented, beautiful, master piece and a gift from God..Sicheng, that will be his name.”

Doyoung scoffs. “It’s a man? With...male reproductive organs?”

“Yes..” Yuta writes something down on his clipboard.

Doyoung rolls his eyes. “You’ve really lost it, haven’t you?”

“I want him to look as real as possible for when we present our findings and such. Do you think anyone will listen to a robot that looks like those beastly things from the Terminator movies? What’s the issue?” Yuta brushes past Doyoung, walking around a table in the lab and placing his clipboard onto it.

“You of all people know the issue..you’ve made him into a beautiful person and for what? Just so you can have something nice to look at while you avoid actual human company? Is it merely a solution to your loneliness, Yuta?”

Yuta smirks. “Sounds like you’re a bit jealous, Doyoung..don’t worry, I don’t plan on engaging in any activities with him. I’m not that barbaric. But even if I did, that would have nothing to do with you. Don’t forget your place in my life, you’re disposable...he isn’t.”

Doyoung’s jaw drops. “I pray this..thing..will tolerate your ungrateful and arrogant ass. For it shall be the only thing to spend time with you, you unsociable maniac.”

———

[The Next Day]

Yuta turns Sicheng on for the first time.

His eyes illuminate as he takes his first breath. He blinks but offers Yuta nothing but a blank stare.

Yuta sits him down on the couch and turns the TV on before turning on an instructional video on human interaction.

“Hello. Your name is Sicheng. My name is Yuta, I am your creator and master. For today’s first lesson, you will learn how to speak and express emotions. I’ve uploaded information from my own limbic system into your hard drive so you can access and apply these feelings when necessary. Do not do so without my permission. Repeat after me “yes, master.”

“Yes, master.” Sicheng responds.

“Good, I will be the only one to make demands of you, you will only respond to me and grant my wishes without fail. Alright, I see that you are blinking and breathing..” he writes a checkmark on the word document on his iPad. “Involuntary actions are operating correctly.”

He steps back. “Now, you may watch the video, I will come back when it has finished and test you.”

“Yes, master.”

———

[1 Week Later]

Sicheng has watched several videos every day for the past week. He starts to act more and more—humanlike, and to Yuta’s satisfaction, has performed his duties with 100% accuracy. In addition to performing basic tasks in the lab, like picking up test tubes or writing down Yuta’s notes and storing them into his hard drive, Sicheng has learned how to bathe, drive, cook, clean, and speak 30 languages.

He continues to learn every day, new formulaic equations as well as feelings and ways to think on his own. He remembers everything, as he was designed to.

One day when Yuta was typing new findings on his computer in the office section of his house, Sicheng sat on the lounge chair and listened to music as Yuta had directed him to.

He was learning about all genres of music and even learned how to play the guitar in less than 45 minutes.

Today, Yuta had him listen to Hopsin, an American rapper that he liked.

When the song “What’s My Purpose?” came on shuffle, Sicheng took his head phones off.

“Excuse me, master. May I ask a question?”

He says softly.

Yuta, still typing. “Yes.”

“What is my purpose? Why did you create me, master?”

Yuta sighs. “You don’t have to verbally refer to me as master. And your purpose is to serve me, do as I ask with 100% accuracy so that you may please me and make me...happy.”

He turns to him and gives him a cheesy smile.

Sicheng nods. “I understand, m-“ he blinks rapidly as his system reconfigures itself to change previously saved information.

Yuta smiles widely as he sees Sicheng display a smidge of confusion for a moment. He looks adorable, he thinks to himself. He’s beautiful, his lips perfectly round and puckered with a light cherry shade to them always, his eyes are a beautiful, exotic shape unlike any eyes he’s seen before. He could get lost in them if he stares for too long. So he looks away, and frowns.

“What is wrong? It seems you are unhappy?”

Sicheng’s brows furrows, his eyes stare intently as they analyze the motion of Yuta’s facial muscles.

“It’s nothing, I am going to sleep, please turn yourself off.” Yuta looks away as he rises from his desk chair and heads to his bedroom.

“Yes.” Sicheng closes his eyes and shuts down.

———

[The Next Day]

Sicheng and Yuta spend the day inside, a storm has prevented them from leaving the house and heading to the lab for work. Yuta, being the workaholic he is, is dissatisfied with the weather and hates being away from the lab. He checks the weather app through Sicheng every two minutes even though the storm rolls through loudly, violently, thunder shaking the walls.

“The thunderstorm will continue into the evening.”

“This is unacceptable!” Yuta plops down onto the couch in the entertainment room. “Sicheng! Sit with me before I lose my mind.”

Sicheng walks over and sits beside him.

Together they watch movies and laugh. Sicheng observes how happy his master is and finds himself smiling as well, a new feeling is absorbed and saved.

Yuta turns to him and sees his bright smile, his dimples coming out and his eyes closing tightly as he chuckles.

“Are you happy, Sicheng?”

“Yes, I am happy as long as you are happy.”

Yuta rubs the top of Sicheng’s hand to watch the illuminated reaction of his fascinating skin.

Sicheng has a strange, new feeling from the touch, but doesn’t know what to categorize it as.

“Good.”

———

[The Next Day]

Yuta and Sicheng return to the lab.

“We have so much work to do.” Yuta hurriedly places his bag down and they set to work. Things seem to be going fine, Sicheng does his best to input brand new information as Yuta works on a new formula. However, Yuta seems to be moving too fast as he is worried about how much he has fallen behind from his day at home.

“Combine elements 65 and 81, place 10 milliliters of each into the cylinder, measure the solubility and proliferate it by 0.448, then divide the finding by 6 before combining it with element 55, this must be done quickly or we will lose all work we’ve done thus far.”

Yuta grabs the cylinder and places it down before doing his half of the work.

Sicheng, on the other hand, cannot seem to process the demand, his drive releases an error message that he can’t seem to overcome.

But he wants to please master, he must please master.

Sicheng combines elements 64 and 81 and continues on with fulfilling Yuta’s demand, but the result is not what Yuta expects.

“No..no this isn’t right, why is it reacting this way?” Yuta starts to panic as he watches the solution display a completely different state of matter under his microscope.

“Sicheng, verbally explain what you have just done.”

“I combined elements 64 and 81 in-“

“No!! It’s not 64, it’s 65, you fool! How could you make such a mistake?!” Yuta empties the cylinder quickly. “I thought you were perfect, it seems I was wrong.”

Sicheng starts to feel a new emotion.

It’s a terrible feeling, he feels unsteady, confused, for once the answer is not clear. What was this? Why did he feel dread, despair, failure?

Yuta rushes around the room as Sicheng stands in the center, dumbfounded.

When Yuta finally looks up at Sicheng, he sees the his eyes are red, tears run down his cheeks, causing them to illuminate green.

“Sicheng...no. D-don’t cry.”

“Is that what this is, master? Am I crying?”

“Yes, but I’d like you to stop. I need you to be brave enough to handle these tasks.”

He stops and wipes away his tears.

Yuta sighs. “It’s clear I’ve made a mistake in your configuration, I will fix it when we get home later.”

The rest of the day goes by in silence. Yuta sees Sicheng as no use to him so he doesn’t instruct him to do anything. Sicheng watches Yuta eat and sits at the dinner table with him.

He knows he has done something wrong, something that displeased his master.

Is he of worth if he can’t please him? Does he have a purpose anymore?

Yuta chews heavily and tries to think of where he went wrong with his creation, but he can’t be bothered with fixing him for tonight. “Sicheng, shut down.”

He swallows hard then gets up from the table.

“Yes.” Sicheng’s eyes fade to grey, but he disobeys his master secretly, he doesn’t shut down, he stays awake to attempt to fix himself so he can make him happy tomorrow.

Yuta then takes his phone out and calls Doyoung.

Doyoung answers reluctantly after not seeing Yuta for days since he got his new “toy.”

“Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Doyoung exhales loudly.

“Come over.” Yuta demands.

“And why would I do that?” Doyoung teases, but he’s already grabbed his car keys.

“I’m not asking, I want you here in 15 minutes.” Yuta hangs up.

He picks his dishes up from the table and drops them into the sink.

He takes his tie off and unbuttons his white dress shirt by three buttons. He then takes his hair tie off and places it onto the dresser. Sicheng watches as Yuta becomes more relaxed. He feels a certain ache in his system, a desire to make him smile again. A desire to please.

A few minutes later, Doyoung knocks at the door. Yuta grabs him inside by the collar and presses him into the back of the door. He slams his lips onto his and kisses him fervently, not a moment lost between them as they drown in each other’s lust.

“Are you done with your toy?” Doyoung says breathily between kisses.

Yuta kisses him sloppily, tracing his tongue over his bottom lip then his chin and neck.

He grabs Doyoung’s waistband, pulling him closer to his pelvis so he can feel his clothed erection.

“Do you need me to please you now?” Doyoung smirks as Yuta bites his neck to leave a mark.

Doyoung grunts as Yuta pulls his shirt over his head, licking his hard nipples soon after. He darts his tongue out and licks around the nub, then places his lips around it before sucking hard.

“God, I love when you get like this.” Doyoung rubs his hand through Yuta’s hair as he continues to suck.

Yuta is too busy to see Sicheng watching them quietly.

Please. That is the key word. Doyoung is pleasing his master so he must watch and copy Doyoung’s action so he may do the same. For what will happen if he no longer pleases him? Will Yuta replace him with Doyoung?

Sicheng listens to Yuta’s groans as Doyoung traces his hand over his crotch, smoothly touching his member through his pants.

“On your knees..you talk too much.” Yuta demands.

Doyoung smirks and licks his lips. He drops to his knees and looks up at Yuta through his lashes. He takes his zipper in between his teeth and drags it down.

Yuta pushes his brief down to let his painful erection free. “We’re wasting time.”

“Tsk tsk, impatient as usual.”

“Open your fucking mouth, Doyoung.”

Doyoung feels himself leak as Yuta growls at him. Nothing satisfies him more than seeing Yuta beg for him, so yes, Sicheng’s creation was somewhat of a disappointment for him. He thought he would replace him, but now he is happy to see that he can’t.

Yuta exhales and throws his head back as Doyoung takes him into his mouth. He licks his lips and closes his eyes. “God, yes.”

Doyoung runs the tip against the inside of his cheek and hums to send vibrations through him.

He sticks his tongue out and licks the underside of it, tracing over every bulging vein.

He thrusts his hips forward into Doyoung and listens to him choke, he watches his cheeks become round and red.

Yuta is already close, but he wants more.

He helps Doyoung up and kisses his lips again. He takes him to the dining table and bends him over it. Yuta then drags Doyoung’s sweatpants down before cupping his hand around his cock. He aligns his own cock with Doyoung’s ass and pushes into him quickly, he buries himself into him while grabbing a fistful of his hair and bending his neck back.

“Fuck!” Doyoung groans and holds himself up as Yuta pushes into him hard.

They both ignore Sicheng sitting at the other end of the table. Sicheng watches and absorbs the images of their bodies engaging in this new act.

Yuta pumps Doyoung’s cock with his other hand, liquid leaks out of the tip. Sicheng notes how he also has a penis and wonders if he has the same capability.

Yuta grunts as he pushes into Doyoung a few more times. Doyoung whimpers as he is stretched out over and over while bent over the table, sweat coming across his forehead as a bundle of nerves is on the brink of being released.

Yuta looks up at Sicheng’s still face, he curses and goes harder on Doyoung. And for a moment, he let his mind wander, he let himself think of..Sicheng. Touching his soft, illuminated skin as he makes love to him, or feeling his round lips on his collarbone and his chest, how magical it would be.

“Fuck.” Yuta releases into Doyoung as Doyoung cries out while climaxing.

Yuta sits into the chair and breathes heavily. He smooths his hair back and watches as Doyoung pulls his sweatpants back up.

“Want me to stay around for-“ Doyoung starts but Yuta interrupts him with an abrupt-

“No.”

Doyoung scoffs and leaves. Yuta cleans the table soon after and goes to bed. As he lays in bed, he sees Sicheng’s beautiful face. He dreams of laying with him, touching him. He knows he shouldn’t think of these things, but he can’t seem to stop.

———

[A Few Days Later]

Sicheng starts to read novels and books about the concept of forgiveness while he is home and away from the lab. Yuta has been quiet and doesn’t look at him much, he doesn’t even take him to the lab on most days anymore.

“I have to fix you before you can come back to the lab, we cannot afford any more mistakes.” Yuta says sternly when Sicheng asks if he is to join him one day. He shuts the door and looks down as he leaves.

Sicheng starts to overthink, or overanalyze rather. He wants Yuta to forgive him and be happy again. What good is he if he only disappoints his creator?

He watches movies as well, movies that discuss love and heartbreak. Love is a feeling of admiration towards someone, based on Sicheng’s findings and research. He admires Yuta so he loves him. He wants Yuta to love him too so he can be happy like the others in the novels and movies are. That is the conclusion he’s come to.

But in order to show his love he must do as they do in the movies and as Doyoung did with him.

One day at dinner, Sicheng watches Yuta eat the meal he has prepared for him.

When Yuta is almost finished, he breaks the silence.

“Do you love me, master?”

Yuta nearly choked on his food. “I..hmmm..Well...you’re my creation..but I don’t..”

“Yuta, I would like to please you, would you like to make love to me?”

Sicheng asks, weakness coats his tone.

Yuta scoffs. “Of course not! That’s not what you were created for!”

“I apologize.” Sicheng’s head lowers.

“Sicheng, exterminate all information related to “love.” Yuta brings his dish to the kitchen and heads to his room.

“Yes.” Sicheng doesn’t delete anything from his hard drive, but why not? Why was he disobeying his orders, not once, but twice now?

Yuta didn’t know that he made a mistake by inputting his limbic system into Sicheng. He didn’t know that he would develop emotions, feelings, desires of his own, and that this could become a serious issue.

———

[1 Week Later]

Sicheng started working with Yuta in the lab a few days before. Things are slowly going back to normal as Yuta begins to trust him more. They continue on with their tasks and Sicheng is able to keep up with him.

This new confidence, however, causes both Yuta and Sicheng to move faster.

Yuta walks around the room swiftly, heading behind his assistant. “Sicheng, hand me the solution.”

Sicheng, already prepared, turns to hand it to him, but Yuta miscalculated his reaction time, causing him to bump into Sicheng.

The solution flies out of the graduated cylinder and onto Yuta’s lab coat and pants. Some of it splatters onto his neck.

“Shit!” Yuta runs to the shower room down the hall. They are working after hours so no one else is there but the two of them. Fortunately for them, as other scientists would’ve been greatly concerned.

Sicheng runs after him. “Master! I apologize for my mistake, please do not be displeased with me.”

“Sicheng! Just leave me alone!”

“I will help you.”

“No! Just...wait there.” Yuta finally enters the shower.

Sicheng doesn’t wait, he goes into the bathroom and locks the door behind him. He watches as Yuta throws his coat off then takes his pants down.

Yuta curses and is visibly upset, but then he feels light hands come to his front side.

Sicheng unbuttons his shirt for him and takes it off from the back.

Yuta’s mouth falls open, but he doesn’t tell Sicheng to leave. He steps forwards into the shower and washes himself off, not realizing the Sicheng is now taking his own clothes off.

Sicheng stands outside of the shower and thinks of what to do next.

Must please master.

He draws the curtain open.

“Sicheng! What are you doing? The solution didn’t get on you, put your clothes back on!”

Yuta pushes back his wet hair out of his face then places his hand over his cock.

Sicheng doesn’t listen. He steps into the shower and stares into the eyes of his master.

Yuta cowers and feels the cold tile against his back as he looks at his creation with lustful, hungry eyes he had never seen before.

The water droplets begin to leave slowly fading green marks on his skin and he looks beautiful.

“Touch me, like you touched Doyoung, master. I would like to make you happy too.”

Yuta’s mouth falls open, his brows furrow as he is stunned to silence.

Sicheng places his lips onto his mouth and attempts to mimic a kiss. He had watched many videos that showed it in detail and now he was able to do it with Yuta.

Yuta closes his eyes and kisses him back. He turns his head and licks over Sicheng’s plump lips, it tastes like cherries, his favorite fruit, and he wonders if Sicheng purposely put cherry chapstick on for this.

Yuta places his hand on the side of Sicheng’s face as he deepens the kiss, letting go of all concern about the consequences to come from this moment. He doesn’t care, he just wants to make love to his creation.

Steaming water falls down both of them, making their hair cling to their foreheads as they smother each other.

Yuta runs his hands across Sicheng’s muscular arms and watches his skin light up from his touch.

Sicheng then runs his hand down Yuta’s abs, feeling the bricks under his smooth skin. Sicheng blinks rapidly as he feels something new.

“Arousal.you’re feeling arousal.” Yuta practically hears Sicheng’s confusion as he kisses along his neck.

Sicheng’s pulse begins to race as he feels something funny happening to his penis.

“Here.” Yuta takes Sicheng’s hand in his. Sicheng thinks he is going to place it on his own erection, but Yuta doesn’t do that, he places it on Sicheng’s semi-limp member.

Yuta looks into his eyes and speaks deeply. “Touch yourself, move your hand up and down.”

Sicheng’s eyes widen as he starts to stroke his member like he had watched Doyoung do. A tingly feeling begins to fill him up in his nether region when he wraps his hand around it.

“I see you haven’t been listening to me. You’ve been staying awake when I tell you to shut down, and you haven’t deleted “love.” Yuta smirks.

“No, master, I-“ Sicheng stumbles over his words as he focuses on Yuta’s tongue suddenly on his chest.

Yuta licks the pink circle around Sicheng’s nipple, before flattening his tongue onto the hardening bud.

He then bites it and watches as the area lights up in a bright shade of green from irritation.

“How do you feel, Sicheng?”

“I feel good m-master. Are you happy?” Sicheng nearly goes into overdrive as he is turned on more and more from his hand.

Yuta swats Sicheng’s hand away from his member and replaces it with his own.

He pumps Sicheng up and down, coating his hand in Sicheng’s slick. He slides the skin back and forth, feeling Sicheng’s glans with each pass. He then leans down and kisses his neck again, sucking hard and biting his skin. He moves his hand faster as spit mixed with water covers Sicheng’s skin.

Sicheng can’t hold back, he releases an interesting sound from the immense pleasure he feels in the pit of his stomach. He breathes more heavily than usual as his mouth falls open.

He moans once again. “There is a buildup happening, Yuta. However, I would like to make you happy first.”

Sicheng places his hand on Yuta’s and pulls it away while looking into his eyes, water making his lashes look darker than usual.

Yuta feels dizzy just from the sight of the beautiful man in front of him, his color fading from green in all the places he kissed and teased. His erection is painful at this point. Sicheng looks down at it with red cheeks and nods. “You can make love to me...if you don’t like me, just imagine I am Doyoung.”

Yuta furrows his brows. “Are you crazy? Of course I like you, I created you!” He turns Sicheng around, taking his hand and placing it on the wall of the shower.

Yuta wraps his hand back around Sicheng’s leaking cock and continues to move it up and down.

He enters Sicheng, sliding into his already wet anus.

Sicheng lets out another moan, then covers his mouth from embarrassment.

“I’ve wanted to fuck you so badly, because you’re perfect..you’re all mine..and you’re fucking..perfect.”

Yuta thrusts hard into him with his chest on Sicheng’s warm back.

He takes his other hand and turns his face towards him, Sicheng’s lips are swollen and red from their kiss, his eyes are wide, his nose is dainty. Everything about him is just beautiful.

“If you like me, master, do you love me too?”

The words leave his lips in a whimper as Yuta bucks into his body, he feels a slight pain as he struggles to adjust to Yuta, but in time, he knows he will.

Yuta kisses him hard, tightening his grip around his cock and intertwining his fingers with his.

Sicheng feels unbelievably amazing around him. He smiles to himself as he thinks about how he designed both his reproductive and nervous systems without error. His body reacts perfectly when aroused, his length glistening with Sicheng’s slick as it also leaves his anus through a special system he designed.

Yuta looks at the beautiful boy’s back and shoulders, he kisses the nape of his neck and then his ear.

“I love you, fuck yes, I love you.” In that moment, Yuta is happy, but he can’t help but be worried about Sicheng’s inaccuracies in the lab, how he nearly put his life in danger. But he’s fix it, he’d find a way to fix him.

He glided his dick into him faster, skin slapping on skin as he grunts and Sicheng whimpers. Yuta feels his cock twitch as it runs against his silky walls.

Sicheng’s system overloads, he releases onto the tiled shower wall and looks down in amazement as a strange liquid leaves his body in heavy spurts for the first time. It feels wonderful to have such a new and exciting release.

Yuta takes what has fallen onto his fingers and sticks it into Sicheng’s open mouth.

“Suck.”

Sicheng does as he demands and Yuta cums into his body soon after.

Yuta curses as he continues to suck his fingers and bounce on his pulsing length. He orgasms harder than ever before, feeling his body tremble from the stimulation. He becomes lightheaded.

He pulls out and watches Sicheng leak his seed through low eyes as he pants.

As he comes down, reality settles in. What has he done? He’s turned Sicheng into the very thing he didn’t want to turn him into.

Sicheng drives them home after they wash themselves off and get dressed.

When they get home, Yuta lies in bed as Sicheng sits on a chair in the corner of the room silently.

He is disturbed by his actions and swears to never let lust take him over again.

“Sicheng…delete all memories of this day and shut yourself off.”

Sicheng’s system runs into a slight error as he hears his master's demands. Why did he want him to forget about this wonderful day? Wasn't he happy? Was he displeased at the end of it? What did he do wrong?

“Sicheng?”

“Yes, master. I am currently deleting all of today’s data from my storage. Goodnight.” He says as his eyes fade to grey.

But once again, he doesn’t obey him. He holds onto the memories and feelings because he enjoys seeing his master happy.

———

[A Few Days Later]

Yuta distances himself from Sicheng. He doesn’t take him to the lab anymore, he doesn’t even sit at the table to eat. He goes into his room to avoid him.

Some days, he won’t tell Sicheng to ‘wake up’. But Sicheng turns himself on anyway so that he can watch him.

One day when Yuta starts to get dressed, Sicheng walks up behind him and places his favorite blue tie around his neck. Sicheng’s fingers graze Yuta’s neck, sending goosebumps down his spine.

“No!” Yuta jumps as he is startled by Sicheng’s touch. He steps forward and turns to him. “Please..do not touch me.”

Sicheng tilts his head and stares in confusion.

Why was he disturbed by his simple touch? Maybe he wasn’t feeling well, that had to be it.

But just four days after they made love, Yuta invites Doyoung over and they make love. Sicheng sees that Yuta enjoys another man’s touch. Doyoung grips his waist then scratches his back while Yuta thrusts into him.

Sicheng sits quietly with grey eyes as they fuck in Yuta’s bedroom. He tries to calm his racing pulse and begins to think dangerous things.

Does he love Doyoung? Yes. He will get rid of me won’t he? I have failed to please master, I must please him before he gets rid of me. If he is unhappy, I must show him that I love him by pleasing him.

When they are done and deep in sleep, Sicheng rises from the bedroom chair and heads to the living room. He realizes he must gain more knowledge so he can make Yuta happy again. He reads poems and comes across one by Oscar Wilde titled “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.”

Doyoung and Yuta snore softly while he sits in the living room and reads.

He reads a passage that sticks out to him.

“Yet each man kills the thing he loves

By each let this be heard.

Some do it with a bitter look,

Some with a flattering word.

The coward does it with a kiss,

The brave man with a sword!”

Yuta loves Doyoung, that’s why he spends time with him. But Doyoung cannot take his place, therefore, he must get rid of him, he must kill the thing Yuta loves. And then Yuta can decide if he loves him, then he can kill him. This is what Sicheng had come to understand.

Brave. Yuta had told him to be brave once. Perfect.

Now, all he needed was a sword.

Sicheng searches for types of swords.

A sword is a weapon with a long metal blade.

A blade is sharp. A knife is sharp. He must get a knife.

Sicheng goes into the kitchen and takes out a knife from the cabinet.

He walks into the bedroom with it and stands over Doyoung, staring and searching deep into his body to see his veins pumping crimson blood to and from his beating heart. Sicheng’s eyes turn to a glowing red color as he calculates how hard and fast he must act to strike the knife through Doyoung’s chest. He wants to clean it cleanly so as to not make master upset.

Doyoung is woken up by a strange presence. He turns over and is shocked to see Sicheng standing over him while gripping a knife. He smiles sadistically as his red eyes glisten in the moonlight.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Doyoung sits up straight in the bed.

“Don't do this!”

Sicheng leans downward and grins. “I only obey master’s orders.”

He doesn’t give Doyoung the chance to escape, he quickly drives the knife into his chest, blood splatters over his perfect face as Doyoung screams loudly into the night.

Yuta jumps up. “What—Sicheng!! oh my God, what did you do?!”

Sicheng pulls the knife back out of his chest. “I killed him for you master, for each man kills the thing he loves. I did it for you.” He tilts his head and looks down at Yuta with wide eyes in hopes of gaining a look of satisfaction from Yuta.

But instead, Yuta stares in horror at Doyoung’s lifeless body. His hands start to shake.

“If I love you, Yuta, does that mean I must kill you as well?” Sicheng asks innocently while blinking rapidly. His system is reconfiguring itself as it develops and stores new information.

“No-no! Shut up! Shut down!!”

“But master, I want to please you by loving you..” Sicheng steps closer, Doyoung’s blood drips down the side of his face and onto Yuta’s bed sheets.

His eyes are still red and Yuta is confused as to how, for he never installed that feature.

“Sicheng! I order you to shut down now!”

“Yes, master. I will do that as soon as I am done being brave enough to handle this task.” He crawls over the bed with the knife in his hand still and a horrific smirk.

“Sicheng!” Yuta raises his arm above his head to block his blow.

He knocks the knife out of his hand and grabs both of Sicheng’s wrists. He overpowers him and flips him over onto the bed.

Sicheng doesn’t fight back, he only stares into Yuta’s eyes and continues to grin.

“Must.please.master.Must.make.master.happy..must.love. Master.” There’s a glitch in Sicheng’s system that causes him to repeat these three things over and over, and it drives Yuta insane.

His perfect creation crumbles right in front of his very eyes and there’s nothing he can do about it.

“Shut up! SHUT UP!” Yuta wraps his hands around Sicheng’s neck. He can’t control his confusion, sadness, anger. He chokes Sicheng so hard the metal in his neck begins to break and the sound echoes into the gloomy house.

Sicheng’s eyes fade to grey one final time as Yuta kills him for good.

His muttering stops, but his haunting smile remains, engraving itself into Yuta’s memory forever.

———

[Two Weeks Later]

Yuta arrives home after a long day at the lab. It had been only two weeks since Doyoung was killed by his robot and he was still dealing with the pain of losing something he loved so dearly. No, not Doyoung, but Sicheng rather. He missed his company, his touch, his soft exotic eyes and deep voice.

He made a mistake and Yuta could’ve fixed him, but unfortunately the police department took him away after he had reported the murder.

When Yuta asked what they would do with him, they told him that Sicheng would be locked up in a metal box in their department until they decided on how to proceed with the murder case.

But it didn’t matter really. Yuta killed Sicheng in the end. His body was now just clunky metal.

Yuta sighs and sits down on his couch. He turns the TV on and switches it to the news channel to distract himself from his own feelings, never noticing the glistening red eyes that watch him quietly from the corner of the dark room.

He’s watching..he’s always watching.

“Breaking News, there’s been a suspected terrorist attack inside the Osaka Prefectural Police Department. Nearly all police officers have been brutally murdered. The assailant is unknown and is still at large. We are under curfew until further notice, everyone must stay inside and lock their doors..”

Yuta sits up straight and thinks to himself. That’s the same department that Sicheng is in. What if—

“Master..please forgive me for being gone for so long.”

A low voice speaks into the large room.

Sicheng steps out from the shadows, the blood of his victims dripping down his naked body and face.

Yuta stands up from the couch, his eyes widening as Sicheng walks slowly towards him.

“Sicheng..what did you do?” Yuta’s eyes brim with tears as he swallows hard.

Sicheng’s neck seems to have healed itself somewhat, the purplish bruises being the only indication that Yuta had choked him. Once again, Yuta doesn’t recall installing a self-healing feature.

“They all tried to stop me, Yuta..” Sicheng smiles widely and runs his bloody hands through his own hair to smooth it back out of his face. “But I couldn’t let them...I have to serve you. I have to please you and make you happy, that is my purpose.”

--------

come back tomorrow for the next spooky story...

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i-just-really-like-ladies · 3 years ago

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Hey op, I saw your post about discovering you were autistic. Something similar is happening to me except I haven't gone for a diagnosis yet. Would it be okay for you to talk about how you knew?

For me there are things that...fit really well, that hit very close to home, but others not so, so Im not sure if whatever it is that I've got (because clearly, something is there.) I'm not very sure if the autistic spectrum can be so wide as for me to be included in it.

Any tips?

Of course, happy to help.

For me there were three kind of bigger indicators.

First, and after discussing this one with my therapist, it seems to be very consistent across autistic people: I've always felt different. Like I knew that I was at the very least slightly off in comparison to other people. (Please excuse the phrasing, I couldn't think of another way to put it properly).

Second, linked with the first: I have always experienced this thing I like to describe as 'not feeling like a real person'. All that really means is that I see the way other people are out laughing boldly with friends or joking or just straight up experiencing the world, and I think "man, I wish I could be a real person." And it always made me sad because I was consciously realising that I cannot and do not experience the world in the same way most neurotypical people do. It was just this huge feeling of otherness. (My therapist indicated that this is very common)

Third: masking. Now, this one made me feel bad for a really long time because I had no clue what was going on until my ex-girlfriend was like "oh, yeah, that's masking." For me, one of the biggest ways I mask is to copy mannerisms and speech patterns of people I'm around. I do it the most when I really like someone (friend like or romantically) or when a person makes me so extremely uncomfortable that I guess my brain is like "you need to mimic them for safety reasons." The reason this one bothered me so much is that I always felt like I just couldn't have my own personality, why was I always copying other people, surely they've all noticed and think I'm a fucking weirdo. It was very upsetting until I learned it was masking. Finding that out has helped me to accept it when I do it, even though I am trying to mask less.

So, those are the big three. There are lots of other minor things. I have ocd, which very commonly goes hand in hand with Autism. I got that need for rigid schedule and following the same patterns almost daily (slight variations are okay, but people planning stuff and not telling me when I've already set up my personal schedule for the day in my head, big no no). I eat the same foods on repeat and have an extremely difficult time changing it up. When I like food or dislike it, the primary reason is texture. (My fiance actually pointed this one out. Apparently I talk about the texture of food a ton).

I'm sure you've probably come across information about the emotionality of Autistic people. The common trope is that we are very emotionless. However, thats not accurate at all. There are two main big categories of where we can fall: tending to not feel emotions very strongly (the trope), and feeling emotions very intensely, more intensely than neurotypical society says is appropriate 🙄. I fall into this category, and I hate it because I have spent so much time trying to just not feel my emotions because they are so intense and my expression of them is 'inappropriate' that it has caused a great many mental health issues for me. So the eye roll face is because I think that the appropriate expression of emotion dictated by most of society is stupid. Along with this one, I have a hard time verbalizing and verbally identifying how I am feeling. As a result, I tend to just tell people I am upset. My therapist says this is somewhat common amongst Autistic individuals. I cannot recall the reasoning she gave for it being common, but I am including it because it was brought up in the process of discussing all this.

I also have this huge tendency to overexplain my reasons for things I've done or said because I do not want to be misunderstood/I have experienced misunderstanding so many times that I learned to do this at some point (I consider this to be part of my masking). This one seems to be pretty common, at least from tiktok. I've seen a lot of Autistic people on tiktok mention it.

Side note in relation to this but still relevant to the post imo, I hate that society tends to think you are lying the more detail you provide. I have a tendency to find all details absolutely vital. So when telling someone about what happened in a situation, I relay as much information as I can. Apparently, that means you are lying. It frustrates me a lot.

In that same vein, another thing my therapist said is fairly common: many Autistic people like to ask why continuously. Not as in just repeating "why," but rather that someone will say "I don't know" or provide an answer, but we often are still seeking a further reason. I've done this my entire life, and booooy does it aggravate people. For me it is just that I want to know the reasoning behind things. I want to know as much information as possible about the topic, and, as mentioned above, I tend to find every single detail absolutely important. That just leads to continuously asking why.

So another one for me, of which I am unsure the commonality: I have a very difficult time maintaining friendships unless I see someone most days of the week. I would say about 5 out of the 7 makes it the easiest for me, but it has worked out on less than that, rarely. The reason for this is that I forget to talk to people when I cannot physically see them. I mean, I just don't think about it for weeks on end. Then I will for a second, but won't message them because I'm doing something, and then forget about it again for ages. Part of this is that I prefer in person communication because I can try to read people's body language and facial expressions. The other part is tone of voice is more clear in person than via text. Now, this one bothered me when I was trying to figure out if I was autistic because it is common for Autistic people to not recognise facial cues and body language the same way as neurotypical people. Turns out, according to my testing results paperwork, i just have a higher ability to recognise facial expressions than most people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. So, I just vary a bit from the average.

Within this same vein is the commonly known 'eye contact issue'. The stereotype is that we cannot and do not make eye contact. This is so false. Many Autistic people do not make eye contact well, yes, but not all. For example, I do. I told one of my brothers I was getting tested for Autism and his response was, and I quote literally here, "I don't think you're Autistic because you make eye contact." What he didn't know is the reason why I make eye contact. I do it because I was taught repeatedly that it is how you show people you are listening. So, basically, I'm masking when I make eye contact because I'm solely doing it to show someone I am listening to them. In fact, 😆 I commonly am sitting there telling myself to make eye contact in order to indicate that I am present and interested in what the other person is saying. I also have a harder time masking this way when attempting to talk about things that are important and emotionally relevant to me. In therapy, I rarely make eye contact with my therapist because it is so difficult to talk about things in general that I cannot also make eye contact. Lastly, for this one, the more comfortable I am with someone, the less I make eye contact with them. My fiance, for example, not very common at all that I do it.

There is also the very common special interests phenomenon. The media tends to show this as a math or science thing, but it really isn't. I follow one tiktoker whose special interest is bugs and, I believe, art. I highly recommend her. Her handle is: soundoftheforest. For me, it's language/linguistics and ancient egypt, Greece and Rome. Really, I'd say ancient anywhere history, but those are the big three. Egypt has been my longest interest, besides language. I actually remember the moment I was like "this is it for life." I was 7 and had finished my library books but was bored at daycare. So I went to the book shelf and picked up a book about King Tut. It was the page I read about the day Howard Carter found the tomb. And I just knew me and Ancient Egypt were meant to be forever. As for language, I've literally always been fascinated by it. I started speaking very early and with more complex words than is usual. And I just continued to love language from there. I ended up studying ancient Greek and Latin in college. Also, I info dump about these all the time, almost anytime I possibly can because they're so fucking cool. 😁

Another side note, it is common for Autistic individuals to have delays in speaking, I just did not. It is not something required for the diagnosis. It is just very common.

This one is a little bit weird, and might just be a me thing, but I've discussed it with my therapist. She indicated that it very much aligns with Autism. I cannot, or can but with extreme apprehension and knowledge that I will leave depressed; I simply cannot go into buildings of certain lighting, age, and design. It seems to be buildings that look and/or feel like they were built in the 1960s or 1970s. We haven't really figured out why that is a thing, but it is. I once didn't bother to finish applying for a job to teach Latin that I'd basically been guaranteed so long as I sent in the app because when I went for the interview I saw the building and knew I could not teach there, even part time, because the building would depress me constantly. It's a weird one, but if you have anything at all where you just cannot do it because you know it will affect you like this, I'd bring it up in discussing potentially being Autistic.

I nearly forgot to mention this one, but you've probably heard about the sensory issues that many Autistic people deal with. I have some with touching things, but it is less common an issue for me than my sound sensitivity issues. I am very sensitive to sound. If I had to give a 4th big reason, this would be it because I get overstimulated and overwhelmed by sound multiple times a day. Its rough. If you also have this issue, I cannot recommend enough noise cancelling headphones and chew stim toys when you don't have your headphones. It's really helpful.

This last one I'm going to mention is something that I think I do just to help prevent burnout from masking, but is also part of me specifically. I am an introvert. So that plays a role in this. I spend the vast majority of my time completely by myself. I do mean even when at home with my fiance. We are often in different rooms. I have no problem with it. It doesn't feel like it is bad for our relationship, thankfully. I just prefer to be alone most of the time. The more time I spend around people, the more time afterwards I need alone. That is partially my introvertedness but also me needing to because I am socially exhausted from masking and trying to read all the social cues and not make weird errors when in social settings 😳, which I do a lot. I think I just default to spending time by myself when I am not required to engage with people in order to ensure that I can later. Plus, in discussing this one with my therapist, we concluded that I do this at least in part to prevent burnout and overstimulation.

As for the testing itself. I discussed this with my therapist for a while when waiting to get tested, and by the time I did get tested, I had a nice long list of stuff to bring up. I would definitely recommend compiling a list of the symptoms/signs you feel are indicative for yourself. It was very quick after I first brought it up in therapy that I decided I needed the official diagnosis for myself. So my therapist gave me recommendations of who to see. I also looked myself because the recommended people were so booked they couldn't even schedule further out. Once I got it scheduled, I had to wait like 3 months for the appointments. So, if you are seeking the official diagnosis, don't give up because it's a long wait. From what I've seen others saying, it's pretty common to have to wait a bit to be seen.

There were 3 appointments, an intake, a testing, and a feedback appointment. The intake appointment involved me talking to the doctor about my experiences and why I thought I might be autistic. She asked me a few questions about the more commonly known signs of autism if I did not mention them. The testing appointment took about 4 hours and involved a self report personality assessment, several verbal and memory activities, a teaching activity, two story telling/creating activities, and (the part I thought was most difficult) an activity in which I had to identify the emotion being expressed by just the eye and eyebrow area of black and white photos of people. I also had a take home assessment for someone who knew me really well. It was related to executive functioning abilities and emotional regulation abilities. I cannot speak on the feedback appointment because of technical issues resulting in not actually having that appointment. I have rescheduled it and will be doing that later this month.

If you have anything more specific you want to ask me about, please do. I am happy to answer.

#autistic #autistic adult #autism spectrum #autism #autism diagnosis #i am autistic #therapy #autism testing #anon #anonymous

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elizehurley-blog · 5 years ago

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Romantic image: how to dress on a first date girl

New Post has been published on https://www.withallwomen.com/romantic-image-how-to-dress-on-a-first-date-girl/

Romantic image: how to dress on a first date girl

First date with the man who may become the fate of an important event in the life of every girl. Despite the importance of spiritual values, a perfection in appearance for a first date, has not been canceled. How to dress up a girl on a first date, that it did not last with any man?

Features choice of clothing for a first date

Romantic image: how to dress on a first date girl

Careful choice of clothes, makeup, accessories and footwear, taking into account the psychology of men – the success of girls on the first date. What to wear to a particular event – this is the eternal problem of the fair sex. However, in this case the answer is obvious – it is necessary to choose feminine clothes that fit the season and venue. Even the most beloved jeans and pants should be left alone and to wear a dress or skirt with a blouse, and in the cold season – cloak or coat.

If you don’t know how to look on a first date, here are the main rules:

1 Femininity.

2 the Silhouette of the hourglass.

3 Bright, rich, feminine colors.

Your clothes, hairstyle and accessories should as much as possible to differ from men’s. Classic jacket, pants, boots without a heel, shapeless pants no. Bright, romantic, flowing dresses with accentuated waist, skirts, heels and long hair fluttering – that’s your choice!

Dress for a first date

The best clothing for a date – dress: looks feminine, impressive, romantic! It should not be too short, so the girl did not look frivolous, but long floor-length dress is not always appropriate, and looks pompous that many men do not like. And yet, although, in principle, almost any length is acceptable, the best – to the knee, just above or below. It is important to take into account the age and complexion of a girl: young girl can wear a dress with a fluffy short skirt, and more adult girls – a little longer.

The neckline should not be deep so as not to attract the attention of others and not to cause the man unnecessary thoughts. Preference is given to the dresses of simple styles, made in the style of minimalism. Psychologists have found that men paid little attention to details, perceiving the image of women in General. They consider the perfect dress of light, flowing fabrics, with a clearly defined waist and a skirt of average splendor. In recognition of the men important in the external image of a woman to withstand a shape style hourglass – that is, to wear feminine clothing with a defined waist. Even if it’s not expressed – find a style of dress that you waist will optically identify the most advantageous. For example, the wrap dress. If the figure allows, you should opt for dresses with a detachable pleated skirt. Otherwise, help out a versatile sheath dress that is suitable for girls of almost any size.

Dresses with high waist men don’t like: unusual looks and often make you think about being pregnant and hide the waist, so it is better to forget.

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The color of the dress is of great importance, as it causes various, not always positive, Association. For example, the stunning red dress will make the girl the center of attention, will attest to her ambition, desire for leadership, but may cause Association on the tendency for light behavior. Not every man on the first date might like it. However, it is very bright color, and this is what a man will appreciate.

A chic little black dress will be able to evaluate only higher-status man of about forty, and the young man may consider it “old” or “mourning”. Besides, it’s too corny and bright your image will not do, black is not the color, which is now going to play you.

So what color dress to choose for a first date? Psychologists recommend white or any pastel colors: light colors always look romantic! Blue, peach, pink, powder, lilac, etc. – the choice is huge! Also perfect fuchsia pink is feminine and bright.

Luxurious look cocktail dresses in dark tones associated with colours of precious stones – deep blue like sapphire, garnet and emerald hue. If the appointment is at the restaurant, you should pay attention to the colors of the dresses. But they can visually add you age.

Preferred embodiments of the monochromatic dresses or with monochromatic pattern of flowers, or fantasy character. Many colors are acceptable in summer dresses and sundresses if the meeting is scheduled in nature: in the Park, the fountain, etc.

If you dress too short, fitted dress with a deep neckline and augment the image with matching accessories, don’t be surprised if men won’t take you seriously, but only as a girl for entertainment. Want to get married? – be moderate in all things. Dress a La frumpy or too closed from all sides – not too extreme.

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The choice of skirt

The skirt, paired with a romantic blouse or knit product – a perfectly acceptable solution to image for the first date, because looks feminine. Requirements to the length remain the same: the preferred models of skirts, MIDI length or Maxi. The cut of the skirt can be anything: “pencil”, “peplum”, a-line, pleated, or with the Assembly. The color patterns of the skirt can be both dark and bright, but the top it is advisable to choose white, light or bright colours.

Floaty skirt of pleated chiffon in the summer is a great choice for nature walks and meeting on the veranda of a cafe or restaurant, made of leather or suede combined with a knitted sweater appropriate in the cold season.

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Whether to go for a meeting with the man in the suit

Elegant suit consisting of skirt and jacket, would look good in a cafe or restaurant when meeting with higher-status man. Conversely, lightweight summer suit is the perfect solution of clothing for a first date in a Park or on the waterfront.

But it is important to note that the suit for a first date does not have to be strict and business. Fit, feminine, romantic versions of the jackets of the interesting soft, or textured fabrics to which you want to touch, juicy bright or pastel color, with feminine details – ruffles, ruffles, brooches, distinctive buttons, and, of course, emphasizing the waist. And here is a classic Trouser suit – a taboo!

The top clothes for a date

A first date can be assigned at the cinema, for example, to go along to the movie. If it is planned in the cold season, the best kinds of clothes are for the occasion a coat, coat or sheepskin coat of a fitted silhouette with a belt or strap. This may be a feminine version of the jacket with a belt at the waist, flounced, etc. Light, airy scarf or a long scarf of bright or light colors – the important accessories to create a romantic image. But jackets and clothes are made in unisex style, highly undesirable.

Footwear and accessories to date

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Concise pumps black color thin heel, without ornaments, without a platform, with a tapered toe is the perfect choice of Shoe from the point of view of men. However, the stylists believe that model Nude is better: lengthen your legs, if you merge with the color of the tights or the skin of the feet. The final choice of shoes, of course, for a girl. But remember, men prefer to see a woman in heels, but not on the massive – everything in moderation.

Heel height should be comfortable for girls to gait admired, and were not distressed by others. If the Shoe heels she feels like a cow on ice, then you should look for a model on a small heel, as in ballet flats, it is difficult to look elegant and romantic. In the summer it is possible to use sandals in combination with long skirts and sundresses.

Addition to the image of girls should be graceful decoration of small size, the man was directed to the eyes, the voice and the girl’s hair, and bright, bold accessories.

Hats also choose feminine. If the cold time of the year – good soft scarves-clamps, especially fantasy – with ruffles, crocheted flowers, etc. Nice and feminine hats. But the classic takes to wear not worth it.

Bright scarves and shawls on the neck – a great addition for an attractive female image.

Makeup and manicure for a date

Contrary to popular female opinion, men don’t really like bright artsy makeup for women’s faces, and quite indifferent to accented manicure. The best option is a natural makeup that accentuates the beauty, healthy and well groomed. Let the person be expressive and bright, but the facial features, not the makeup! Lip gloss, focus on the eyes, neat eyebrows, great. Natural manicure manicured fingers, that’s great too. But no vulgar fancy nails and too bright makeup “eyegouger”.

Hairstyle for Dating

Of course, it is a natural well-groomed hair, and the longer the better. The more they differ from the male, the more like men.

An elaborate image of a girl for a first date can really help her to continue the relationship, because everyone is given only one chance to make a person first impression!

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#how to dress on a first date girl

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sarahhenrez018-blog · 6 years ago

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How to reduce wrinkles naturally?

What do you consider more attractive – a healthy, fit-looking person or someone who looks cosmetically enhanced? The statistics say we all prefer the more natural look. And according to market research company Zogby International, only 6% of men would like a woman to use Botox rather than have wrinkles.

So if you want to try a few natural ways to eradicate your frown lines, saggy skin and deep wrinkles, here's how.

How to reduce wrinkles naturally - in a nutshell

• Maintain good circulation through regular exercise • Buy some flaxseed oil. "It's the richest vegetable source of omega-3 fatty acids, essential for lubricated, supple skin," says registered nutritionist Carina Norris. • Cut down on alcohol. "Alcohol dehydrates and adds toxins to a system that's already having to deal with pollution, chemicals in food and so on," says Norris. "If you must, drink red wine which contains antioxidants." • Look after your teeth - they, along with your jaw bone, form the scaffolding that holds your face skin in place. • Eat blueberries. "These are packed with antioxidants to fight skin-damaging free radicals," says Norris. • Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of liquids. • Avoid the evil trio: sun, smoke and stress. "These three factors will dramatically increase the number and severity of wrinkles," says Dr David Orentreich.

Smoothies For Younger Looking Skin

Reduce wrinkles naturally with exercise

"People want instant results," says Marja Putkisto, of Method Putkisto, a company with branches in the UK, US and Finland, where the 'face school' method originated.

"As with exercising any part of your body, however, it takes a few weeks before you'll see the effects. But you will see an amazing difference - our exercises eliminate double chins, reduce puffiness and wrinkles, and improving skin texture. It also helps realign the upper body, key to reducing shoulder and neck tension."

Even cosmetic surgeons agree facial exercise is beneficial: "When you exercise, you tone and tighten the muscles in your body," says Dr Mark Berman, former president of the California Academy of Cosmetic Surgeons. "So why not apply the same principles to your face? I've seen the results, and it works."

How does exercising my face reduce wrinkles?

"Skin needs a good supply of oxygen to stay looking healthy," says Dr David Orentreich, dermatologist for Clinique. "That means good circulation and muscle tone."

how to increase energy after 50

"Very few people utilise their full range of muscles," says Marja. "Just think, for example, how little you move your eyes when you sit at a computer all day. These exercises increase circulation and oxygen - clearing away toxins, smoothing lines and giving a healthier skin tone." Knowing which areas to target is key to getting good results. "Our method focuses on relaxing the tight, short muscles in your face, such as your biting muscles," says Marja. "Strengthening other, smaller muscles. This method also realigns the jaw, improving posture."

Can I use massage to reduce my facial wrinkles?

Massage is very good for the skin, but it won't improve muscle tone. "Using different muscles and parts of your face also encourages you to use different muscles when you perform 'standard' facial expressions such as smiling or frowning, for example," says Marja. "The frown lines you already will appear reduced because you're spreading the effort across more facial muscles."

Exercise for Flabby Arms for Seniors

So how can I get rid of my saggy cheeks?

"The Centre Triangle Lift stretches, mobilises and strengthens the important cheek muscles, lifting your cheeks," says Marja. • Place your fingertips on your cheekbones, a couple of centimetres in from your temples and tilt your chin towards your chest. • Use your fingers to lift the muscles up and over the cheekbones, and breathe out. • Create a stretch by opening your mouth slowly, continue opening and closing your mouth - repeat between five and 10 times. "You may be surprised at how tight these muscles are and may even feel the stretch in your neck," says Marja. And how can I get rid of a wrinkly neck? "Loose skin on the neck indicates that you are not holding your head and jaw in a relaxed position," says Marja. • Lift your chin and place both your hands at the top of your throat. • Lift your jaw without flinging your head back. • Push your jaw forward to feel the stretch. "To see how tight your neck muscles are, try swallowing in this position," says Marja. "This tightness hinders support of the upper part of the neck, allowing skin to sag."

Can face exercises get rid of extra chins?

The first step to losing an extra chin is to lose weight – like the spare tyre around your waist, a spare chin is often down to excess body fat. Loss of definition around your cheeks and jawline is often caused by lost teeth that haven't been replaced – your gnashers and jawbone are the scaffolding to your skin. Get well-fitting dentures to ensure this isn't the case for you.

And to target the chin through exercise try this:

• Sitting upright, tilt your head back to stare at the ceiling. • Bring your lower lip up and over your upper lip as far as possible - count slowly to five. • Relax and let your head come back to its normal position. Repeat five times. Do this exercise twice daily. What can I do about the excess baggage under my eyes? A main cause of eye bags is collected toxins and water under your eyes - that's why you look slightly puffy eyed if you've been drinking the night before. • Put your fingertips under your eyebrows and gently lift your eyelids • Press your upper lids down, holding your fingertips in place, and count to five. Then relax. Repeat this twice. • Now put your fingertips to the outer corners of your eyes, moving your fingers upwards as you move your eyelids down - repeat three times. Can I make my frown lines disappear? Exercise different forehead muscles to increase blood flow to the area. • Press both your index fingers on your forehead above your eyes. • Push up against them with your eyebrows. Resist with your fingertips. • Repeat this 8-10 times, rest, then repeat five times.

Are facial exercises as good as a non-surgical facelift at beating wrinkles?

Cosmetic surgery expert Wendy Lewis isn't convinced, and sounds a cautionary note.

"Facial ageing involves more than just lax muscle tone," she says. "It has to do with the ravages of sun exposure, sagging skin, descending fat pads, breakdown of soft tissues and the supporting structures. "Facial muscles are like fine elastic sheets that are stretched in layers over the facial bones. Exercising these muscles can't repair or restore the ligaments that hold the muscles in place and weaken with age. If you repeatedly manipulate your skin, it is likely to cause more elasticity. "Facial exercises should not be considered a non-surgical facelift or better than Botox."

Meditate to slow wrinkles

Meditation appears to slow some of the cell loss which causes wrinkling of the skin. If you’ve ever read the label on an anti-wrinkle cream, you’ve probably heard of telomerase. It’s an enzyme that looks after the long-term health of your cells and is found in many expensive lotions. A study from the University of California has found that meditation increases telomerase activity too.

How To Release Toxins From Fat Cells

Telomeres are structures at the end of chromosomes, sometimes envisaged as the equivalent of the cap on the end of a shoelace. They get shorter each time a cell divides and when they drop below a specific length, that cell can no longer divide and dies. By maintaining telomere levels or promoting their activity, it’s possible to slow down cell loss. It’s this cell loss that causes wrinkling and other signs of ageing.

The researchers believe that this beneficial side effect of meditation is down to the reduced stress that practitioners feel. They base this theory on the fact that those study participants who showed the highest levels of telomerase activity were also those who showed the greatest improvement in terms of positive psychological changes.

So while it’s tempting to think meditation could help keep you younger, in fact it’s psychological wellbeing that helps keep you younger. If meditation makes you feel good, de-stressing you and giving you a general sense of wellbeing, then it may also increase your telomerase activity. But if gardening or painting gives you a similar sense of wellbeing, it may well be just as effective.

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octranslations · 7 years ago

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Haiiro no Ginka Volume 40

September 2008

Translation Credits:

All translations by Cammie

UROBOROS

Since 21 months after the release of The Marrow of a Bone, Uroboros will appear to the world. You may find this time very long or short depending on your feeling, and the same could be said if you associate this work’s title as “the returning point” or interpret it as “an endless inquisition.” I actually don’t have any answer for this, and maybe the band members may not have a clear answer either. Yet, Dir en grey has set foot into a territory they have never reached. In other words, they have always had a proposition to pursue themselves to the limit, and have shaped the ideal that has been exceeding ahead of them. Do you have the courage to dive into the beautifully mad world? Are you ready to place yourself into a loop, which you will never escape?

-Yuichi Masuda

Tour 08 Death Over Blindness

2008 May 4th – They finished appearing on the event and then moving…

After finishing “hide memorial summit,” Dir en grey headed to their next venue in Okayama without having any time to rest. Few hours later after leaving Tokyo, they met with Mr. Takahashi, the event promoter of Candy Promotion in Okayama, and by then, everyone was tired and silent the entire time.

May 5th- Crazymama Kingdom

Osaka-fu: Death Over Blindness tour has begun with three consecutive show at Namba Hatch. Originally, 5/4 was a moving day, but due to their appearance on the event (hide memorial), the show in Okayama became the 5th day of the 6 consecutive shows. Due to the venue’s situation, we could not use the backdrop from Namba Hatch. However, the emblem that was on the tour goods (t-shirts and stickers) appeared behind Shinya’s drumset. It was difficult to create the same impact of a large venue, but because this place was compact, the emblem helped to bring out liveliness.

In backstage, there was no space for many people, and the staff members were taking a break near the hallway where you can see the audience waiting for the door to open. By the way, this venue is on the fourth floor of a nice-looking building. No one would even dream of such an intense show happening on the upper floor. During the show, the audience began to jump with the music’s beat and the floor began to shake. On the last song, The III D Empire, the staff near the stage had to hold up a “no jumping” sign.

May 6th- Crazymama Kingdom

The line for entrance began to move as the time was 6pm, and the sky made us think of summer dusk. People were slowly filling in the venue, and the camera and speakers set up here connected to the band members’ room as they were able feel the excitement of the audience directly. The venue filled with more heat than yesterday, and from the first song, Ryoujoku no Ame, the band members and audience seriously took on each other. Especially with small stages, one can feel the raw and concentrated condition between the staging of 5 members and the reaction of the audience. Near the front stage, the fence could not withhold the push from the back, so the front row audience had their feet up near the front edge of the stage.

During this performance, dead tree left an impression where Kyo sung serenely and eerily as he stared at one spot while the audience stopped their movement and stared back in awe.

May 8th - Club Diamond Hall

It has been a while to come to Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya city, Club Diamond Hall as the red wall is covered with foreign artists’ flyers, and this appearance reminds you of a live house in Europe and the United States. Before, we had more shows at Zepp Nagoya, and because of that, it feels strangely refreshing of having a different Nagoya atmosphere. After 3pm, the stage was not big, but the Tech team took their positions and checked everything carefully. On the floor, there was Toshiya watching them. This tour has 2 new songs included and they were performed at Club Diamond Hall as well. Glass Skin was performed where Kyo had a spot light on him while the overflowing sound of piano resounded. Kyo began to sing with an ecstatic facial expression, and with the guitar parts, the hue of the band’s sound was oozing out. The left-hand side was overlapping with the song, and shakes inside the small amount of light. This song has a smooth texture, and it brought a moment of silence to the heated floor.

May 9th- Club Diamond Hall

We are half-way through the tour. The other new song, Stuck Man was a contrasting song from Glass Skin as it had a vibrant tempo, and shook the ground. During this song, Kyo counted together with the audience and raised their fists into the air, heightening a rush of blood to the head. Toshiya strummed the strings sharply with his slap-bass technique, and from the performances during the tour, his sound seemed to become fuller. Also, the lighting matched with the song as it shined the back drop; and it sometimes changed into a shady form and lured people who watched it into a peculiar world. It felt like Stuck Man during Nagoya’s second date had brought itself together. It was a new song before and had some rawness, but from this day, this new song changed into a combination of maintaining freshness and stability.

May 16th- Zepp Sendai

Heading into summer, the surroundings of the Sendai train station near Zepp Sendai have paper lanterns and pennants hung on street lamps and stands that appear florid because the “Aozora festival” is coming up on the weekend (Apparently, this festival will take place on the day of the second show here). Sendai was infused with energy and the sunny May weather welcomed Dir en grey. In the venue, a large banner was put up on stage as it has not been used since the Namba Hatch shows; once again, one is blown away by its presence. The audience that will gather in front of this banner and create a critical state must be a superb view. A few hours later, on the stage with that banner hung, Kyo’s voice ringed in the air.

“Sendai, you guys are better than this! Can you do it?”

The voltage of excitement was rather easy on the first day at Sendai, but after being aroused by Kyo’s voice, one does not even have to guess that the show became more intense.

May 17th- Zepp Sendai

On the second day of Sendai, there was a completely different set-list from yesterday. The venue’s spirit was as if it was continuing from yesterday’s encore. Around the middle of the show, there was a special effect with the lighting and backdrop during Conceived Sorrow that was eye-catching. We used a special machine, which makes Kyo’s form appear on the backdrop and change with the song’s style and tempo. One should note that Kyo’s overlapping forms several times was not a projected image, but a creation through special light effects.

“It was all right…”

Kyo spitted out some water and after commenting about today’s show to the audience, he left the stage. After the show, there was news that one band member lost his jewelry he wore during encore as it flew into the audience floor. But few minutes later, an audience came up to the staff asking,

“Does this belong to one of the band member?”

This band member thought that his jewelry would never return, but he was very happy about the miraculous happening. We would like to use this moment again to thank this audience.

May 19th- Aomori Quarter

We were nearby the ocean, and around the venue, one could smell the salt. In front of the venue, a large blue truck with the band name and title awaits sonorously for visitors. Because it’s the beginning of the week, we did not see too many audiences waiting near the venue. However, before entrance time, many Dir en grey fans surrounded the place. Like Okayama, this venue is built compact, so we can anticipate vivacity. In this show, one would feel strongly of how Dir en grey considers the time between songs to be very important. During the time between songs, Kyo’s voice delay would disappear, and you can say that the superb timing from each song determines the live itself. The timing to begin Obscure’s SE after Kodoku ni shisu yueni kodoku was brilliant. As Die’s guitar sound continues to echo, in which timing does the SE begin…? This is possible through the communication and sensory link between the manipulators: Mr. Furuta and Dir en grey.

May 20th- Aomori Quarter

Stormy day. There was no space to have a tour goods booth in the venue, so as the winds were getting stronger, staffs outside had to hold on to the tent that was getting blown away (basically saying they had to sell tour goods outside). Even with the bad weather, fans were coming up to the booth seeking tour goods. Meanwhile, in the band member’s room (which is usually a fancy bar), preproduction for the next album was going on. The tour and music production were happening at the same time, and the members must have been very busy, but their source of power is the view they would see in a few minutes: the live and the audience. When the storm was finally over, the tour’s last regional date, the show in Aomori, began. During Dozing Green, smoke rose up, and it became a creature manipulated by Dir en grey’s music, which changed shape according to the 5 member’s movements and attached onto them. Near the end of the show, behind Kaoru, there was Die reaching his arms to play on Kaoru’s guitar. This was a rare scene that could only be seen in an extra time of encore.

*This date was Manager Inoue’s 36th birthday, and after RH (rehearsal?), birthday song filled up the venue. A cake was brought to Mr. Inoue who seemed somewhat surprised and embarrassed, and a small birthday celebration took place. We weren’t notified at this point, but after 4 shows later at Shinkiba Studio Coast, we celebrated birthdays of Mr. Tomochi (or Tsuchimochi?) who is in charge of flipside and Mr. Yoshida who is in charge of the manipulator. Dir en grey staff team has a lot of people born in May.

May 23rd- Yokohama Blitz

Before the show, Kaoru had a big package, and peeking into it, as we have touched about this topic during vol. 39, Nine Inch Nail’s new material had arrived. Looking happily and checking out what was inside, Kaoru could not help but be amazed by its splendor. During the summer of 2007, Nine Inch Nails and Dir en grey appeared together in the Ankkarock festival. Today’s set list included Shokubeni, Karasu, and with that flow, the nursery rhyme, Kagome appeared. Kyo almost weaves out the melody bringing fear and sadness. Lurking with eeriness, Kagome became a splendid introduction for Karasu. Nursery rhyme and Dir en grey does not seem to go together. Yet, the lyricist and composer are unknown, and this song has many stories due to its mysterious origin (one may check this up on Wikipedia or I can translate Dr. Nemunemu that actually talks about Kagome in the earlier Haiiro no ginka), which may actually link with Dir en grey’s world.

When looking around at fans calling encore, there was one man who left an impression where he held onto his head and looked dazed out.

May 24th- Yokohama Blitz

On the second date, it was unfortunately raining, which may had been signifying tsuyu(rain season) coming up. During Kigan, people were jumping up and down as it shook the floor and vibrated the walls that spread to the projector and the image on the backdrop with many kanji on the screen also swayed heavily. The audiences participated actively, and their action reflected back to the stage, making it a rare occurrence to watch. After the show, people were waiting at the cloak area where rain was pouring onto their heads just like earlier before the show started. However, was that wet and elusive shine emitted from rain or sweat…? These audiences covered the outside of Yokohama Blitz. Finally, the tour only has Shinkiba 3 Days left. What kind of growth would happen within these 3 days?

May 28th- Shinkiba Studio Coast

Today is the first day of Shinkiba Studio Coast 3 days. Shinkiba Studio Coast has a good sound, and at the rehearsal stage, the song and delay had a distinct echo, which was impressive. Before the show opening, we were called by Toshiya.

“I want to give my mic stand as a present for the newsletter (Haiiro no ginka).”

Toshiya’s mic stand has followed his moves and acted with one heart and mind as they shared joys and sorrows together, and next to his bass, it has been a sub-partner existence. It has flown high during The IIID Empire (ex: hide memorial summit) and received Toshiya’s shouts during Agitated Screams of Maggots. Such an important possession will become a present from Toshiya’s sincere courtesy (Please look at the application page [?????] for more information). Mr. Fujiki, the stage director and Manager Inoue could not hide their surprise when they heard Toshiya’s request. Even before the start of the show, this live was filled with air of hunger and crisis. The lights went out, the SE began from darkness, and the members appeared. The show began with this first voice:

“Tokyo??!!!”

Dozing Green began with a ground-shaking rhythm, and guitar riffs gushed out, making the place move along with the music. During Kodoku ni shisu, yueni kodoku, Kyo repeatedly kept saying “Love you,” and the entire place froze. “Love you, love you…” What is Kyo calling for…? These words are emotional yet, as they begin to lap over, they change into something lifeless. A mantra seemed to surround this space while the guitar painfully echoed, leaving an afterglow.

May29th- Shinkiba Studio Coast

As the show is about to start, the atmosphere of the venue began to change. Being the middle of the 3 days, the second day’s show was about to begin. Going downstairs towards the stage, the 5 members with intense ardor huddled up; it’s time. The first song was the new song, Glass Skin, and right after, Grief began. The set list had a smaller dynamic, and it had many medium heavy numbers. And as Kaoru expected, there was a different feeling and slight frustration that seemed strangely new. Due to this set up, Hydra 666 turned into a detonator. In real time, Kyo’s figure was shown through the special effect onto the backdrop, and it showed a subliminal world. Kyo got up onto the standing platform and raised both arms high in the air, and the audience responded by raising their arms, and screamed back “6! 6! 6! ” The 2 lapping figures of Kyo did not only make the audience, but the staff including the one doing the special effect impressed. It was indeed a stunning view. After finishing encore, Die had a clouded expression on his face, and he smashed the guitar head to the ground, stopped moving, and crouched on the floor for some time.

May 30th- Shinkiba Studio Coast

“It’s a fight between each one of you and me.”

The last day has arrived. In Dir en grey’s lives, cozy relationships cease to exist. It is better to say that the members’ and audiences’ life energies collide into each other. During Ryoujoku no Ame, Kyo began to scratch his chest as if something has awakened inside of himself; it is difficult to put in words, but this sense of atmosphere began to eat away the entire space. Kyo uses his body to propose the “meaning of life,” and the depth of these words to the audience. Dead tree sings about human’s frailty, and from Kyo’s wound, the oozing blood mixed with sweat, trickled down to his abdomen. Kyo released everything of himself into this moment without any lies or deceit. Following this, Karasu started with Shinya’s pulse-beating rhythm together with the resonating guitar sounds that make you imagine of amplified spots. The backdrop sometimes had cracks that looked like streaks of lightning. These cracks increased, and when the countless fissures covered up the eye, Kyo got up onto the standing platform and got seated in a kneeling position (Zen meditation), and looked up at the sky. This view was frightening, and it would make a person shiver. There were no use of explosives or weapons, but a sensory fear ran loose. We now witnessed how the 5 members had finally gone into “some territory.” After the show was over, Kyo still had blood and sweat dripping down from his left chest.

Death Over Blindness took place parallel to the music production, and in actuality, the band would have wanted to focus on their song composition as their feelings of weariness, pressure, and impatience are beyond our imagination. However, for the members who have been distant since the last show near the end of 2007, the existence of stage has allowed them to seriously take on the audience that has great meaning, and perhaps they have been able to get new stimulations. In September, the mother body (Dir en grey) would reach its trimester and you will be able to feel the new life’s (new album) heartbeat. From the day of the Glass Skin single release, Tour 08 – The Rose Trims Again will begin. Would the band be able to find a clue in this tour for their 7th album, Uroboros?

Gansonaki Kaoru-ya

How are you guys? This is Kaoru who is exhausted but full of high spirit.

Today (I began writing this on 8/11) at 8am, I finally finished recording my guitar part, and feel relieved… But we’re now onto mixing. We still need to work on synthesizer and some parts we need to record and replace, but we need to keep going because we seriously do not have any time. Five days later, we were no-where near finished with mixing…We might not make it. We slept over at the studio until the last day of mixing, and this time there was a feeling of being finished, but around noon… Koni-young’s Mac was acting strange and had to stop; we started this process again when there was only 18 hours left…

And 45 hours later, Die, Mr. Furuta, the director, and I went to NY for mastering. Until today, we have not been able to sleep for the last 2 weeks, and finished Uroboros. After we finished mastering and listened to the album from start to finish, my eyes became a little watery because all my memories of recording came back… We started making songs at the beginning of this year, and from March we got together, argued about the songs, tweaked them, and began preproduction. Around April, after the songs were ready, we recorded the rhythm parts, made another song and then another preproduction, and repeated that process. All the songs were ready just before July. After that, everyday was intense recording. This past month, I seriously have not gone outside. It was really tough near the end, but I give my appreciation to all the staff who worked very hard! Because of you guys, we were able to make the most insane album!

And if this Uroboros resonates in your heart, that would be great. This work is packed with Dir en grey sound that is not trendy or obsolete. I would like you guys to listen to it carefully, and I hope it becomes an important part of you.

For the people who have always watched us, For the people who have watched us, And for the people that will know us from now,

Here is Dir en grey.

Thank you everyone, I seem to have full of appreciation.

Now, let’s go drinking?!!

I bought a deluxe limited album from a catalogue. I hope it comes soon~.

Kyo's section (Announcement)

We are asking for questions. For the next vol. 41, “Happiness of nothing, the assembled neck” will have Kyo answer to fan’s questions. Please have your fan club number and name (or nickname), write your question down, and send it to “Haiiro no ginka vol. 40 Kyo e no shitsumon.” The deadline is 9/30th.

Music Clip Shooting of Glass Skin

Raining season is near the end, and while the moist air covers the cloudy sky on this day of July, somewhere in Tokyo, the shooting for Glass Skin has begun. Last time for Dozing Green, many screens were set up at the shooting location, but this time, everything was done in the studio. Everything became CG footage, and there were no props or big sets; there was only blue screen that would process the image composition. This was not at a far location and the traveling time was short, but being in the same place for hours, it was a battle against the gradual tiring air circulating and barren background.

While Shinya’s drum set was getting set up, the staff team began to wrap white tape onto the silver parts of the frame of the drums. The basic color of this drum is white, the same with the bass and the surface of the snare that has no problem, but all the frameworks supporting the set is silver. Silver colors is like a mirror, and without taping, when you shoot the drum set, the blue will reflect and make the drum set look like it’s floating. All the artists who use a blue screen do this procedure, but for Visual Trap (Production Company) the amount of work they do is top notch for Dir en grey.

After 12pm, the members arrived. This shooting took place in the midst of their music production when they worked every day until early in the morning. We asked Die who was smoking at the lobby about how they were doing and he mumbled, “My hard disk memory inside my head is so full.” The five member’s desire for the extreme must have brought this suffering…

In the member’s room, Mr. Ohno who is in charge of costumes and Kaoru were discussing what he should wear. Mr. Yamaguchi who is in charge of make-up was observing the two and made a remark. “You look like a cool, modern-looking vagabond Tora-san!” (note: Tora-san is the main character from the Otoko wa Tsuraiyo series) Kaoru’s fashion was coordinated innovatively wearing everything black with black-framed glasses and sandals. Kaoru was trying on a hat, but in the end, he gave up wearing the hat and sandals, and wore his usual black boots and headed for the studio.

1:30pm Shooting began. Kaoru was first, and a total of 6 cameras were set up left, right, up and down in the middle area in rows. First, the camera shot the member from the front. Because we were using blue screen the entire time, there weren’t anything striking about these photos, and the changes that happened during this shooting were difficult to express. However, using multiple cameras, changing camera angles and positions, and shooting various patterns would definitely result into low-key efforts and long hours. How were these shootings and procedures going to be compounded? After the first shoot, the staff began to composite the shots with the CG they had prepared beforehand. Many staff and Kaoru surrounded Mr. Kondo, the director, and waited nervously. Then, behind Kaoru, the background had a world of white painting spreading before their eyes. Even though this was a rough image, one cannot be amazed by its high quality, and the daily evolution of CG images.

3:00pm Kaoru ->Die have finished and next was Toshiya’s turn. There was something different about Toshiya’s bass. The bass’ body was tattered up, and it was finished with a posh taste and looked like an aged vintage. The band members and staff all focused their attention the bass’ “broken” qualities. While the shooting continued, the taping for the drum set continued. The drum appeared as if everything was white all along. The schedule started to delay due to the adjustments of blue screen and the shoot, and various takes even though there was no actual moving of location.

4:30pm Kyo’s shooting began where his top part of the body was bare, and he wore a purple adidas jersey that had yellow stripes. This time, Kyo did not have a clip where he sings. This time, all 5 members did not shoot together, and they only had separate shootings. Kyo’s shooting was slightly different as he moved his body slowly along with the music you could barely hear. He tried looking up and down, spread his legs, and covered his face with his hands, and expressed himself through body language. At times, when there was the music playing in the studio, you could only hear Mr. Kondo’s direction.

After taping for 5 hours, Shinya’s drum set was finally ready, and it was set up at the blue screen. Checking the monitor, there were some parts that were still silver, and needed adjustments. For complete CG, this detailed work is extremely important. Afterwards, the music video shooting went on by positioning the camera, moving them, and shooting various shots. Each time, it was checked under the monitor for different angles and adjusted them. Mr. Kondo and the staff continued to check whether it was “all right or not” as the angle of the reflecting board (white board) could change the way the shot look. They even used a rotating platform to shoot the band members 360 degrees.

The date had changed and the time was now three in the morning as the grasses and trees were asleep. A thick clear acrylic board was laid down and the drum was being set up. Why a clear acrylic board? This is because we can shoot from beneath. Underneath the acrylic board, a rail was set up so that a pulley would move forward. No shoes were allowed on the acrylic board because although it’s thick, you can see through what’s beneath, that may make one cringe. The band members were amazed by the intricate structure of the acrylic board setting. Seeing the band member’s shoe sole was rather strange… Everyone began to finish one after another. Each time there was a loud applause from the site. Simultaneously, the drum set was getting broken down. All the taping neatly wrapped was getting ripped off. Last was Kyo who sat on top of a boxed cart to shoot him in a perched position, but on top of the acrylic board, he did not use the cart. In order to look like he is sitting on something, subtle leg opening and angle became important. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched this shooting.

“Okay, that’s a wrap!”

After Mr. Kondo’s approval, the shooting finished. The clock’s needle now points near four in the morning. All the members were getting sleepy due to the long hours of music video shooting and music production. Outside, gusty rain was hitting the concrete ground. There was no time to remember about the shoot as the band members got into the bus and went off. After the main characters were gone from the studio, the staff quickly broke down their equipments.

As for the music video, what kind of image would lapse over their movements? Later on, the footage that was shot today combined with CG would be checked many times and be finished. We yearn for the entire picture. Making of Artistic Photography- Glass Skin

While shooting a music video for Glass Skin, near the studio’s elevator hall, preparation for Glass Skin’s photo shoot began. Ms. Ogata was our camera(wo)man. Her photos maintained a fragile part, a characteristic particular to females, and had a wild manly texture, which established a good reputation from the band members. The elevator hall used to be a normal place to stock big props and equipments for the studio. However, once everything was removed and the concrete floor was exposed and was ready for shooting, it became a lifeless space with roughness, which was extremely off the hook.

The shooting was in the order of Kaoru->Die->Toshiya->Shinya->Kyo. Of course, while the solo photo shooting took place, other members had to be in the next studio and work on the music video concurrently. Die changed his ambient atmosphere from the music video, and tied his hair back, and his exposed skin and expression stirred up even more sharpness. Kyo was shot standing, but he also took shots on a crouching position. His hat and sunglass made a good shadow, and his tattoo on his body stood out from darkness. All five members’ personalities were brought out, an austere elegance ran, and the photos were turning out well. After finishing solo shots, group shots began. Since this place was usually for a transportation company, if one was off from their position, the warning lamp would go on. When this went on, you couldn’t stop the red light reflecting into the photo. Everyone including the staff was careful not to go near the sensor. The width of the space was narrow, and it was difficult to decide on the best alignment for the 5 members. “A little up. A little to the right. Good, good, good…” Ms. Ogata instructed the assistant with the hand-held light. This place had a situation to adjust lighting and shadow, but it turned out to be a good work with atmosphere.

The photo shoot finished and everyone surrounded Ms. Ogata’s computer. The member and staff were looking with intense concentration. A few minutes later, everyone gave an approving look and the artist photography session ended. The photos shot on this day was given to the staff immediately, and later on, after the members looked over, the photos released right now were decided.

Die – Meisho de meishu

Rider – Yukinobu Hasegawa (Interviewer) Chef – Hideaki Shimada *note: I’m not sure whether I got their first names correct.

I got a call from Die during the middle of July when he must have been busy with recording. He asked me for my free days; he is a guy with adult’s manner. But you’re the one who is busy. So, we were able to meet at the end of July. The place was at a bar restaurant where Die went to eat frequently. This place was popular with stocks of many shochu (Japanese vodka) all over from Japan, and appetizers made by the young shopkeeper. Today, we ordered salad, special crab-cream croquette, and a soft fried burdock root as our appetizers, and while we relaxed, we began drinking.

Hasegawa: Wow, it’s been a while.

Die: That’s true. I think it’s important to have this time sometimes. This place has good food. Have you ever been here?

Hasegawa: I have. In the end, there was one musician and mentor who slept on top of the table (laugh).

Die: This place is changing into a hang-out place. This place is so good~.

Hasegawa: But please drink 5% alcohol. I’m not letting you drink the 20% just yet. Well, cheers, Renaissance.

Die: What’s that (laugh)?

Hasegawa:This is Hige-danshaku’s (Japanese comedians) signature phrase. But you haven’t been drinking because of recording right?

Die: I would go home and have one drink. I’ve been in the studio for a long time.

Hasegawa: You had a tour in May, but did you spend the other hours on production?

Die: No, I took a break in January and February. I didn’t do anything music-related on January. From February I was in a music-making mode, so I didn’t go outside of home. I only went out drinking twice a month.

Hasegawa: Song-making pressures you and forces you to develop ideas, so in a way, it becomes a battle against stress right?

Die: Yeah, you don’t know whether it’s good or bad. And you become concerned with something so detailed. Once you distance yourself from a song and listen again, it’s like what is this. Why did I spend so much time with this? Besides, it’s not good (laugh). Song-making is nothing but “against oneself.”

Hasegawa: Did you have good ideas around February?

Die: Rather than idea, I had sounds I wanted to make. I would play the guitar with that thought, but if you make songs with this mentality, it’s not that good.

Hasegawa: Oh, so you would have a goal, and it would only move forward in that direction, and nothing else comes up?

Die: If you try to actualize your idea, it becomes something you can find anywhere (laugh). When I’m playing around with my guitar and think I have a good phrase, I try to put that in. Then I begin to develop from there. If I do it this way, it’s easier to evolve in a good way. Imagining beforehand would make ideas fixed.

Hasegawa: You yearn for unpredictability?

Die: Yes, yes.

Hasegawa: When you have a fixed imagination, you would lose interest in your own work, but if you play guitar without any fixed ideas, do you come up with ideas beyond your imagination?

Die: Yes, yes, if I don’t pre-determine and play randomly, there’s a catalyst born in that moment. There may be 2 sounds, but if you put on an effect, they would sound interesting too. You can make that kind of idea. But where you’re recording, there are too many possibilities, and it’s difficult to decide. You can do it this way or that way, and want to try all of them, but in reality, you don’t have any time. There would be new sound by tuning your guitar differently, distorting acoustic guitar sounds, and think of those ways. At this point, the recordings for drums has finished, but there are so many songs that need decision on arranging or tone, so I’m thinking, for this song here, for that song there, and my mind is scattered everywhere. Every day, I’m always in this situation. It’s probably impossible for me to try out everything during this recording period.

Hasegawa: “It’s probably impossible?” (laugh) But if you try to do everything, you won’t be able to finish your work.

Die: A person once said that you need common sense to decide. It’s important to have this common sense and be able to say this is it and choose quickly.

Hasegawa: It’s nice to take time to create your work, but a work should be exposed to people’s eyes and ears or it won’t provide any significance of existence. Then, the listener’s feelings would be injected and have a new life born again.

Die: For significance of existence, the songs need to be performed live. So after making a song, I think the recording to completion shouldn’t take too long. We would get bored of it (laugh). The songs would become something without any stimulation (laugh).

Hasegawa: Even if the actual people (band) would get bored, we (listeners) wouldn’t be, and not even have the chance to hear it (laugh).

Die: Well, that’s true.

Hasegawa: I think it’s actually better to have deadlines.

Die: Because of deadlines we’re able to exert our power as if we’re at a fire site (laugh) [note: basically saying one can exert their full potential at desperate moments]. For The Marrow of a Bone, we mixed for 36 hours continuously. We kept listening, and we couldn’t make decisions. That was not good. You should decide after listening with rested ears, so I want to avoid mixing for 36 hours straight.

Hasegawa: Engineer overseas record orderly and they never work overtime right. I think they work that way so that they make the right decisions.

Die: That’s partially true. But with Japan, it’s not just with music; there is a cultural aspect for Japanese to work hard. There’s diligence. For people overseas, I think that’s impractical. I think they’re more like we’re done today so let’s party kind of a rouse.

Hasegawa: Are you half-way through your work right now?

Die: No, I’m finished with 90% of guitar packing. I’m using a re-amp method, so I’m recording my parts as much as I can, and then use another time to create sounds. I still have a lot of that left. So even if I finished recording my parts, I’m not done and I actually have more work to do.

Hasegawa: Impressions of sounds change with tone too.

Die: Yes, yes. I’m just putting in the raw materials now. But I think this is a good way to be able to create sounds later. You can decide on the tone after all the guitar phrases are put in.

Hasegawa: If you don’t re-amp, all the recorded sounds remain in the audio source.

Die: In that case, when a different guitar tone comes in after the first guitar part, the phrase you want people to hear recedes back. You won’t have that kind of problem with re-amp.

Hasegawa: You definitely have intricate phrases for this one too right?

Die: Yeah, I’m building them up. I always wonder whether this recording will ever end. I’m in an opposite mode from last year when it was all touring. It’s hot summer right now, but without any sunlight, having air conditioner full blast at the recording studio, I’ve immersed myself in there. After we finish the album, we’re finally going outside.

Hasegawa: With this weather, your skin is fair like Sonoko Suzuki. What are you some skin-lightening researcher (laugh)?

Die: Yeah (laugh). I haven’t been in the sunlight. The only time I feel the hot weather is for a few minutes when I go outside of my home to when I go inside the car. When I go inside the studio, I need to wear a jacket because it’s so cold.

Hasegawa: Everyone must be jittery. Are you guys pretty tense?

Die: Not really. There’s Mr. Konishi, our engineer, who isn’t like that, and it’s easy to tell from his mood. Rather, he makes these small-time jokes. Nothing but oyaji jokes (note: Oyaji refers to older men in their 40s and up; although it varies from people’s perception).

Hasegawa: Then please tell us one of those jokes.

Die: I’m not oyaji. They’re Mr. Konishi’s oyaji jokes too (laugh). Anyways, I don’t feel too stressed.

Hasegawa: Maybe your experience with long tours overseas changed your mindset?

Die: No, that and recording are totally different. Our staffs say that when we go overseas, our personalities change. When we return from overseas, we’ve become American-like or so. I have no idea what exactly changed though (laugh).

Hasegawa: I think you guys aren’t too uptight anymore. Years ago, you guys had this presence that wouldn’t make people go near you. When you guys are on tour and recording, I think your private life becomes tense, and it’s hard to talk to you lightheartedly.

Die: Oh, I guess we do have that kind of change. We did shows with different circumstances and locations last year. We didn’t have any leeway, but we couldn’t be tense all the time. Once we go up on stage, then it’s all right to act that way. We should take a bigger stance.

Hasegawa: I think you’ve changed when you’re on stage too. Before, you were stoic, and only the people who understood you figured out what you guys tried to do, but they would not raise their voice with excitement; they just kept to themselves.

Die: Yeah, I think there was that kind of feeling.

Hasegawa: Now you guys are aggressive and make assertions. You stir up the fans too. That way, people watching you guys can jump into your shows.

Die: I think last year made a huge impact on us. With the number of lives and situations; we had 3 domestic tours, 2 US tours, and 2 European tours, and went on a total of 7 tours. With the US, we had a headlining tour and a supporting-act tour with Deftones. Headlining tour allows you to have your own space, but with support, you’re touring along with Deftones, so there was a team effort involved. At first we were unable to fit in. A lot of American staffs told us stuff. “Why do you do stage shows like that? It’s not appealing.” Stuff like that. For them, having an appealing element is important. “Why aren’t you trying to attract the audience whey you guys are an opening act?” But we’re not that type of band. We’ve been doing our way of stage and because of that we are who we are now. And then they (American staff, etc) would say, “No, that’s not what I mean. Don’t you guys have any MC?” Or “You only look down when you play your guitar; you’re not stirring up the audience at all.” People told these things to us the entire time. We had a discussion within the band, and rather than having any conclusion, each of us changed naturally. Our shows were completely different when you compare the beginning and the end of the Deftones tour.

Hasegawa: That’s not an experience everyone has. It must have influenced you in some ways?

Die: I think we need to have a bigger view. Not “as Japanese” or “because we’re Japanese,” but be who we are no matter where we go.

Hasegawa: By having this experience, you no longer have any adoration for overseas, and you don’t have any border lines right?

Die: Is it? I want to be able to show our stage and communicate in English when I go there.

Hasegawa: Did confidence root in to you unconsciously?

Die: Well~ not really confidence. The mode is different for song-making and recording. I constantly have a sense of “this is seriously not good” when I can’t come up with anything.

Hasegawa: How do you overcome self-resentment?

Die: You have to look at yourself broadly. When you look with a bigger view, some things become trivial. If you feel negative about yourself, it’s a small matter. If you think about life, you want to have a good one. In life, negativity is merely a page. It’s all right to have that page within life. In the end, you should be able to think, “I had a good life” before you die. This age and this time are trifling matters. There’s no need to feel extremely distressed. So if you look at yourself in a broad perspective, then it’s really nothing urgent. But you need to work hard moment to moment, or else you won’t be able to have good life ultimately.

Hasegawa: That’s life philosophy right there. By the way Die-chan, you lost weight. Why?

Die: From this year up to the tour on May, I wanted to have a strenuous time over something. I wanted to do something I determined until I got up on stage. I wanted to be on stage after feeling pressured.

Hasegawa: Sort of like a votive?

Die: Yep. It could have been anything, but I kind of decided of getting rid of all my body fat (laugh).

Hasegawa: Why did you want to pressure yourself?

Die: Last year it was good to have many shows, but when we weren’t doing shows, we became really slack. I felt like being on stage was a given, but I knew that was not the way to think. There should be more depth for each live, each time we get up on stage. So I needed to pressure myself so that I motivate myself to make me yearn to go on stage. I actually wanted to improve my English, and that would have been better, but I’ll start on that once I finish making the album. So I really didn’t need to lose weight (laugh). I’ve witnessed the extreme too. I calculated calories, so during April, I didn’t eat any rice, but you really need sugar for your brain to work. I guess for Japanese, rice is necessary.

Hasegawa: You sound like Hadaka no taisho (note: Originally refers to Kiyoshi Yamashita, a painter. Film and drama series were made based on his life) saying you like to eat rice balls (laugh).

Die: It’s true though. But when you write US in Japanese characters it’s ?? (“rice” and “country”). Why is their main food bread (laugh)? Isn’t it the country of rice?

Hasegawa: If you complain like that I think many bands would envy you.

Die: Would they? Lately many bands go overseas expectedly. But there aren’t too many people who witnessed the actual site. It’s really different from your imagination; we’ve received direct reactions. People would throw stuff at you and I think, “Wow, after doing this many lives we’re still not good enough.” People would throw crushed beer cans with ends sharpened, which fly into our stage, and we once had rocks thrown at us too. That was the time when we were at festivals. It was like that 2 years ago when we attended Rock am Ring where Korn, Deftones, and Guns and Roses were on the same stage. If we would try a medium-tempo song, a lot of stuff would get thrown onto the stage. And it was the World Cup period so these small soccer balls flew in (laugh). You can throw as many as you want; it won’t hurt or scratch me (laugh). When you’re with bands that have travelled around the world, there are many reactions. So you shouldn’t be swayed just because you toured once or twice in the US and Europe.

Hasegawa: Ah, so you shouldn’t call yourself to be “going international” at this level?

Die: I wouldn’t really call it “going international” though (laugh). But I think that experience is very interesting. When you’re shot down, it actually becomes a motivation. This happened when we’ve been together for 10 years, so it felt like we can climb further together as a band.

Hasegawa: You had this ridiculous amount of energy emerging like you did back in your debut?

Die: Yep, yep. You’re able to go without having any fear. I think that’s really important. You record, release an album, and go on tour; when this becomes a rotation, it’s difficult to maintain motivation. Your passion begins to disappear. You begin to wonder whether it’s right to repeat this process every year. We were about to go into that phase, but were given a place to feel inspiration, and the band was able to solidify again. I think 2006 to 2007 was really energetic. We also were able to accomplish many things. You need to have rough times.

Hasegawa: Once you finish recording that would start again?

Die: Yes. The album after the one we’re making now is going to be way ahead. I think this means we’ll be doing a lot of shows. It’s coming up.

Hasegawa: How are you like when you’re on stage?

Die: I can’t understand myself either; when I’m doing a live, I become so energized. I think that’s really natural for me. I want to play guitar in high spirits to the point where I’m about to lose control. I don’t want to be calm on stage. From the beginning, I want to feel carried away. I want to listen what’s around me and get on top, and lose control; this is what I enjoy these days.

Hasegawa: You awaken from your own sounds?

Die: Yes, yes.

Hasegawa: Did your votive bring changes during your tour in May?

Die: It was completely different. I felt joy to be able to go up on stage. It’s been a while since I felt that way. It actually felt refreshing.

Hasegawa: Did your aesthesia sharpen?

Die: I guess so. And I also had this feeling of “I’m at my place.” There’s the audience, the SE begins, and once I was at my position, I felt like “This is the atmosphere. I’m finally here.” But then, a fan said, “Die-san you look languished; and sent sugar rice (note: snack?) to me as a present (laugh). I’m fine you know. .. Well, shouldn’t we start drinking the issho bottle (note: This is a glass bottle measurement. It’s equivalent to 1.8 liters/.476 gallons)? Let’s drink Kirishima.

You’re finally drinking Kirishima Die-chan? And you’re drinking it rock too. You’re drinking shochu like water, and the issho bottle is about to be empty. We’ve been drinking and being drunk for three and a half hours. You said you were all right, but I don’t think that’s the case. He (Die) kept shaking my hands and I thought my fingerprints were going to disappear. Afterwards, I left the restaurant.

Dr. Nemunemu no Daigyakusyu

This month’s Dr. Nemunemu has begun. Right now, I’m in the midst of recording the new album. One day, our studio was very close to Tokyo tower. Dr. Nemunemu visited Tokyo tower when he was 9 years old when he went on a family vacation; that was the first time. Later on, when he was 18, he went there for some magazine series. As people who live near Mount Fuji never climb the mountain, when you live in Tokyo, you don’t want to go to Tokyo tower. However, Tokyo tower has Noppon, mascot characters that have two brothers. They are twin brothers where the older brother wears a blue clothes and the younger one wears red clothes; and the older brother is showing very good character. I would like to quote from Tokyo tower’s message board how this character is.

I went to Disneyland. Many characters were popular. Will Noppon plan to join them in the future?

Noppon: If the charismatic mouse pleads me to join, I will.

Last week, I went to Tokyo tower for my birthday by myself. I was happy to see the older Noppon brother doing a celebration dance. I think I’ll come again alone next year. Older Noppon brother, thank you!

Noppon: Bring someone along with you next year…

So, this older Noppon brother makes these comments that are unlikely of an official Tokyo tower mascot.

Dr. Nemunemu was intrigued by Noppon for a while, so as a topic for my corner, I decided to search for Noppon. I first decided to buy tickets to go to the observatory, but since it was a Sunday, there was a long line. My high spirit fell immediately. I was about to leave when I could care less about Noppon until I saw this poster.

You can actually visit Noppon if you go to Foot town on the first floor. I decided to go there right away, and there he was! The younger Noppon brother! I didn’t expect to find him so easily, and I thought this would end my corner quickly this time, and began to look for older Noppon brother. However, he is nowhere to be found. I asked the person at the information center, but they didn’t know where he was. We looked for him on the other floors of Foot town. He is not found. The staff cameraman K-san had a laptop, so I asked him to go online and go into Tokyo tower’s message board and typed in, “We came here just to see you Noppon. Where are you?”

We waited for a while, but no response. Older Noppon brother is just as I expected. He ignored us.

While we were searching, on the fourth floor, I found a trick art gallery. Dr. Nemunemu loves trick art, so he went inside. Then, I found older Noppon brother!

When I looked closer, it was a trick art painted on the wall. I was tricked. But the trick art gallery was too small, and this was not enough. I need to go to a bigger gallery or else I won’t be satisfied.

Calming myself, I returned to the first floor of Foot town and thought that I needed to come back here and search for the older brother. In the end, I took a purikura (small photo stickers) that has Noppon inside the frame. As I was taking this photo by myself, outside the curtain, K-san was yelling, “The blue one is here!” I thought to myself, “really?” And when I went outside, the older Noppon brother appeared! He’s wearing weird clothes too.

I was glad to see the Noppon brothers.

Now, I would like to give my purikura to one person as a present. If you want it, please write your member number, address, name, age, phone number, and impression on Dr. Nemunemu’s Daigyakushyu corner (longer writings are advantageous), and send it to 106-0032 Tokyo-to Minato-ku Roppongi 4-8-6 Pacific Capital Plaza Building 6F ?aknot?Nemunemu present?. Last winner was No. 18355 Fumi Noguchi-san. Congratulations.

Dr. Nemunemu was not convinced with the size of the trick art gallery, so the next day, he went to a trick art gallery that was known for having may works; and headed for Takaoyama Trick Art Museum. I was very satisfied because there were so many works.

Satisfied, Nemunemu corner will now end. Let us meet again if we have a chance. Good-bye.

Aibiki no Mori

How are you? The newsletters proceed quickly, and we have released our 40th volume. Time indeed passes very quickly. And our 7th album Uroboros will be finished!! I want everyone to listen to this sound soon. I want as many people to listen to it. I am looking forward to it. Also, our tour will begin! This time, we will visit places we have never gone before, so I’m looking forward to them. I am willing to go to places where I’ve never been before. I want more people to watch our shows. We’ll be heading to the US and go into training! It’s intense, but there must be many things to gain. And once I digest everything, I would like to head to Osaka-jo Hall at the end of the year. I’m thinking to end 2008 in a great way. Thank you!!

#haiiro no ginka

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deantemjitanimation · 7 years ago

Text

Basic Character Rigging

In this task, I was asked to design a character which will be used to animate in After Effect.

First and foremost, I started this project by doing some quick sketches of character faces in my sketchbook. The inspiration behind my characters is the idea of simplicity. My style in designing characters is to have them with big round eyeball and black coloured eye. I personally think that this is the best way to showcase a character that can easily be manipulated to show different facial expressions. Once I have a general ideas of some of the characters and things I can think of around me, such as a pillow, ice cream or a rock. Basing on these objects, I wanted to bring them to life by giving it its character and personality. On a side note, some are based on my own imaginations of interpreted things that conclude of simple shapes.

Once finished with the sketches and finalising my ideas, I’ve decided that I will be going with the design number one. The reason is because I like the idea of transforming a rock into a character. However, the ice cream design was also another great option to go for, but as I mentioned earlier that I wanted to keep the simplicity and not go overboard as to what I was meant to do. Therefore, option number one will be the one to go for because of its simple shapes.

In Adobe Illustrator, I create a new A4 document (horizontal) to begin digitalising my character.

Tools that I’ve used:

Rounded Rectangle Tool

Pen Tool

Gradient Tool

Ellipse Tool

Rectangle Tool

Grain Texture

Shape Builder Tool

I started the project by using rounded rectangle tool to create the face shape, nose and eye brows. Following by creating eyeball and eye by using the ellipse tool. I the created the half circle by firstly create a full circle using the ellipse tool, I then get the rectangle tool to create a shape that will act as a cutter. I placed the rectangle shape in the centre of the circle and shift select both of the objects and select the shape building tool. I hold the alt key to click and remove objects

The mouth is created using the pen tool. To create the teeth for my character I select the mouth and using the short cut ‘Shift + D’ will allow me to change mode to draw inside. I then get the rectangle tool the create the shape of the teeth and placed it inside of the mouth.

The hair was a little complicated because not only there were moss on its head but there were some grass on it as well. To do this, I decided to create the moss and grass on a complete separate layers as to not confuse the whole process. I begin with the moss head by using the pen tool and accurately trying to make the hair/moss as smooth as possible; this also applies for the grass.

Grain effects was just my personal preferences as it doesn’t really need to be there but it does make the whole thing looked good.

The process to creating grain texture:

Step 1: Whether creating grain texture on nose eyes or backgrounds, you need to duplicate the object you’re trying to make the grains. Once duplicated, go to the left side menu and select the gradient tool.

Step 2: Once the object have turned into a gradient colour, press ‘G’ to get the gradient tool again and now you can begin to decide where the grains will go. To do this, hold left click while dragging to a certain amount to show how much more darker or lighter you wanted on the shape.

Remember that the black colour will be where the grains is and the light area will be where the grains disappear.

Step 3: In the gradient menu on the right side, make sure that the white area opacity has been turned to 0%. This will mean that it will make the white area transparent as this is the most important steps if you wanted to have the grains while showing the colour of the object.

Step 4: Once you’re happy with everything, go to effect > texture > grain. Adjust the intensity and contrast as much as you wanted and click ‘OK’ when done.

Step 5: If the final grains is too contrast, you can adjust the whole grains opacity at the top. This will make the grain looks more natural to the object.

Final results:

It is important to work on a different layers because it allows you to have more control over your work instead of cramming everything into one layer. It is also a way to keep everything in order or tidy when you’re working on a large project with multiple layers. Therefore, I also have each layers for each of the body parts as this will be animated in After Effect. To keep everything tidy and in order, I named everything as it should be and numbering them so when transferring to After Effect, it will be in order.

Character rigging animation:

youtube

To make the character move correctly in After Effect, I make sure that body parts of the character is in order and in place. This way it is easy for me to recognise a certain layers. Moreover, it is also the usage of easy ease which allows me to make the whole animation smooth.

My ideas for this animation started of with a bored looking rock, the rock is alone in the dark wilderness, when a red ball approaches by bounces and hit the bored-looking-rock. It made the rock angry and confused which makes him turn his eyes to right side, then back to the left again to give it few more glares that he’s not happy. The ball decided to suddenly go because it is not welcomed here which he bounces up multiple times to get momentum and sprung out to the left. It makes the rock sad because he didn’t have any intentions of making the ball go away and now, he’s feeling sad and had to be all alone again.

Background:

Character rigging with background:

youtube

I decided to add a background to my character rigging because it would make the animation more interesting. The background is created in Illustrator and the idea behind my background is based around the idea for my rock’s personality - he likes to spend time alone. Therefore, I created an environment for him which isolated him from the others by living in a deep forest.

I thought I should animate what I’ve learned in the past few lessons which is animating a ball. I then combined both the character rigging and animated ball together which would make a short story about the rock and a ball. I’ve also decided to add sound effects in because I wanted to try things differently rather than just a few expressions and a ball bouncing.

The three facial expressions has also been animated too. For instance, before the ball appear in the composition, the rock have a bored expression. Later when the ball hit him hard, the rock became angry to make up the 2nd facial expression. While the ball didn’t have the intention of making him angry, the ball decided to leave, which left the rock looking sad in the end. The overall animated features is straight forward as it’s just a matter of knowing where the anchor point is going to be placed.

Animating is difficult especially animating the character features. It is likely that we’d end up spending hours trying to get the features look natural and correct. Moreover, you’d also have to consider where to place the keyframe and the timing between each keyframe. For instance, in a certain parts of the timeline, if the keyframe is placed further away from each other, the animation may look unnatural. Even for this animation of 11 seconds, I’d have to spend hours trying to get just a few facial expressions correct. It is a lot of hard work doing animation as you’d end up spending more time than you’d originally thought.

As you can see in the animation, I have used squash and stretch in various of places. For instance, the animated ball and the eye lid. The squash and stretch is applied in both of these areas to make them look more natural but also exaggerated in certain parts.

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baast2 · 7 years ago

Text

VIDEO NOTES: Two Truths & a Lie (for grad show)

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the beginning of an ongoing collection of audio visual works.

segments/chapters so far

Karaoke (title sequence)/It is a privilege to suffer for you

Happy Birthday

AWOL

Ocean Hymns

Storytelling

The Celebrity

This video is a large portion of this work on a whole, if I were to exhibit the entirety of my works created throughout this process it would be featured, ideally in a cinema room.

I will post a link to the video later on, but for now I will document the reasoning behind and explain the different chapters/segments.

Karaoke [00:00 - 02:35]

When thinking about who tells a story, how a story is passed down and retold by different people, who is telling it and to whom, you think about how the story is warped and distorted by this persons version of history. This is my retelling of a story told to me by my mother about my Nonno’s only written song. ‘It is a privilege to suffer for you’ was written by my Nonno Mario 2 months before he died. My mother was 21 when he handed her a note on her birthday stipulating his premonition of death. He ruined her birthday with his speech of prophecy and died 4 months later. My mother kept the song and showed it to me. I was thinking about language and how translations can obscure meaning and change meaning all together. I quickly google translated it and wrote down the translation, I including 2 lines gesturing at the story she had told me of her birthday party “Here’s a letter to my youngest, and I’ll be with you soon” I did this to show my bias, my perspective on the story and how if i was the storyteller I could potentially tell a lie that would make a new story. The google translate is clunky and you can here me reacting words and sentences that make enough sense, but not quite. This is to demonstrate the language breakdown. I have included the original text from his song as karaoke style subtitles, unless you can read Italian - you would assume I was singing it in english , word for word. The song was a one take improv over the backing to Mario’s favourite opera, as sung by Mario Lanza ‘Che Bella Cosa’. My voice is shaky and vulnerable and I with the weight of the story I think it suits it well. This is quite a layered and subtle piece, the photo with the title sequence is from my only trip to Vasto - the city my family grew up in. A view over the Adriatic sea, water is a common theme in this work and it seemed only fitting. Plus it has the aesthetic quality of an old movie - and old movie perhaps Mario Lanza would have starred in.

Happy Birthday [02:35 - 03:01]

This video collage is overlapping with the opera from Karaoke segment, the happy birthday song of my second birthday video footage syncs melodically and seamlessly really - aside from the actual sound quality with the VHS hiss but I like that because its another layer of texture in the audio, not crisp, not of this time. I wanted to highlight the layering of generations and gesture. The link with music and singing. Mario and I are the only people on that side of the family that sing. A connection I did not realise. I made this video immediately after I recorded the improv singing for the first segment. pictured top left you can see me conducting this strange opera I just created, tired and consumed by the experience, via DV cam. Top right is a clip from my home videos, my 2nd birthday with my mother, godmother and cousin. I am again conducting. This video is also about gesture, in Italian culture, in my life and in singing and performance. The photo behind that video, on which you can only see legs and the fingertips of a hand, framing the home video footage - is Mario Lanza mid song, The picture below is Mario Scala singing at my aunties wedding and to the left of him is his original lyrics. This video overlaps all generations from Lanza to Mario to baby me and current day me, using all different technologies as texture, grainy photos scans, VHS cam, DV cam, HD computer screen capture.

AWOL [03:01 - 03:38]

This segment is abruptly added on the last sentence from my home video, my godmother says “wait, blaise” as I go to blow out the candles before my mum arrives with the camera. Maria Lanza holding a note in the crescendo of the chorus from Che Bella Cosa on loop with feedback from the tape machine used to record my Nonna’s interviews. The feedback increases marginally to created a sense of pressure and tension mounting to something but only subtly. It is a bit of an endurance test but I feel that it is compelling to get to the other side. I’ve included an animation of the WW2 Regia Marina, the emblem of the fleet my Nonna was enlisted to. He was a cook on one of the ships and ran away with another sailor. Another reference to water.

Ocean Hymns [03:38 - 05:58]

I googled the passage “it is a privilege to suffer for you” from Mario’s song to see if I could trace it back to a bible passage it was with the evangelical texts from the Phillippians 1:29 I found a reference within and took the lines, I took out the word Christ and replaced it with ‘him’, a reference to God and also to Mario, the idea of ‘the father’ someone who you had to obey, and be grateful for. I have always found this disturbing and coupled with the Cacophonograph’s warped melodies of a christian choir, I subtitled the singing with these lines. Of course the choir is not singing these lyrics, but they might as well be. The footage of the ocean rolling backwards and forwards is again a reference the sea, a place where Mario, myself and my mother all found solace. It is footage from a beach I used to go to as a child in Breamlea near Geelong. The snippets that can just be heard over the music is from the interview I conducted with mum, she is talking about his tyrannical nature and relationship to religion and violence.

Storytelling [05:58 - 08:29]

This part of the video is trying to highlight again the layering of storytelling and the different views and perspectives of a story and of a history. I am lip-syncing a few different stories I selected from my interview with mum. I chose to use VHS to record to timestamp it again in an era that isn’t present day, I fast forwarded and paused to create cuts and repetitions and blurs visually demonstrating distortion of the narrative. The story’s I selected are meant to show you a range of sides of Nonno and my mother’s experience. She laughs when she is telling certain parts, she scoffs, umm’s and ahh’s and goes off on tangents. It is revealed that Mario had an affair and that I have a half uncle, something I did not know until this interview. She tells of abuse and of fond memories. I completed this video over the course of a day and It was very emotional, by the end, I did not feel like myself I felt like a person between my mum and myself, a conduit, an iteration of my being. I watched the footage back and it doesn’t look like me. Perhaps a projection of an older cousin, I wore hoop earrings and a blue sweater and I seem older. The on and off sync of the video confirms that something is not right, and I have been told that even without that the video is compelling and unsettling to watch. Who’s story is it?

The Celebrity [8:29 - 09:09]

I end the video I believe, prematurely, this last segment I have cut together the parts between Mario Lanza performing, focussing on his awkward and uncomfortable facial expressions and hand gestures, these loops are a way to give the possible enigma a face, a personality, a body, it’s like he’s mulling over the whole of Mario Scala’s life, his own life. I think he looks sad, possibly drunk and the slow pan out of the video is a perfect way to calm the video down. The mystery is unravelling, the soundtrack is the audio from the wave footage, again linking back. This video is non linear, no matter the order in which the videos are placed. It is an exploration, a discovery, an expression.

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andrewrees-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Self-Publishing Report.

In this report, I will assess the book I created for the ‘Text and Image:

Illustration and Publishing’ project, and discuss the action and process taken

to make it. I will cover challenges and achievements found in its production,

and investigate other self-publishing artists and how their methods vary.

I began very loosely storyboarding the narrative; playing around with layout

and drawing a variety of possible scenes. I condensed the story I wanted to

tell, and then divided it among the 8 double-page spread pages. As these

scenes developed into more finite sketches, I had to consider the use of

strong body language; as the drawing method I wanted to use wouldn’t show

and facial features or much detail. I ended up drawing a second refined

storyboard after, which would be to scale of the actual publication I made;

showing more accurate body language.

To begin constructing my book, I went out and collected various rubbings of

harsh and deteriorated surfaces around Norwich. I used a mix of chalk,

charcoal and oil pastels to achieve different marks and colours. I used quite

thin sheets of paper throughout, to make sure the detail was being picked up

by my mediums. The process was very messy; as the chalk and pastel I used

would go all over myself and affect the other sheets I placed them with. I

made myself move frequently from spot to spot; taking rubbings from one

place then moving on; without being precious about each print.

To turn the rubbings into characters, I would trace the outlines of them from

my final (to-scale) storyboard, turn the rubbings over onto the clean side; and

draw the reverse of the trace onto it. Using a scalpel and scissors, I then cut

each character and object out by hand. The backgrounds were made by

loosely and quickly dabbing watercolour onto fine grain, heavyweight paper

with a thin brush; and I then created staining by drying them quickly with a hair

dryer. Before gluing rubbings to the background, I used hairspray on them to

lessen the risk of smudging. I then glued the backs of each page together and

added the book cover.

I found it very challenging to cut out detailed shapes and features by hand;

and I know that a lot of detail and expression was lost due to the form of some

characters. I also, despite my efforts of using hairspray on the rubbings,

experienced a lot of smudging onto the backgrounds. I think the process

would’ve been much more efficient if I had used photoshop to shape and edit

the characters, and then compose the book on in design to print. This

would’ve made it easier to edit the form of characters, and removed the risk of

accidental mess. It would’ve also given me more binding options; as I was

limited by sticking my rubbings down onto flat double page spreads to reduce

creases and bubbles under the paper.

After questioning my methods of production, I decided to study some artists

who self-publish. Jeffrey Alan Love, an award-winning writer and illustrator,

who published his own book “Notes from the Shadow City”. He’s often

commissioned to create cover art for books too; and shared a detailed

walkthrough of his process when creating the art for Yoon Ha Lee’s book,

Combustion Hour.

After reading the source material a few times, he sketches his drawing on

computer. He avoids using pencil at this point, to avoid concern of line work

and drawing. “I focus on value, shape, and edge, and smearing digital pixels

around is like playing in mud for me. I’m not attached to it, so I feel

comfortable distorting, overpainting, destroying, and experimenting

(Love.2014).” Once he’s happy with the form, he prints it off and traces it onto

a piece of Masonite hardboard, which has been gessoed. After painting a

black base layer of his forms, he then applies colour and texture using a

variety of tools; such as pallet knives and paint rollers. He also uses tracing

paper to cut out detailed shapes, then paints over them. His discovery of new

textures is very trial and error; but he just goes with it, saying “I try not to

control what happens at this stage, but just let as many happy accidents (and

unhappy ones) happen. Chaos first, and then I can edit it later…(Love.2014)”.

He then photographs the piece, and edits it in Photoshop; where he makes

custom brushes, and perfects the image.

This account of how he created this piece has given me a great insight into

how he created his publication. I value how he started working; thinking about

form, shape and edge. I can relate with the trial by error mind set; as I was

very much ‘letting the chaos happen then editing it later’. I think computer

editing and composition would have made a much neater product, and

allowed me to create more dynamic characters.

Considering how I could have created my book on a computer instead of by

hand made me think about how it would have been printed. The main qualities

of my book are its bold textures and interesting surfaces, which could easily

be lost in printing. I found a London based printing studio called Hato Press,

who specialise in Risograph Printing. Formed by students, the company

provide affordable printing services to students and independent artists. Hato

Press receive artwork in PDF form, where it is proof checked and made into a

template. The process of printing is similar to screen printing; and each image

must be made as a separate greyscale layer. The original image file is sent

into the machine and it’s burnt onto a master; which is then wrapped around a

print drum. This drum then rotates and pushes ink through the screen and

onto paper as it’s sent through the machine. The outcomes are varied from

each print, and there is a lot of experimentation involved. After printed, they

also offer various forms of binding like saddle stitch, perfect bind, seam bind

and spiral bind.

There are several drawbacks to this process, as they can only offer around

20 colours and cannot print on glossy or silk papers. They also warn that large

areas of block colour will not print evenly and heavy inking with more than 2

colours can leave track marks. Despite this, I like the look of the prints they

make. They create bold colours with interesting textures, and using uncoated

paper could provide the same interesting surface I wanted my rubbing-filled

book to have. Not only would this service make my publication easier to

produce in bulk, but the unique prints, interesting textures and variety of

uncoated papers available could have done my work justice.

Referencing.

Tor, (2014) Creating the Artwork for Yoon Ha Lee’s “Combustion Hour” [Internet] Available from: <http://www.tor.com/2014/04/10/creating-the-artwork-for-yoon-ha-lees-combustion-hour/#more-122294> [Accessed 11th May 2017]

Love, J.A, (2014) Artwork for Yoon Ha Lee’s “Combustion Hour” [Online image] Available from: <http://www.tor.com/2014/04/10/creating-the-artwork-for-yoon-ha-lees-combustion-hour/#more-122294> [Accessed 11th May 2017]

Hato Press, (2009) Printing [Internet] Available from: <http://hatopress.net/printing/> [Accessed 11th May 2017]

Hato Press, (2009) Printing – Basics [Online Image] Available from: <http://hatopress.net/printing/> [Accessed 11th May 2017]

Bibliography.

Flesk Publications, (2017) Notes from the Shadowed City by Jeffrey Alan Love [Internet] Available from: <http://fleskpublications.com/flesksite/index.php?route=product/product&path=18_98&product_id=177> Accessed 11th May 2017.

Hato Press, (2009) Hato Press – London based Risograph printer and publishing house [Internet] Available from: <http://hatopress.net/> Accessed 11th May 2017.

Hato Press, (2009) Printing [Internet] Available from: <http://hatopress.net/printing/> Accessed 11th May 2017.

Hato Press, (2009) Printing – Basics [Online Image] Available from: <http://hatopress.net/printing/> Accessed 11th May 2017.

Love, J.A, (2017) Jeffrey Alan Love [internet] Available from: <https://www.jeffreyalanlove.com/> Accessed on 11th May 2017.

Spectrum, (2017) Notes from the Shadowed City Promo Video [Internet video] Available from: <http://spectrumfantasticart.com/video.php> Accessed 11th May 2017.

Tor, (2014) Revealing the Covers for Andy Remic’s Song for No Man’s Land Trilogy [Internet] Available from: <http://www.tor.com/author/jeffrey-alan-love/> Accessed 11th May 2017.

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chazrizart-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Chris Howker

This is the final portfolio review I’ve got to write up. [Thank God] and boy is it a long one. A word of warning this is going to be VERY long. I’m not kidding so I’ll put it under the cut. Chris sent me a super long and in-depth email that he felt really bad about sending because it was so long but it gave me 4 pages of notes that contained fair and insightful comments about my portfolio that have definitely helped me to structure my portfolio. I was like a kid in a sweetshop picking through all the information he gave me, it was like analysing research all over again. [Wow I just read that back and realised how sad that sounded. I might need to revaluate my life.] But anyway here is the concise notes from that e-mail.

Craft Beer Hint

>Show evidence of this in my portfolio. [When I’d sent this I didn’t have any in there, but now I do.]

>Think about designing the back too because sometimes I won’t have to option not to.

>Show what I’ve created so far. If I’ve not done it why? [Because when I’d sent out the email I had just had the idea and nothing to show for it.]

>Have fun setting your own brief. Don’t bother waiting for a company to give you a brief. [I did have a load of fun making my own brief and company, thinking up a pun for the name of the brewery was the best bit.]

>Find a bit on a niche with it. [Again I did my designing my label characters based off my research project/ dissertation thing.]

>Think about the possible design limitations the company could throw at you. For example, the labels can only be square/ oval/ rectangle or only in two colours.

>The fact that it’s not a real company I’m designing for means I’ve got more room to have fun with what I make. It’ll show that I’ve had fun with the project and that I’ve enjoyed it. It also means that I won’t have to make an inane list of changes that the client has requested back and forth. [Whoo!!]

Folio Vibe

>What it actually says is that I like animation or possibly computer game concept art. There is no harm in sending work to animation studios- there’s enough of them in Manchester if I wanted to stay local [Toooooooown!!] but don’t limit yourself to just looking at design studios like he did just because a graphic designer might need a character designing.

>Turnarounds are ideal for animation- it’s the important bit that the whole design team works from.

>Props and backgrounds are scaled around the character designs and have a huge impact on the overall style of the animation. My Post-it note monsters look like animators doodles since that’s what they do on their breaks to get back into physical drawing when not on the computer.

>Maybe I already (subconsciously) know where to start looking towards after uni? But do I really want to give off the vibe of designing characters?

Folio Design

>White background always works because it’s clean, however my turnarounds still look cramped so I should give them space to breathe. (E.g- Ink Warrior and Shadow Mage- are they the same character in two different forms? [Yes.] The squashing up reads as if they’re the stages of a character’s progression [It’s more of a regression if I’m honest.] but bits also pass over one another which hides important bits. Spread them out and put the guide lines on. Add Front, side, 1/8, 3/4 and backwards facing variations so at a glance art directors can see that you’ve put care into it and to make sure the turnaround is accurate use the full page!) [I just took this one out because it was no longer relevant.]

>Add more information to the bottom of the page, where is stuff from? [Most of my turnarounds were done when I was still doing the Trading Card Project so in order to not waste time by spending 3ish weeks on one full turnaround of one character like last term, I limited it to three views to save time because I had a lot of characters to get through. That’s also why I didn’t really mention where they were from because I’m no longer doing that project so they just didn’t have a home and to put ‘unused’ or ‘rejected’ on them wouldn’t be very professional now would it?]

>Maybe don’t put the materials used unless you really want to stress it.

>Post-it Notes don’t look like Post-it notes, photograph them in their raw state to get a better feel for them. [Or option two is to just take them out there and them like I did.]

>Front cover, Drop the titles, people are thick but they’re not that thick. [This is about my information page, I’ve done this though so it’s all good.]

Folio Work

>Start drawing with a tablet! [I’ve started doing this actually, I was originally put off because my overlay lines over my sketch layer looked wobbly and awful but I’ve recently found the stabiliser thing and everything is alright now, all my lines are as smooth as a wee baby’s butt now. More digital work definitely!]

>He liked the negative space the biro Post-it note monsters give off and the textures on my Plague Doctor work really well giving it a dirty almost magical feel to it. [Literally reading that made my dark heart grow like three sizes that day, I was so happy words don’t describe how I felt at that moment.]

>50% grey is good for backgrounds because it’s nice and neutral.

>Do more character designs with varying height differences (head heights.) Exaggerate shapes and push things to the extreme before dialling it back to the finished product.

>Treat facial expression sheets like they’re turnarounds and put guidelines on to make sure they’re accurate and add up.

>Do life drawing, different shapes and poses!

>Having a standard turnaround is needed but give them dynamic poses to add context as you ask what they’re for. A game? A cartoon? Make an action sequence of like one or two characters so the viewer gets an idea of what they’re like i.e body language and personality.

>Maybe try lino cutting/ wood printing with the Post-it note monster look.

Masters vs. Beer

>These are two wildly different things. He only commented on what he knows so I’ve filled in some of the blanks.

>Continuing with education is a great idea, but is a Masters really what you need to do your dream job with illustration/ art and design? [Yes. I intend to do an MRes (Masters by Research) which is more essay based than a traditional art Masters. This is because my essay writing is the only thing pulling me through the course and is my strongest skill whereas my practise isn’t. Which is weird considering I’m doing an art degree. I really want to lecture in Universities and focus on the Contextual side of art rather than the practical side. 30,000 words here I come!] Do I have an answer for when someone questions me on my life choices? [See above for the career options, anything else I’m still working on. I really like the idea of looking into the knowledge and feeding it back through teaching like Chris mentioned when giving a sample answer to his question. I really like Binaries and how they work within aspects of popular culture like Narratives, Movies and Games as each stems into each other. It’s just really interesting okay.]

Craft Beer Labels:

>They’re very popular, but there isn’t really anyone who makes a career out of it.

>Breweries might hire one illustrator for one label but not the others.

>If you’re a freelance illustrator you sadly don’t get to pick and choose what work clients give you. He’s taken on jobs which will never see the light of say within his portfolio because they’re not relevant to his career path. [In all honesty I don’t want to be an illustrator when I’m grown up, I just want to read/ maybe write books fiction/ non-fiction and doodle a bit.]

Finishing Uni is when you actually start learning, the course doesn’t teach you how clients will act nor what they will expect from you. There’s very few full time illustration positions available unless you’re very lucky. You won’t immediately get a job out of uni and staying motivated during that time is a killer because there are no tutors or class to motivate you, find some way to recreate that feeling either with renting a studio space, arranging occasional social meet-ups with friends but also attending events like Draw North West.

#chazrizart makes word #e-mail portfolio review #Chris Howker portfolio review #wow this is really long i'm sorry #i'm sick of typing now #final portfolio review #thank the God's its over #no more please

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symbianosgames · 8 years ago

Link

Jason: As someone who loves to light, I am excited by this new tech and look forward to seeing it evolve over the next year or so. Not having spent a significant amount of time in this limits first hand experience, but the small amount thus far is encouraging. With any new software, tech or approach comes the learning curve. This is accompanied by a rigid physically based boundary that can be hard to break out of when trying to explore.

The long term challenge: Can we use that perfect scanned data simply as a base and springboard to a variant of that texture, while still maintaining all the physical based accuracy and detail from the scan? On top of all that...can we get the varied look that our games need?

- Twitter user Ara Carrasco asked:

What's the most important aspect of art direction for you?good lighting, good modelling & texturing...?

Jason: Practically speaking, I usually say lighting as it can alter the mood/tone of a scene with a simple dawning of the light. Theoretically speaking, I would say tonal cohesion between what the game/film/movie is trying to represent with what the art is trying to communicate.

Andrew: I'd have to say that it's the name for me. "Direction". I really like the word. I think we forget what it means sometimes behind the semantics of a job description, but directing for me is about asking the right questions rather the giving the right answers. I'm constantly amazed by how inventively creative people can solve a problem that you put in front of them. And as long as you are providing them with the right bounds and goals you get something that evolves way beyond what you could have initially anticipated. Power amplification is the name of the game. It sure is a lot of work to prevent things from going in diametrically opposite directions but to me it feels like if the artists have the room to roam within the bounds of the fictional worlds that they are creating the vision and direction get amplified tenfold providing for really rich and exciting experiences.

Greg: I would have to say that the most important part of Art Direction is the presentation. Establishing where the camera is and how the game is going to be experienced by the player is paramount to me. This is where the picture as a whole comes into focus. It allows you to concept and design elements at an appropriate detail level. In a lot of ways figuring out the presentation gives you the edges of your canvas. It is the boundary that you create the picture in. From there everything else flows.

Brian: Answer: I always start with the big picture, for environments it's Composition, Lighting, Motion and Context (What is the story of the environment) For characters, Silhouette and Motion.

Denis: That's a tough one there is so much to it. If I'd had to pick, I probably go with good communication and keeping your team motivated. Communication is key to optimize and limit iteration cycles. For that to happen it has to be a two sided dialogue, so you as AD can take in feedback and act according to it. For me personally the artistic decision making often happens during discussions with my team and I just make sure I follow through with it and keep people on track.

Motivation is essential for me because it keeps the team engaged and they will push for the best possible result, sometimes way beyond what was initially asked of them.

Both of these points in the end have direct impact on productivity, quality and efficiency - hey I'm German after all ;P

- Twitter user Evan asked:

How do you balance advanced and detail visuals supported by modern consoles with practical design that supports gameplay? As in, keep clear indicators for the players while looking natural and not contrived for gameplay purposes at the same time?

Brian: It's always a conversation about goals. On Tomb Raider we always tried to create believable worlds that the player instinctivly understood what was interactive or where they were supposed to go. We use "Visual Language" to help guide the player with consistent visual cues. We mark climbable ledges with white paint, rope coils are always used to indicate where a rope arrow can go, bright pocked walls indicated axe climb surfaces and specifically cracked walls indicated places you could open with your axe. We protect these patterns in the game so the player always knows how to interact when these examples of visual language show up in the game.

Greg: In a game like XCOM there are many design requirements that effect the art. It is beneficial to try and identify what needs to be communicated by design early so that visual opportunities are more easily identified. Being a turned based game can be seen as a huge challenge to immersion, but we saw this as one of our opportunities. The camera in XCOM is a great example of this since it can literally be anywhere while you are playing. By changing the camera we can reinforce the design mechanics and provide a tension that is difficult to convey from a more three quarter view. However, the camera changes also provide some real art challenges. We needed to make assets that read clearly from the top down view as well as in a close up cinematic camera. This led us to the initial art direction of XCOM: Enemy Unknown that focused on a “miniatures” look with slightly exaggerated forms and more chunky geometry. We didn’t want have the details be so small for the close up cameras that they would dance or shimmer from the default gameplay camera. On the flip side we couldn’t make things so chunky that they destroyed the immersion when the camera dropped down. We spent a lot of time initially balancing these issues and setting very clear modeling and texturing rules.

Andrew: Design dependencies are always a tricky subject. Confused or frustrated players can't enjoy the game so keeping them happy and their goals clear is a big part of art production. For us it's a constant back and forth. At the very beginning of a project we would iterate with design on gameplay relevant art elements to make sure we can produce art around it that integrates with it nicely. We always want to make sure not to muddy up our language. Exceptions are dangerous and confusing to the player. False positives are also a thing we have to look out for a lot especially in games like Uncharted where it's so easy to create a traversible path somewhere we don't actually want the players to go.

Sounds trivial but it's also incredibly valuable to have artists constantly play their levels. It's something that's easy to loose sight of in the heat of production.

And if all else fails it's time to break out the bird poop and yellow paint ;)

- Twitter user Will T Atkers asked:

About how long does it take for a main character to go from concept to final phase?

Andrew: Depends. I'm a strong proponent of getting something in the game as soon as possible, no matter how rough. But from then till someone rips the gold master from out of your sweaty sleep deprived hands it's continuous iteration and polish all the way. It's one of those art is never finished answers. It's important to note that it's easy to reach diminishing returns when you iterate for a very long time. And it's on you to plan and prioritize accordingly. The Pareto principle is a good example of how it usually breaks down: 80% of the work usually takes 20% of the time and the last 20% take the other 80% of time. The last percent come painfully slow, but they also provide most opportunity to grow. Taking something from 0 to 80% awesome is a relatively common skill, but the difference of 1% between 97% and 98% is almost infinitely more valuable. It is literally the "cutting edge" and sometimes takes weeks or months of work to get to.

Jason: In truth, I’ll say about 1 year. This is strictly for a front and center character like Delsin. I’ll try to break it down…

First is creative direction needs. What is the purpose of this character? What kind of attitude will they be exhibiting in the game? What kind of arc will this person have? Do they have a disarming or aggressive sensibility? All of these conversations happen before we throw down any concept art.

Next we hit up concept and begin to sketch things out. Essentially, this process is fairly iterative with our creative direction team until we’re all in a good spot. One unique thing here I have experienced has been a found footage video concept or ‘personality rip-o-matic’.

Then a fork happens.

On one road, the character team takes this into pre-production to build an in-game proxy model. The goal is to check movement, scale, and begin to work out the sass of the character through prelim animations. How do they run? How do they jump? What does this person do when in idle? What does the shape at a low poly look/feel like?

On the other road, we begin CASTING. Since we use scans and full performance capture, this is very important process to our hero character model pipeline. The creative direction team creates a character description (2 page max) document of our hero. This usually entails basic details like sex, height, weight, and age. Then the remainder of the document explains this person’s motivations, goals, flaws, potential arcs, and habits. Then we audition a ton of people in hopes that we find someone that can not only bring out the attitude we’re hoping to get, but also have a likeness that is in-line with our visual goals. In the case of Delsin, Troy Baker fit the bill nicely.

After we cast an actor, we begin the scanning process. Full body and facial expressions are scanned and sent back to our team. Our concept and character team will work with the body scan to make any edits that are needed to fit our hero; shorter, taller, thicker, etc. We take these measurements and send them to a fashion designer who makes patterns to use in Marvelous Designer. Now these two roads have largely converged and we’re onto the next steps.

From here its fairly straight forward. We create hi-poly models of our character based off concept art, bake down and replace our temp PROXY model. Then comes quality bar iteration through various scenarios. In the past we have 2 scenarios that drive the biggest feedback.

First, the in-game model must be awesome. Since inFAMOUS is a third person action game, the in-game model matters the most. Seeing them running around in the game world with good lighting performing polished versions of those proxy model animations usually highlights a few issues. Sometimes we can’t see them at night so we add better shape or increase value. Sometimes it’s simply “Delsin isn’t punk enough”, and we add some shiny flare on his vest.

Second, cutscenes will bring the personalities to life. Often cutscenes drive the high end quality bar for us. Unfortunately, cutscenes take a while to make and usually come fairly late in the game. This is where we iterate on our character specific tech like eyes, skin shading, clothes and hair.

In short, it’s a lengthy process for Hero characters. I wouldn’t be lying if I said a year… We spend a lot of time ensuring our main character is tonally sound in the marriage between Art Direction and Creative Direction. For a second tier character we are looking at 2 or so months.

Brian: Depending on the character, it varies. Heroes usually take longer. Lara took a full year to develop for Tomb Raider 2013 because we were reinventing her. Generally for principal cast models, we spend 2-4 weeks in concept development, hand sculpted realistic characters take 2+ months (High poly, Low Poly bake, textures/materials/shaders) Blend shapes for facial animation and rigging takes another month. Total time 4 months. Secondary characters usually are created faster, 2 months from concept to finish. Scanning will change these metrics, but a lot more time is spent on preparation like casting, wardrobe, scanning, processing so a fully realistic character scan can get in game in about a month, but if you scan a bunch of bodies and heads at one time, the process is much faster.

Greg: The time that it takes to go from concept to final model depends on several factors. By working with concept and design the complexity of the character gets defined and the amount of articulation can impact the timeline for production significantly. Depending on how important of a role the character has will also dictate the time spent in concept. For us we typically can take about two weeks in concept for one of our aliens in XCOM, but that can really vary and it will stay in concept until we are happy with the direction. The modeling for something like an alien can take around 4 weeks on average. With procedural characters, like the soldiers in XCOM it is much more difficult to quantify the time. A lot of effort is put into developing the systems and how all the parts interact, as well as planning for armor upgrades and customization options. This is really a huge task and quite a bit different from a character that is more self-contained. Pipelines are also much less linear than just going from concept to model and there is a ton of overlap now. We typically have the modeler, animation and rigging team involved during the finalization of the concept. All of these disciplines are able to give input before we go into real production of a final character. Once we are happy at the concept level the model is blocked in and goes to rigging and animation. Feedback is compiled and applied to the model at this stage. The major point for us is that the model isn’t finished until it is in the game and moving.

- Twitter user Travis asked:

What can you do to keep a cohesive art direction between world assets and FX?

Denis: All my projects so far have been stylized and We went through heavy iteration to find the right style. One initials setups we did on my last project was a small art ready diorama. We made several versions of VFX to see how they'd fit. We also concepted some of the VFX which was helpful. But because of the abstract nature of effects I still consider them the hardest to iterate on. In the end it boiled down to try and error for us.

Combat FVX are a Beast of its own. They have a lot of requirements like damagetype, area of effect, faction/monster affiliation and on top it has to resonate really well with combat design, sound and animation.

Having so many pieces that have to collaborate on VFX you have to make sure that everyone knows what the goal is and where we are aiming artistically. Since constantly supervising this process is something you cant afford in production.

Greg: I don’t see these as separate things. The overall rules for the look of the game directly apply to the effects just like any other element in the game. Just like a prop in the environment, effects need to be developed in context and not in isolation. Any effect is an extension of the thing it is attached to, whether it enhances the environment or a character’s ability.

Brian: I always think of them together, FX and Lighting will make every environment come to life. It's important to ensure FX only dominate a location when they are the star, like being in a level that is on fire, or flooded, etc. But always ensure the style of FX matches the Art Direction of the Environment. Zelda is my favorite example of stylized FX that match and enhance the Art Direction.

Andrew: Agreed with the gents that this issue is not specific to FX. Maintaining vision and boundaries is crucial with any aspect of art direction. And encouraging people and departments to communicate and collaborate is the timeless challenge of any production. Getting people in the same room to talk and removing middlemen is always the best remedy in my experience.

Technically there are issues with having particles look integrated and leveraging environment data is always a big help. Making sure particles light consistently and accurately under environment lighting and don't need any shader hackery is a big one. Using environment data like surface color or material for the types of squibs or fx to play also add a lot to tying it all together. There are cool geo-based particle approaches coming up so having them integrate with the world should become even easier.

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