#and I’m a huge fan of when character designs evolve alongside character development

[rain-harmonia]

hi tumblr I am, as many people are, going fucking insane over the silly little vampire man. I was encouraged to post some thoughts I had about him so uh here you go!!

Pre-vampire Astarion had a different kind of style. Different color preferences, clothing, patterns, hair.

Game era Astarion got off the nautiloid like that - which means we can assume he got taken like that - which means we can assume that’s not a style he’s chosen himself but a visual identity he’s been forced into for 200 years that he hasn’t yet found the ability to change

Even when he kills Cazador. There’s not a Shadowheart-esque moment of changing his appearance to reflect his development even though his appearance can be tied even more to the trauma he’s trying to overcome than Shadowheart’s can

Because he’s spent so long not able to be his own person. Not allowed to find his own tastes. There isn’t some identity lurking beneath the facade, waiting to break forth. Cazador broke him down, hollowed him out, made sure there was nothing except what Cazador wanted him to be

So some time post-game.. it starts slowly. He changes his hairstyle first. His family (they are still alive, they’re elves, fight me about it) tries to lay out clothes for him that used to suit his tastes but he doesn’t feel right putting them on it. It’s not the same kind of performative that Cazador demanded from him, but it feels performative all the same. He goes shopping around, he strays from anything similar to what he would have worn during the Cazador era or during his lifetime. For a while it’s anything that catches his eye, trying out whatever he realizes he likes. Sometimes it ends up a little silly. But eventually he does settle into his preferences. Finally something uniquely him, who he’s become and what he’s decided to like.

The symbolic change of a character’s visual design, but it takes years, maybe even decades

[border-spam]

Does troy really have a split jaw or is that fanon?

It's total fanon!

The design of the split lines across his cheekbones and chin coupled with the cheek clips and v shaped hinge outline next to his ears lead to a lot of people coming to that same outcome, that there is something up with his mouth from a prosthetic/mod standpoint.

So much of his design is never mentioned once or referenced in any way (hightech spinal rig with tattoos under it, neuro connector, mech arm that's much older and doesn't seem related to the spine and neuroport, implants on bicep, face mod etc) that like Tyreen's scars and possible lower body Siren markings, fandom took over when it came to coming up with logical explanations for 'em.

This actually touches ground with some Ao3 comments I wanted to share as they are all Leech Lord compliant, so I'll list them here alongside links to the fics they were related to (note warnings!)

You leave no avenue for characterization unexplored. Troy's facial prostheses finally receiving backstory is amazing

- Maw (Gore/Bodyhorror)

I LOVE the idea of it being not just decorative shit on his face, but my MO for any content I make is always based around asking why, over and over, and trying to make sense of what material I'm using in the first place. The modded mouth is a popular piece of fanon but you know... why? Why would he do that shit to himself. WHY would he want to be grotesque, why would he be chasing the reaction people would have to it when canonically he seems to really not be interested in fan attention the same way Tyreen is, what's the difference to him between being adored as his persona or being lusted after as a monster, etc. I just love deep-diving into the logic behind character and world building? It's what adds meat to the bone for me.

Big 'ol character and worldbuilding / lore responses list under the cut -

He could afford better robots but these ones UNDERSTAND Ty, don't you get it?

- Good night in (tooth rotting fluff)

Hey just because it's mangled and broken, and can't perform its intended function to a degree expected of it by everyone around it... and it's got rusty sharp bits it accidentally hurts you with sometimes... and it's cranky but it doesn't mean it... and sometimes it errors out in a way that's mildly disturbing in a way you can't place.. uh.. doesn't mean you should just GIVE UP ON IT you know? He can fix them :) They will be fine :) No one should just throw away something that's trying so hard just because it's damaged... haha... :')

It's so hard seeing how much they tear each other down when they're the only thing they have left. And what a poor self-image Tyreen has beyond all that glitter and bluster...

- Wolf in sheep's clothing

The twins function well enough as a unit till tensions rise, and I was trying to seed in The Leech's influence on them in earlier work like this too - towards anyone else Ty would become MORE aggressively confident, more assured in her complete and utter dominance of the situation, her flawlessness, but against Troy who see's her for what she is, it turns inwards and eats at her instead of lashing outwards. He switches from relatively submissive around her to almost surgical levels of dissection, he knows exactly how to go for the jugular with words, and doesn't hold back. She's The Leech's mouth but he's its eyes and it's only when they lose control emotionally enough for it to claw to the surface of their psyches that you get an idea of how much it really affects them individually. GB had an absolute goldmine on their hands here of cosmic/body horror and the concept of toxic family when all you have is each other, there's so much to work with, and I figure it's a factor in why some people still really enjoy messing around with Calypso content.

I like how you allow Troy to be a disabled character, how his congenital defects and prosthetics colour his outlook and appear in ways big and small in all these vignettes. It's easy, I think, to see him as largely untroubled by his health apart from when he needs a charge from Tyreen in the game, but you allow him to struggle with his weakness.

- Chronic (Drug use)

I'm really glad to hear that's coming through in the writing because it's something I noticed a lot too. Very often when Troy, or other characters canonically disabled / chronically unwell are written it's "told" and not "shown". Chronic pain, illness, it's not something that is just a little tickbox in a life or some descriptive terms added to a character synopsis, it's something you live and deal with. There are bad days. There are times it is a negative that has to be worked around or faced in ways that aren't pleasant. It doesn't make you lesser or weak to have times where illness does leave you unable to function to a level you want to, it's not a failure for you to be unable to perform tasks when a disability or flair up means it's not viable. I feel personally that by showing scenes like this where his health and body issues do have a very visceral and impossible to ignore the effect on his ability to function, and going through his mental processes of dealing with and managing them, it brings the character across as stronger than if he never seemed to be shown dealing with symptoms or weaknesses. People are more than their disabilities and conditions, those aren't just kinda taglines to add onto a character's description and then never address. I feel like doing that in a way undermines what people deal with who manage chronic illness, pain, and who have disabilities that affect their daily lives negatively. Appreciating the effort it takes to manage them is important.

What I really like about these is that you can really understand as a reader how their dynamic must have evolved. How even before Leda's death Tyreen would have felt demonized while Troy got the attention because of his condition, because he was less willful.

- Starlight, Moonbright

Ah man, absolutely - and that shit stayed with them. It wasn't his fault and he never wanted it, but of course their parents would have had their extremely ill child at the forefront of their thoughts, especially during weeks when he was.. bad. Tyreen by nature even without The Leech's influence is a little attention seeker, she'd be the life of any party and she BLOSSOMS if she's got the spotlight, but as a little kid who's got literally no one but her parents and her brother, and who all three of which can't give her nearly as much time as she deserved? That's rough. That's really unfair. That coupled with The Leech's warping effect on their egos as they grew up and the bitterness and resentment they harbored in different ways created a reverse dynamic. She'd never be out of the Galaxy's attention again, and he'd have no choice but to take his rightful place in her shadow.

I love how you illustrate both how much more, and yet how much less Troy is now. How the blameless child, full of potential, is inextricably linked to the brutal, larger-than-life avatar he fashions.

- DeLeon ( Graphic Violence / Gore / Hallucinations)

He's molded the monster he is now out of the bones of the man he should have been - there's no going back really. There's nothing left to go back to. He broke Troy DeLeon apart to build the persona that acts like an iron lung now, suffocating him breath by breath while forcing him to still take them. That life is over, he killed it before it had a chance, but the idea of it is still there in his subconscious. Somewhere in the absolute trainwreck of Troy's brain is the tiny, flickering belief that maaaaaybe one day this will all be over and he can shuck off the bracer and spines, peel off all the shit he's covered his skin with, and just go back to not being Calypso. DeLeon here isn't some aspect of his mental state or his sins haunting him - it's The Leech, spitting venom at a host it loathes in something that's not sound or comprehensible language. His subconscious has just translated it into something it can understand - his greatest regret.

On if Borderlands Humans originated on Earth -

There's a really tenuous link between BL verse and rEarth, but it's there and can't be ignored. The cultures, accents, terminologies, so many are Earth specific despite these people being spread across galaxies, so hell yes - Earth as an emergence point makes total sense. The next question then, is why is it never mentioned - and you can cover for that with a lot of things like say, tt was so long ago that it's not relevant to anything that would ever be discussed, or it could be a mass evacuation from a catastrophe there is little record of now. I like to go with something along those lines, that the first human Siren host emergence on earth just absolutely decimated the planet. Like, we were doing fine till this random woman somewhere in the ass-end of nowhere develops weird markings overnight, then goes apocalyptic. The first Leech maybe, not understanding her powers and having them rip across continents in a spread of crackling electric death that only left husked shells of plants and animals in its wake, or the first Firehawk who went nuclear and burned the sky, or the first Voidgrasp who lost control and began to collapse the planet's core - some extreme shit that had humans fleeing en masse with barely any preparation and HUGE swathes of history and knowledge left behind. That would cover so many social things surviving into the BL verse, cultures, accents, cooking, that shit comes with us regardless of what we were able to throw into escape ships. Like so much data would be stored on any tech and data arrays within the vessels people would use to leave a dying planet even in an insane rush, but that shit waters down over time - if you're farming barely edible plants on some planet that smells like farts, are you really gonna be that stressed about teaching your kids history from a lost planet when your current concerns are not being eaten by something with 19 legs and 4 buttholes? Don't think so.

On if the other Siren entities are as influential to their hosts as The Leech -

I touch on it a wee bit throughout LL, but the others are FAR more passive and meld more to their host's whims. The Firehawk Siren wouldn't.. like.. care? If the host was burning down a planet or fighting off an evil corporation? They are removed from any nonsense happening on this side, they might not even really be able to tell, it's like asking an amoeba or a collection of sentient atomic particles what its opinion is on Brexit. That's not really its priority. The Leech is so aggressive in its control of the twins and desperation to drive them towards an outcome it desires only cause it's split, broken, removed from the song, and completely lost. We're talking a caged, half-mad animal removed from its natural environment and left totally isolated from its own kind for millennia. It's in pain, it's confused, it wants to find its way back to the song and the others and where it belongs, but it's stopped by a barrier it can't comprehend ( the twins and being ripped between them), so in its impotent rage it feeds back that hatred onto them. It's not really sentient in the way we would describe functional intelligence, but it wants, and craves, and FEELS. And it feels very, very angry.

Big thanks to @undergoingcalibrations for talking through so much of this with me!

Asks are Open!

[danwhobrowses]

Pokémon Direct 26th Feb 21 Thoughts (Happy Pokémon Day)

Happy Pokémon Day everyone! 25 Years since Red and Green hit stores and would change gaming for so many people.

Yesterday though, Pokémon dropped a special Direct revealing new info and titles, which compared to the Nintendo Direct and Playstation State of Play had a lot more hype towards it, at least for me. So I’m gonna run down the contents - a combination of stuff learned from the video and the website

Spoilers for the Direct below if you haven’t watched it yet

Part 1: Pokémon New Snap - New Information

More information about the New Snap game came up first, revealing that it’ll be releasing on 30th April and available for Pre-Order.

On top of throwing apples to encourage new behaviour, there is also the possibility to play tunes. Most unique though is the ‘Illumina Orb’, this item when thrown at Pokémon will cause a glowing aesthetic either on the Pokémon or any elements they may summon, the Illumina phenomenon seems to be a core part of the game’s story alongside getting the Photodex (each Pokémon having 1-4 Star photo slots).

You can also upload your photos via Switch Online, though that’s not really for me so I’ll probably just use an SD to transfer pics or something.

The characters include Professor Mirror (missed chance to use an adult Todd Snap), Phil - you seems to be your rival and Rita - who seems to be the tutorial guide character. The environment of some expeditions will vary by level as well so there will be cause for repeatability.

The New Snap is more of a ‘does what it says on the tin’ kinda game, you’re there to take photos. But the new stuff does look to entice players to play around with it all and see how good they can get out of the photos, it is definitely something that will live to expectations.

Part 2: Pokémon Day Commemorative Events

Afterwards we got some info on the events happening around today. Pokémon Café Mix is having a login promotion for Golden Acorns, Pokémon GO is doing Kanto Legendary raids and in Masters EX Leon is in the game with Charizard

For SwSh G-Max Pikachu is back until the 28th, there are chances for a Shiny. If 1 million are beaten you’ll also get 100 of Dynite and Armorite ore.

These Pikachu are not that easy though in Solo raiding, AI is usually awful but this Pikachu will know a combination of Surf, Disarming Voice, Volt Tackle (and a special G-Max variation that paralyzes Neighboring Pokémon), Discharge, Brick Break, Iron Tail and its usual spamming of either Nasty Plot or Double Team. So be careful of accuracy issues or your AI failing you...a lot

On top of this if you use  P25MUS1C as a code you’ll get a Pikachu that knows Sing.

Part 3: DP Remake

Years of People demanding and you got this. Perhaps a lesson to be constructive in criticism since the remakes have already drawn its own controversy for being different to the other games fans criticized and even boycotted for a short while.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl brings the old DS games to a new form with the same top-down camera from the games of old, blending an old-Final Fantasy and Animal Crossing-esque chibi type overworld character that has received mixed reviews and, along with the next part, comparisons with the Legend of Zelda series, particularly for this one Link’s Awakening.

Other than the new graphics, the trailers haven’t revealed any new content that is genuinely new to the series, but the website suggests ‘player-friendly conveniences’ which may help in reducing the grind. Of course, this is only the first taste, there still can be plenty more.

I must confess, but DP was always a bit of a Red-Headed Stepchild for me in terms of the series, I certainly didn’t hate it, I just felt like the main story lacked a bit. It could simply be because Cyrus’ story only really peaks for Platinum but most of it is due to the fact that I was able to get through the whole game within 24 hours of play. I am also in the party that’s not too thrilled about the chibi design, I had always feared that Pokémon Player and NPC models would fall into Mii territory and this does feel like a step in that direction, I also love customization (though male characters do not get as much choice) so it always feels a bit of a let down when we remove that. Also I think that the shaders could’ve been upped because you look at these 3D artworks and they are magnificent.

Also the names are a bit, uninspired. I mean we usually get dichotomy in the new names too: Fire and Leaf, Heart and Soul, Alpha and Omega, so going to Brilliant and Shining seems weird. What about Hope Diamond and Faith Pearl? Stone Diamond and Sea Pearl? Time Diamond and Space Pearl? I felt like there were more options.

On the positive side though, Underground is back with will be fun, maybe they’ll update bases too. They might add the Platinum stuff in there too, revamped Distortion World sounds cool, and I hope the Pokétch comes back, it was a handy tool especially the Day Care app

Part 4: Pokémon Legends - Arceus

Now this, is more like it.

Sticking with Sinnoh comes a prequel story of ancient times, where humans are only slowly settling into the region and the landscape is vast with free roaming Pokémon. The series takes its RPG-style deeper with the open world as players go on to complete the first ever Sinnoh Pokédex.

Battle or sneak up on Pokémon by using ancient steampunk-esque Pokéballs, this becomes a pure capturing adventure light but not completely devoid of being a ‘trainer’. No Elite 4 or Pokémon League, this is all about exploration leading all the way to Arceus.

Coming in 2022, the art and landscape is beautiful drawing parallels to Breath of the Wild, the UI is clean and simplistic and we get a new shift in our starters being different to the generation’s 3, instead you pick between Oshawott, Rowlet and Cyndaquil, but with sightings of Piplup in game you can be sure that the Sinnoh starters will be catchable.

The idea of going into the past is fresh for Pokémon fans, it’s something that looks very promising as a new recurring title for the series, the character design of old clan robes is also a nice touch. I do hope that future main series titles adopts this more open world environment and art style, the piano music is also very Ghibli esque which is a huge plus for me. I am keen to see how the journey develops as we go up to face god itself.

Part 5: Conclusion

The direct was good, even though there was stuff I’m not thrilled about it continues to reiterate my love for this series, which has been a core part of my life ever since getting a Game Boy Color & Pokémon Blue bundle for Christmas as a kid. I may still hold out on getting the DP remakes just yet but Snap and Legends will definitely be something I intend on buying, Pokémon continues to develop and evolve which has kept it going for 2 and a half decades, and I look forward to more evolutions to come.

[letterboxd]

The Circle of Live (Action).

“The effort here was to keep the filmmaking tradition. I think there’s a balance between innovation and tradition.” —The Lion King director Jon Favreau and cast chat with us about the visually stunning new Disney film.

Disney’s recent proclivity for making live-action films based on its animated classics reaches its technical zenith with Jon Favreau’s The Lion King (whose animated predecessor holds an impressive 4.3 out of 5 stars). Building on methods he first explored in the 2016 live-action version of The Jungle Book, Favreau has constructed a digital world comprised of the most photo-realistic animals ever rendered.

The irony is, of course, that although it’s often referred to as such, the new Lion King isn’t live action at all. Save for one individual shot, it was created entirely inside a computer. But you probably wouldn’t know that if the animals didn’t talk.

That talking is provided by a new voice cast that now better reflects the story’s setting by featuring many actors from across the African diaspora.

JD McCrary (Little) and Donald Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) voice the youthful and adult versions of Simba the lion, respectively, opposite Shahadi Wright Joseph (the daughter from Us) and Beyoncé as Simba’s best friend Nala. Joseph played the same role in the long-running Broadway adaptation of The Lion King, from which the new film takes some musical and aesthetic cues.

Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) replaces Jeremy Irons in the role of Scar, and James Earl Jones (Darth Vader himself) returns to the role of Mufasa.

Ugandan-born, German-raised actor Florence Kasumba (Black Panther)—who also appeared in the stage version of The Lion King—plays head hyena Shenzi, alongside Keegan-Michael Key (The Predator) and Eric André (Rough Night) as bickering hyena minons Kamari and Azizi.

Key and André are pretty great, but the comedic pairing in the film that is getting talked about a lot is Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as warthog Pumba and meerkat Timon. Both are utterly hilarious.

Favreau recently got together with most of the cast (no Beyoncé, sadly) and some select press in Beverly Hills to discuss the making of the film.

On how working on The Jungle Book flowed into The Lion King: Jon Favreau (director/producer): I’ve been working on both these movies back to back for about six years. All the new technology that was available, I had finally learned how to use it by the end of Jungle Book. And at that point, with the team that we had assembled for it, all the artists. Because a lot of attention is paid to the technology, but really, these are handmade films. There are animators working on every shot, every environment that you see in the film—actually, there’s one shot that’s a real photographic shot—but everything else is built from scratch by artists. And we had a great team assembled. And then the idea of using what we learned on that and the new technologies that were available to make a story like Lion King with its great music, great characters, and great story, it seemed like a wonderful, logical conclusion. And so that was something we set out to do.

On how digital production evolved in the new film: JF: In Jungle Book, we were essentially using the same motion-capture technology for performers and cameras as had been developed ten years prior for Avatar. But towards the end of that, there was a whole slew of consumer-facing VR products that were hitting the scene. We started experimenting with it at the end of Jungle Book and realized that we could build this really cool system of filmmaking using game-engine technology. That way I could bring in people who don’t have any background in visual effects. We would design the entire environments. We took all the recordings that we had from the actors. We would animate within the game engine, in this case, it was Unity. And the crew would be able to put on the headsets, go in, scout, and actually set cameras within VR.

The effort here was to keep not just the tradition of the film and stage production that came before us, but the filmmaking tradition. Oftentimes when new technology comes online, it disrupts an industry. But with just a little bit of effort, we were able to build around the way filmmakers and film crews work. So a guy like Caleb Deschanel, a fantastic cinematographer who I’ve always wanted to work with, inviting him to do a very technically advanced film without any prior background in visual effects and just saying: hey, we’ll make it so that you could just make a movie as you would have made The Black Stallion. We would actually have cameras driven in VR space by a film crew with dollies and cranes and assistant directors, script supervisors, set dressers. So we kept the same film culture and planted it using this technology into the VR realm.

Although the film was completely animated as far as performances went, it allowed a live-action film crew to go in and use the tools they were used to. Part of what’s so beautiful about the lighting, the camera work, the shots of the film, was that we were able to inherit a whole career of experience and artistry from our fantastic team. I think that it’s nice to look at technology as an invitation for things to progress and not always something that’s going to change the way everything came before it. I think there’s a balance between innovation and tradition.

The cast of the new ‘The Lion King’.

On what excited him about the story: Donald Glover (adult Simba): Jon was really good about the circle of life having a major hand in it. I really feel that it’s good to make movies that are global and metropolitan in the sense [that we are] the citizens of the world. Like, making sure that we talk about how connected we are right now. Because it’s the first time we’ve really been able to talk to everybody at the same time. It was just, like, a necessary thing.

On getting into Scar’s head: Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar): I felt that it was just really interesting to go into that psychology, to really try and uncover that and to look at it. I’m a huge fan of what was done before, obviously, like everybody else—Jeremy Irons—and just going back in and exploring that character again from a slightly different perspective and seeing what was there.

It’s such an incredible part to play; so complex and all of that. Having empathy—not sympathy—but empathizing with the character and trying to understand them and trying to get underneath that. And such a rich, villainous character to play. In a way as much as I—absolutely with everybody else—loved the original, you kind of make it your own and you create the sort of individuality to it in that way.

On finding a loose comedic rhythm in a digital context: Seth Rogen (Pumba): It was a lot of improvisation with Billy. We were actually together every time we recorded, which is a very rare gift to have as someone who is trying to be funny in an animated film, of which I’ve done a lot, and you’re often just alone in there. I think you can really tell that we’re playing off of each other. It’s an incredibly naturalistic feeling. They really captured Billy. That is what is amazing, I would say. He essentially played himself on a TV show for years, and this character is more Billy than that character somehow. It’s remarkable to me how his character specifically makes me laugh so hard.

Billy Eichner (Timon): I wish I was as cute in real life as I am in the movie. The Timon they designed is so adorable, and I think the juxtaposition of my personality in that little Timon body really works. And yeah. I agree with everything that Seth was saying. I can’t imagine now, looking back, not being in the room together. Being able to riff off each other and really discover our chemistry together in the same moment. You can feel it when you’re watching the movie. I had not seen the finished movie until last night and I was shocked by how much of the riffing actually ended up in the movie. I think it works. I think it feels very unique to other movies in this genre, which can often feel a bit canned.

SR: The fact that it has a looseness applied to probably the most technologically incredible movie ever made is an amazing contrast. It feels like people in a room just talking, and then it’s refined to a degree that is inconceivable in a lot of ways. That mixture is what I think is so incredible and that’s what Jon really captured in an amazing way.

On how Favreau guided their tone: Eric André (Kamari): He’s incredibly talented and really, really easy to work off of. And he is a selfless altruistic talent, which is rare. So I was in great hands with Jon. It was just a very nurturing environment and made it very easy, because I’m very, very sensitive. So the slightest wind of anything will make me tear up.

Keegan-Michael Key (Azizi): I think Jon is a great student, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all different types of comedy. One of those pieces of knowledge is about comedic duos and the dynamic that exists between them. We had a very similar experience to Billy and Seth where we were allowed to walk around the room. It was as if we were being directed in a scene in the play. And as you said, we were all mic’d, and so everything was captured.

It was the subsequent rounds that I thought [were] interesting. Jon would get a little more technical, when I would be actually by myself. The refinement is also very fun, because we would sit there and I would have the headphones on. I would say to Jon, “We’re looking for Fibber McGee and Molly here or Abbott and Costello. What are you looking for?” He goes, “I’m actually looking for a little bit of Laurel and Hardy with an explosion at the end, but then back it up into little Apatowian for me.”

EA: With a sprinkle of Beavis and Butthead.

On the experience of going from the stage version to the film version: Florence Kasumba (Shenzi): I was lucky that I got to play the part already in Germany for more than a year. We played like eight shows a week. So Shenzi is like muscle memory, because I got to play her every day. But this Shenzi is so different. I remember in the musical, we had sometimes shows where I was embarrassed because the hyenas are so dumb and funny. They are entertaining, but this is so different, this experience, because when I listen to the dialogue, when I read them, I realized that this is way more dangerous and more serious.

I was lucky [on] my first day that I was in a black box and I was working with Eric André, and with JD. We were very physical, because the guys were so strong, it was easy for me to just be big. Because everybody is very confident, we could just really try out things. We could walk around each other. We could scare each other. We could scream, be loud, be big, be small. It’s like working in the theater, which I love. Having that freedom just made me… I was allowed to do whatever I wanted to.

‘The Lion King’ is in theaters now. Comments have been edited for clarity and length.

[kaimaciel]

Q: In terms of the story in the Pixar worlds, it was a continuation of the stories in the movies, which surprised me.

A: Well, originally, the KH series has always seen Sora and his friends experiencing the [same] plot of the original movies as its basis, and [the worlds of] Tangled and Frozen are like this, too. However, in the cases of Toy Story and Monsters Inc, we were requested to show the "authorized history" of what happened after the events of the movies. Whichever [story] pattern the worlds have was largely influenced by the ideas of the creators and producers.

Q: Included in the worlds that appear this time is Olympus, which is a fairly "regular customer" at this point; do you have some emotional attachment to it?

A: Honestly, there isn't really a special reason, it's just by chance. It appears in KH3 since Sora has lost all of his powers and needs to get them back, and there was once a hero who regained his own powers in the same way, so it was a perfect fit for the start of the journey. If there's anything I have an emotional attachment to, it's that I wanted to include Hades. Hades is a fun character, so you kind of want to watch him [do things].

Q: On the other hand, The Caribbean [in terms of graphics] looks incredibly like real life.

A: In a sense, the high image quality of that world was already decided. Around the time development started, in the video that was prepared for the in-house presentation meeting, scenes were created showing Sora diving in the ocean and riding enemies while flying in the air in The Caribbean. Additionally, the experimental reproduction of certain scenes from the movie [that were included] were so well made that they might as well have been the highlight of the meeting. From that point on, around the beginning of development, it was felt that that world would be quite high-level. By the way, the coat Sora wears in The Caribbean is actually based on one of my own personal coats that I gave to the staff with instructions to include it, but I feel like they don't want to give it back yet [laughs].

Q: Talking about Sora's appearance in the various worlds, the way he looks in Monstropolis is pretty daring.

A: At first, I was thinking about something similar to the monster costume Boo wears in the movie, but Pixar gave the idea to actually change [Sora] into a monster. In Monsters Inc., there are a lot of detailed rules concerning character design, like the colors that can be used or the shape of the eyes, so after the design that was made to obey those rules was checked, I went and did the fine-tuning myself. Particularly, at the beginning, I couldn't give Sora's body a smooth feeling, so I covered him with fur, but Pixar pointed out that I shouldn't make him look too much like a cat, so trying to find middle ground was a struggle. That's why, although it looks like Sora has cat ears, those are actually horns [laughs].

Q: For example, it was shown in KH2 that the Ansem that appears in KH1 wasn't the real one, but was this decided ever since the beginning?

A: When I wrote the scenario in KH1, even I was thinking "Ansem calls himself wise, but doesn't he seem like a bad guy?" [laughs]. With that feeling as the catalyst, the scenes after KH2 reflected that. Q: Xigbar, too; when he appeared in KH2, we had no idea he would be such an important person.

A: A lot of people say this, but at the time I wanted to show that "Xigbar is a character with a very special role" by giving him a suspicious way of acting. When we were doing dubbing for KH2, I listened to Houchu Otsuka (the JP VA of Xigbar)'s voice and thought, "This guy isn't just some organization grunt, there's definitely some hidden side to him", so the creation of the current situation evolved from there. It does sometimes happen that I get inspired to change the circumstances because of the voice actors' voices. 

Q: The Final World, a place very important to the story, appeared in the game, but what kind of world is it?

A: It is a place where those just a step from death arrive, connected to the Station of Waking. Up until now, the Station of Waking was always a dark place where the floor was made of stained glass, where the condition of the inside of one's heart could be shown, but in this case I made The Final World a place where I could show [that] more concretely, a place similar to a portal to [people's] respective hearts. Within the game, it's said that sleep and death are intimately linked, so if one's heart were in a state of sleep and they found themselves in the Station of Waking, the idea is that if they moved on from there, they would find themselves in The Final World. 

Q: Halfway through the epilogue, we see that there are seven black pieces being used in the new game [of chess]. Are six of these supposed to represent the Master of Masters' six apprentices?

A: Yes. 

Q: I see. Then, continuing on, I'd like to ask about the secret movie; is the location connected to the ending? A: Yes. After disappearing in the ending, Sora arrives in the world shown in the secret movie. Q: Is the place Sora is in the same world as the one in The World Ends With You?

A: It looks that way. However, rather than saying Sora has gone to the TWEWY world, the meaning is that it's not exactly Shibuya, but ~Shibuya~ (note: this is hard to explain in English, but instead of it being written in kanji, the name for "Shibuya" is written in katakana here. This basically means it's not the same Shibuya as in TWEWY or in the real world.) Also, although Sora promised Neku and his friends that they would meet again in Shibuya, this video is not connected to that.

Q: The world Riku is in also calls up past memories with its thrilling background scenery. The man looking down from the roof looks like Yozora, who we saw in the popular game "Verum Rex" in Toy Box...

A: Yes, it is Yozora. Q: So, is this the world of "Verum Rex?"

A: It will end up being. Visually speaking, I'm sure there are people who will think it's the same as a previous title I was once planning, but it's not. Since it's a plan that was never released out into the world, there are parts I was saving that will end up overlapping, but "Verum Rex" is a completely different creation. The plan that was never released is still unknown to everyone, and "Verum Rex" doesn't exist yet, either, so I'm sure everyone is wondering what it means, but what I want to make clear is that it's not the same thing. (note: obviously, he means FF Versus XIII)

Q: How is the development of the planned DLC going?

A: Currently, I gave a list of things I'd like to have done concerning battles to the staff, who are in the process of going through it. As for additional scenarios, I told you just before that the final battle in the Keyblade Graveyard came to be [the way it is] because of a certain intention I had, so I think that's going to be the main focus. I'm hoping that it will be completed as soon as possible, but because development is happening alongside the preparations for the next project, I can't say with certainty when it will be released. For the time being, it's planned that instead of splitting up all the parts separately, everything will be released all in one pack together. Q: Are you not planning to release a "Final Mix", as has been customary for the KH series until now?

A: There aren't any plans for a "Final Mix"-type package (sold separately). If I do make one, it would be in the form of DLC that included an English mode you could switch to. Additionally, we took recent player trends into account when we created the battles [for KH3], so we held back on the difficulty level, but there have been many requests to fight strong enemies, so I'm thinking that the priority would be on releasing a critical mode in the form of free DLC, and making the addition of strong enemies, the sort that would appear in a "Final Mix", paid DLC.

Q: Now that the Dark Seeker arc has concluded, there's a pause in the KH series, so now what is your attitude mentally?

A: I thought I'd feel relieved once it was over, but I don't feel that way at all. Now we're right in the midst of developing DLC, and it's coinciding with [the development of] a few other titles. I want to hurry up and start on the next project, so I don't feel like there's a pause. Q: Fans are curious about what's to come for the KH series...

A: Nothing has been officially decided yet, so at this point in time, I can't say anything. Right now, the top priority is on making DLC for KH3, and a huge update that's coming to KHUx. As far as the developments to come, I currently have two ideas, and something that requires me to think about it separately, so the next project will actually have to be two, I think. Even if we're talking about a hypothetical "KH4", there's something that must be written before it, so I'm looking into the possibility of sandwiching it between works. To all the fans: to realize the first step beyond the Dark Seeker arc, I thank you for your continued support. 

[oosteven-universe]

not all robots #03

Not All Robots #03 AWA Upshot Studios 2021 Written by Mark Russell Illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr. Coloured by Lee Loughridge    In the year 2056, robots have replaced human beings in the workforce. An uneasy coexistence develops between the newly intelligent robots and the ten billion humans living on Earth. Every human family is assigned a robot upon whom they are completely reliant. What could possibly go wrong? Meet the Walters, a human family whose robot, Razorball, ominously spends his free time in the garage working on machines which they're pretty sure are designed to kill them.    I am all for a good science fiction story and this one is so far beyond good it isn’t even funny.  Between the words and visuals this takes us on one of those journeys that blurs the line of reality and fiction and preys upon the fears of mankind as we move closer and closer to an age where robots aren’t a thing in stories but an everyday reality.  Of course in our present we’re seeing lifelike robots being created, companions mainly, and this makes you wonder that in our rush to see if we can should we.  It's the question that applies to so many different instances and in our hurry to advance science we’re getting further and further away from each other and could this be the next step in that distancing?    I am absolutely thrilled with the way that this is being told.  The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well.  The character development we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances does a magnificent job in bringing their personalities to life.  The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more it builds this anticipation and tension within the reader.    I’m a huge fan of the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen.  The layers open up new avenues to be explored, such as the Mandroids and the council, and what this does is add this fantastic depth, dimension and complexity to the story.  How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably rendered.      The interiors here are mindbogglingly brilliant to see.  The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of work in the attention to detail is staggering to see.  How backgrounds are being utilised to not only enhance and expand the moments but also how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is utterly brilliant.  The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masters eye for storytelling.  The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a masterful eye for how colour works, how to apply it and how to maximise their effects. ​    When I opened this review I talked about my thoughts regarding the story and how it relates to the real world and this is because of how engaged in this story that I am.  It really does blend horror, science fiction and science fact in ways that make it seem frighteningly realistic and possible at some point in time of our lives.  With such strong, powerful writing and eerily accurate characterization alongside these brilliantly rendered interiors this should be atop everyone's reading list.  

[translationandbetrayals]

Digimon Tamers: Best season of the franchise (Part 1)

I hope you all watched Digimon or at least the first season and I also hope that you loved it 'cause it's a really good anime for a children. So getting on the topic, Digimon Tamers is my favorite season of the Digimon series of wich I'm a huge fan and I like it the most because of several things but is mainly thanks to the work of one person:

Chiaki Konaka is a writer and scenarist that was noticed for his work in Serial Experiments Lain (If you haven't seen it yet, do it. In Lain explores themes such as identity, the idea of reality and is very dark being set in a cyberpunk kind of world) and then get to work in Digimon Adventure 02 but he left the project, leaving the arc of the black ocean midways (If you don't remember is the really sad/nihilistic/creepy part of Hikari being taunted by a mysterious voice to go to a different dimension that was neither the digital world nor the human world) and then got the offer to work in Digimon Tamers as chief writer. So you get the idea that a darker tone was being set from the beginning for this season, making it far more mature than the previous two.

The first thing we need to focus on is the characters background and development through the series. There are 3 main characters at the beginning: Matsuda Takato, Lee Jianliang and Makino Ruki. For these 3 (and for the rest of the tamers) he did a background story that would help develop their final concept, not only the characters design but also their psychology and traits, thus making their personalities an important part of the anime. There is a lot of development in the characters personalities; maturing or growing up is a concept that is very important setting up the plot and making it advance. There are a lot of examples of this last idea; Takato growing from being the childish, immature, coward boy to becoming a proper leader to the bunch, winning against his fears and learning how to actually do something to help the people he cared for or the really good development of Ruki from the cold, selfish and aggressive girl with serious trauma from her father leaving her and low self-esteem to the caring, compassionate, strong and confident girl eager to lend a hand to others.

The second thing I would like to point out is a little bit more of a Digimon weebfan-based argument. With this season the lore/creation and functioning of the Digimon World was explained more precisely and it has a lot to do with the later part of the history. In Tamers the digital world began to exist when human telecommunication started to develop and expanded alongside it, then the digimon were created by a group of investigators researching artificial intelligence and one of them, Shibumi, gave them the ability to evolve letting 4 of them evolve into especially powerful beings, the 4 digimon sovereign the guardians and rulers of the digital world. I personally enjoy a lot when the anime cares to explain the functioning of the world that it is set into and when it presents a well-constructed lore to support all the action happening and that’s why is something that makes this season shine more than the others.

The last thing that I will talk about in the first part of this post has to do with the idea of the tamer and the digimon companion. In this season there was some sort of “the chosen one” idea that was a big part of the first two seasons, but it wasn’t just that. The tamers differentiate from the chosen children in Adventure 01 and 02 not only by the way they get their digimon companions (mostly luck and a series of random events) but also by the idea of taming something. Digimon are feral creatures that must fight to empower themselves and survive in a hard world so it’s not easy to befriend them, this conflict happened a lot during the series being the critical example the incident with galgomon in chapter 3 (in this chapter galgomon almost shoots Ruki, another example on how this season was far more mature in content than the others). Also, the card system used to improve the battle capabilities of the digimon companion was really cool to me. The other thing that is different and very appealing to me is the idea of tamers merging with their digimon, this type of evolution can only be achieved through getting a deep bond with your digimon companion, plus the transformations were so good in the visual aspect.

And that's all for today's post, in the next one I will talk about some more things that makes this season the best one for me. See you all next month!

Diego Heredia S.

[recentanimenews]

Studio Trigger Staff Reminisce About Gainax and Look Ahead to Co-Productions

We’ve interviewed staff from Studio Trigger (Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia) quite a few times, mostly at New Jersey anime convention AnimeNEXT. But this year was the first time the acclaimed studio sent representatives to Washington, DC-based Otakon. Studio President and producer-director Masahiko Otsuka (Petite Princess Yucie) sat on panels alongside veteran animator and Little Witch Academia director Yoh Yoshinari and producer Naoko Tsutsumi, promoting Little Witch and Mr. Yoshinari’s opening animation for Lab Zero Games’ upcoming RPG Indivisible.

Otakon did not grant individual interviews with Trigger, but held a press conference with multiple outlets in attendance. I showed up to ask some burning, Evan-core questions about Gainax, Turning Girls, and a particular animation effect of Yoshinari’s. Thankfully the rest of the crowd had some interesting questions of their own as well.

Thank you to Mr. Otsuka, Mr. Yoshinari, Ms. Tsutsumi, and Otakon 2018 staff for the opportunity!

Left to right: Naoko Tsutsumi, the Otakon interpreter, Yoh Yoshinari, and Masahiko Otsuka

Naoko Tsutsumi: The biggest thing is when I was at Gainax I was very much just a worker. I was working in my own special division. But when I came to Trigger I was able to oversee a lot of different facets of production that I hadn’t been involved in before.

Being at Trigger now, as opposed to when I was at Gainax, I really realized the weight that such a big company had. Having a title like Evangelion that carries the company, and the weight and the legitimacy that it brings to the company versus being at a startup. That was huge.

And I think from now on we’re going to have to keep up production to be able to stay around for 20 or 30 years like a big place like Gainax. So I want to be involved in works that will help our longevity and be big hits like the ones Gainax was able to produce.

Yoh Yoshinari: Being somebody who grew up watching Gainax works since about middle school and then joined Gainax, the studio’s existence is so huge to me. It’s overwhelming, so I don’t necessarily feel like we could overcome or become better than them. Gainax is a studio that was founded by an amalgamation of exceptionally talented young people.

Our team came out of Gainax from the production of Gurren Lagann, and although we’ve inherited a lot from Gainax, they’re a company that we have undying respect for. We’d like to be able to get closer to that level of production, but it’s a huge hurdle. So that’s where we’re headed, but it feel like it’s a long, long road. They’re going to be difficult to live up to.

Masahiko Otsuka: I think that, among the three of us, my role is probably the one that has changed the most since my time at Gainax. But I don’t necessarily feel like I’m exceptionally good at the running the show or being the boss. So I really need to spend more time being a better CEO.

But as far as the success goes, one of the things that I’ve really come to realize is that our success is largely based on the fact that I have so much support from the very young and talented staff. So from here on out I realize that I need to spend more time and energy in production and supporting the production, and helping to raise the next generation. So that’s the change that I’m trying to be and represent.

EvaMonkey (Aaron Clark): I have some feedback about the Patreon. For the live drawing sessions, there’s a concern that they’ll distract the animators from production. And some fans are a bit more interested in seeing behind the scenes footage of the actual production itself.

Yoshinari: I think honestly, yeah, it is going to kind of affect things. It’s a new endeavor so we’ve got to really try to see what we can do about it and see what happens. We feel like it’s a new type of entertainment and a new type of show so we’re still backing the idea of live drawing.

Otsuka: We’re really happy for that idea, seeing the background details of our productions. We have definitely been discussing the effects of doing so many live drawings and how much of a burden it could be. But from the very beginning of this endeavor we decided that the production of the anime itself is the most important thing, so we’re very conscious of the effect that the Patreon live drawing has on the people involved in that, and we’re really trying to make sure that the staff that is involved is properly compensated for their involvement as well. So we’re definitely very aware of the fact that it can be a distraction and we’ve been discussing in depth how to keep that balance. Thank you for your recommendation. We really appreciate it.

Left to right: Yoshinari and Otsuka

Cosplaynyc (Marielena Pagan Rodriguez): How do you feel when you see fans around the world cosplaying the characters you create and would you ever consider cosplaying?

Tsutsumi:(laughs) Honestly I don’t really have a hidden desire to cosplay myself, but in traveling the world and seeing what people have put into their cosplay, and seeing how intricate some of the costumes are, it’s very inspirational to see those characters come to life in a way that I hadn’t even imagined. The dedication to a franchise or even a character that would lead somebody to go through the process of creating a realistic costume and taking photos of it, that emotional investment is huge. It’s very inspirational. I really appreciate it.

Yoshinari: Me? (laughs) I think that the difference between being a director and being an actor really plays into this question. As a director I am not the person who creates the acting. So I don’t really have much interest in being the actor.

I also feel like, even though cosplay is something that was technically maybe invented in Japan, it’s actually inspired by Western costuming and was then re-imported to the West from Japan. So the Japanese, when they’re involved in cosplay, are kind of going out on a limb to do it. But when you come to America it’s very apparent that this was the culture that costuming was born from. So maybe it’s more of a true form of costume play than what you would see in Japan.

Otsuka: I think it’s definitely an indicator of the popularity of a franchise to see a cosplay of the characters from that franchise. It’s pretty amazing to see characters from your show being cosplayed. And sometimes I don’t see characters from a work that I worked on, but whenever I do see a cosplay from a series that I worked on it really makes me genuinely happy. It’s really amazing to take the initiative to cosplay and actually take part in a series that you have so much investment in.

Seeing that really does drive it home that there’s maybe a more pure version of fandom that exists in the West, and that cosplay kind of evolved into the form that it should be when it was re-introduced to the West. Japanese people are a very shy people. And while there are a number of people who go out on a limb and do cosplay, it’s very much the exception and not the rule. So, me being a very shy person myself, I don’t think I could cosplay.

Key art for SSSS.Gridman

The O Network (Eddie): How has the partnership with Tsubaraya Pro been going on Gridman?

Otsuka: Me being a personal fan of Amemiya’s works, I really wanted to work with him, and also Tsubaraya Pro had been really wanting to work with us as well. And pretty much anybody from my generation is a huge fan of Tsubaraya Pro’s works, so of course I wanted to work with them! So it was a serendipitous thing that it all came together and everybody who had been wanting to work together was able to work together on Gridman.

The O Network: As I understand it, the series has an entirely new story. Did Trigger and Tsubaraya work together to create the new story?

Otsuka: We were able to work with them for the designs of the kaiju and also, Hasegawa-san, who wrote the scenario is a huge tokusatsu fan and a scenario writer. We really tried to concentrate on making sure Gridman has the representative feel of tokusatsu, although it’s an animation. A lot of the staff that worked on Gridman are also huge tokusatsu fans. So that was a motivation within the team throughout the whole production. Our goal was to create an anime that really reflected the love of tokusatsu.

Kaerun, the insufferable wannabe idol from Turning Girls

Ani-Gamers: Mr. Otsuka, you worked as a producer on Turning Girls. We’ve heard Mr. Wakabayashi talk about it a bit, but I’d like to get any further details about how it got started and who worked on it.

Otsuka: Actually, to be honest, the main staff who was involved in writing Turning Girls quit, so I think we won’t be able to make a continuation of that series. But, the person who was really pivotal in the plot development of Turning Girls was actually a normal worker, not really an anime writer or anything. Although she quit and she’s not around anymore, we really like the result of that approach, of bringing someone in who has fresh ideas, so we’re not going to cross that off of the list of possibilities in the future.

Unknown Outlet: Has the partnership model, with companies like Netflix and Crunchyroll, impacted the production and funding of anime?

Otsuka: I think at this point there hasn’t really been much of an influence. I think that’s up and coming. The Internet has been integral in the world being exposed to anime, and a lot of that happened through access to illegal sites and things being illegally streamed. As an anime creator on the ground level, I really used to feel like that was a good thing, like the exposure was worth it. The ability to see things for free and the exposure to a lot of different anime created a market that didn’t really exist until then.

But now with the existence of streaming services, we’re able to receive funding back for things that we’ve made. Although there hasn’t been as much of an epochal moment yet, I think in a few years it’s really going to be apparent that that's going to be a game-changer, the ability for funds to be returned back to the anime production committee and the production companies and that sort of thing. It’s yet to be seen what that will do, but we’re looking forward to the change.

An Otakon interpreter, Yoshinari, Tsutsumi, and Otsuka presenting character designs from Yoshinari’s Indivisible opening animation

Ani-Gamers: There’s a visual effect in a lot of Trigger series, a four-pointed star. I’ve heard some animators credit that to you, Mr. Yoshinari. How did you come up with it and what kind of influences did you have in mind when making it?

Yoshinari: I don’t really think I’m the one who created it and spread it. As far as I know, the first person who used it might have actually been Hayao Miyazaki. And then there’s Yoshinori Kanada who’s a legendary animator. So there’s that theory as well.

It might be a little bit of an uncouth way to say it, but it used to be their effect and I kind of just … did it. And then I made it a little easier to utilize. I think that’s what sort of led into everybody starting to utilize that effect. So I didn’t really think it was going to be that big a deal. But apparently it was so easy to use to great effect that everybody started using it. I didn’t intend for that to be the case, but it’s kind of a byproduct.

Unknown Outlet: Darling in the Franxx was very popular in the West. How are you guys doing after the conclusion of season one and how are you taking all the positivity? And where do you go from there with that show?

Otsuka: The director actually put pretty much everything he had into that first season and is kind of depleted at this point. It’s yet to be seen if we’ll get to see anything else of that series.

Yoshinari: We didn’t really know it was that popular. So we want to take that word back to the director. To be honest, in Japan it was kind of not so popular. But with everybody’s support we could get the director moving. Because I think he doesn’t know how much it means to everybody.

That's all for this transcript, but stay tuned for more of our interviews from Otakon 2018, including two with Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans staff Tatsuyuki Nagai and Kanetake Ebikawa!

Studio Trigger Staff Reminisce About Gainax and Look Ahead to Co-Productions originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on August 16, 2018 at 9:57 PM.

By: Evan Minto

[brendagilliam2]

New talent 2017: Best graduates outside London

We’ve already brought you our favourite graduates from two corners of the UK: Edinburgh and Falmouth. Now discover the rest of our picks of the very best graphic design, illustration and animation graduates outside of London.

Whether you’re looking for new creative talent for your studio or collaborative opportunities, the talented graduates here boast exceptional final year projects that excel in both concept and execution – and are worth keeping an eye on. 

And don’t forget to head over to D&AD New Blood at London’s Old Truman Brewery, Shoreditch, from 5-6 July to get a closer look at the work from the class of 2017 and meet the graduates in person.

How to shine at your degree show

Want to search by university instead of scrolling through? Just hit the drop-down menu below to skip to: Manchester School of Art, Arts University Bournemouth, Glasgow School of Art, Sheffield Institute of Arts or Leeds College of Art. 

First up, Plymouth College of Art…

Jake Williams 

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Illustration

Project: Resilient Reptiles

Plymouth-based illustrator, designer and occasional animator Jake Williams produced a fully illustrated 26-page non-fiction children’s book for his final major piece. Focusing on the unique ways that reptiles of the world have adapted to survive, the publication showcases Williams’ shape-based vector style and considered use of bold, vibrant colours.

“This was a challenging project because I’d never created a book before, but an enjoyable one,” says Williams, who will be showing his work at New Designers 2017. 

“I created Resilient Reptiles alongside a range of conceptual editorial images about a range of topical and political issues. At university I spent some time at a placement with Creative Hub, working on illustrations for Cornwall Today magazine. It was great experience and has helped me to hone my style for editorial work.”

Josh Fathers 

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Social Fabric

Cornwall-based graduate Josh Fathers created a tactile journal to document the “quirks of how people talk in the real world” for his final year project. “I live in a little seaside village and my community is very important to me. Essentially, Social Fabric is about the ways that people communicate when talking to other people is a choice and not a necessity.”

As well as being part of the team that designed the ‘Breaking Through’ concept behind Plymouth College of Art’s 2017 graduate shows, Fathers is also communications director of a community interest company in Cornwall. 

He travelled far and wide to record anonymous conversations for the project, putting himself in situations he wouldn’t ordinarily have found himself in. “I hope that the end result is a testament to the varied skills I’ve developed during my time at the college, but also gives an idea of what community means to me.”

Penny Chan

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Fashion Media & Marketing

Project: Girlhood

Penny Chan combined her love of graphic design with her magazine-house experience to create the zine GIRLHOOD. “The concept behind the zine is ‘disrupt the system’; inspired by the punk movement and in protest against the highly polished photography and film in the fashion industry,” explains Chan, who’s currently working as a freelance fashion assistant for GQ Style, and has interned at Dazed & Confused as a junior designer. 

She’s helped style, plan and assist two major international Topman campaigns; worked on a Dr. Martens Spring/Summer ’18 campaign and a few British GQ and GQ Style editorials; and assisted on Take That’s latest UK Arena tour, helping to dress the band.

“I’m currently taking time out from work at GQ Style to focus on my final major project but I’ll be back in a few weeks to help style a few London Fashion Week Men’s shows,” she says.

Sarah Damo 

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Game Arts

Project: Wonder Seekers

Italian game artist and illustrator Sarah Damo specialises in concept art. For her final major project, she created Wonder Seekers – a game concept set in a near-future, post-apocalyptic world. The story revolves around a girl who runs a robot repair shop and travels on adventures with her best friend, a mutated parrot that has grown too big to fly. Together the pair collect materials that they use to fix robots, working to find a clean energy source that can make the planet habitable by humans again. 

Damo created concepts for the environments, assets and characters, including 3D models for the characters and machinery within the game. “My personal style is greatly influenced by Renaissance art – in the use of composition, colours and imagery – and impressionism, in the use of light and different types of brush stroke,” she says.

“For Wonder Seekers, I combined these influences and tried to add more vibrant tonality to the colours, alongside restrictive palettes for certain environments. I hope that the end result communicates a strong story and mood with the viewer.”

Damo wants to work as concept or character artist in the gaming industry, “creating adventures that people can connect with and jump into” – and she looks set to achieve her aim. 

“Sarah Damo’s work is truly unique,” says Martial Bugliolo, programme leader BA (Hons) Game Arts. “The way that she merges traditional and digital illustration styles with 3D and VR mark her out as somebody with a bright career in the games industry ahead of her.” 

Greg Johnson

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Game Arts

Project: Game environment and characters

Greg Johnson has a background in sculpture, but has spent the last three years specialising in game arts, honing his skills in VR, digital sculpting and modelling, and becoming proficient in software including 3ds Max, ZBrush, Substance Painter and Unreal Engine 4. 

For his final major project, Johnson produced an environment and characters for a game in which global warming has created a permanent layer of greenhouse gas, which has wiped out most of the life on the planet. With this dystopian world crumbling into a junkyard, the machines have evolved to hunt down the remaining humans on the planet. All of the assets have been modelled and textured for an Unreal 4 Environment.

Johnson drew inspiration from the work of Tim Burton and Shane Acker’s movie 9. “I used real-world objects, combining them to create my machines,” he says. “The way the machines move and are constructed takes influence from animals – for example, the way a raptor moves was used to animate a creature made from wind turbines, cranes and CCTV cameras.”

“I’ve always liked MMOs, historical games, and strategy games. Total War is my favourite game series to date, and I also really enjoy League of Legends, and the Fallout series has been a big influence on me.”

“The dream is to one day work for Creative Assembly as a 3D artist,” he says. “Character art and asset creation are the areas I’m most interested in.”

Jessica Mehler

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Animation

Project: BabaY

A graduate of the European Film College in Denmark, Jessica Mehler specialised in traditional 2D and 3D printed models with stop motion animation at Plymouth College of Art. Her final project animation film is based on the Slavic folktale of Baba Yaga, an old witch who lives in a house which can walk around on chicken legs. To produce this piece she created an intricate miniature set in her studio.

“Adam Elliot’s film Mary and Max is one of the films that made me want to be an animator, along with Yuriy Norshteyn’s Hedgehog in the fog,” says Mehler, who represented Plymouth College of Art at the Creative Europe programme Euranim in Belgium. “I feel very inspired by comic books, particularly the work of Moebius and Enki bilal, but I am also a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes.”

Briony Difford 

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Illustration

Project: Asian Folktales

Graduate Briony Difford uses a combination of traditional ink painting and digital colouring in her illustrations, focusing on themes of the natural world. Often working with narrative-driven projects, Difford creates Japanese-inspired linework and composition, striving for detail and elegance in her illustrations.

For Asian Folktales, her final major project, she depicted her chosen stories in a way that respects traditional Asian artwork, while also bringing them into a contemporary setting and to a new audience. 

“I wanted to capture the distinct charm that has always interested me in these folk tales,” she says. “After graduating I plan to work more in publishing, creating illustrations for magazines and books as well as making and selling my work at exhibitions and events. I always want to be open to new projects and different experiences.” 

Warren Curry

University: Plymouth College of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Illustration

Projects: An Illustrator’s Guide To Surviving The Internet; and The Millennial Man

Working in a range of different styles during his third year at the college, Warren Curry illustrated two graphic novels: one a non-fiction title, focusing on the pros and cons of illustrators having an online presence; the other a collaboration with writer James Trotter. 


“It was a real challenge to create a complete body of sequential artwork that did justice to a story written by a collaborator, and a great learning experience,” says Curry, who will be exhibiting his work at New Designers. 

“My plans for the next year are to look for in-house illustration jobs, ideally around the Bristol-Cheltenham area,” he adds. “I’m also open to agency offers or freelance work.”

Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Manchester School of Art

Get 5 issues of Computer Arts for £5!

Computer Arts will be bringing you the cream of the 2017 graduate crop in a special new talent issue, on sale 21 July. Subscribe now to make sure you get your copy – and get five issues for just £5.

01. Tayia Dussie 

University: Manchester School of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation

Project: When I’m 6

For her final year project, Tayia Dussie wrote and illustrated a children’s narrative, looking at colour, shape, pattern and character to communicate fun while telling different stories. 

Recently, she’s been working on a dark tale, O’l Higue, based on West Indian folklore from the villain’s point of view, which was highly commended by The Macmillan Prize for illustration. “In contrast to this,” she says, “When I’m 6 is a brighter, happier tale set in a circus. It depicts a child’s wonder at all they see and their desire to become what they admire.” 

After graduating, Dussie hopes to create commercial work and further her education.

02. Ben Grimes

University: Manchester School of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: MOFO

“MOFO – Mock Font – is a project that explores and challenges the stereotypes associated with the Japanese aesthetic,” explains graphic design graduate Ben Grimes. An Eastern-inspired typeface, MOFO is legible as English when viewed from a different angle. “The work highlights the danger of using aesthetic references from foreign cultures in a superficial way,” he says.

Grimes fell in love with the Japanese language after studying it as part of his degree. “In the Western world, we often receive a very stylised version of Eastern language and culture, with the language being exploited by fashion brands for its cool and trendy aesthetic. I wanted to protest this by manipulating the fluid forms of Japanese characters and making people think twice about what they are actually looking at.” 

In a year’s time, Grimes hopes to be continuing to explore the connections between language and design, and combing this with his interest in theatre and set design. 

03. Lily Soltanahmadi 

University: Manchester School of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Assembly

Graphic design graduate Lily Soltanahmadi put together concept branding for a new creative space during her final year. Tasked with turning a historic building into something beneficial to a city, she chose York’s former fire station – which is under threat of being demolished – and crafted the branding for a café bar, Assembly. 

“Assembly celebrates the history of the building and provides a creative atmosphere to help bring the community together,” Soltanahmadi explains. “In a year’s time I hope to be working for a branding agency.”

04. Luke Rowland

University: Manchester School of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Projects: Posters; Europa Std typeface

Inspired by modern European typography, Europa Std features a larger contrast than standard sans-serif typefaces, while remaining clean and accessible. “Throughout Scandinavia and many other European countries, clean, bold typography is widely prominent within the cities,” explains Luke Rowland. 

“Typefaces are often very basic, but retain a style that’s intrinsic to their surroundings. Europa Std aims to explore and highlight these subtle styles and express them enough so that the typeface holds the same aesthetic value, wherever its use may be.”

05. Lauren Dugan

University: Manchester School of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Love Letters to Gaia

“My final year project was centred around the theory that Earth is a living, breathing organism,” explains graduate Lauren Dugan. She produced a set of powerful, large-scale monoprints depicting mankind’s dismissive, passive attitude to the damage humans are doing. Dugan also created a series of letters written by ‘the last human alive’, lamenting the loss of the Earth’s spirit.  

“I spent a lot of time investigating the relationship we have with Gaia [the personification of the Earth] and finding ways to portray this as being as important as the connections we have with one another,” she says.

“If my Love Letters can make at least one person more mindful about their treatment of Earth, then my work has been a success.” 

Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Arts University Bournemouth

Perry Rowe and Steve O’Neil

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Net identity

For their final year project, graduates Perry Rowe and Steve O’Neil created a flexible identity for an innovative business idea. The concept? Just as different nets are able to define various enclosed spaces, so an experimental division of Crowne Plaza could provide different hotel experiences that could reinvigorate the brand as a whole.

Emily Regan

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication

Project: Dance Type

This experimental project explores the theme of collaboration through the disciplines of dance and typography, resulting in a dynamic, animated typeface. Graduate Emily Regan worked with a dancer to create a ‘dance code’, choreographing dance motifs from the breakdown of letterforms, before recreating the motifs using animated vectors and reconstructing them into final type design. 

“In a year’s time I hope to be working in a creative agency, constantly expanding and refining my skill set as a creative designer,” says Regan. “My ideal career path is a designer at a fashion magazine or an in-house designer at a fashion brand.”

Saul Kaplin

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Searchlight

At a time where film audiences might be over-saturated by Hollywood’s slick, perfect CGI, graduate Saul Kaplin’s refreshing final year project revisits and celebrates the quirky qualities of analogue stop-frame methods, suggestive of early cinema. His project – a D&AD New Blood-awarded promotional video for a MUBI advertising campaign – captures the atmosphere of this era, connecting with the movie-literate MUBI audience by using elements of its logo.

Izzi Hays

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Facebook Fortunes

What better way to commemorate a long-term virtual relationship than with something tangible? Facebook Fortunes looks backwards at the memories shared, and forwards to those yet to come, through beautifully crafted and packaged fortune cookies. 

Using Arjowiggins paper, graduate Izzy Hays transformed Facebook into a physical entity that serves as a reminder of friendship in the offline world. 

“We all have people we still want to be friends with in five years’ time,” says Izzy Hays. “How can Facebook help us look towards to the future of our friendships instead of just the past and the present?”

Zante Tolley

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication

Project: Tower typeface

Graduate Zante Tolley’s Tower typeface takes influence from the proportions of sister brutalist buildings, Balfron and Trellick Tower, designed by Erno Goldfinger. The crossbars or terminals of the letterforms change according to the service bridge on every third floor, as shown through a slick type specimen book and type specimen posters that showcase the two weights.

“The design reflects the dynamic nature of the Brutalist movement,” she explains.

Sarah Wickings

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Let’s Say What We Mean

Graduate Sarah Wickings’ typography-led video campaign attempts to capture the experience of autism by overloading our visual senses while presenting a series of everyday conversational phrases. The aim is to do more than raise awareness or even money – the project seeks to encourage people to communicate more effectively with a call to action: Say what you mean.

“Let’s Say What We Mean focuses on the abstract language we use in everyday scenarios and how people with autism struggle to understand it,” explains Wickings. “The aim of this video is to encourage people to consider their day-to-day language choice more clearly to make it easier for people with autism to take in.”

Kieran O’Sullivan

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication

Project: The craft of Northamptonshire

Kieran O’Sullivan’s ISTD-awarded final year project is an editorial piece exploring Northampton’s rich heritage in the shoe industry. Combining original imagery and archival content from the Northampton shoe museum, the book demonstrates several uses of pull outs, dynamic typography and photography to celebrate the history of the recent graduate’s hometown. 

“In the next year I hope to take on a number of internships,” he says. “Design is so broad – I want to continue learning and expanding my knowledge.”

Maarit Koobasm

University: Arts University Bournemouth

Course: BA (Hons) Visual Communication

Project: The Beat

Maarit Koobasm’s project responds to the notion that typefaces are ready for change, and that future discourse should lead to non-referential type design. “How can human qualities be translated into digital textuality – something we see in handwriting and in letterpress typesetting? But, at the same time, how can we challenge typographic choices meant for print, especially the static essence of typography on screen?” asks Koobasm.

Koobasm’s solution was to explore how the rhythms of the heart can interplay with type on screen. “The type is therefore neither bold nor italic, but defined by the human individual. It’s not rigidly set, but develops dynamically.”

In a year’s time Koobasm intends to be continuing to develop in the field of experimental typography. “I’m also keen to secure my first internship.” 

Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Glasgow School of Art

Lucy Watkins

University: Glasgow School of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Careful Engagement 150

Careful Engagement150 is a collection of poetry and illustrations that aims to elevate the human traces hidden within the Report of the Iraq Inquiry. “Over 2.6 million words of political jargon make for an incredibly difficult read for anyone mildly interested in the workings behind the Iraq War,” she explains. 

Using various methods of investigation, Watkins was able to surface elements of delicate human nature from the report, and a poetic language developed. “The intention is to challenge preconceptions that the document contains little feeling or emotion, and to create an uncomfortable dichotomy between poetry and politics,” she adds.

Amir Saidani

University: Glasgow School of Art

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Micronation

“We live in a world in which our borders and how we exist within those borders are constantly being brought into question – Scottish Independence, Brexit, Donald Trump to name but a few,” says Amir Saidani. “In response to these hardening borders, I decided to define my own.”

He wrote to Theresa May and declared independence for the Republic of Maktaal’amra, a micronation located at his desk space at GSA. “The project exists as a satirical, yet honest lens refracting current events through my perception. Through that process, I’ve added a little bit of my personality to them.”

Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Sheffield Institute of Arts

Jasmine Welsh

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Projects: Young People in Politics and Ballot Box

Jasmine Welsh spent three months planning and producing a Question Time event that brought five politicians from the major parties face-to-face with Sheffield students. In a packed venue, Nick Clegg, Natalie Bennett, Paul Blomfield, Spencer Pitfield and David Kurten answered questions on education and immigration, and the event generated a great deal of press including an article on the event by Nick Clegg in the Evening Standard. 

“Young People in Politics is a campaign designed to encourage 18-24 year olds – who repeatedly have the lowest voter turnout – to make their voice heard,” says Welsh. 

“I also created Ballot Box, an educational board game intended as a free teaching tool for universities and colleges. It explains current political policies and can be updated with each election to help make voting more clear, combining fun with politics.”

Holly Whetnall

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Explore

Holly Whetnall’s final year project Explore aims to encourage walkers to stick to the footpaths within the Peak District National Park and reduce the impact of erosion on the landscape. “Within my research,” says Whetnall, “I found that positive engagement has a greater effect than negative enforcement, such as ‘keep off the grass’.”

To promote this positive engagement, Whetnall created a series of large letters spelling out the word ‘explore’ to be positioned along designated paths, creating places to stop and take photographs, and subconsciously drawing walkers along the preferred route. “The letters create a feature whilst also blending sensitively into the environment,” she adds. “They have a dark wooden frame and are filled with a species of moss native to the Peak District.”  

Seb Gardner

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Illustration

Project: Narratives in the Everyday

Narratives in the Everyday saw graduate Seb Gardner finding different ways to create a story around ordinary subjects. Taking inspiration from BBC Radio 4’s The Listening Project – which records segments of conversation between ordinary people – the project aims to make visible the “un-noticed and mundane”.

For the Sheffield edition, Gardner focused on the idea of redundancy and identity to develop an animation. “Although very personal subjects are normally only held between family members and friends, being able to visualise this audio conversation brings a whole new perspective to the matter,” he says, “whilst also engaging a still wider audience.”

Anna Terreros-Martin 

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Illustration

Project: Felix the Fox and the Rainy Day children’s book

Graduate Anna Terreros-Martin believes it’s important for all children to have an equal opportunity to read, learn and enjoy illustrated children’s books, so she produced a tactile illustrated storyboard for blind and partially sighted children, and their families. 

Using a range of different fabrics to create raised images, as well as Bare Conductive Electric Paint – which, when touched, triggers sounds – the storyboard brings the story of Felix the Fox and the Rainy Day to life by prompting readers’ senses. The storyboard is also accompanied by an audio version of the story, so children can read and use the storyboard on their own. 

“I have developed a strong interest in children’s book illustrations and how they play an important role in childhood development,” explains  Terreros-Martin, “in particular, their importance in educating children and developing a strong bond between parent and child.”

Ashton Moran

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: By Order of the Committee

By Order of the Committee is a brand and style guide that can be used to recreate the distinctive aesthetic of a Working Men’s Club. Ashton Moran used original photography and a collection of family photographs to understand the unique interiors, decoration and signage of these venues, and the shared memories they hold. 

“This project is important in playing a role in the documentation of this once booming industry, which has a place in so many people’s hearts,” he explains. “It would be a great shame to lose such important places that have their roots in working class culture – although sadly I feel that this will eventually be the case.”

“I’d like to think that this guide will inspire someone to start up a fresh club,” he adds, “or will encourage WMCs of the present to update into the 21st century.”

Oli Wallace 

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Illustration

Revolving around themes of bias, emotive language and censorship, Oli Wallace’s final year project uses editorial illustration to engage and communicate. “I wanted to navigate the reader through the different methods that media outlets use to sway or influence opinion,” he explains. 

“It also serves to contrast the difference in tone from an article that has been deconstructed and stripped of its leading language. The different illustrations were constructed by creating metaphorical concepts that support and further inform the reader.”

Chris Winter

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: For the Love of Books

Chris Winter’s final year project celebrates the format of the book and the pleasure of print through an experimental exploration of ink and paper. Each exploration was documented and designed into a full-colour, large-scale publication, For the Love of Books, which features double-sided folded inserts with duotone images of magnified ink.

“It got lots of people collaborating and needed a lot of tests, failures and research,” recalls Winter. “For one aspect, the unconventional Paper Collection, I created my own paper out of unconventional materials: the ultimate test was if it would print through an inkjet printer, which resulted in nearly breaking the printer several times.”

Nikitha Pankhania and Amy Hart 

University: Sheffield Institute of Arts

Course: BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Project: The Chocolate Box Company

Graduates Nikitha Pankhania and Amy Hart collaborated to create The Chocolate Box Company, which addresses a brief to create, brand and package sustainable, Fair Trade chocolate. 

“We wanted to make Fair Trade exciting, interesting, accessible and educational so we developed a personal experience designed to simulate curiosity and excitement,” says Pankhania, adding that the brand ethos extends care to farmers, the people who produce the packaging and those who transport goods.

“The packaging communicates information about the Fair Trade producers through the use of Adinkara Symbols, which are a very important part of the farmer’s Ghanaian history and culture,” explains Hart. 

Next page: Our pick of the graduates from Leeds College of Art

Hattie Windley

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Zero

Zero is a wholefoods store that aims to cut down on packaging and waste by encouraging customers to use their own reusable packaging.

Charles Worrall

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

This project by Charles Worrall highlights the charm of the North of England, listing many of its characteristics to communicate why fracking doesn’t belong in the North.

Isla Pearce

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

Graduate Isla Pearce created a comparative visualisation of the chords in different songs from a range of musical genres for her final year project. Each ring represents an individual chord and its proportional use within the record.

Emily Kaye

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Saltaire Festival branding

This contemporary, eye-catching branding was crafted for Saltaire Festival, an exciting, family friendly 10-day event hosted annually at the local heritage centre.

Florence Packer

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Strong and Stable

Strong and Stable is a screen-printed poster series about items that are strong and stable. According to Florence Packer, the Conservative government based its recent campaign on the idea of this, whereas the poster is based on fact.

Alex Robertson

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Chunk On Limited

Chunk On Limited is a publication that makes you want to go fishing and take along your camera. It showcases the very best of professional and amateur angler’s stories, interviews and photography, from anywhere and everywhere.

Joel Sleet

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

Project: Certain typeface

Certain is a typeface for uncertain times. Designer Joel Sleet aimed to build trust between the communicator and reader by taking a step away from a corporate style, while still remaining visually consistent and grounded.

Taime Newton

University: Leeds College of Art

Course: (BA Hons) Graphic Design

These screenprinted montages utilise a punk aesthetic, with high contrast imagery – both found and original – juxtaposing architecture and retro figurative photography.

Get 5 issues of Computer Arts for £5!

Computer Arts will be bringing you the cream of the 2017 graduate crop in a special new talent issue, on sale 21 July. Subscribe now to make sure you get your copy – and get five issues for just £5.

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