#and they included gleb!

[izloveshorses]

ANASTASIA + songs not included on the original cast recording (x)

bonus:

[mishalikessoundsandcolours]

This was a New Year's gift for a very good friend of mine, it's her OCs Gleb (right) and Stasik (left) that she talks about a lot and I really love their story, so I drew them for her.

[peach-star-drops]

two spy x family ideas both based on "Still/The Neva Flows" from Anastasia the Broadway Musical

A: an au where Damian is Gleb and Anya is Anastasia focusing on the confrontation scene, specifically the lyrics

The children Their voices A man makes painful choices He does what's necessary, Anya

For Russia, my beauty What choice but simple duty We have a past to bury, Anya

Including all the angst and pain that would come from that. B: It's just a play but the 6 year olds are all really really into it. Loid is getting stress ulcers from these dramatic fucking toddlers.

[theespeakerboxxx]

indigenous fundraisers

i know its funny to laser focus on lily's obvious fake heritage, but i'd like to also shine some light on real indigenous people, that are in need of help

this is optional, but if you'd like art from me from donating that is also possible (please include receipts)

$5 for a doodle, $10 for added color, and $20 for shaded, if youd like examples of my art please dm me

share this with other people as well if you can, if you know any indigenous charities/fundraisers i should add, PLEASE message me. and if you are indigenous and struggling don't be afraid to send yours.

and yes, these have been verified in times like this we should all come together to help one another!

[athena-xox]

Okay I forgot about my Anastacia au and I was just listening to the soundtrack so here’s my updated poll

Rewrite:

So far I have three and a half ish chapters rewritten and a few beta readers/editors. The plot/backstories are pretty fleshed out so it would be actually writing the chapters.

It’s basically a more mature eah with my personal ships + hcs

Dizzie:

A extremely canon compliant fic (going off of my timeline) which basically just focus’s on Lizzie and Daring.

I’m planning on trying to emulate the style of Shannon Hale and have it feel like it’s written by her.

I would work on cleaning up their timeline + writing the prologues from their childhood’s

(Also Daring depth!! Because that’s seriously lacking in this fandom) and yes epic winter will happen but they end up together.

Farrah:

Would coexist with the dizzie fic. Farrah just has SO MUCH angst potential istg.

Rn I would be doing the same thing as the dizzie fic, cleaning up the timeline surrounding her.

Anastasia au:

Based off the broadway musical, and I was talking to someone in one of 200 eah servers I’m in about Anastacia a while ago and it made me want to write this au (even tho I’m already including Anastacia as the school musical in my rewrite).

Anastacia - Lizzie

Dmitri - Kitty

Gleb - Daring

Those who know me are going to be so confused when I say kitzie is endgame lmao. There will very much be dizzie angst tho.

I do have most of the characters planned who they are going to be in this au and right now I’ll mostly be panning out the background of the romanovs/wonderland royalty.

Also every song in the musical is going to be a chapter so I already know exactly how many chapters / what’s happening in each chapter is going to be. 

If anyone wants to talk to me about some of these please!!! I’m dying to spill my ideas/ get input. Also if you want to help beta read/edit I would love that

(Especially for the au, if anyone has watched the musical / knows lots about the romanovs please please please dm me if you want to talk)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * * *

With Navalny‘s death, Putin decapitates opposition, while the nuclear satellite space weapon development news leak, & so do plans to attack the Baltics, engaging NATO in the war.

Under Putin, many opposition leaders were shot or poisoned, including my friends Boris Nemtsov, Galina Statovoitiva, and Yuri Shchekochikhin, Sergey Yushenkov, and many others. Vladimir Kara-Murza and hundreds of others are in jail for speech.

Even in my youth, under Brezhnev, opposition, leaders were exiled —externally, like Alexanser Solzhenitsyn, or internally, like Andrey Sakharov. The Putin regime reminds us of the late-era Stalinism, with paranoid suspicions of spies everywhere, and livid hostility to the west.

As Gleb Pavlovsky repeatedly wrote and said, “The System is capable only of expansion and escalation, ending up in a war, implosion and self-destruction.” What we are watching is inexorable march to a clash with the west that may have catastrophic consequences to all of us.

You are forewarned. You better be prepared.

Ariel Cohen

+

What Ariel Cohen says is correct and important. We should keep in mind that Putin's KGB career was spent in foreign influence operations, in which he honed a number of subtle and less subtle techniques (but as a RAF member who worked with the then major in Dresden once told me, he was always particularly fond of assassinations). The Russian Federation's budget for such activities now far exceeds what was spent by the USSR during his professional career. And if you stop and think about it, the evidence of impact of these operations in America is all around us.

[Robert Scott Horton]

[spider-jaysart]

Hi!! Can I ask Damian (and maybe Dick 🙏?) for the character ask game?

Thank you, take care <3

@zephyrwrites2

Damian

Favorite thing about them: I just love his whole personality loll. He's a crazy, funny little guy that I think is really cool

Least favorite thing about them: Nothing. Only when he gets really mischaracterized by official writers who don't understand him, which happens A LOT

Favorite line: "Father, I imagined you taller."

Brotp: Damian and Jon

Otp: Damijon

Notp: Batcest, any of them that have adults paired up with him, including the canon ones Mar'i x Damian, Cassie x Damian, and Cassandra x Damian

Random headcanon: He can do ballet and it's because it's something Talia taught him while he was growing up in the league and being trained to learn many other things. He's a skilled professional at it now because of this and also bonds with his sister Cass over it and will sometimes even join her in her dancing. He also tries teaching Jon too, which can become fun for them both, and his other friends sometimes as well whenever they get curious or don't actually understand it that much like they think they do. Damian also owns a pair of green ballet slippers, but usually keeps them put away in his closet to keep them safe and clean and only takes them out when he really does want to use them.

Unpopular opinion: Okay sooo, a lot of people believe that Talia's character just gets only more ruined because of Damian's existence or whatever, but I don't believe that at all. Damian may be her son and is big part of her life because of it, but his character itself has nothing to do with hers like that at all when it comes to hateful writers choosing to write her horribly and just as another evil, lunatic villain and whatever else. Some people even say that he stole her story, but he did grow up with her during those 10 years of his, so of course he's gonna have the same life she dealt with and is also gonna have to get through certain issues from it now too because of it. But the point is that if anyone's gonna get blamed for Talia's usual trash characterisation, it should be the writers who hate her, NOT Damian who has many writers of his own who don't even treat him that well or like him that much at all either just like with Talia. Trying to pick on him is never going to fix anything about her. If Talia's ever gonna get anything better that she deserves in comics and other things, it needs to be done by writers who actually have care about her character and don't have anything weird against her that just only causes bad intentions of messing her up and then THAT'S what will finally start doing justice for her. And this not meant as an argument towards anyone or whatever btw, this is just me stating my opinion and beliefs about the whole thing

Song I associate with them: Self love by Metro Boomin & Coi Leray (Mostly because even though Damian may always put on a very confident act and always seems so prideful of himself a lot of the times, he actually has a lot of insecurities underneath all of that and doesn't actually always think so great of himself as a person)

Favorite picture of them: Definitely this very beautiful panel of him ofc💖

I just LOVE the way Gleb Melinkov draws him and gives him his Arab features without holding any of it back as well! He even gives him long lashes (longer than Flatline's even, which I noticed while looking at another panel from this series!), which I really love too!!

Dick

Favorite thing about them: I really always liked his leadership style, especially in the Teen Titans 2003 cartoon, which I grew up with

Least favorite thing about them: Only when he's potrayed as a dumb, clumsy guy in some canon stories just to lift up other characters and put them in a bigger spotlight instead. It makes no sense because he's a professional acrobat and always has been that way since he was a little kid, so how could he ever be so trippy all over the place as if there are invisible banana peels getting in the way everytime?! And he is very smart, especially with all of the important experience he has from his many years of hero work, so he's not dumb either and if he was, he wouldn't have made it so far with this kind of life because of it or ever get much done like he did because he has to overly depend on others knowledge

Favorite line: "Titans Go!"

Brotp: Dick and Starfire, Beast boy, Raven, Cyborg (I know he's friends with many others too, but this is the group I grew up with and am more attached to, so they're my fave to see together)

Otp: Dickkory because they bring the best out in eachother and have so much love for one another too

Notp: DickBabs because I just don't think they really fit that well together at all and most times Barbara just makes Dick feel bad in a lot of ways with how she usually treats him in a romantic relationship, and that's not a healthy thing to deal with at all. And then there's also Batcest and Slade x Dick (which I don't even get at all because Slade is just such a horrible, gross and very toxic guy)

Random headcanon: Years ago, back when he would used to have long hair still, he one time had it tied up in a ponytail and then a villain chopped it off in half while fighting him. Dick was pissed and really kicked their butt for doing that

Unpopular opinion: People always think of Dick as the positive, sunshine guy and then there are the ones who get very mad about it and say that he's actually the angry, tough guy because him being super friendly and happy is just too "ooc". I don't listen to any of that stuff, because I believe that he's actually both. He IS a friendly guy with a warm, charming, humorous attitude that easily attracts others, and is very much an inspiration to many because of his positive, sunshine vibes as a great, hardworking hero, but none of it makes him dumb, weak or gullible, because he IS also the type who can become very serious and gets mad when he needs to be, also doesn't actually take bull from anyone, can be chaotic and crazy, works a LOT, is independent, does have a lot of intelligence and especially experience that should never be forgotten about just because he's nice, and also definitely has the determined mind to take care of things and get them done even though others will sometimes try to tell him what to do, but he doesn't actually listen because he's not the type to easily be controlled that way like a puppy would be and if he believes it's something that needs the attention and it's what should be done and no one else is doing it, then he will do it

Song I associate with them: Annihilate by Metro Bommin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne & Offset (because it's about being fearless, embracing self strength and individuality, and becoming a much more independent person, and I think that totally fits Dick because he's not the type to fear much and hates being stuck under Batman's shadow and having independence is something that always had an important role in how Dick's life goes)

Favorite picture of them: Well, I just found this pic of him, which was done by Travis Moore

It's very nice and really shows the struggle he goes through as a hero a lot of the times. Also, I really always liked the way he draws Dick, because he doesn't just look like everyone else and isn't sharing same face syndrome with his brothers and Bruce either, it's just a look that's unique to only him and it fits him very well. It's the exact way I always imagine him looking like whenever I envision him in my mind, even the hairstyle that's given to him by this artist too!!!

Thank you for sending this ask, I enjoyed answering it! And you take very good care too!! :)

[cannibalchicken]

if you met someone who aspires to have a child named gleb (including but not limited to their own) what would you do?

marry them

[geekcavepodcast]

DC Comics' First "Absolute Power" Titles

DC Comics' "Absolute Power" event will pit the Trinity of Evil - the Brainiac Queen, Failsafe, and Amanda Waller - against the heroes of the DCU in a battle for the fate of all metahumans.

Fans can get a prelude into the events of "Absolute Power" in Absolute Power 2024 FCBD Special Edition. The free comic book day release will contain an original story from Mark Waid and Mikel Janín, a recap of the lead-up to "Absolute Power," and a sneak peek of Absolute Power #1.

Absolute Power 2024 FCBD Special Edition releases on May 4, 2024.

Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 is a oversized prelude to the saga. The "key to capturing all metahuman powers on planet Earth will finally be unlocked" bringing "Amanda Waller’s total dominance to the doorsteps of DC’s Super Heroes, using the combined might of Failsafe, the Brainiac Queen, and the Suicide Squad." Creatives for the one-shot include Mark Waid, Nicole Maines, Joshua Williamson, Chip Zdarsky, Gleb Malnikov, V Ken Marion, and Skylar Patridge.

Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1, featuring a main cover by Dan Mora, goes on sale on June 25, 2024.

Absolute Power #1 (of 4), from Mark Waid and Dan Mora, sees the Brainiac Queen and Failsafe giving Amanda Waller the ability to capture metahumans' powers. The Super Heroes and their allies will face chaos on the streets, the Suicide Squad commander's methodical attacks, and a massive disinformation campaign.

Absolute Power #1, featuring a main cover by Dan Mora and variant covers by Mora, Jim Lee, Stephen Bliss, Puppeteer Lee, Chris Samnee, Chrissie Zullo, Wes Craig, and John Timms, goes on sale on July 3, 2024.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII is a biweekly companion series to Absolute Power that will be from the Super-Villain's perspective "as the Trinity of Evil co-opts the combined powers of Amazo and the technology of Failsafe in their quest to eliminate all metahumans."

Leah Williams and Caitlyn Yarsky's Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1, on sale July 10, 2024, will introduce the Last Son, who has attacked Superman and his Metropolis allies and is now heading for the Shazam family.

John Layman and Max Raynors' Absolute Power: Task Force VII #2, on sale July 24, 2024, will introduce Depth Charge, who has stolen Aquaman's powers and taken over Atlantis. But Mera and the rest of the Aqua-family are ready to launch a secret revolution.

Absolute Power: Task Force VII #3, on sale July 31, 2024, follows the Amazo robot Jadestone, who has gone after the powers of the Justice Society of America. However, Jadestone has been compromised by Green Lantern Alan Scott's willpower and may now be able to execute his own free will as opposed to obeying Waller's orders. Meanwhile, the remaining JSA members are mounting a rescue and an attempt to flee to the Tower of Fate.

Absolute Power: Origins, from John Ridley and Alitha Martinez, is the history of Amanda Waller. "Find out what has led her to this place in a tale of how Waller suffered a catastrophic loss, and how she forged her powerlessness into a path to vengeance, fueled by two words that changed her life, and the lives of everyone in the DC Universe: NEVER AGAIN."

Absolute Power: Origins #1 (of 3) goes on sale on July 24, 2024.

July 2024's tie-in comics for Absolute Power are Batman #150, on sale July 2, Wonder Woman #11, on sale July 17, and Superman #16, on sale July 17,

(Images via DC Comics - Covers of 2024 Absolute Power Free Comic Book Day Special Edition, Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1, Absolute Power #1, Absolute Power: Task Force VII #1, and Absolute Power: Origins #1)

[mariacallous]

In the summer of 2023, Gleb Aleksandrov, a self-proclaimed doctor from Russia with a history of charging patients for ineffective “treatments” such as singing folk songs to them, set up shop in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. But according to an investigation from the Kyrgyzstani news outlet Kloop, Aleksandrov’s clients are far from the only people his new venture could endanger: he also claims to be producing drones for the Russian military in a facility that shares an address with his health center. Meduza shares an English-language adaptation of the story.

The Dmitry Rayevsky Psychology and Health Center in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, has a rating of 4.3 out of five stars on the digital map service 2GIS. Most of the comments are good; one user says the center helped him overcome depression, for example, while another says it helped her get through a tough divorce.

But when the comments are bad, they’re really bad. “One person had a tumor, and his parents refused chemotherapy. Psychologists at this clinic worked with them, and the tumor actually grew. Another mother lost her child,” reads one. Another simply says: “My aunt died because of you.”

For anyone familiar with the past work of the health center’s founder, these reviews are unsurprising. “Dmitry Rayevsky,” whose real name is Gleb Aleksandrov, began his career in Russia, where he referred to himself as a “doctor-innovator,” a “political scientist,” a “patriot,” and an “oncology psychologist,” all while claiming noble ancestry. Charging up to 1.5 million rubles ($16,400) for his services, he “treated” autism and cancer with methods such as singing folk songs and placing his hands on people. And when his patients occasionally died in agony, he blamed their “evil auras.” According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Aleksandrov ran a “cult” in the Moscow region, “brainwashing” his followers into selling their own apartments and giving him the money.

Aleksandrov’s schemes were widely covered in the Russian press, with at least six TV segments devoted to them and multiple news stories published online. One woman from Yekaterinburg gave a detailed account of how the quack doctor had “sent her son to the next world.”

The reporting eventually led state investigators to get involved, and in early 2023, Aleksandrov’s “miracle clinic” in Moscow was shut down. In the fall, the authorities opened two felony cases against him. But by then, Aleksandrov was one step ahead: he had already opened a network of “clinics” in Kazakhstan, and he had big plans in Kyrgyzstan — ones that went beyond the medical field. ​​In July 2023, he registered a business called the Valkyrie Construction Bureau at the same address as his Psychology and Health Center.

The doctor diversifies

In June 2023, a job vacancy for an electronics engineer appeared on the classified ad website Headhunter.kg. According to the listing, the new employee would be tasked with “organizing drone production in Bishkek.” The ad was posted by someone named Yevgeny Anatolyevich Boldyrev, whose profile on the site includes a link to the website Judging from financial records, both companies appear to have been just as hollow as his promises of curing cancer. This domain name belongs to a Moscow-based LLC called Valkyrie Construction Bureau, which, according to the site, manufactures “aircraft, including space vehicles, and related equipment.” The site also lists military drones available for purchase.

The Valkyrie Construction Bureau’s social media pages say the company makes combat drones for the Russian Armed Forces. Dmitry Rayevsky (that is, Gleb Aleksandrov) is listed as a co-founder, while Yevgeny Boldyrev is named as the head of the operation. Boldyrev’s email address, evgeniy.serdechnyy@raevskyteam.org, suggests he has close ties to the phony doctor. Elsewhere on the Internet, he refers to himself as a “student” of “Rayevsky.”

It’s clear from open sources that the Valkyrie Construction Bureau registered in Bishkek is linked to the company registered under the same name in Moscow. This means that the drones Gleb Aleksandrov plans to build in Kyrgyzstan will likely be used to kill people in Ukraine.

“Unmanned aerial vehicles are widely used in tactical military operations for things like artillery targeting, reconnaissance, observation, and monitoring,” Rayevsky said in a 2022 interview about Valkyrie in the Russian news site Novye Izvestia.

“We’re making drones for close-range reconnaissance up to five kilometers that are invisible to the enemy’s radar and resistant to various weather conditions,” said Valkyrie’s chief engineer, Alexander Kozlachkov, in a 2022 article about the company. “We’re also working on cargo drones capable of carrying up to 10 kilograms and staying in the air for up to two hours. They’ll be able to traverse quite long distances to break through enemy bunkers.”

Of course, there’s also a chance the Valkyrie Construction Bureau’s drones will prove to be just as much of a sham as his cancer treatment methods. But that doesn’t mean the operation will be any less harmful to Kyrgyzstan.

An uncanny resemblance

After reviewing the drone models for sale on the Valkyrie website, journalists from Kloop concluded that the company is likely not producing drones at all, but instead purchasing and reselling foreign devices under the guise of manufacturing them.

Valkyrie’s V-Coptr Falcon, for example, looks extremely similar to one made by the U.S. company Zero Zero Robotics, which has offices in China and Taiwan.

The EVO II Dual 640T V3 offered by Valkyrie resembles one made by the Chinese company Autel Robotics, which has branches in the U.S., Germany, Italy, and Singapore.

The photo provided by Valkyrie of one of the reconnaissance drones it offers is actually a screenshot from a video of a radio-controlled aircraft made by the Chinese company Skywalker Technology Co., Ltd., though the product details listed on the Valkyrie site differ from those of the pictured device.

An employee at the Dmitry Rayevsky Psychology and Health Center told Kloop that the business’s workers came to Bishkek from Russia but that “Dmitry Rayevsky” himself rarely travels to Kyrgyzstan. The employee did not know anything about the drones that are supposedly being manufactured at the health center’s address.

A lifetime of lies

It’s no coincidence that Gleb Aleksandrov chose Kyrgyzstan for his purported drone company. According to websites run by his past victims, Aleksandrov was born in Frunze (the Soviet-era name for Bishkek). His family soon moved to the Russian city of Smolensk, where he first claimed to be descended from nobility and began using the pseudonym Rayevsky.

On Telegram, where he has nearly 100,000 followers, Aleksandrov is a vocal supporter of the war against Ukraine. His enthusiasm for Russia’s military aggression appears to date back at least to the annexation of Crimea, during which he founded an LLC called Development of Crimea and Sevastopol Industrial Construction Holding and another called Crimea Industrial Consortium Trading House. Judging from financial records, both companies appear to have been just as hollow as his promises of curing cancer.

But whether Aleksandrov is lying about Valkyrie manufacturing its own drones or not, the company could still have consequences for Kyrgyzstan: the E.U.’s 12th package of sanctions will reportedly carry tough penalties for third-country companies helping Russia circumvent them.

In August 2023, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez asked Kyrgyzstani President Sadyr Japarov to better regulate the flow of goods to Russia to prevent defense-related items, including drones, from entering the country. In response, Japarov said that the export of drones is against the law in Kyrgyzstan. The outlet Economist.kg, however, was unable to get an official response from the Economic Ministry about whether such a ban is really in place.

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

idk if this is dumb, but do u think the romanovs knew they were going to be killed?

Hi anon! It’s not dumb at all!

The answer is very complicated. Since they were in captivity for over a year by July of 1918 and that they were being taken farther and farther into Siberia, it is highly possible that they knew something bad was going to happen. By July of 1918, all of the family members have mostly lost hope of being rescued.

Nicholas usually kept high spirits, and he did until his death, but it wasn’t the same as before. Alexandra knew that something was going to happen which is why she emotionally (and physically) prepared for the worst. She had her children sew jewels, or was they were called in the family, “medicines”, into their undergarments and clothing so they could have their fortunes when they “left”.

Olga always knew that something bad was going to happen. It was the pessimist in her. Gleb Botkin (son of Evgeny Sergeyevich Botkin who was the family physician and was also killed in the basement of the Ipatiev House) stated “She was by nature a thinker and as it later seemed to me, understood the general situation better than any member of her family, including even her parents. At least I had the impression that she had little illusions in regard to what the future held in store for them, and in consequence was often sad and worried.”

The other three girls probably had their suspicions but tried to stay positive. They were so young and still probably had that hope that things would get better. They would’ve never imagined that their lives would end so soon so they probably thought about life in the future but mostly tried to stay in the present to make it more bearable.

Usually depicted in movies, Alexei was the type that always sensed that he was going to die and wanted to die himself. This, I don’t think, was not the case. Alexei couldn’t walk for the last months of his life which left him weak sick. He is described by all accounts of looking “different” and “sickly”, which he definitely was. His Hemophilia was so bad that the doctors predictions said that he wouldn’t survive to adulthood. Despite all of this, Alexei tried to maintain his past happiness by conversing with his family and always trying to find new things in the ever boring days. He even had a friend! Leonid “Lenka” Sednev who was the kitchen boy. As usual, the family always made sure that he felt cared for and that he was okay. Alexei probably didn’t expect himself to be killed.

The family themselves would NEVER expect themselves to be killed in the horrible way that they were, but their hope of escaping or getting out was definitely draining by the day.

Thank you for asking!

[moopadoop]

How did you actually start making these models or how do you basically have the motivation to do so, i really wanna try modeling like yours but im so confused on where to start😵‍💫

My motivation originally came from wanting to animate, but to animate in 3d you also have to know how to model, texture, and shade... As of some resources to start, I've included what helped me the most under the cut!

Getting Started:

Im sure anybody new to learning blender has probably heard of blender guru, if not, ill be happy to introduce him!

He's honestly what helped me the most with getting familiar with all the in's and out's of creating a good render, as well as figuring out how to go about approaching certain things. He also has a few older videos (blender 2.79 my beloved and behated....) that walks you through the process of creating different renders. My only problem with them is that they're a bit long...

ok hear me out, this actually really helped me with learning how to model in general. This tutorial may be old but it honestly taught me things like using the mirror modifier (an actual lifesaver), and how to approach modeling more complex shapes. Yea i get that the entire tutorial is kinda hyper specific but sometimes you just gotta roll up your sleeves and say "today im going to learn how to model a lowpoly elephant"

Intermediate:

have you gotten bored of making lowpoly elephants? Time to expand onto more advanced things, like people! One of the absolute best tutorial makers i've ever seen with my own two peepers is daniel krueter

Again, a bit of an old tutorial, its what opened the door to creating characters for me. He expands upon more complex box modeling, as well as introduces you to edge modeling for more specific shapes like the face. I'm pretty sure he also goes a lil bit into topology, and edge flow, but in case he doesn't the general idea is: quads are amazing and beautiful, tris can stay but are on thin ice, and n-gons are the devils spawn. (you know its true because it rhymes)

Two other tutorials from him that utilize 2.8+ and a lil bit of sculpting/retopologizing. To be honest I haven't really gotten around to watching these, but I would recommend the second one if you want a more in-depth look on how he did certain things, whereas if you want a general view of his process you should take a look at the first one.

If you're looking for some ✨quick tips✨ a few recommendations I have are Gleb Alexandrov, Cgmatter/Default Cube, and Ian Hubert.

Gleb Alexandrov has a lot of tips on just how to make things look a lil bit better, rendering/material-wise

Cgmatter/Default Cube do more technical tutorials, like how you would go about making certain things, abstract or otherwise

Ian Hubert is kinda like Cgmatter but they do more tutorials on things you would find out in the wild such as buildings, fish, posters, and scary nightmare men! (They also do a lot of vfx/hard surface stuff which i think is super cool)

And finally, leaning on the more advanced side is Dikko

he does quite a few tutorial videos for things like Adobe Illustrator/Maya both of which i don't have because im broke but i mainly really like their rigging/hand modeling tutorials. I'm pretty sure he introduces drivers for the different controllers of rigs and ik constraints, but im not sure because i haven't really gotten around to watching the whole thing.

Advanced; Learning to Stylize:

From here it gets a lil bit more abstract because theres no "right" way to stylize, whereas with photorealistic rendering most of the time there is a very clear line between real-lookin and not real-lookin. A lot of it is just kinda what looks good.

My go-to person for stylized environments is Kristof Dedene, he makes some of the prettiest shaders ive ever seen. (im a huge fan of his water shader)

he has tutorials for clouds, waterfalls, buildings, rocks, and grass which all look so good i could cry

My absolute beloved, my blorbo, my favorite activity. Sam Bowman is like the godfather of all things procedural, words cannot describe how much this man has helped me make funny lil designs for my funny lil projects. Everyone should watch his videos (and subscribe while youre at it, my boy is criminally underrated)

A geometry nodes connoisseur (if theyre doing geo nodes you know they got the class that wont quit). Their renders are really cool to look at, but geo nodes scare me so i haven't really gotten around to doing their tutorials yet, still would definitely recommend them if youre interested!

ok so if im being completely honest i don't know what hes doing, but in my defense i don't think anyone else does either. His newest normal editing series is witchcraft to me but i think its funny how he casually dabbles in the dark arts so im including him in here. He's covered a lot from uvs, to masks, to drivers, to shaders, but again they are all kinda advanced so proceed with caution.

And because this post wasn't long enough heres some extra people to check out who do kinda tutorial stuff (but mostly i just like looking at their work)

Bobacupcakes - Who i reference the most whenever i wanna make something sparmkly (i know the link leads to twitter but theyre also on tumblr)

Rukikuri - prebbty models!! (some normal editing too!)

Niall Stenson - kinda a grab bag of stuff (i just think theyre neat)

Late as Usual - another wild geo node wizard!

Dillon Goo - suuuuper cool animator (i like their fight scenes)

Rui - neato burrito 3d character creator (their textures are godly)

Dyzi&liz - im pretty sure theyre actually making an entire show in blender and i am both scared and amazed

Yoolie - another 3d character creator <3

高部 - テクスチャが大好き～～～ ;0; いちばんすきなテクスチャアーティスト！！

Nugget - Yet another wizard that dabbles in the darkest of arts (im pretty sure ive mentioned them before but in case i haven't theyre the person who's node setup ive been using for raymarching textures)

かめ山 - モデルはとてもかわいい～～

Im sorry that most of these people are from the bird app, but trust me they are definitely worth checking out

Super Secret Bonus Channel For Those Like Me Who Are Constantly Frothing At The Mouth For More Bnpr Content. We Want It, Crave It. We Lurk In The Shadows Waiting With Slacked Jaws And Glazed Eyes, Waiting For The Next Model To Descend Down Upon In Droves:

[gacmediadaily]

Great American Family is rolling out the red carpet for Danica McKellar's new royal-themed Christmas movie, A Royal Christmas Ball!

This movie is the latest to be filmed and promoted on their channel for the upcoming 2024 Great American Christmas movie season. See the promo for this movie below.

Here's what we know, so far, about this movie:

A Royal Christmas Ball will include waltzes choreographed by “Dancing With the Stars” professional dancer Gleb Savchencko. It is currently set to premiere this November on Great American Family.

Story synopsis via Great American Media: "In A Royal Christmas Ball, Chelsea Jones (Danica McKellar) is a dance instructor and studio owner in Chicago who inspires kids to find themselves through dance. Just before Christmas, Chelsea discovers a photo she’s never seen before. Chelsea thinks the young woman is her birth mother who passed away when she was only five years old. The woman is in a wedding dress tugging on the hand of a man wearing a wedding ring, but that is all that can be seen of the man Chelsea believes may be her father. The photo’s handwritten inscription reads, “Our place, Havenshire, December 23, 1984.” With only the internet, a plane ticket, and lifelong determination to go on, Chelsea now has four days in Havenshire to solve the mystery of her birth family. Along the way, she’ll have to sneak into a castle, teach a stubborn Prince how to dance, and be in just the right place on Christmas Eve when the bells toll."

A Royal Christmas Ball Promo:

Great American Family is currently using the title A Royal Christmas Ball to promote this film; however, there is a previous ION Christmas movie with the same title from 2017. Danica has said the title may change to A Cinderella Christmas Ball or something similar, so be sure to stay tuned IF there are any title changes or updates.

Of course, Danica McKellar is well-known for a number of TV and Christmas movies; notably, A Crown for Christmas is her most popular royal-themed Christmas movie to date. A Royal Christmas Ball will be her third royal film for Great American Family. The Winter Palace aired in 2022, and A Royal Date for Christmas aired in 2023.

More Great American Family News - In Case You Missed It:

Christmas in July is coming to Great American Family! Great American Media CEO Bill Abbott shared this exciting news in his latest insider email with this statement, "Movie enthusiasts can rest assured that we will go back to movies with Christmas in July, and then we will have a very strong slate of new, original movies through the end of 2024!"

Further information has not been released yet about when Christmas in July will begin, so please be sure to stay tuned for additional details. Last year, Great American Family ran Christmas movies 24/7 from July 1st to July 17th, and then from July 18th to July 30th, the channel aired three Christmas movies each night, from 6pm to 12am (EST). We will have to wait and see if the network plans to run a similar programming slate for Christmas in July this year.

At the end of July, Bill shared with his followers that we can expect to see the return of Great American Pure Flix films on Monday nights, beginning with GOD’S COUNTRY SONG on Monday, July 29th, and HEAVEN SENT on Monday, August 6th. MR. MANHATTAN, starring Alexa and Carlos PenaVega, will premiere May 23rd on the streaming source Great American Pure Flix and is projected to premiere on Great American Family in September.

Bill also promises, "There be much more to come in August, September and certainly at Christmas, including a mystery featuring Candace..." The Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Case for the Winemaker, starring Candace Cameron Bure, is set to premiere sometime later this year.

At this point, I know some viewers are disappointed with the reruns of classic programming airing on Great American Family. Hopefully, this explanation from Bill Abbott will help explain, "The reason we have been airing older series content is the number of people who watch these shows is double, and sometimes triple, the number who watch movies according to Nielsen. While we also love our movies and would much prefer to offer these rather than old series, we need to reach the biggest audience possible to be viable to advertisers."

So, if you want to support Great American Family and the content they are building on their network, we will all have to wait a little longer as the network continues to grow its library of films and expands its viewership. When Christmas in July or the movies begin again, be sure to tell your family and friends to tune in.

[smashpages]

Out this week: Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 (DC, $4.99): 

DC’s big crossover event kicks off this week with this “zero” issue — ground zero, that is. Featuring a creative team that includes Mark Waid, Joshua Williamson, Nicole Maines, Chip Zdarsky, Gleb Melnikov, Skylar Patridge, V Ken Marion and more, this issue will bring together elements from Batman, Superman: House of Brainiac and Suicide Squad: Dream Team as Amanda Waller begins her plan to take down the world’s superheroes.

See what other comics and graphic novels are arriving in stores this week.

[sunskate]

it was genuinely like, do i have to? to finish watching this event haha

D/S and F/G are both teams where the male partner is stronger by far and is doing a lot of work moving his partner around the ice. it's interesting to watch them back to back. Gleb looks like he's trained in ballet. at Lake Placid, D/S weren't covering a ton of ice, their stroking doesn't go deep into the ice, especially hers. you could say the exact same about F/G, but it's a different order of magnitude for D/S. like F/G are more polished and overall faster

both Lilah and Diana had twizzle errors here. some competitions, the twizzle errors look like little balance checks and still are big enough to change rankings -- Lilah lost balance in the 2nd set out of 3 and touched her free foot down. Diana fell down, sat on the ice after the 1st set and was completely out of sync with Gleb for the 2nd set

both teams had gotten around 9.2 pts at their previous comps for their level 4 twizzles. F/G lost around 3.5 pts here in TES for her mistake, D/S lost around 6.5 including the point deduction for the fall.

so. F/G's PCS at Nebelhorn when they were relatively clean? 54.7 F/G's PCS here with her twizzle error? 54.7

D/S's PCS at Lake Placid also relatively clean? 48.76 D/S's PCS here, with her wiping snow off the back of her tutu? 50.9

this is a joke.

[stuckasmain]

So I saw Anastasia a few nights ago(December 6th, 2022)

It now lives completely in my head. I am shaking this show in a little jar. It ohhhh I have a lot to say I’m going to make several posts but-

No the show was absolutely fantastic and I can’t help but to think some of it was cut? Purely from it being a tour because there is no way it’s shorter then two hours. But a lot of stuff was hinted/included but just not? Touched on as much as I would like but that’s just me

Like Gleb is there- then he’s not- then he’s here - then he’s not. I feel like they took something out.

Anyways 10/10 if there’s any active community for this musical omg please talk to me any time

I still need to watch the movie but my boys not there so idk… I do love don bluth though…