#anyway how is this pose based on his sprite...

[meo-eiru]

DUDE I JUST PLAYED THROUGH THE GAME, WHY IS IT SO SADDDD😭😭😭

and why is he hot

Starling went through quite a few redesigns through the entire development process so let me talk about it a bit :3

It all started with this notes app drawing I made with my finger

Right from the start we knew his tail would be made out of tongues but figuring out how many and placed how was quite hard, I really had to girlmath my way thru

This was the first actual drawing I made of him. The story wasn't complete yet but I went ahead and designed something anyway. Here he was definitely "scarier" and his scar was also placed differently. He had gills on his neck but as you will see I changed their location to under his arms later on. We were actually considering not giving him a tongue of his own so I wanted to make his mouth terrifyingly big and empty.

Here I tried giving him bigger eyes like a fish. This was when his playful and childlike personality had started shaping as you can see from the expressions. I definitely liked this direction better but it also wasn't perfect just yet so I went ahead and did a few more changes

I slowed down on trying to figure out his design a bit after that and instead focused on how his sprite would look. He is a merman after all, he can't just stand straight like a lot of the other visual novel characters. This stage was PAINFUL.

These were the first ones I sketched, we ended up deciding we liked the 3rd one the best.

I carried that 3rd one over to another canvas and started playing around with how we could place his tail, we started entertaining the idea of having him sit on a big rock

This is when his pose really shaped up. The animated Little Mermaid movie was actually a big inspiration, I sat and rewatched the entire movie and studied how they animated her tail

And after that I finally finalized his design. We decided to change the end of his tail to be more eel like for aesthetic purposes (normal tail shape looked weird with tongues)

And for anyone wondering this is what Maelyn looked like at first. Since the story wasn't complete yet I thought it'd take place in a more modern setting and designed her with that in mind but we decided to have the story take place in 1800s so I changed the design based on that. I did a lot of research on glasses and corsets to make the design as accurate as I could.

Yes glasses! We didn't use the sprites in the main story but Maelyn does wear glasses and looks very pretty in them if you ask me. You will be seeing more of it in the bonus episodes!

[velvet-cupcake-games]

We had an ask today that touched on Will's sprite and its layout, so I thought it'd be fun to do one of my backstage in game development posts.

One of my favourite things in Ren'py (the Python-based scripting system I use to create Made Marion) is its layered sprite system. Layered sprites allow creators to link different images together so that they don't have to make an entirely new sprite for every facial expression and outfit change that a sprite has. Instead they can make transparent images that layer on top of each other like paper dolls.

Will happens to be my most complex sprite for two reasons. First, he has two major outfits because he wears a flamboyant swashbuckling outfit when he's not incognito and a dark hooded outfit when he's doing more thiefy tasks. He also has two major arm poses that are used with all of his outfits because I wanted to visually indicate when he's feeling more closed-off versus more open.

Add a cape and hat to the deal and poor Arrapso (our lead/sprite artist) was going nuts with all the layered sprite bits and bobs. Will's sprite has quite the base setup. If I'd just gone completely basic with the sprite layout, I would have to type the following in every time I called up Will's sprite as he appears above: show will normaldowncloak hat_gloatinge gloatingm hathair normal normaldown That's a lot of typing. Early in the process, I spoke with Feniks, our awesome code consultant, about how to link sprite bits together. They showed me a great system that I used so that now all I have to do to call up the Will above is type: show will normaldown gloating Most of my sprites are sorted by outfit, but because Will is special, he's actually sorted by his arms. "Normaldown" is his hand on hip pose while wearing his normal swashbuckler outfit. If I type "normaldown" my code settings call up that set of arms and add on his normal outfit, the appropriate cloak background, and his hairstyle with him wearing his hat. "Gloating" is my compound facial expression that combines his "gloating" eyes and mouth.

I also have facial expressions that combine different eyes and mouths (angrye smilem often makes a really good sarcastic expression!). Will even has two sets of eyes, one normal and one with his hat's shadow over them. The shadowed eyes are automatically linked to the presence of his hat, so I don't have to type anything extra there when I'm coding in a scene.

Here's an example of what my layered linking code looks like for Will:

Yeah, he's got a LOT of bits and bobs. It was a ton of work to set up, but it made it soooo much easier during the bulk of my coding since 90% of the time I now only have to type in an arm pose and a facial expression to call a properly attired Will onto the scene.

This does somewhat limit my flexibility. As I mentioned in my ask, the automatic linkage of Will's casual arm pose to his hatless hairstyle means he cannot easily wear his casual outfit with his hat. That's fine, since generally he isn't going to. And I've added and removed some outfits here and there if they weren't working for how I ended up using a sprite.

Anyway, as a player, layered sprites are why Made Marion can have such cool sprites with tons of facial expressions, different arm poses, combat poses, and multiple outfits without the game being 10 gigabytes in size and without its coder going entirely bananas. That's pretty cool!

[suzuran777]

Lamento stageplay news + visuals

Just one more day left until the live performancs of the Lamento stageplay start! The stageplay was of course already announced last year, but as they finally started tweeting the countdown pictures, I wanted to write a blog post about the visuals and information they've released so far, comparing some of the stageplay visuals to the official game illustrations!

Similar to the DRAMAtical Murder (DMMd) and sweet pool stageplays, the Lamento stageplay will also have different routes for each main character, Asato, Bardo and Rai. I'm going to assume that the first half of the stageplay will be some kind of common route, while the second half focuses on the route of each different character. Something that is new is that this time the stageplay will have "musical elements" as well, so I'm not sure if I should call it a stageplay or a musical (I'm just using "stageplay" this time as the official account also seems to call it that). Even though in the game Konoe's song is just a melody, the actors did tweet about singing, so I am curious what they will do!

Ohyama Yoh, who composed 19 of the 37 songs of the Lamento original soundtrack also tweeted that there will be 11 new songs (+ addictional background music). I think it's super cool that they're working together with the original composer again to create new songs for the stageplay! I remember the DMMd stageplay also had a new song by GOATBED, which they even performed live a few times at the end of the show. The previous stageplays were about two hours long, but this time they mentioned it will be at least 3 hours, which makes sense because Lamento is a lot longer than sweet pool and DMMd.

I'm really impressed by the costumes and wigs so far, the ears and tails also look so fluffy... I really wonder what they will look like in motion and what the battle scenes will look like. Most of the visuals of the individual characters they've released so far seem to be based on the in-game sprites, but what I found interesting is that Rai's, Asato's and Bardo's pictures seem to have the same pose as the Kotobukiya figurines! You can see the comparison below, the pictures of the figurines are from the Kotobukiya official website.

Another new visual which was released quite recently seems to resemble another official illustration, which I've seen in the artbooks before and which was also the cover of magazine B's Log, specifically the December 2006 issue. Some of the details are a bit different, for example Konoe is not holding Leaks' mask in his hand anymore, and this time they added Shui to the illustration as well, but some other things such as Bardo's pose make it quite obvious this picture was their inspiration. The way Shui and Leaks stand next to each other kind of reminds me of the Rhapsody to the Past drama CD as well? One thing I noticed is that they're not really trying to hide Leaks' face this time, which was actually quite a big reveal in the game.

Next are some of the other illustrations they recently showed us during a short livestream which was available on Twitter for a limited time. Luckily they also posted the pictures on the official account! These won't be sold as merchandise, but they're given away as a bonus for those who attend all three versions of the show. I guess one thing I never noticed before is how little promotional/extra art Bardo got back then, so in this case they had to use one of his in-game CGs. For the other characters they mostly seem to use some of the extra/promotional art. Anyway, you can see a comparison below! I think it's fun to see how they re-created the pictures with the actors.

The last picture they recently showed during the Twitter livestream uses the cover illustration of the official world guidebook! Unfortunately no Bardo in this one either. This is one of the items they are selling as merchandise, it seems to be some kind of booklet (they call it a "pamphlet" but it's 32 pages long). I really wish they would sell the merchandise online, but for now it's only accessible for those who have a ticket and who buy it inside the venue. Maybe if they have any extra stock they might sell it online?

Update: The stageplay will also be livestreamed on DMM TV! The ticket to watch all three routes is 10000 yen (about 66 USD, which is cheaper than the in-person tickets at least!) which also gives you some special bonus videos to watch. First is Bardo's route on February 24th, followed by Asato's and Rai's routes on February 25th. Be aware that it is region locked and not all VPNs work, so unfortunately I can't help much with that! For any further updates you can check the official Twitter account!

Cast list: Konoe: Maejima Yoh Rai: Kato Sho Asato: Hiraga Yusei Bardo: Seto Yusuke Razel: Kimisawa Yuki Kaltz: Okamoto Yuki Verg: Iwata Tomoki Froud: Muramatsu Koki Kagari: Asaba Maya Tokino: Fukuzawa Taiga Firi: Kita Tsutomu Kil: Yoshun Sakamoto Ul: Arai Yuya Shui: Osaki Natsuki Leaks: Matsui Yuho

[welcome-to-jay]

Ranking Every Single One of Sissel Ghost Trick's Talking Sprites Because I Crazy (There Will Be Spoilers!)

Let's start off with Base Sissel. One of the coolest protagonist designs in gaming. Not too busy but the striking colors make it instantly memorable. The red suit + black shirt is sliiiick, plus the shades which are crucial to his character. This is a 10/10 design.

Now we have a smiling Sissel. Even his grin is just as sharp and angular as the rest of him. That is definitely a Cool Guy Smirk™. I'll give this one a modest 6/10.

This is a Sissel sprite we don't see that often, as far as I know. He's shocked, but not That shocked. With all the crazy shit that happens in his game, its no wonder we don't see this Kinda Shocked expression more often. However, with this sprite we see a key feature of Sissel's Shades, they can emote! Here they widen in surprise. 7/10 for a Surprised Sissel.

Probably one of the best "I dunno" gestures I've ever seen. Sissel is so cool he only shrugs with one hand. That open palm also conveys a kinda "well, how about this?" gesture. I don't have much more to say abut this sprite because its strength lies in its casual simplicity. 10/10

He's thinkin'. There's not much more to it. I really wonder if, between this game and Ace Attorney, the Capcom artists are tired of drawing thinking poses. That being said though, this is a classic pose, nothing out there about it. But that's okay, because Sissel isn't supposed to be an "out there" character. He has a bunch of quirky detective friends for that. 6/10.

Sissel is looking really emotional here! Emotional with which emotion exactly? Well that's one of the great things about having eyes and eyebrows (or maybe he just doesn't have eyebrows?) covered by shades! Because that part of his face is obscured, this aggressive stance could portray anger, surprise, or a secret third thing! Either way, you know it's a tense moment when Sissel loses his cool like this. 8/10.

I mean, come on. This one just speaks for itself. Bro is dumbfounded, flabbergasted, stupified and *looks at thesaurus.com* ...in a dither? Okay? Anyway, there's a lot to love about this sprite. His shades are doing the thing again where they widen in reaction so Sissel's surprise. His face is portrayed facing more to the side than usual to accentuate that goofy look on his face. 10/10 sprite.

Again, I have to wonder if Capcom artists are tired of drawing people sweating. Anyway, this is another sprite that's used during tense moments (other than at the beginning of the game, when Sissel gets really sweaty trying to get his bearings) so you can really feel how Sissel is feeling. It's hard to keep your cool when you're constantly being put in Situations, especially when those Situations involve Puzzles. 5/10, I don't like seeing Sissel sweaty.

Spoilers under the cut!

Pensive Sissel 😔This is technically another thinking sprite, but a much more introspective one, and I think it really works with Sissel's character. You have to remember that he spends the entire game dead, so he doesn't really owe anyone anything. But he still helps people out anyway, out of the kindness of his heart and a little guidance from a desk lamp. And he does manage to save a lot of people, not just with his actions but with his words. Ah, but I guess that's more about his personality than this sprite huh? Anyway, an introspective Sissel is a blessed thing. 9/10, because this sprite reminds me of some of the best parts of this game.

Hold on a mo', this isn't our Sissel! That's right, there's another Sissel walking around killing people while our Sissel is dead as a rat in a torpedo. And right after your brain explodes after that reveal, the game whips out this sprite! It's Sissel, but he's menacing! He's sinister! It's such a sharp turn from the other expressions we've seen from Sissel that it's hard not to get taken back. It hammers in that lingering feeling that whoever Sissel is and whoever this guy is... just can't be one and the same. Now both Sissel and the player have to come to terms with that fact while the game still keeps you nose-deep in mysteries. 10/10 obviously.

And that's it! Our favorite Sissy has to take a little nap now. He's a little tuckered out after being appraised by me for an entire post, I tend to have that effect on people. I really wish he would put his ass away though...

Anyway, thanks so much for reading all the way through this post! It was meant half as a writing exercise but mostly as a chance to talk about a character I really like from a game I'm really passionate about! Play Ghost Trick! You won't regret it!

[ninjagirlstar5]

I was in the mood to draw Minako Tomori, and so I did. I put her in this melancholic pose while dressed in casual clothes, like she's hanging out in public, but she started getting distracted by past regrets...

Her casual clothes are based off of this sprite edit I made of her for my fanfic:

There's no tattoo-covering-a-scar on her shoulder in this sprite cause I literally just came up with that headcanon yesterday and this sprite edit is almost a year old (I just never posted it until now). Not that you would've seen it that well from this angle anyways.

Her tattoo is based off of the flower, Sakurasou or the Japanese Primrose, btw. Kinda proud on how it turned out, ngl, as I'm not really that good in designing tattoos for characters. ^^;

Anyways, I made an off-the-cuff Minako Tomori analysis under the read more, oops:

I've been seeing a lot of Tomori family talk lately and that made me start thinking of Minako again as she's, well, kindof my favorite out of the 6.5 crew next to Dr. Ando (which led to me making this drawing of her). Now, I'm not defending her in how she raised Kizuna or her horrible attitude or anything like that. She's pretty horrible in DRA 6.5 and she gets called out on multiple times by Ryutaro and even Dr. Ando, and rightfully so. But man, from what I can understand in DRA 6.5, she's clearly a goddamn mess. From all the smoking she does to (badly) cope with the stress of dealing with her failure of a marriage to a shitty husband who is also a shitty dad, to constantly cheating on him cause she'd rather be anywhere but with him and can't divorce him due to collateral so she's just legally stuck with him so she goes off to find other men (usually younger but at least they're of age) to ignore her problems at home, puts importance on money because she's the only one trying make sure they have a fuckin' roof over their heads cause her husband is too busy gambling and drinking all their money away, and probably put importance on her appearance more than anything else cause it's one of the few things she can control about herself and feel confident in (and even then, she can't stop the passage of time that is old age). And all of this, plus how she interacts with Ryutaro in her Talk sections (a.k.a. her FTEs) by constantly calling him brat and trying to get him to go away, and no wonder Kizuna turned out the way she did. She had a dad that was never there for her or his wife, refusing to take responsibility for anything and just focuses on himself, and her mom is dealing with SO many things that she's constantly stressed about money and her appearance to the point that she's unable to be emotionally supportive to her daughter in any healthy manner that her flaws, her own attitude about men, and her beliefs in money and appearance is all that matters just ended up trickling down to her daughter and influencing her in a way that it turned her into the messed up girl she is in the short time we got to know her in DRA. Like, holy shit, Minako. You're an asshole of a parent, but when you really think about it, the poor woman got the short end of the stick in life and that really affected how she acted in raising her daughter. Again, not defending her as she's still a bad influence but it's hard not to pity her when she's left to do all the work herself, from parenting, to working, to just trying to take care of herself (by coping in very bad ways)...It's not an enviable position, that's for sure. But honestly, that's what makes Minako so interesting to me. She's not a good person, far from it, nor is she the "better" parent in this scenario. But she still cared enough about Kizuna to follow a suspicious note and getting kidnapped in the process, even when it had the underlying motivation of deciding that she had enough of her shitty husband and took the opportunity to run away from him. And whenever the other characters, particularly Dr. Ando, call her out on her nonsense, I think she gets struck silent in response. Like their words are genuinely getting to her and making her question the way she acts.

And you know what fucks me up the most?

The implication that, between finding out what happened to Kizuna and the rest of the class in DRA post 6.5 upon getting rescued and before the events of SDRA2, she actually changed and improved as a person. Minako, while she is gossiping in the epilogue, is a lot more nicer and friendlier here, is giving us a rundown of what happened after the Utsuroshima Killing Game and the rumors surrounding it to Midori, and making light-hearted jokes in an attempt to cheer Midori up by making fun of herself. And when Midori starts to cry over Teruya's death, Minako's sprite goes sympathetic and concerned and it fades to black for awhile and we come back to Midori reassuring Minako that she's feeling better now with the implication that Minako was trying to comfort her through her mourning. And then she gives out some pretty sound advice, even when dropping this bit in the process:

(The translation is an unofficial version and this bit of dialogue appears at the 3:55 mark.)

"...Go ahead and cry your heart out. You're still young, so you don't have to pretend you're strong."

"With age, the tears won't come even if you want to cry, so when you feel the need to cry, cry."

Which, OW to that last one.

Like, imagine going through so much shit through your life as an adult that you can't even bring yourself to cry about it. You just go, "Yep, this might as well happen," with all the apathy and frustration you can muster in your body.

And when Midori goes to leave to talk to the criminals, Minako has the sense to go "That's a bad and dangerous idea, Midori, don't go alone!" and points out that she JUST got out of the hospital and hasn't fully recovered yet. She even tries to convince her to stay by asking her to continue talking with her cause she's bored. (And, well, I can believe that, even when she's speaking some common sense.) But it clearly rubbed Midori the wrong way as she seems to want to be useful in any way she can, regardless of whether or not her life gets put in danger, so she goes anyway. Aaand Minako complains about Midori's parents not teaching her to treat her adults with "respect," and has brought up "worrying over Keisuke getting a scratch on his pretty face" earlier in conversation, which shows that she's still a flawed person. But I consider that good writing as just because she's a better person now, that doesn't mean her flaws are just going to go away or disappear suddenly. Taking away a character's flaws in order to make them a "good" person will only make them bland, boring, and flat as a paper. Flaws are meant to help characters be more nuanced in personality, and Minako still being abrasive is good as it's a flaw that is a part of her to be aware of and keeps her character recognizable despite the implication that she's trying to do better now. And when Midori gets kidnapped, she immediately runs over to Ryutaro and Keisuke to tell them what happened, calling Ryutaro "kid" in the process, and showing fear for Midori's safety. I don't know if the translation between Kid and Brat is any different, but it's a step up from brat, at least. (And honestly, I can see Minako using "kid" and "brat" as a more affectionate nickname to Ryutaro over time since she comes off as the type to show affection through teasing.) And to top it all off, the cigarettes from her DRA sprites have been replaced with lollipops in her SDRA2 sprites, and candy is a common way of trying to combat addiction to nicotine.

In other words, the way Minako acts in SDRA2 shows that she's trying to be a better person, even if that development happened between games. (And frankly, we shouldn't just stop everything in the epilogue just to have a flashback of "here's why so-and-so acts like this now!" Like, that would just kill the pacing of the epilogue and defeats the whole purpose of a time-skip between games.) It's just a shame that Kizuna's death was the wake-up call that put her on that track to growth in the first place (alongside the call-outs). It's through the death of her own daughter and what led up to it and why she acted the way she did in that moment that made her stop, take in the call outs she's been dealt with throughout the 6.5 chapter, and go, "Oh. I've been a shitty mom and that played a part in how Kizuna acted and led to her death." Cause think about it: if Kizuna was never concerned about her appearance, if she never had this belief that she had to extort others in order to benefit herself, whether it's men for money, affection, popularity, attention or anyone else for anything else, DRA's Chapter 2 probably wouldn't have happened the way that it did. It may not have prevented Kizuna from dying at some point during the killing game, but her behavior was something that she learned and inherited from Minako. And that realization had to sting for her as she not only lost her daughter but had to come to terms with the revelation that it was indirectly her fault for influencing Kizuna in a way that made her a terrible person that decided her only option to survive was to try and kill (which backfired on her hard). But unlike some people, who would double-down on their behavior or just grow worse through their grief, Minako seemed to have reflected on everything up to that point and decided to grow as a person instead. But even though Minako is trying to be a better person now, she can never make it up to her own daughter that she messed up the most. Because that chance is forever lost thanks to death itself.

Reflection is important, because if you don't do that much, you'll never realize what you've done wrong until it's too late and the chance to make it up to your loved one is forever stripped from you.

...At least, that's how I've interpreted Minako Tomori.

[frigid-moon-fall]

I like taking mechanics and turning them into character traits.

Mechanic-wise, Leon's HP and defense are about on par with Philia's. He's a fragile speedster. But also a crit master. A glass cannon.

The remake even has a skit about Stahn being able to take a hit better than he can. A punch that Stahn reels a bit from would probably lay Leon out entirely.

I will accept without any argument that Leon is by far the most skilled party member, but I refuse to believe that he'd stand a chance against a good chunk of them in a battle of raw strength. Sit him down for arm wrestling and he's walking away with a dislocated shoulder.

But. His body apparently changes between PS1 and PS2.

That demo disc interview has Rutee remark on how ROCK HARD all of his muscles are. So he is an ultra ripped twig in the original.

Director’s Cut’s hotspring sidequest shows he’s the only male character without any visible muscle definition. All the other boys are muscular as hell, and Rutee who stands in a similar pose as him has very visible muscle to her arms. Philia’s sprite may look soft but she holds Clemente, the largest Swordian, directly above her head for extended periods of time without shaking. Chelsea actually has a little definition on hers and archers need plenty of upper body strength. So yes in DC continuity Leon probably has the least muscle or upper body strength of the entire party.

<insert virgin remake vs. chad original memes>

Oops that was accidental wording but hey we're also pretty sure DC Leon is a virgin too anyway based on that one sidequest where he aborts some dirty snark like 2 words into the sentence because he's just that embarrassed

It's nothing but headcanon but I feel like the whole motion sickness thing lends well to theorizing that his immune system might be fragile, too.

[symptoms-syndrome]

do you wanna rate different sonic designs? like when you put 'sonic designs over the years' in google images the third one (for me) is an image with different sonic designs and the year that one's from haha, i'd be really curious to hear your opinions!!!

I FORGOT TO FINISH THIS anyway here it is now. I have a 10 image post limit tho booooo.

HELL YEAH I DO I'm bad at ratings but I'm going to give my opinions!!! Under a cut bc. Long AF. The Sonics I chose are somewhat arbitrary TBH, and mostly focusing on box art and drawings instead of in-game models

Classic 1991 Sonic Box Art Sonic (Japan)

Fun little guy!!! Adorable! Not my favorite and I think the airbrush style isn't really my thing, but it's very Of The Time and I can respect that. He looks like what he was made for, a mascot for kids! Very friendly

Classic 1991 Sonic Box Art Sonic (USA)

Not gonna lie. Least favorite Sonic design. He looks kinda mean. I don't like his mohawk thing going on. IDK he just looks mean to me and I don't like him very much, I don't see why they had to change the design for America. They didn't change the sprite in the game. He doesn't have the same friendly and fun vibe. Why is his belly shaded like that.

Sonic Adventure/Adventure 2 Box Art (1998-2000)

This guy fucks and I love him. What is that pose? Cool as fuck!!! No respect for staying on model or whatever simply Vibes. He's so stretchy and I think I remember hearing this style was inspired by graffiti, which I can absolutely see. It's iconic, it's cool, it's dramatic, 11/10 all around. It's such a distinctive style and very, very On Brand for Sonic in the late 90s/early 2000s. He's just a cool cool guy!!!

Modern Sonic (general 1998-2000s/today)

Diehard Sonic fans are killing me w their mind RN. If ur not in the Sonic fandom u may not understand, but diehard Sonic fans have extremely strong opinions about their Favorite Modern Sonic or How Modern Sonic Should Look and will start a riot at Sega headquarters over them changing the hex code of his blue or the length of his spikes or legs or what the fuck ever. I'm not even joking people got SO MAD over this change:

Anyway I'm not one of those people. Modern Sonic is just. This guy! You look at him and he's Sonic. To me he's the Base Sonic, the Default Sonic, and I love him a lot! He's my favorite mostly just because I have the most associations with him. He's the Sonic that was in almost all the games I played. He's cool!!! Recognizable from classic Sonic while still looking different, has a lot of personality, distinctive silhouette, all that art school design stuff. But also he's just Sonic! He's cool he's simple. I don't have strong opinions about his design vs others because to me he's just Sonic and I love Sonic very very much.

Sonic Boom (2014-2017)

This guy was REALLY controversial, mostly because it's the biggest design change for Sonic that isn't like, a conditional thing (werehog, Excalibur Sonic, etc.) I really like his design though! They were going for a like, all the Sonic characters are very nature-y (the tape, live on a beach/island in grass roof houses, that kind of thing) and Eggman is very modern and robotic. I think it's cool to give them such distinct looks, also the redesigns to the rest of the cast really emphasized their skills and differences so they didn't look as alike as before, which I like.

I didn't like the Sonic Boom series TBH, it felt too self-deprecating and shallow compared to what I'm used to. A lot of the characters felt very flat, which was disappointing for such a cool redesign. I also hated Sticks (the character on the right) in general, I found her annoying and her character was just kind of a joke on paranoia and stuff like that. But strictly design speaking, I really like Sonic Boom. Not more than regular modern Sonic, but I think it could've been a cool side franchise type thing if they'd like. Been better about it. I also love his neck scarf it gives him puppy vibes to me. Like a golden retriever fresh from the groomer.

Movie Sonic (2020-)

I LOVE THIS GUY!!! He's just a kid! They did a good job of making him look a bit younger than regular modern Sonic, which fits his whole Vibe. I like how they gave his spikes that cool texture while still keeping the shape of Sonic, I was concerned about how they'd do that when the movie was first announced.

He's adorable! I wanna hug him!!! He gives me little brother energy! You look at him and you know what he's about, he's a kid who likes fun!

Okay now getting into some specific designs because! It's my blog and I want to.

Sonic Riders (2006-2010)

This fucks severely. I love the really cool shading style and outline! And the animation for it is sick as hell too!

IDK it's just super fucking cool I love his shoes and his goggles. He just looks extremely cool, like a big brother in the 2000s.

Sonic OVA (1996)

He's so cute! I like him, he's a little less chibi-esque than classic Sonic but still very cute. I think it fits his attitude, like he's sort of childish in the OVA and he looks like a young teen to me.

Werehog from Sonic Unleashed (2008)

FUCK YEAH MONSTERY SONIC he's so cool. He's so tough looking and I like how they made him really different while still being distinctly Sonic. His arms are stretchy too! I wish Unleashed had polished his gameplay more so he'd be more appreciated.

[winged-wheel]

this one I'm not 100% on the result of, but I feel like it's worth posting anyways in the spirit of giving oneself permission to suck at something for a while LOL

for context, I saw someone speculate that Ceroba's staff could've originally been Chujin's prior to his death, and I love that idea so much I decided to try and run with it; the pose is directly based on Ceroba's battle sprite but I'm not fully confident in how well it fits Chujin now that I've done it.

[mashedcontroller]

I used to think gen 1 pokemon designs are more or less just universally suck. But after spending time looking through the sprites, but no, the designs just work in Gen 1 (and 2) but not really future generations. They often traded off visual clarity for personality, which is a decision that I really like. It just leaves so much up to the imagination because the anatomy is a bit up to interpretation. Gonna go over some Pokemon that really just hit different in Gen 1.

Fearow

I’ve never really like Fearow. Based on its current depictions, it’s very forgettable. Its colors are just brown and lame, it’s literally just a brown bird but angry. Like, I would kill for 99% of the bird pokemon, but not Fearow. It’s just too nothing.  

Anyways, here is its Green sprite. I fucking love how the wings are drawn. The tufts of fur(?) on its wings are super exaggerated and really makes the design stand out as “mean bird but fluffy(?)” The pose is also super dynamic. Fearow’s most defining traits are definitely its long beak and massive wingspan, and this sprite just captures those two points and leaves the rest up to the imagination. This might be Fearow’s best look ngl. 

Muk & Grimer

I really don’t care for Muk. It’s just a pile of sludge. Not helped that Grimer is just a pile of sludge but happy(?). Even in Gen 3, Muk and Grimer just looks lame.

Like, that’s a pile of purple sludge. I don’t think it looks cute, cool, intimidating, or really much of anything. I look at this character design and I feel nothing.

Anyways, here they are in Pokemon Red & Blue popping the fuck off. Grimer looks like it craves death and is also happy(?) while Muk is just has this very big and intimidating amorphus sludge abomination energy. Like, these two look fucking awesome in Gen 1 and I think they really take advantage of the Gameboy’s limited options. These two also feel really distinct from each other in Gen 1, which wasn’t really the case in future generations, and it has to do with how the sludge is rendered. Grimer has more defined outlines and the goo feels like it’s drooping downwards, while Muk feels much more gelatinous, like it isn’t falling apar at the seams.

Gengar

Gonna be honest, I didn’t like Gengar until I had a chance to use it in gen 1 and 2 OU, where it then shot up to being one of my favorite Pokemon. Modern Gengar just looks so nothing. It’s just an orb with a face and cat ears(?). Like, he’s one of the more liked Pokemon from Gen 1 and I’m just like “eh?” So, part of what made me like Gengar was that he’s super fun to use in Gen 1 and Gen 2 OU, but the other half is just that the gen 1 and 2 sprites for him are so much better than everything after.

Like, Gengar’s Gen 1 back sprite has got to be one of my favorite sprites. He just has so much “bad man” energy. Like, his ears look somewhere between cat ears and devil horns, half the sprite is taken up by his devious smile, you can only see him from the side. This is fucking fantastic. 

I also love Gengar’s front sprite in Crystal. Like, he looks like a schoolyard bully. The usage of color is also really good here. Those red eyes really pop against Gengar’s dark purple body. I like how much the body is obscured in shadow. 

[underrated-adversaries]

I'm gonna. Show you more blorbos. I can be normal.

👇 this meme made by lovely mutual @/prince-gallade. Society hates Yomotsu's ambitions 💥💥

Transmasc Yomotsu real he got the pussy and the dick he's so slay.

We see Yomotsu's sexiness with his. Canonical, in the visual novel, Future Diary the 13th Diary Keeper, very big buldge. Look at that. SOMEONE DREW THAT. SOMEONE MADE THAT HAPPEN. I SURE WONDER OF THE ARTISTIC INTENTIONS BEHIND HIS SPRITE. And also him with no ass. We get two Yomotsu ass shots in this VN....... How interesting...

Here's Takao in the visual novel, can't believe they made him ginger in the VN 💥💥 Anyway he is so goofy ahh and unhinged I hope he gets betrayed and crushed under rubble... Eheh....

And here's Takao in the anime art style, the only time in this art style where he smiles !! (This is from a gosh darn card game eidbjsbd) I hope he dies 5 times more. What a silly smile. I hate it.

Here we see gay people unable to properly communicate their affections for one another, truly a sight. Losers. Perfect material for a miscommunication fic. Eheh.

Based off PinnochioP's ねえねえねえ.

(Here's also an ENG cover I really love for this song..)

Autism creature Yomotsu :) yippee my silly guy... Yippee....

This one Takao art which derives from the classic Yuno Yandere pose, which you might have seen before. Ahh Yuno.. but this isn't about her this is about her greasy 30 year old teacher and he is so so okay and can function like a normal human being. He won't get heavily and unhealthily attached to anybody. He's a professional man. Ye.

Bald Takao to curse your soul. Sorry. I hate him too. My bestie used him in a science project once.

That's a lotta blorbos...

I am going to remind you of them in your notifs when I inevitably rb one of your rbs and tag it with the blorbos. >:3

i love how you are about them LOL and the fact that you probably just had these images at the ready makes it even better

[kyleondemand]

Dev Update to Despair Engine

1. Uh.

So, haven’t touched it. Truth be told I’ve been enormously busy with day job related work matters and several offline life related matters, I haven’t even TOUCHED my computer in a week.

The blender exporter is my top priority for this project. If nothing else comes of this, a custom model format is something I want to be proud of accomplishing,

But I’ve also been passively looking into how I’d like to author the dialog database.

Waaaaay back like 400 years ago, when Flash was still popular I made a little thing called “CourtEngine”, which if you’re so inclined can see footage of in action here

That’s right, this isn’t ya boi’s first rodeo with visual novel engines.

Anyways, this little flash program would read an XML file for the dialog flow for Scenes.

I was extremely proud of his thing those 15 or so years ago. It was way more configurable than you might think at first. There was the characters folders that contained all of a characters static sprite work and animations (arranged in swf file sequences) and sounds. There was a .chr format “Character Definition” that was a pointer manifest and animation sequence registry. This is also where you’d register their name, default pose, what sound file to use when objecting, all that jazz. And to tie it all together was the Scene XML file.

Now I wrote that format with the intent of hand-authoring the xml in mind. I wanted it so easy to whip up a scene in a matter of minutes that I setup that CourtEngine demo in just a few. So you’d have a tag for text events like “<Dialog>this is some dialog</Dialog>” and to make it ridiculously simple you could simply supply a “for=‘phoenix’” attribute in the Dialog tag. That’s all the engine needed to determine what name to put in the on screen dialog box, loop the characters mouth animation registered to default pose, and EVEN automatically transition the camera over to the character speaking. All in one tag!

It made construction of dynamic scenes enormously easy to author. But y’see I learned a LOT when trying to reconstruct scenes from even the first game… one of those things?

Phoenix Weright breaks the rules ALL. THE. TIME.

Characters talk when not on screen. Random color events take place. Characters speed up and go on multi page auto ramblings. Camera focus is just arbitrary and does whatever it wants to do. Don’t even get me started on the bonkers amount of shocking implementation diversity when it comes collecting and presenting evidence.

One thing my format lacked too was proper interaction. Simply there was no mechanism for branching dialog. So CE I would brand a “playback Engine”

What it comes down too, is that I don’t know what kind of authoring system the Phoenix wright devs used when making the game. I have a feeling it was a general purpose scripting language because while it flows like normal 80% of the time, the last 20% treats everything as if it were completely malleable elements just floating in space to do whatever the devs wanted in the moment.

Doki Doki Literature Club isn’t all that different either.

And that’s my lesson. However my dialog engine works, Danganronpa isn’t that different when it comes to scriptable dialog moments.

I have a visual in my head of a Node Graph based approach. I like node graphs for a lot of data representation. But treating a dialog flow like a node cloud where dialogue can flow conditionally along edge traversal makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Ok that’s it for now

Till next time

[stargazeraldroth]

Meet Teacake Cookie (Starter/Concept Design)

Okay, I just finished the starter design for Teacake Cookie, my new CRK OC! She's going to be a Rare Cookie so she isn't supposed to have an overly extravagant design anyway, and extravagant stuff isn't her style anyway lol. Anyway, here's the starter design- I really need to figure out how Cookie Run anatomy works, she looks too tiny-

TADA! I know she isn't anything too special right now, but I really like using a more simplistic design for her. It's a nice change compared to one of my first OCs, Black Forest Cookie. Ugh... drawing his outfit is a nightmare, why did I make it so over the top?

Anyway, her outfit is inspired by an image I save on Pinterest that laid out different styles of maid uniforms, and the classical style was PERFECT for her! Granted, I did use Blackberry's base sprite as a reference for the skirt, frills, and pose... again, I really need to learn Cookie Run anatomy. And as I said earlier, this is NOT her final design. Every character needs a concept design, right? But if I know one thing, it's that she's staying as a maid.

Anyway, I'll move onto some general/basic information for her. If any of you who see this have any questions about her, feel free to drop them in my inbox! I'd love to ramble about my characters!

(Btw, for this post, STC = "Subject To Change")

Name: Teacake Cookie. Rarity: Rare. STC Type: Support. STC Position: Rear. STC Gender: Female. Pronouns: She/Her. Sexuality: Demisexual. Nation: Crème Republic. Affiliation: House Custard. Occupation: Housekeeper. Friends: Sugar Cream Cookie (another OC of mine). Love Interest: Clotted Cream Cookie. Enemies: None. (Well, she doesn't like Elder Custard Cookie, but they aren't exactly enemies) Dough Color: Tawny brown. Eye Color: Butter. Hair Color: Chocolate brown. Outfit Colors: Cream, off-white, chocolate brown, beige, yellow. Personality: Teacake Cookie is a refined and mature lady of the Republic, as well as a dutiful and hardworking housekeeper for House Custard. She treats everyone with respect and polite manners, even if she has a personal dislike for them, and has no qualms about scolding someone for blatant disrespect, even if they're her superiors. Fun Fact: Teacake Cookie, despite having a reputation as one of the best maids of the Republic, comes from a poor origin. She began working when she was a teenager and steadily built her reputation. Often, the Elders will compete to see who can offer her the highest paycheck.

Oof, that's a lot- hope it isn't too painful to read through! As of right now, I don't know how I want her dynamic with Clotted Cream Cookie to proceed. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have too many ideas that I'm fond of. Part of me wants it to stay as unrequited love, but another part of me LOVES the idea of a slowburn where they're both in love with each other but Teacake Cookie believes a relationship with the Consul would be too unprofessional and undignified (remember, she's a housekeeper).

[mewkwota]

Oh dear. This is the cleanest, most serious Trevor I have ever drawn.

This was originally part of a set of doodles where I was going to compare how some of the Belmont’s stood based on their in-game sprites. But then, old Trevor here decided to be a big boy and take up the entire page. >:[

So enjoy this Trevor, who is standing in a completely normal manner.

[terrainofheartfelt]

Lit™ Opera Lit - Abridged

for @clarasamelia

Jo enabled me into doing this though I’ve been tempted to for a WHILE, so here, have an Opera Primer Playlist, by me. A few notes before we begin:

This says Abridged, because the original Lit™ Opera Lit on my spotify is….5 ½ hours long, and I didn’t want to throw ALL that at someone new to the genre. So. (It is public on my spotify if you wanna take a peek)

Also, this is not a music history survey, and is therefore very biased to my tastes as a lover of romantic opera and as a trained mezzo soprano. #lowvoicesupremacy

And there is sooooooooooooooooooo much more I want to share so if anyone has any questions or wants a rec of something else please feel free to ask and I would be happy to answer! 

Actually, new ask game time: send me a pop culture media thing and I can relate it back to opera in 6 degrees or less. 

*means I’ve sung it before!

Okay, onto the playlist

Overture – La forza del destino, Verdi

You gotta start off an opera with a good overture right???? And this one is a fave, BY a fave. Overtures are sort of a…musical trailer of everything you’re going to hear in the show before it starts. It’s a sneak peek, it’s the opening credits, it’s a goddamn shame we don’t do them anymore. For real I went to a concert earlier this fall and the orchestra played the overture to The Sound of Music and it was glorious and I remember thinking “they don’t make em like this anymore!” Anyways, idk much about Forza because there’s no mezzos, but it’s a gutwrenching tragedy with glorious music, and this overture FUCKS

“Gira la cote!”* — Turandot, Puccini

First things first, lemme just say this outright, yes, this opera is racist. All white European composers were perpetrators of Orientalism in their music, Puccini being one of the more notorious. As such, opera is a thing that you have to engage with critically, but I don’t want to make that sound like it’s “work,” because I don’ twant to prolong this thing that you have to perform some sort of intellectual labor before you can enjoy opera, but you have to give it the same grace and critical eye you give other media, fuck I run a gossip girl blog, it’s like that, you know? Okay, sermon out of the way, this opera is about a Chinese princess, who vows to never marry because, honestly men have given her very little reason to want to, so she poses this challenge: if a man wants to marry her, he must answer three riddles, and if he gets even one of them wrong, she takes his head. This chorus is the opening of the show, when her latest failed suitor is about to get his head chopped off, the chorus of her subjects love the free show, and are shouting “gira la cote! / sharpen the blade!” and, reader, it fucks. 

“Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém (Song to the Moon)” — Rusalka, Dvořák

It’s the little mermaid!!!!!!!!! No, seriously, it’s based on the same myth. From my sweet Czech prince, Tony, this masterpiece tells its own spin on a Slavic version of the fairytale. This is, effectively, the “part of your world” song, Rusalka begs the moon to pass on a message of love to her human prince. And it is…one of the most glorious arias ever, to the point that sometimes I’m like “ugh, overdone” but really, it’s gorgeous, and when sung right, transcendent. 

“Čury mury fuk” — Rusalka, Dvořák

Ježibaba, aka Baba Yaga, aka Ursula, sings about how she’s gonna poison the beautiful sprite Rusalka. Fun fact: the saying for mezzo roles is: witches, bitches, and britches, because the archetypes low-voiced women always sing in opera are always either witches, bitches, or pants roles (women playing a male character, usually a teenaged boy). I was more a Mistresses and Princesses mezzo meself, so really…just bitches….

“Amami, Alfredo” — La Traviata, Verdi

Verdi is my absolute favorite, my opera blorbo, I love him so very much. The way he writes emotion into his orchestra is just hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng. Anyways. Traviata is perhaps the most popular opera in the world (tied with Carmen). If you don’t think you know it, you do. It’s based off Dumas’ La Dame aux Camellias, and the direct inspiration for the film Moulin Rouge! (though not the musical, evidently, it’s fine I’ve ranted about that elsewhere). AND, it’s featured in the garden party scene in Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement! What you here Anne Hathaway listening to there is the grand ending to the famous aria “Sempre libera,” but to me, the most sublime moment in the opera is this one, in Act II, Violetta’s lover’s father comes to plead with her to leave his son, Alfredo, because Violetta is a courtesan and therefore a detriment to the noble family’s reputation…yeah. And Violetta agrees, not wanting to send Alfredo’s family into poverty or ruin the reputation of his little sister (that she’s never met btw, fuckin catholics), plus, it’s hinted that Violetta already knows that she is dying of tuberculosis (consumption), so she decides to leave and go back to her old life, and when Alfredo returns as she’s trying to write him a farewell letter, she has this outburst of emotion. It’s brief, but, jesus christ—

Amami, Alfredo, quant'io t'amo. Addio. / Love me, Alfredo, how I love you. Goodbye.

"Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso" — La Rondine, Puccini

Another opera based of the lady of the camellias! (She was indeed a real person, Marie Duplessis, I read a biography about her! It’s so fascinating!) This one has a bit of a different plot and play out, but the theme is the same. There’s actually some dispute about there being multiple endings to this opera (Turandot too I guess, but I digress) Magda, a glamorous courtesan of Paris, bored of her gilded cage, puts on a disguise and goes out for the night, and meets up again with the hot young poet who came to her house party earlier that night, they share a drink, meanwhile Magda’s maid has a drink in the same bar with her tenor lover, what results is this, what me and my friends call The Best Quartet Ever. it sounds exactly like falling in love in Paris. No offense, but tswift could never.

"È amabile invero cotal giovinotto” — Rigoletto, Verdi†

Hi, it’s me with my low voice supremacy agenda again. There’s a much more famous quartet, but. My house.  Based off of a play by Victor Hugo, Rigoletto is a jester who has enough of his boss’ bullshit. His boss being the Duke. What puts him over the edge? The scumbag of a Duke seduces Rig’s daughter, Gilda, and now Gilda thinks she’s in love, but Rig has worked for the Duke long enough to know that, best case, she’ll have her heartbroken.  But that is all just BACKGROUND for this scene. Rigoletto hires an assassin-slash-bartender to take care of the Duke for him, so this guy, Sparafucile, gets the Duke drunk, but now, unfortunately, the assasin’s sister, Maddalena, has a crush on the fuck. She demands that her brother spare the duke’s life, but Sparafucile promised Rigoletto a body. So while a storm hits, Spara tells his sister “fine, the next person that knocks on the door, i’ll kill instead.” Gilda, of course, overhears all of this, and decides that what she has to do his take the place of the man she loves, and knocks on the door (babygirl, it’s NOT WORTH IT) †I’ve never done one of these roles, but I have been in the opera!

“Pourquoi me réveiller” — Werther, Massenet

An underrated, imho, French tragedy. Is it because the heroine is a mezzo? Who’s to say.  Based off Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werther, it follows the tragic star-crossed love of Werther, the poet, and Charlotte, the woman who loves him, but for ehr family’s financial security and stature marries another man she doesn’t love. This moment in the opera comes after Charlotte’s two barn-burner arias, when she looks over her letters from Werther and realizes the depth of her feelings, Werther comes to see her in this moment of vulnerability, and recites this piece of poetry. It’s sexy and angsty and the build-up to the explosion of emotion that’s about to take place.  And because I’m me, I’ll just say: it’s dair-coded.

“Pietà! perdon!...O don fatale” — Don Carlos, Verdi†

Verdi wrote this opera for the bisexuals!!!! So, there’s a big ol’ convoluted love pentagon going on in the court of Phillip II of Spain, but what you need to know in this scene is: Eboli, a courtier and friend of the queen Elisabeth de Valois (daughter of Catherine de Medici, fun fact), frames Elisabeth for cheating on her husband with her stepson (complicated, I know). And Eboli is acting out of homoerotic jealousy because she wanted Carlo (the stepson) herself, and what is a rival if not a crush you’re mad about having? After her subterfuge blows up in her face, Eboli throws herself at Elisabeth’s feet begging for mercy (“pietà”), and confesses to setting Elisabeth up, and even, sleeping with the king. Elisabeth is heartbroken and furious at the betrayal, and banishes Eboli to a convent. Once alone, Eboli curses the beauty she was born with that brought her here, and laments that she’ll never see Elisabeth again (GAY). And then, she realizes there’s still a chance to save Carlo, who’s been jailed for treason.  This opera is in my top 5 favorites, and this excerpt has one of my top 5 favorite musical moments, the low strings after Eboli confesses, the pain and betrayal you can FEEL in the strings and it’s so !!!!! I am not capable of being normal about it. I’m listening while writing this and CHILLS (Also, I saw this live very recently and it was extraordinary! And they did something interesting with the supertitles and the acting that implied that – rather than a presumed consensual encounter – Phillip assaulted Eboli, which paints her aria cursing her looks in an entirely new light!!!!!) †I’ve not done this publicly, but it was in my repertoire

“E qual via scegliete?” — Tosca, Puccini†

I tried to keep this brief and not put on too many things, but I can’t not put Tosca on here! This is my second favorite part of the opera (my first favorite is the finale, but that’s like, only 30 seconds, so), and it fucks. Floria Tosca, a famous singer in Rome, is put in an impossible position by absolute dirtbag Scarpia, who takes her lover Mario Cavaradossi political prisoner. Cavaradossi, a republican and therefore enemy of the Italian state, is sentenced to death, but Scarpia promises he’ll set C free if Tosca spends a night with him. She’s heartbroken by this choice, but she agrees. She insists that Scarpia sign the paperwork granting the both of them safe passage out of Rome, and he also promises that the firing squad will fake C’s death to give them a cover to escape. The tension in this scene is delicious, and it builds and builds, and the STRINGS. While Scarpia is writing, Tosca takes a knife from his dinner table. When it’s done and her and her lover’s escape is promised (Scarpia will actually betray her one more time, but she doesn’t know that yet), Scarpia moves to put his arms around her (gross, I know), and says “Tosca, finalmente e mio! / Tosca is finally mine!” and she STABS him. Rather than being raped by this absolute toilet plunger of a man, she KILLS him. She stabs him, and he cries out and goes down, and she taunts him, telling him to “feel the kiss of Tosca” and she stands over him saying “Muori, muori,” in this raw, low voice like die, bitch! It is sooooo thrilling to watch. This is a scene I will never get tired of. In a genre where women characters are too frequently brutalized for nothing, seeing a woman kill her would-be rapist is just — so satisfying.  †I’ve only been in the chorus of this opera

“Ohimè!... morir mi sento!”(Scena del giudizio) — Aida, Verdi

Regrettably, my favorite mezzo recording of this (Dolora Zajick) involves both James Levine and Placido Domingo, both of whom are pieces of shit! I’ve selected Cossotto’s instead, but if you come away from this playlist knowing one thing, it’s that James Levine and Placido Domingo are pieces of shit whose supposed skill is not worth all the pain and misery they caused. And now back to the music! Also, this opera has a racist history that companies are still working to move away from. They could work a little bit faster, tbh. A favorite opera and a dream role for me, tbh. Amneris, daughter of the king, gets carried away with jealousy when she discovers the man of her affection, Radames, is in love with her servant Aida, a prisoner of war who turns out to be a princess of an enemy nation. Amneris’ fury gets Radames and Aida caught. Taken by regret and pain and, let’s face it, more homoerotic angst, Amneris eavesdrops on Radames’ trial before the elders, and her dread builds as Radames refuses to speak in his defense. He’s sentenced to death—buried alive—and Amneris and the orchestra react viscerally to the sentence. Like her pleas for mercy when the scene hits its climax, those pietas…

“O furibonda iena…Quest’ultimo bacio”* — La Gioconda, Ponchielli

UNDERRATED OPERA OF ALL TIME. No but really. This is just…everything. This is a grand opera masterwork by this guy, Amilcare, who was Puccini’s teacher, and so few people know about it which is a SHAME. But, understandable, it’s notoriously hard to produce, and expensive, since the finale of Act II involves sinking a pirate ship…but the MUSIC.  It’s another convoluted and vaguely homoerotic love triangle. Laura and Enzo were in love, then pulled apart. Enzo sought comfort in a singer, known only as La Gioconda, and she is madly in love with him, but when Laura comes back into his life, that’s it for him. There’s ship burnings and evil husbands and a ballet (which you may know as the K-9 Advantix commercial song), but it all comes to this finale. Though she vowed Laura was her rival, Gioconda learns that Laura saved her mother once, and was under her mother’s blessing, noted by the rosary Gioconda’s mother gave her, that Laura always carries with her. So, bound by honor to her mother and desire to see her ex Enzo happy, Gioconda schemes to help Laura fake her death to escape her abusive husband, and gets Enzo to come to them just as Laura’s waking up from her sleeping draught (think R&J, but happier ending).  Enzo comes in spitting mad, thinking Gioconda is responsible for his Laura’s death, and Gio—who’s going through some shit of her own—is ready to let him kill her, and then Laura wakes, and calls Enzo’s name, and the relief in the orchestra is PALPABLE, while Gioconda sings quietly to herself “oh darkness, hide me.” After they’ve reunited, Gioconda tells them the rest of her plan, she’s got a boat to get them out of the city, and from there they can start a new life. Through her own pain and grief, in an act of unbridled selflessness and compassion, she tells them: “Amatevi. Siate felici. / Love each other. Be happy.” and they thank her and promise to remember her. And, I mean, how often does the mezzo get to win like that?

LITTLE WOMEN* (2005) MY BELOVED. It’s not on spotify, but I couldn’t not put this opera on this playlist for you, Jo <333 so, please see below for youtube links. the story is already important to me, and being in the opera when I was in college only made it even more so, and it’s a forever favorite and forever special in my heart. This is the only contemporary opera on this list, and it’s a wide and varied field, but in many ways, it’s a host unto itself (but if anyone wants to hear more contemporary stuff, I’d be happy to share!) Now, LW has a mixed reputation amongst operaphiles, who’s to say why? Misogyny, misogyny is why. But more than that, LW is such a domestic drama in a way that is not really conventional in opera, with its fantasy plots and royal characters and otherworldliness about it, but LW has always been about the small intricacies of family, which is why when Greta Gerwig put in that line about domestic struggles and joys in her film I felt so fucking SEEN. It is a technically challenging work, rife with lots of 21st century music toughness that makes the music hard to learn, but it’s absolutely not inaccessible to listen to. But, you know, call a spade what it is, a goddamn shovel, and LW is an opera with a majority women cast. You can count the men in the show on one hand, and that combined with its lack of a typical “operatic” story, and it’s challenging 21st century sound, makes lots of people keen to dismiss it. But those people, are WRONG. It’s a beautiful opera, meaningful and powerful and it sounds pretty, and I will die on that hill. 

“Perfect as we are” — Little Women, Adamo

Jo has a total of…three? arias in the show, and this is the second. After a meeting of the pickwick club and a chat with Laurie, Jo is in her attic trying to write her next “potboiler,” but keeps getting distracted by what she and Laurie were talking about, mainly, the possibility of Meg being in love with Laurie’s tutor, Brooke. It’s another hint at the main conflict of the opera (which is plainly stated in the next selection). Jo is happy with her family and her best friend, and she doesn’t see why any of it has to change. But it won’t be up to her. I love this one because it goes back and forth between Jo trying to write and find the right words for her story, and monologuing at an invisible Laurie, and her monologue helps her find that word and then she’s back in it. It’s so whimsical and just very her. I love it so much. Low voice supremacy

“Things change, Jo”

THIS ARIA!!!!!! Jo is so upset when Meg decides to marry John Brooke, and she plaintively sings “Why don’t you love me anymore?” and her big sister says, “Of course I love you!....but once I saw him, once he looked at me….I can’t explain it, Jo. I love you. Things end – no,” and that’s the lead in to the aria. She’s trying to explain her heart to her sister, and the poetry of it is glorious and the MUSIC. It’s a plea, really, a begging for Jo to understand her side: childhood was always going to end, and what a happy ending. The “Things change, Jo,” leitmotif is repeated over and over again. It’s the central conflict: Jo versus Change. Laurie repeats the motif when he proposes to Jo, Beth repeats it as she’s dying (her death aria is EXQUISITE I just can’t include it here because it makes me too emotional), and interestingly, when Laurie and Amy are abroad together, he sings the dissonant three-note motif, and then Amy resolves it. “Things change, Amy.” / “And a good thing too.” GENIUS. Adamo is a genius. 

My best friend from college sings this aria and also preaches the gospel of Adamo’s LW to me, and she texted me out of the blue the other day: If someone doesn’t like Things Change Jo…they’re misogynist. I don’t make the rules. And she’s right. It may sound like I’m coming down hard but I have heard so many people (mostly cismen) talk down at this opera and at people for liking it, and I’m over it. It’s good!!!!!! This isn’t me trying to say “you better like this or ELSE” but “I have so much love for this and it means so much to me personally and so I dearly hope you’ll give yourself a chance to like it too.”

“Let me look at you”* (Quartet)

THEE finale! Jo is alone in her attic again, and she finally surrenders, to her grief, to the current of change running through her life. Surrounded by the ghosts of her sisters, she makes peace with each of them, and they sing about how life has pulled them to separate goals, but they will always still have the love between them. I want to cry even as I’m writing this, it’s so beautiful and so meaningful. Jo ends the quartet with the exact same line as the end of her aria above “how grateful I am,” but it means something different now!!!! And she echoes the melody of “perfect as we are” a minute later, when Bhaer knocks on the door and asks if now is a good time, she sings “Now is all there is.” best finale ever. Except tosca, maybe.

I sang the role of Marmee when I was in the opera, but on my senior recital, this was my closer, and I sang it with 3 of my closest friends who were also graduating that year. Our groupchat is still called the March Sisters. And. AND. my friend who sang Meg is getting married next summer, and we are all bridesmaids. She really did find her knight 😭😭😭😭😭

[roetrolls]

How do you organize your sprite layers?

It depends on what I'm planning to do with them, but here are some screenshots w/ my layers open so you can see the things that I tend to remain consistent with

Sometimes if a character has very large eyes, I'll duplicate my eyebrow folder and then move stuff around so I have the freedom to make more scrunched faces when their eyes are closed.

Some characters have multiple eye shapes, others have one with a little "extras" folder where I put cheeks and eyelids so I can change the shape without needing a zillion different layers.

But unless a character is meant to have very wide eyes 24/7, I always have at least 2 different shapes! Normal and wide.

Generally I just do the static chest/shoulders up with arms/hands that don't affect that, but for these three where I wanted the arms to be a lot more mobile than my other sprites, I did this! (Left one of Emarra's arms on to help show what's going on there)

But there's really no right way to do anything! I was GONNA put the rest under a cut but apparently that will prevent my images from going next to each other so. Hopefully the long post tag is enough. ANYWAYS.

Candy and Veylin both have 3 distinct poses, so their sprites are actually multiple sets stitched together! With Veylin, her head tilt meant I had so many different layers that I actually needed to split them in two

Here you can see that her "overload" sprites are actually a little different from my usual technique. She only has 2 eyebrows, her eyes are static, and initially her mouth was too, before I ended up needing her to scream over something

Candy's sprites really wouldn't have been possible if she had her eyes visible, but because she doesn't, I was able to essentially have 3 mini sprites on one file, with the base pose, blush, mouths, and sfx/accessories for each.

BUT in cases where only the body's pose changes, it's a lot simpler! The facial features create a lot of layers, so as long as the head remains static, I can do pretty much anything with the body.

Franky, for example, has some poses that are actually just his arms. They get stuck right on top of his static body, and because his outfit is one solid blob of color, it's really easy to just change the shape as I need.

It's really easy to make additive changes, where you build on existing forms. But if you need something to move, you'll need more than one layer for that. For Franky to have a pose where he's tugging on his collar, I needed to separate his regular collar from his base sprite.

This kind of thing is why I like to plan out every pose I want in the sketching stage. It lets me build the process around my goal, rather than trying to hammer things into the shape I need them.

I have other methods of changing poses too! For Theo, I put his head on its own layer and then had his body separate.

But for Bigby, I finished coloring his head and then duplicated it to smack right on the body, because I wanted all his different bandana positions confined to their respective folders, and it just felt easier that way.

I did the same thing for Ben to be able to put his hoodie up. It was easier to do that and erase the hair that went outside the lines than it would have been to put his hair on its own layer.

TLDR; None of it is an exact science. Just do what works. As you go, you'll find ways to optimize your process. I've learned a lot over the course of making my own sprites. Trial and error is the key!

[oakskull]

Guess who finished this illustration set,,

MEEEEEEE!!!

It's Cogchamp fnf sprites!!! I would have made a mod but unfortunately I don't have the right software to do so

Featuring such characters as

Tutorial Fox

5up.xtml

Brother Dearest

Tub and Crumb

Prime Bell

Um sir.

and last but not least, Sammy wants murder

These are weeks 1-4, and week 5 will be in a separate post bc of image limit(derogatory) and I worked really hard on this!! (more thoughts and stuff under the cut, I got kind of rambly haha)

It was super fun to draw in this style and I feel like I learned a lot about shading and shapes (shoes especially) by trying to recreate the style of a professional artist. I think I'll do more exercises like this in the future, just to keep learning!! Also obligatory reminder that these drawings are referenced HEAVILY from the original game sprites. I was trying to draw the cog champers(and dream) like they would be a mod for the game, so the poses and style are extremely similar if not the same. If I were to redo these illustrations I might put more personality and originality into the poses, but I didn't actually study the style at all before creating the first illustration (fundy, the one I posted here is actually a redraw to make him higher quality, the original was too small)

So yeah, over all, this was super fun and I'd definitely do it again. Maybe I'll redraw some of these in the future to be more creative, you can tell which ones I drew later on bc of the variety in poses and expressions, I was a lot more comfortable with the style (tho I did keep my own eyes and mouth style bc expressions are something thats really important to my style and I didn't want to feel like I was just like,, tracing) Sorry for rambling so long, I'll put this under a cut for all the people who just want to see pretty art.

On a more art related note, you may have noticed that Dream is Pico, you may be thinking "but dream isn't on Cogchamp" and you're Right. I didn't know what else to do okay? He's fundy's Ex so it kind of fits??? I dunno man, I gave him a more steam punk mask but kept the majority of his design similar to my normal dream design, so as to keep the Dream vibe. Yknow where he's always just a green blob? It kinda slaps tbh, branding is important.

Also regarding Prime Bell, again, I didn't know what else to do, I was thinking of doing something with the egg, but that's not on cogchamp (thank goodness) so I needed something else. I decided that the only like, tangentially related thing I could do was make an Evil prime bell, based on how Sam steals it idk maybe in this world its always the demon thing and is kinda like the ring from lord of the rings, where once you have it you can't give it up. In any case designing Prime Bell took a while (plus some help from Yipcord and Chaos Crew thx guys ❤ and specifically @valpurgatory who is what inspired me to personify the Prime Bell in the first place with their turn everything into a women philosophy (I @ed him so you can check out his blog he slaps. She's like the go to for saving women from Wilbur Soot's dirty mits)) but drawing it was surprisingly quick, mostly due to the fact that I figured out how to easily recreate the texture on the Lemon Monster's body. I did no shading bc that's what the Lemon monster looks like, and it kind of hurt bc it just looks kind of unfinished to me,,, I had some trouble with the week 5 design for Prime Bell bc I didn't want to abandon my first idea. I probably should have and would have gotten a better result, but I can't be bothered tbh. This is the 3rd day I'm working on this project (these were surprisingly quick the churn out, probably bc I was having a blast) and I simply do not want to alter anything. My idea was good but the execution didn't pan out. What am I saying the week 5 prime bell design isn't even on this post sjjdjsks

Anyway, go check out fnf(Friday Night Funkin) it's a rhythm game, it's free and the OST Slaps. I'd also highly recommend listening to the Whitty mod songs and the Neo mod songs,,,, good good music.