#anyway. i hate people. lmao.

[epaily]

some of you are infuriating. god bless.

[deoidesign]

How I save time on backgrounds as a full-time webcomic artist

Hi! I make webcomics for a living, and I have to be able to draw a panel extremely fast to keep up with my deadlines. I draw about 50 panels a week, which gives me about 45 minutes per panel if I want any semblance of a healthy work-life balance.

Most webtoon artists save time on backgrounds by using 3d models, which works for them and is great! but personally I hate working in 3d... I went to school for it for a year and hated it so much I completely changed career paths and vowed never to do it again! So, this is how I save time without using any 3d, for those of you out there who don't like it either!

This tactic has also saved me money (3d models are expensive) and it has helped me converting my comic from scroll format into page format for print, because I have much more art to work with than what's actually in the panels. (I'll touch on this later)

So, first, I make my backgrounds huge. my default starting size is 10,000 x 10,000 pixels. My panels are 2,500 pixels wide, so my backgrounds are 4x that, minimum. Because of this, I make them less detailed than I could or that you might expect so it doesn't look weird against my character art when I shrink portions of it down.

I personally find it much easier to add in detail than to make "removing" details look natural at smaller sizes, but you might have different preferences than I do.

I also make sure to keep all of my elements on separate layers so that I can easily remove or replace them, I can move them to simulate different camera angles more easily, and it's simple to adjust the lighting to imply different times of day.

Then I can go ahead and copy/paste them into my episodes. I move the background around until it feels like it's properly fitting how I want.

Once I've done that in every panel, I'll go back through the episode and clean up anything that looks weird, and add in solid blacks (for my art style) Here's a quick before and after of what that looks like!

This makes 90% of my backgrounds take me just a few hours. This is my tactic when I'm working in an environment that an entire scene, or multiple scenes, will take place.

But many panels will inevitably have a location that's used exactly once, and it would waste time and effort to draw a massive background for those. So in 10% of cases, I just draw the single panel background in the episode. I save all of these, just in case I can re-use it later (this happens more often with outdoor locations, but I save them all nonetheless!)

I generally have to draw about 2 big backgrounds per episode, and 3-5 single-panel backgrounds per episode! At the beginning of an arc/book the number is higher, but as the series is continuing and I'm building up an asset library of indoor and outdoor elements to re-use for the book, the number generally goes down and I save more time.

My series involves time travel and mysteries, so there's a lot of new locations in it and we're constantly moving around. If I were working on a series that was more consistent in this aspect, this process would save me even more time!

Like I said earlier, this also saves me a lot of pain and gives me a lot more options as I'm converting from scroll format to print format!

panels that look like this in scroll format...

can look like this in print!

because I drew the background like this, so I didn't need to go through the additional effort to add in the extra detail to expand it outwards at all.

Anyways, I hope this helps someone! As always if it doesn't help, just go ahead and disregard. This is what I do and what works for me, and I feel like I only ever see time-saving tips for comics that involve 3d models and workflows, which don't work for me at all! I know there's more people like me out there, so this is for you!

Enjoy!

Also obligatory "my webcomic" if you want to see this in action or check it out!

[laddertek]

etho said actually you _don't_ understand the intricacies of how tango is my boyfriend and bdubs is my ex

(and how tango and bdubs kiss too)

Scar: We went on that little adventure, you know! Etho: Yeah, yeah, we had our adventure, that's true, that's true. Scar: You disparaged your teammates. That's it, all right, no more spoilers. Etho: (laughs) Our team has -- our team has some weird dynamics this -- this season. Cleo: (overlapping) Really, Etho? Is there trouble in paradise? (pause) Who's third-wheeling with you, again? I can't remember. Etho: (laughs) Uhh. The -- Cleo: Genuinely can't remember. I know it's you and Bdubs. And...Tango? Tango. Tango. Etho: (loudly) Why -- Why is Tango the third wheel? Why -- why isn't Bdubs the third wheel? Cleo: Because it's you and Bdubs. I'm sorry. I understand how that relationship goes. Etho: (dissatisfied) Hmm.

[royalarchivist]

Fit: I'm going through a hard time right now. Things just haven't been the same since... he left. The light of my life.

Fit: [Looking at chat] That was a joke guys, I'm not– I didn't– It's not meant to be angst, ok? It's a joke, it's a joke! It's a joke, c'mon! That was just too easy.

Fit: Yeah, I just think– he's probably dead! You know? He's probably dead, but that's alright. I'll be dead soon too, so it's fine. [Looking at chat] No– I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm not meaning to be angsty, it's just a fckin' habit, ok? [Laughs] I just like– like a sleeper-agent– There's something that activates in my brain that's just like, "You will do gay angst, NOW."

Fit's taken his character's separation anxiety to the next level. 🥀

—

TRANSCRIPT

Fit: [Reading chat] "Why does your look like a homeless? I'm scared" Oh, I'm sorry. Are you offended by my appearance, because I am unhoused at the moment? [Stares at the camera] Wow, that's really– that's really insensitive of you. Alright?

Fit: I'm going through a hard time right now. Things just haven't been the same since... he left. The light of my life. But... it's just– you know.

Fit: [Looking at chat] That was a joke guys, I'm not– I didn't– It's not meant to be angst, ok? It's a joke, it's a joke! It's a joke, c'mon! That was just too easy, that was a fckin' layup! [Mimes throwing a basketball] That was a fckin' layup, and y– [Laughs] Ah, c'mon guys, I'm just teasing ya.

Fit: Yeah, I just think– he's probably dead! You know? He's probably dead, but that's alright. I'll be dead soon too, so it's fine. [Looking at chat] No– I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm not meaning to be angsty, it's just a fckin' habit, ok? [Laughs] It's just a fckin' habit! [Laughs] I just– Yeah, I'm twistin' the knife– I'm just gettin' it in there– [Mimes twisting a knife] Like, "Get! Get!"

Fit: I'm sorry. I'm sorry– it's my birthday. It's my birthday, you need to be nice to me on my birthday. I– I can say whatever I want on my birthday, ok?

Fit: [Reading chat] Yeah, "He can't help but roleplay gay angst." I know, I just like– as soon as I see like, the moon, under a starry Minecraft night sky, I just like– like a sleeper-agent, like MK Ultra, that just like– There's something that activates in my brain that's just like, "You will do gay angst, NOW."

[Later]

Fit: The stench is endearing, if anything. It's endearing. [Reading chat] "No wonder he left"?

[He dramatically clutches his chest like he's in pain, then leans out of frame]

Fit: I've said this: just because something is true does not mean you need to say it out loud! There is a time and a place, you require social awareness, I feel like. You lack social awareness right now– [He glances at chat] Am I blurry? God dammit– Stream's going to hell in a hand basket. Let me- let me get into focus.

[chamerionwrites]

One of the more fascinating examples of fandom’s faves-based morality I’ve personally encountered recently was the number of people in the Mon Mothma tag who were absolutely BURNING with righteous fury at her 13-year-old daughter in Andor, when the worst things we have actually seen said character do are (1) be kind of a little shit to her mom (again, she’s thirteen) and (2) fall victim to a space tradwife cult. You know, because she’s thirteen. And has a pretty self-evidently lonely and unpleasant home life. And lives directly in the rotten beating ideological heart of space fascism.

The number of people vocally wishing punishment on a fictional tween was WILD. I unfollowed that tag after ~48 hours lol

[mylittlecrow]

i will never shut up about jon promising to protect sansa in 6x09 and then the parallel of lyanna begging ned to promise to protect jon IN THE NEXT EPISODE. something something “if the day should ever come when your lord father was forced to chose between honor on the one hand and those he loves on the other what would he do?” and we KNOW ned picked love. ned loved his sister so much he lied to his king and bff to protect jon. ned loved his daughter so much he sacrificed his honor and duty to the realm and lied to protect sansa.

the writers intentionally put sansa at the center of jon and dany’s conflict. sansa’s not in king’s landing during the battle in 8x05 or 8x06 but she still haunts the narrative, her name is brought up by FOUR different characters. jon was ready to die if dany saw him as a threat to the throne. “i'm tired of fighting it’s all i've done since i left home.” and the only way to get through to him and to get him to fight again and to kill dany is to mention sansa and how she’ll never be safe with dany around. “if we don’t take back the north we’ll never be safe i want you to help me but i'll do it myself if i have to.”

and sansa is so used to being alone. she spent months waiting for robb to rescue her from king's landing, and it never happened. robb chose the north, his duty, over her. and she's beaten for the north's independence and then sold to two different families who stole the north from her. and then she finally finds help in theon and brienne and podrick but she doesn't feel completely safe again until she's in jon's arms. but even then she's still ready for more disappointment, to be separated from her family again because “life is not a song” and “there are no heroes.” but jon isn’t robb. “jon isn’t tormund. jon isn’t davos, or the red woman, or stannis for that matter. jon is jon.”

“where will you go? where will we go. i won’t ever let him touch you again. we need to trust each other. until i return the north is yours. touch my sister and i’ll kill you myself. what you did for her is the only reason i’m not killing you. i’m her family too. what about everyone else? what about the other people who think they know what’s good? i’ll protect you, i promise. no one can protect me, no one can protect anyone.” but jon proves her wrong, he can protect her. he will keep her safe. because when his day comes and he has to chose between love and duty, he chooses her. there still are heroes in her story and their story isn't over yet.

[ckret2]

Fuck you for pulling that bait and switch with the comic on the second to last chapter of the apocalypse shit. Genuinely pissed me off. Give me hope that this’ll be a fanfic that takes a different route than just bashing on cipher because it’s funny and then pulling it away because haha why not right? Let’s just blame the guy literally actually suffering and act as if he’s in he’s in his right mind at all. Oh well who cares. Loved your fic until you pulled that shit

My dude, you're well within your rights to hate the bait and switch. It was a dirty trick, I'll admit that.

But if you think that I was bashing on Bill, that I wrote his grief as funny, or that I'm not fully aware that he was acting irrationally out of pain and despair—then you didn't read the fic I wrote.

You're supposed to be upset he turned down the help he needs. It's not a joke. I want it to hurt that help is so close, but Bill can't accept it because he's grieving too hard to let go of his people. I want you to be furious that nobody but the Ax thinks Bill deserves help, and the Ax alone isn't enough to reach him. I want you to want him to heal.

But we already know he didn't heal then. Because if he had, he never would have done anything he did in canon. Nevertheless, this is a fic about offering Bill a second chance, no matter what, as many times as it takes for him to accept it, even if it takes a trillion years—because, canonically, we know it will.

You can hate the fic if you wanted to read a fix-it AU and didn't get it, that's fine—but do me a favor and hate it for the canon-compatible backstory tragedy it actually is, rather than the bizarre Bill-bashing comedy you projected on top of it after the plot took a twist you didn't expect.

[copia]

THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF GHOST ⛧ DAY TWO

the song that made you a fan — Spillways

“This is an elegy for the darkness that most people have inside. When you have a dam, spillways are the run-offs so the dam won’t overflow. That darkness inside us needs to find its way out,” — Tobias Forge

Job 10:1 "I loathe my own life; I will give full vent to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul."

[robintherobiner]

I propose to you, the core four being poly but Tim is the last person to realise.

Dick, visiting Tim at the tower: Hey buddy! You got something you wanna tell me? Tim, laying on the couch with his head in Kon's lap as he reads case files: No, why?

Wally:

Tim:

Wally: Why did my Uncle's Grandson just kiss you goodnight?

Tim: Don't shame him, he's adjusting to being in the past.

Diana: When did you and Cassie get together?

Tim, ever oblivious: Like, three years ago. You were there when we formed Young Just Us, weren't you?

Tim, venting to Stephanie: And like, that year was so hard because two of my best friends died! Weirdly enough, their deaths were way harder than like, anyone else's. I mean, I tried to clone Kon for some reason! Stephanie: God, I can't believe we ever dated, you're so stupid.

Damian: Drake, I have been informed that it is customary to wish queer people a happy pride month.

Tim: I mean, yeah. Why you telling me though?

Damian: In order to repair our relationship, I did some research and according to Father, you are bisexual and polyamorous. Therefor, I wish you a happy pride.

Damian: Drake? Why does your face look more ugly than usual?

Tim, reevaluating his entire life: OH MY GOD-

[if-you-heart]

Analysing Soul’s character with animal behaviour

Something I’ve noticed about how Soul is treated by a portion of the fandom is that, to be honest, their character is extremely misunderstood by a lot of people. And that’s pretty sad! Because I think Soul is a very interesting and complex character. The main thing I’ve noticed is how Soul is often portrayed as the “big bad villain” because of a handful of lyrics throughout the cccc album. I’m not really going to go into the lyrics right now, but I feel like a lot of people are misunderstanding who Soul really is, and are more so looking for a character to pin all of the blame on for everything that goes down in the album.

Thinking about this made me realise that Soul reminds me of a wolf. Specifically, how a lot of people are quick to perceive a wolf’s social behaviour as “aggression” and them simply just being violent towards a “weaker” wolf.

The behaviour wolves display towards other pack mates (growling, nipping, etc) is almost always framed as them harming the other wolf. It may LOOK threatening, and the wolf’s teeth may seem intimidating, but in reality the wolf is being very gentle with its pack mate. It’s more so a corrective behaviour, or a way of showing social status, in most cases. I think Soul suffers from this misinterpretation when they’re lashing out within the lyrics of some of the songs. I believe the main reason it’s misconstrued is because of a general lack of understanding behaviours the viewer hasn’t personally experienced. Ofc this is a literal animal I’m comparing this to, but there’s still something to be said here regardless.

I’ve seen many people so far perceive Soul’s attitude towards Heart and Mind as pure evil and malicious, and barely cutting them any slack whatsoever. Soul isn’t a villain. They’re just exhausted. They’ve been stretched thin over the stress of feeling like a puppet to the other two. They’re what’s left when emotion and logic separates; a husk that’s struggling to survive. When you villainise them solely for how they act in the music, you’re also disregarding that both Heart and Mind are… just as bad. I mean Heart literally tried to kill Mind. None of these guys are evil, but they’re not good people either. The only way they’ll become whole is if they learn to get along, that’s what the album is about. Not one being more right than the other, but about them finally opening up to each other’s viewpoints and accepting one another, albeit hesitantly.

And yes, Soul’s behaviour in the album is ABSOLUTELY pretty toxic. But that’s what stress and depression does to a person!!! They’re very clearly tired of Heart and Mind fighting all the time. They don’t hate Heart OR Mind, but their patience with these two and their nonstop bickering is growing very thin. And that’s completely understandable. Every single one of these freaks start off with an unhealthy dynamic and difficult mindset. But they learn over time to get along until they’re eventually Whole again. There’s no “villain”, and none of them are completely innocent either. It’s just three really depressed guys who desperately want to see the light.

Anyways,

[a2zillustration]

I carried this thing for MONTHS with the EXPRESS PURPOSE of putting Raphael in it (knowing full well Larian wouldn't let me do that, mechanically) and I had one major miscalculation.

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[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

[lilithofpenandbook]

Seriously how can M*r*uders stans like random Slytherins (who tf are Evan Rosier, Pandora (is that Luna's mum and why tf is she Evan Rosier's twin in half of these), and I don't even want to discuss Regulus) and make them Actually Misunderstood Good People Who Were Forced Down That Path when at least one of them *coughreguluscough* was obsessed with Voldemort

And then turn around and make Snape an awful person?

[scintillyyy]

i do feel like. to understand why jordanna was written Like That in bg09 (as an evil strawman sorority-type girl who exists to be the worse reflection of steph--she's the unnecessarily catty to steph's justifiably snarky, the artificial slutty to steph's effortless, natural, and authentic sexiness, the fundamental unlikeable to steph's likeability, nothing but an antagonist of bad qualities to steph's good qualities) you do need to understand that in the year of our lord 2009 they were taking inspiration for a female led comic book about a girl in college from gossip girl.

[pushing500]

It's time for a new beginning, away from the urbworld of his birth and the small-minded people who got in the way.

Armed with an unwavering determination to accomplish everything he puts his mind to, the first mechanoids he ever built, an unhealthy amount of coffee, and an affectionate nickname from his baby sister, how will our mechanitor fare in the far reaches of space?

You can see we're already getting set up. We can't waste any time! There's archotech to be discovered, ancient dangers to be explored, and... what's up with that dusty old monolith over there? 🤔

Join Makya (his baby sister Yamka calls him "Mechi") on his quest to discover as much technology as he can, maybe even The Archonexus itself!

First (you are here!) | Next | Previous

[sweetestflow3rs]

I don't want to be rude, but Cody is too Marty Stu. He is too powerful and has no weaknesses. Cody is even cooler than Bailey - the main antagonist of the game. And he is close with Bailey and Eden? Yeah, sure. Can remove the fallen angel tf… Although only the high priests of the temple - Jordan and Sydney's other parent - should know that ritual. Even Mikey can't manipulate fame that much with his hacking, but Cody, just by spreading rumors, can ruin a PC's reputation overnight. So what if PC had a good or even perfect fame? Cody will simply destroy his own reputation by making himself a liar. And given his bad character and behavior, it's surprising that he was able to become an information broker and someone works with him. Cody has potential, he could be an interesting character if he weren't so invulnerable and powerful.

i see anon, you’re so right. so what you’re saying i should do is…. IF i cared enough, to cater to your critique—

like brother in christ. its a porn game with eldritch horrors, and somehow everyone in town is a rapist. quite literally the biggest of mary sues is the PC / protagonist who is literally so hot that everyone, in the villains, like Bailey who is so careful and restricted, wants to fuck them and is somehow earning the fame and love of everyone in the town & underground.

and literally the only invulnerable thing about cody is…..!!! and you see my hands empty. he is just a dude. you can quite literally hit him with your car. also he is a villain, in a game where you can’t do much to villains except suffer through it ( ie: the bad ends, remy, harper, bailey, eden, briar, etc. ) which i give my friends and people online PCs to have fun and shake him around unlike the game would LMAO

like, i’m going to be so respectful here when i can say something more crude - if cody is not to your tastes? you can literally block me man. you don’t have to see him, i’m not forcing him down your throat. there are people lined up who are waiting for that instead

[cantgetworsethanthistbh]

dumping more of my stancest feels here because i cannot NOT think of them. i read journal 3 for the first time this week and its great because Ford acts like stanley's biggest hater which is pretty fking funny (if not absolutely infuriating at times because omfg stfu you smug prick)

but the moments like this get to me

Ford being blinded by his quest of grandeur, accolades and praise for world changing discoveries, so obsessed with greatness, being the first name people remember, and all the other things his npd-isms tells him he wants.

And then there's "reminds me of camping with my brother. i wonder what he's up to..."

i mentioned in my previous post that stan acts quite a lot like the anchor to ford's boat, keeping him grounded and most importantly, safe from both the bitter and the sweet kinds of evils. but he also represents something so much simpler to ford too: the simple desires he represses so much because its not "good enough" for someone special like him.

he resents stan so much because he represents a "block" against that percieved good enough success he wants, the obstacle that made it impossible to get in a fancy college, become the world renowed researcher, the one who wanted to destroy his journal's and lifes work (even though it was the better, safer option if Bill really WAS that dangerous, which he was) that could still make him famous. because if ford's not "praised and weird" then he's just "weird" and being "weird" was nothing but a pain his whole life that kept him rejected and isolated from the masses. and stan prevented him from that.

(btw "maybe he can prove himself to me" is nasty work my god ford is a douche lmao)

a lot of his projections of something greater comes through with how he treated dipper in the show (his whole spiel in damvtf) and fiddleford in journal 3 where he looks down on the happy life that fiddleford had with his wife and child and saying he was "wasting his talents" making computers. and like, we all know by the way he takes them on high stakes adventures they're not as prepared for compared to him (and end up causing more trouble than not by doing so), he's trying to fill a gaping hole left by someone else. we all know this obviously, we all know what we ship here, but what i came to appreciate the most about it is how much that gaping hole exists in the low stakes

everytime ford is thinking during the "down time" moments, his thoughts always drift back to his childhood, and one person who represents it.

childhood memories, making fun of stans favorite snack, scribbling out a design of the stan o war, whenever Ford lets his mind wander it expresses such an intense yearning for the past before he became obsessed with wanting something more. these are his most utmost and most unfiltered thoughts, which is why he scribles them away or and writes in code. and the fact that he directly says they are about NOT getting married, followed with "wondering what he's doing right now", painting the picture of what his most ideal idylic life is. wanting a return of something lost. wanting Stan back more than anything.

he finally accepts that his dream never really changed, just the same as stan's and so they saild off together for the rest of their days, in ford's own words (which ironically sounds like a marriage to me either way so tough shit ford)