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doublerainebow · 4 years

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Artist Resources (Part 1?)

This is basically just going to be a bunch of resources I have found to be useful. I can’t say that I’ve used all of them, but I’m sure they’re all worth checking out.

I’m also gonna try to put a detailed description for most of the links so you have a better idea of what you’re getting. I apologize in advance if some of them are redundant lol

(I put “Part 1″ if in the case I make another one)

~Links to Tutorials, Tips, Resources, etc~

Another Resource List -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Apparently, the post isn’t mobile-friendly, so it’s suggested to view this on Tumblr browser. Has a bunch of other links. I’ve checked out a few of them (mainly the copyright stuff lol), and it seems that some of the links may be a bit outdated. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check out the links.

Arms and Legs -- Leads to another Tumblr post. A handy tutorial on elbow and knee placement.

Art & Game Dev -- This leads to my personal playlist of a bunch of YouTube videos. Has a bunch of tutorials and interesting videos that I’ve collected over the course of a few years lol.

Blamblot -- A website that contains resources and tutorials on comic lettering. This is primarily in reference to western comics, but it doesn’t help to take a looksie.

Commission Calculator -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps artists to stop selling themselves short.

Comparing Heights (hikaku-sitatter) -- A height comparer for centimeters.

Comparing Heights -- A height comparer for feet and inches.

Mouth Shapes and Lip-Syncing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Useful for... drawing mouth shapes.

Reference Angle -- Useful for when you’re trying to map out a face from an odd angle.

Soft Proofing for Printing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps when you’re trying to make prints of your artwork.

Textures -- A website full of different and mostly free textures. While this website is made for 3D texturing, it can also be useful for 2D drawings. Signing up gives you 15 free credits everyday, and you can use those credits to download some textures for free.

The Models Resource -- A website of models ripped from a wide array of games.

The Spriters Resource -- A website of sprites ripped from a wide array of games.

The Textures Resource -- A websites of textures ripped from a wide array of games.

~Links to Stock Images~

Please check out whatever policies they may have for their images before using them!

(not sure if any of them are active anymore as I followed some of these accounts a long time ago when I used to be more active on Deviant Art lol)

adorkastock (formerly senshistock)

anatoref -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Has a bunch of hand photo references

charligal-stock

HumanAnatomy4Artist -- Does contain nudity

null-entity

PhelanDavion

RobynRose

~Links to Other Artists~

Akihito Yoshitomi -- Yoshitomi is a mangaka who has tutorials on manga making. He also has an insightful series in which he drafts and draws a 30-page manga in 18 days. Remember that every artist works differently and his process may be different from another’s.

Drawfee -- Drawfee is an improv drawing show of four artists: Nathan Yaffe, Jacob Andrews, Julia Lepetit, and Karina Farek. While they don’t have tutorials in a sense, their videos explain the different processes they go through as they draw. They also occasionally provide tips, tricks, and resources in their videos. They do have another channel and a Twitch channel where they host drawing classes in addition to other fun shenanigans.

EtheringtonBrothers -- Has a bunch of useful and eye-catching tutorials called “How to Think When You Draw”.

Mark Crilley -- Mark is a comic artist, specializing in manga, who has a bunch of tutorials about anatomy, perspective, comic making, and other things.

Miyuli -- Miyuli is an artist who posts tutorials on their Twitter. Their tutorials range from anatomy to clothing to other things. They even have a few books of art tips. Currently (as of the time of posting this), their 2018 version is free for download, so I highly recommend you download that. Some tips may be outdated, but they should still be helpful.

Whyt Manga (Twitter/YouTube) -- Odunze is a comic artist, specializing in manga, that has a bunch of tutorials on manga making and drawing characters of color.

~Links to Free Programs~

Blender -- A free 3D program if you’re into 3D modeling and such. I also personally haven’t used Blender (I use Maya lol), but I know it’s a respectable program.

Krita -- A free painting program if you can’t afford Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. I personally haven’t used Krita, but I have recommended it to a few friends and they have positive reviews about it.

Paint Tool SAI -- Okay, this one isn’t free, but it’s a significantly cheaper painting program where you don’t have to pay a subscription. It’s 5,500JPY (~50 USD). I’m not sure how well it still works on modern computers (the last update was 2016), but I still use it here and there because I love the pen tool feature it has, and it still works like a charm for me.

~General Tips From Raine~

Raine admits that she’s guilty of not following her own advice, but Raine hopes that the tips that she does know will be beneficial to someone who will follow them. She’s also going to keep all her tips under the cut so as to not make this post a huge wall of text (even though it technically already is lol)

Also, if you have some resources, tutorials, tips yourself, please feel free to send them to me and maybe I’ll make a part 2 to this post!

ALWAYS LOOK FOR REFERENCE. This should really go without saying. You can’t draw from life if you refuse to observe life itself.

If you can’t find the exact thing you need, MAKE YOUR OWN REFERENCE. Time and time again, I can’t find something exactly that I need. So instead, what I do is that I take pictures of my own reference. Sometimes I even grab a friend and take pictures of them doing whatever it is I need.

Have a mirror handy when you’re drawing. Sometimes what you need is actually right there in front of you.

Having trouble drawing something? Do some studies. Take the time to understand what it is you’re drawing. I can’t remember the exact story, but I heard that the people who were working on Tarzan were having a hard time drawing his hands. So, what they did was spend a few hours looking at hands to try and understand how they work.

IT’S OKAY TO STUDY THE ART OF OTHER ARTISTS. Just as we look to the old masters as a reference, it’s definitely okay to look at modern-day artists for reference. Just don’t go copying exactly everything that they do, or worse, trace what they do. Just don’t do it... at all.

Not every line needs to be realized. The viewer of your work will automatically connect the dots.

DO NOT TRASH YOUR OLD DRAWINGS. Please, never ever do this. Your old drawings have value to them, even if they look terrible to you. Old drawings may hold ideas for things you could do for the future. They also serve as a way to see how far you’ve come as an artist.

GETTING BETTER AT DRAWING TAKES TIME AND EFFORT. You’re not gonna get better overnight. It’ll take months, or even years, to feel like you’re a competent artist, and even then, you’ll still have room for improvement.

DON’T LOOK DOWN ON YOURSELF IF YOU’RE TAKING A LONG TIME TO GET BETTER. It’ll be better for your mental health in the long run.

Alternatively, DON'T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER ARTISTS EITHER, ESPECIALLY TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER. You know the struggles it took for you to get where you are, so don’t go putting down other people when you’ve been in their shoes once.

KEEP DRAWING. If you’re not making an effort to get better, then you’re not going to be better. I get that it’s hard to find the inspiration to draw (I’m very guilty of this), but just keep trying. It doesn’t have to be big or spectacular. You don’t even have to post it if you’re the type who likes to post their art stuff.

Try to find references from real-life. It’ll help you better understand form, lighting, shadows, etc., especially if you’re going for a more realistic kind of art style. Otherwise, finding reference from things like cartoons, anime, comics, etc. are just as good.

Try new things. Try new art mediums. Try a different art style. Switch up the way you do things. Maybe you’ll hate it, maybe you’ll like it. Who knows if you don’t try.

Watch time-lapses (or speed draws/speed paints) of other artists!

Pinterest and Google are your friends if you need tutorials or references or whatever.

If you’re offering commissions, DO NOT WORK UNDER YOUR LOCAL MINIMUM WAGE. You are literally devaluing the work you actually put into a piece.

I like to think I’m an aficionado of Photoshop, so feel free to ask me questions on how to achieve something! I’ve used Photoshop for about 11 years now and know my way around the program. On another note, I do recommend setting custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop because the default shortcuts are terrible (in my opinion), and because having custom shortcuts increases the speed of your workflow.

Because I’ve been seeing this a lot lately in Twitter, you’re never too old to start in art. Art is just one of those things that anyone can pick up at any age because the only thing you really need to get good in art is time, diligence, and patience.

Try not to post hi-res images of your artwork to prevent art stealers from selling your artwork in high resolution.

Always, always, always add your signature and watermark on your artwork. I like to add my signatures and watermarks in places that’ll be hard to erase or crop out. I’ve also seen people add their signatures and watermarks in creative ways (ex. on a character’s shirt). You need to protect your work in an era where people will just blatantly steal it and make profit off your work.

Tag List

@reality-is-often-disappointing

#artists #artists on tumblr #artist tips #artist resources #art resources #artists of tumblr #art tips #art tutorial #raine rambles and muses #raine can art

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kokorodachidanii · 2 years

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22 Short Films About Yonder Galaxy

1. The Bake Sale: Wander and Sylvia try to raise some money to help the Black Cube and Tracy after Schmartians trash Cube’s apartment.

2. The Crepe-er: Across the street from Wander and Sylvia’s bake sale, Dr Screwball Jones attempts to sell his new “happiness pancakes”.

3. The New Doll: After Hank, Jamie and David broke Angela’s new Watchdog doll (a gift from Westley), they have to find a replacement fast, or she’ll tell all their parents.

4. The Sittin’ Kitty: Lil’ Bits attempts to relax before a certain someone decides to crash that idea straight down.

5. The Debt: Cabin Fairy Mitzi Ditzy has flarped up big time when she accidentally damages the ship to a certain malfeasant curmudgeon.

6. The Line: The Insurgent Generals (with Sawery Notsorry) go out for hot dogs, which wouldn’t be a problem if the line weren’t so darn long!

7. The Arachnomorphobia: As we’ve seen, there could be nine apocalypses and Beeza wouldn’t even bat an eye, but even she has at least one true fear-- she’s deathly terrified of arachnomorphs. Suffice it to say Ripov knows this very well.

8. The Spook Rave: When Emperor Awesome leaves his limo unattended, the Phantomaster figures just a few minutes of haunting won’t do much harm.

9. The Munchies: Sourdough finds himself forced to stay on Houshoku-san’s good side or risk getting gobbled up!

10. The Movie Night: Something the So-and-So and his little cousin Whatzit have very different movie opinions.

11. The Pick-Me-Up: Commander Peepers makes Lord Hater something nice.

12. The Broiled Slugs: Steamed Hams but with Rear Admiral Keister and Neckbeard (NB calls the deep-fried adzuki bean buns from Houshoku-san’s “broiled slugs” despite the fact they’re very obviously fried, and there’s a “supernova explosion” [read: magical mishap] at this time of day, at this time of year, in this part of the galaxy, localized entirely within his basement)

13. The Memoir: Major Threat and Sargeant Inkers try to get people to buy the latter’s memoir.

14. The Golfers: Badlands Dan and his gang play some minigolf together, but Harvax and Stok keep getting all the holes-in-one!

15. The Phun Dip: The teens from The Black Cube (I call the bunny leader Jack, the weasley snake Zack, and the obvious one Mack) want Phunulon’s special promotional dip from Blarpee’s, but it sold out just yesterday.

16. The Loony Balloony: The balloon man from The Fugitives is unhappy with his newfound red coloration and tries to get blue again.

17. The Gamer: Brad Starlight gets addicted to his cousin Chad’s new video game.

18. The Pyramid Scheme: Ryder and an extremely reluctant Frederick try to con a bunch of Zetuons.

19. The Trial: Bingleborp Castle’s totally trashed and someone’s gonna pay.

20. The Voodoo: Dominator finds herself the victim of a hilarious accident involving a voodoo doll in the display window of Thrax’s newly-renovated bookstore.

21. The Lawmaking Lawbreakers: SFEF learns the hard way what happens when the celestial star being from The Picnic is awoken before the full millennium has passed.

22. The Bake Sale Redux: Wander and Sylvia finally have the money! Can they still conquer Cube’s conundrum? (Spoiler: Yes.)

In the paraphrased words of @signor-signor : “I’m personally hoping for an episode styled after 22 Short Films About Springfield.”

If nothing else, these could be used as mini-story concepts for a comic book!

#wander over yonder #savewoy #shut up kd #sig and kd go outta their gourds for the greater good

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meruz · 4 years

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Aforementioned long ask post please excuse me while i try to figure out tumblr's new text editor. I’ll get into the art meme questions first and then the rest at the end.

Ok first of all thank you all for sending in questions! Giving me an excuse to talk hehe. I’ll address these in number order. Here’s a link to the ask meme for reference but also I’ll restate the question for ease of reading.

1. When did you get into art?

Super cliche answer but I don’t remember a time where I WASN’T the weird art kid! I started keeping a dedicated sketchbook when I was about 12? But here’s a page from my kindergarten journal about what I want to be when I grow up.

2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for?

LOL this is a weird question. Not sure why so many people want to know. Anyways I definitely had a dA. more than one dA account. I used to browse oekakis when I was a kid but I think I was only signed up to some small ones that internet friends owned. What else...? Mangabullet,Tegakie, Paintberri, iscribble back when that was a thing, instagram if that COUNTs, I used to post art on livejournal and dreamwidth too. Patreon, I guess. Gumroad, inprnt, bigcartel, storenvy all for selling stuff.

In terms of resources.. I have a schoolism account that I’m sharing with friends. Used to take classes on coursera for free. I signed up to textures.com for work recently haha. I can’t remember if I ever had an account on posemaniacs. Did they have accounts...? I definitely used to visit all the time.

3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

Alright here’s me actually logging into my old deviantart account. These are from September 2008 So I was 13 years old. I don’t have a deviantart account from before then because 13 was the required age for having an account and I didn’t want to lie about my age because I wanted people to be impressed by how young yet clearly incredible at art I was LOL.

4. What defines your artistic style?

You guys are probably more equipped to answer this than me but uh... I wanna say... Focus on colors. And... a slightly heavy hand? Like confident... not always well-considered mark making HAH...

Also I think I have a pretty healthy mix of american comics/manga influences. I feel like people who are into american comics always think my art is too manga and people who are into anime/manga always think my art is too american. And I’m taking that as a good sign.

5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?

I like to think I switch it up a bunch! I mean, these are pretty different, right?

I think I’ve mentioned this before but one thing I really took away from art school is that, for an illustrator at least, art style shouldn’t be consistent. Your greatest weapon is changing the aspects of your style based on the task, the emotions and message you want to illustrate etc. So depending on the project I’m working on, the fandom I’m drawing for, whether I want something to be funny or serious or dramatic, I’ll change things about my style all the time.

One thing I don’t rly post on here is really tight polished work and that’s because I do that for my day job haha. If you’re not paying me... I’m probably not gonna color in the lines.

6. What levels of artistic education have you had?

I have a whole ass diploma LOL. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. from the Rhode Island School of Design. And I had a great college experience tbh. Besides the student loans. If any of you guys are thinking about art school feel free to e-mail or message me questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to help. Be as honest as I can be.

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.

heres the wandavision kids. Uhh what else do I have...I feel like I’m rummaging for loose change here...

assorted valentines prep doodles

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Well, obviously this is gonna change all the time and generally it’s gonna be my most recent piece LOL. So yeah, why the hell not. I’ll say it’s this one. I have a pretty short memory which I count as a blessing for an artist. I don’t dwell that long on older work and it keeps me moving forward.

10. What do you like most about your art?

I like that it’s something that only I would make! I had this thought fairly recently and I wrote it down in my sketchbook, it’s pretty cheesy and rambling but it felt revolutionary at the time:

So yeah. I like my art best when it’s the most me and for me. And I like it least when it feels like I’m just making something for social media or for other people’s expectations or whatever.

14. What do you like drawing the most?

Kids in baggy clothing are like my go-to LOL idk if that’s obvious. but also I like being challenged so lately I’ve really loved drawing multi-character compositions, environments, weird angles, etc.

oh i LOVE drawing the underside of shoes lol. And bandages. People that are kinda beat up.. I think it comes from getting a bunch of cuts all the time. I’m always patching myself up and I want to patch characters up too.

15. What do you like drawing the least?

mmm I try to find something to like in every drawing but lets see... I don’t like doing commissions of people’s dogs. Just because it’s normally like... a family friend and my mom volunteered me without my consent and I don’t even really know what they’re expecting me to draw and I don’t even get to meet the dog. Also I’m not that great at dog anatomy. Trying to learn though.

18. What is your purpose for drawing?

This could have a million answers! Uhhh to GIT GOOD??? But also to express myself... and also to make money... I mean it depends on what the drawing IS. I draw fanart mostly to connect to people in the fandom so if you ever see me drawing fanart please take it as like an open invitation to talk to me about the character haha.

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)

Good!!! I have a lot of self-confidence primarily born out of ignorance and a short attention span. If I don’t think too hard about how many other artists are mindblowingly unfathombly good... its easy to think I’m good too! LOL

In all seriousness though, I think the opinion a person has of their art is like a crazy balancing act, right? Like you have to think you suck enough to want to get better but also you have to think you’re good enough to not want to give up. I think we’re all walking that line, I know I am! But also I’m a glass half-full type of person so. Most of the time I feel good about it.

22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”

This is a good question because I’ve been trying and failing to put together one of those “influence map” memes for like a full month now. What’s giving me a hard time is I feel like none of these are actually really obvious “““influences”““ in my art? Like it’s hard to see a lot of them in the work I make...? But idk maybe you guys’ll see what I can’t.

And these are just a couple! God there’s so many more. I could talk about other artists for ages, from all different genres of art. Daumier, Rockwell like every illustrator out there, Dana Gibson, Alex Toth, Hiroshi Yoshida, a lot of the Brandywine School. Lots of current working artists too, Karl Kerschl, frikkin Masashi Kishimoto lol, Jake Wyatt, Richie Pope, Edouard Caplain, Matt Cook, Sachin Teng, - lots of big internet artists, Sophie Li, Freddy Carrasco, Milliofish, Angela Sung... like all my friends from art school too. I could just keep going but I’ll stop for now lol.

24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)

I mean if that’s how we’re defining shameful?? sure LOL. It’s not sprite comics but I used to do pokemon sprite recolors all the time. And I used to trace manga panels and color them... Granted this was all when I was like under 12 yrs old so it’s not even embarrassing. Can you really call it shameful when a 7 year old wets the bed or whatever? Not really. In fact some of these are cool as fuck. Look

25. Draw a picture!

Man I’m so tired now but here.

I used to get a lot of compliments for drawing people smiling lol but I don’t think I’ve drawn a lot of smiling lately.. here’s proof I’ve still got it.

OK MEME DONE. onto the rest.

I read this ask first thing when i opened my computer in the morning and it made me really emotional.. I’m so glad my sketches could help you!!

I think a lot of artists on social media talk about the struggle of making art but imo not enough people talk about the joy! Like I know it’s corny but. I really meant what I said at the beginning of that sketchbook about re-contextualizing art around process and progress > product and perfection. I think its super important..! The strength of messy, unfinished, and energetic art! For the feeling of it, for the love it!

That's crazy!!! I hope you like 'em. The whole line of x-books is really good rn imo.

Hi! I totally have the answer for digital stuff on my faq lol. But in terms of drawing on paper.. it varies! I tend to use sketchbooking and any on-paper doodling I do as a way to loosen up/warm-up or experiment. But right now my go-to aresenal is:

from top > bottom

- kuretake no.55 doublesided brush pen

- tombow fudenosuke

- muji 0.38 ballpoint

- medium size poscas

- grey tombow double brush pens

- good ol bic mechanical pencil

not EXACTly sure which inking you referring to from my sketchbook but if I had to take a guess it'd probably be the kuretake no55. That's been my main inker, lately. Great for sketching with the thin end too.

You can print out and eat my art if you like. Just please don't mass produce or re-sell. <3

Thanks! I've come to accept that my art is always gonna be sort of gestural and painty naturally. It's getting it to tighten up enough to be legible that's hard lol...

uh yeah lol I agree actually. I think yolei is great.

I assume these asks are related? LOL

1) Yeah totally true. I love David.

2) I don’t take requests, sorry! But if you want to commission me to draw Legion i would be MORE than happy to. Just e-mail me at [email protected].

<33333333333333333333333333

#ask #anonymous

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teawithshruti · 3 years

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How did I keep myself sane amidst a pandemic - My thoughts on books, anime, and restaurants.

Yet another review of The Shining

A plot so well written you would want to go in room 217

Hi there! This blog comes to you from a bored 19 year old who has a knack for reading crime thrillers, watching murder documentaries, and loves watching MasterChef just to see Gordon Ramsay. LOL. And did I mention that she also happens to be a Stephen King fan, because who isn’t? So here is where I try and convince you that The Shining is the best book ever written and how Stanley Kubrick completely butchered the screenplay, as well as why pasta is life.

Welcome to the Rockies!

The story takes place in the town of Boulder, Colorado, where our main protagonist Jack Torrance gets a job as a caretaker of the famous Overlook Hotel. Winters in Boulder are harsh, and the hotel remains closed as travel is not permitted with all the heavy snowfall. Now Jack is a recovering alcoholic with anger issues which led to him breaking his son’s arm prior to where the story begins. This made Wendy, his wife, question her marriage and the safety of their five year old son, Danny. Danny on the other hand isn’t your average five year old who just watches cartoons and plays with toys. He is aglow with a psychic voltage, and has frequent blackouts. In the words of old Mr Hallorann, the hotel’s head chef, Danny’s a shiner. When the Torrances meet Mr Hallorann, he feels an instant connection with Danny. He warns Jack about the hotel and its sinister secrets and how the previous caretaker, Delbert Grady, killed himself and his family. But Jack is sure that this huge and lonely hotel with its splendid views is just what he needs in order to earn back his family’s trust. But going to a haunted hotel with a troubled marriage and a psychic son? Maybe not the best idea. But in his defense, Jack doesn't believe in ghosts. Little does he know that’s about to change.

Snowbound at The Overlook

The Torrance's begin settling in the Overlook. But as winter closes in and the blizzards cut them off from the outer world, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. Meanwhile, Jack starts growing restless, craving for a friendly drink with each passing day. He also starts experiencing hallucinations, and wonders if they are withdrawal symptoms. Danny on the other hand is experiencing his own share of ghostly sightings, like the terrifying lady in the bathtub of room 217 who seems to have never checked out of the hotel. In one instance, he witnesses her climbing out of the clawfoot tub and advancing towards him with her bloated belly and dry hair as he stands frozen in fear in a blood covered presidential suite. This narrative by King with all its details is the truly the most spine tingling I’ve ever read. Later when Danny’s parents find him in the room, a thumb in his mouth, that is when Wendy truly realizes that they are not alone in that strange big hotel. Jack goes and sees the tub for himself, but the lady from before doesn't want to greet him. Wendy, in tears, sees that both her husband and her son are being tormented by this place and begs Jack to quit the job. Danny later calms his mom down, who is weeping uncontrollably, by telling her not to worry as his daddy doesn't have the shining, so there is nothing to worry about.

Have you never heard of REDRUM?

Sure you have. Read it backwards. Yes, you got it right. And so did Danny after seeing this word in his visions countless times. It so turns out that Danny is much stronger than he looks and after failing to possess him, The Overlook has turned to an easier target - Jack. As Jack slowly starts to lose his mind, he gives in and starts drinking again from the bar in the ballroom. His hallucinations keep getting worse to the point he actually sees Mr Grady, the previous caretaker / murderer, and even has a talk with him. Danny sees his changing behavior and so does his wife, who just doesn't see the man she fell in love with in his cold, distant eyes anymore. With everything going on, Wendy takes Danny to their apartment in the employee wing of the hotel and locks them inside in fear of Jack, who is slowly slipping away from reality. But turns out this move from her proves to be disastrous, as Wendy keeping Jack away from his own son is the last straw for him. In one of his many hallucinations, Jack meets his predecessor, his buddy Mr. Grady and the two have a disturbing conversation about how fun it is to kill your wife. Yes , no one trumps King when it comes to the unique combination of horror and psychological thrillers packed into one nail-biting plot!

In other words...

The only thing I liked about the movie was Jack Nicholson’s excellent acting. Apart from that Stanley Kubrick let go of many crucial parts which were essential to the story. He eliminated the hedge sequence in the book, which was terrifying to just read. The ending was just a complete mess. I get that you can’t exactly get all the details right of a 500 page book, but at least do justice to the ones you have chosen. Anyways I’m gonna go sulk in my room over this. Bye

Is it too late to start Anime?

Hi there! Good to have you back! Ever since pandemic began, everyone’s been locked in their own house. So this led to me taking up a few hobbies like sketching and painting and binging on a whole lot of sitcoms.. My personal favorite is the alluring world of Anime. Several of my friends began watching it and I cannot exactly term it as peer pressure, but I did give in and start watching Anime too. And now my watchlist includes just a bunch of 2D characters with powers that even Superman himself can't fight. So this is my take on how a kryptonian can be defeated with Jutsu, as Mr Naruto would say. Lol. This one is for all the weebs out there.

Manga and Anime are not the same!

To put it simply, manga is a Japanese term for comics and graphic novels, whereas Anime is the term for Japanese animations.. There are many similarities between them, as they both have been created by Osama Tezuka, who is considered as the Japanese version of Walt Disney. Now have you ever seen a simple comic book? The one with black and white newspaper illustrations - like Garfield. Manga is just like that - A book of illustrations. Now we arrive at the perennial question - Manga or Anime, which is better. Both of them are equally interesting, but I personally have a soft spot for anime. The intro theme songs, intense background music, and the beat dropping right before a big fight move, all these factors pack a punch. You don’t get that adrenaline rush from just a book.

My first anime - Demon Slayer

The story begins with the main character Tanjiro, who returns home after selling charcoal in town to find his entire family murdered by demons. Pretty intense right? His sister, Nezuko, survives but there’s a twist - she turns into a demon herself. This makes him vow to take revenge and he sets off to train with Sakonji, who has trained many of the elite members of the Demon Slayer Corps. After many years of training and a painful exam called the final selection, Tanjiro finally becomes a demon slayer and is off on missions along with his sister, who unlike most demons doesn’t consume human flesh. On his missions he meets Zenitsu and Inosuke, who both have excellent powers of their own. My favorite story arc was when the highest ranking slayers, known as the pillars, were introduced. But my words won’t do justice to their powers they possess. So simply get your geek on by watching this short yet amazing series.

The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki

The hidden leaf village is not so hidden anymore! The series I am currently watching is one of the most popular anime from 2020 - Naruto. The story is set around the shinobi villages and their ninjas and how Naruto Uzumaki plans on being the next Hokage [the most powerful shinobi] of the leaf village. He is trained by some of the best ninjas the village has ever seen. Before graduating from the academy, he was a hyperactive boy with lots of energy who just wanted to be the best. After graduation, he was placed in team seven, along with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. This team was trained by Kakashi Sensei who is known for wielding his Chidori and even the Sharingan. The sharingan, to put it simply, is a trait passed down in families. The Uchihas are known for their sharingans and hence it naturally comes to Sasuke as well. The mystery still remains unsolved as to how Kakashi got his sharingan, as he is not an Uchiha. But Naruto does have a super power as well. Not technically his powers per se, but we can cut him some slack. After all it's not everyday you get to see a beast like the nine tailed fox sealed away in an 11 year old boy. In my opinion the story picks up Orochimaru’s entry, and it paves the way for Sasuke’s powers in the future. My favorite character has to be Sasuke Uchiha. With his effortless fighting skills and sarcastic yet cool personality, he definitely is an excellent shinobi. You have to start this show right away because once you have seen him use his fire style fireball jutsu.....the world just doesn't look the same anymore.

In other words...

My current watchlist includes Naruto Shippuden, Black Clover, One Piece, and a few other naruto spin offs. Anime was something I never thought I would like, but now as it turns out I can't get enough of it. So bye for now, if you need me I'll be at Ichiraku’s eating ramen with barbeque pork. And if you get this reference, have a bowl of ramen on me. K bye.

Home in a faraway land

Good to see you again ! Do you ever get that feeling of an intense craving for your favourite dish? Like say pasta or pizza? My favorite is pasta, but being raised in India, I can’t say no to a classic plate of butter naan and chicken tikka with a glass of buttermilk or chaas if you please. Of Course you can’t beat the taste of a home cooked meal, but let me tell you about the time I went to this amazing little Indian restaurant in Dubai with my family, and how the food there was absolutely heavenly.

Out and About in Dubai

Skyscrapers, Sleepless nights, Gold Souks and gigantic malls - these are the visions you'd usually get when someone mentions Dubai. Well, they're mostly right! I went there with my family about 5 years ago. We stayed at the Ramada, which was right next to the Dubai Mall. The mall happens to be strategically placed next to the Burj Khalifa and we got lucky enough to see mesmerizing musical fountain shows night after night. The streets are spick and span, and everyone follows the traffic regulations dutifully. We also went for the desert safari, which was no less than an actual roller coaster ride. We also visited the Gold Souk, and oh boy. The name definitely fulfills its purpose, as the entire street is occupied entirely by gold stores. Huge gold ornaments are on display like clothes on hangers. I personally don’t have a thing for gold jewellery, but my mom had the time of her life there fawning and gasping over every store we came across. Shortly after our visit here, we came across this beautiful little Indian restaurant, and you can call me old school but at the end of the day, this girl needs a desi meal, because trust me room service gets boring after a while.

Peshwa - Not your typical 5 star restaurant

Situated away from the hustle of the main city, this place still remains quite underrated. We stumbled across this hidden gem which saved us the efforts of getting back to the hotel for an overpriced lunch. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we could smell the aroma of a classic dal makhani [ a simple gravy consisting of lentils infused with aromatic spices and hints of burnt chillies ] in the air. So we got a table and had a look at the menu and it was almost like being back home. The endless variety of gravies with paneer in almost every single one of them, to at least 6 different types of rotis, a little piece of heaven in this concrete jungle! We went ahead and ordered a simple meal of rotis and some paneer delicacy, along with dal and rice. Apart from the taste of the food, which was just heavenly, the overall ambience of the place in one word, was exquisite. The restaurant lived up to its very ethnic maharashtrian name. The food was served in those traditional style cutlery, reminding us of a simpler time.

A dish you just can’t miss

If you have a sweet tooth like me, you definitely have to try the coconut barfi from this place. Made from desiccated coconuts, sweetened condensed milk, a finely ground cardamom, and a hint of saffron, this dish is a match made in heaven. It was freshly made and we could tell it by the intoxicating aroma of pure ghee [clarified butter]. So just for a day, give yourself a break from watching calories and try this mouth watering dish because here’s something to live for.

In other words…

The next time I’m in Dubai, the first thing I will do is find out if the restaurant is still there. And probably avoid the Gold Souk this time. I will most certainly go for the desert safari, because it’s not everyday you get defy gravity and drive through the sand dunes like in a Fast and Furious movie. Lol. Also thanks for bearing with me throughout this blog. See ya!

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harborpointeblvd · 4 years

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a rec list no one asked for

someone please read my favorite webcomics and talk about them with me.

part 2

Heesu in Class 2 - complete

Despite both being big dumb idiots who don’t know anything about relationships, Heesu and his next door neighbor Seung Won agree to help each other out with their respective secret crushes. And you can already see where this is going. But while this may sound like the plot of every rom-com ever, this manhwa has something none of them have, and it’s the absolute ray of sunshine that is Heesu. He’s an angel.

Main pairing is an A+. Side pairing is like a C- honestly. Heesu playing wingman for the side pairing is an A+. And speaking of wingmen, Heesu’s and Seung Won’s best friends are great. One of them is a girl character who doesn’t just exist to stir up drama. There was a wlw early on in the story who I thought was being set up to be in a side pair but she’s just never seen again. C’est la vie.

Rated W for Wholesome.

For Your Love - *complete

When Jung Yohan realizes that his upperclassman Moogyeong has feelings for another guy, he makes it his mission to get the pair together. Yohan thinks unrequited love is for idiots, but joke’s on him, because he’s the biggest idiot of them all. Yohan is easily the best thing about this manhwa. He has the greatest facial expressions.

We don’t have a side pairing...yet. I’m not counting the hetero pairing because zero time was spent setting up that relationship (they’re cute though). But if they’re going in the direction that was kinda sorta hinted at a while back with Yohan’s friend, I give it an F.**

**Update: Yohan’s friend got a spinoff.

Someone Else’s BL Manhwa - complete

Loner by day and cross-dresser by night, Kim Seunghee has managed to keep his double life a secret, until he’s caught in drag after a bad date by class president Park Seungtaek and class trouble maker Lee Kyubin. I’m not even gonna spoil who the pairings are, because it’s not immediately apparent. It seems like the main character is kind of polarizing (he’s a bit standoffish), but I personally love Seunghee. I also love Lee Kyubin and Park Inbeom, two characters who seem like assholes at first, but grow more lovable the more you get to know them. They’re still assholes, but they’re lovable assholes.

There is a HUGE portion of the comic dedicated to the side pairing (it really is someone else’s bl) but both the main and side pairings are cute as hell. Based on the comments I've seen, I think most people like the side pairing better than the main, but I like the main couple’s arch a little bit better.

This was one of the first BL comics that I read, so there's a nostalgia factor there for me. I honestly love it too much to be objective about it. Do I love it because it's good or is it good because I love it?

Tamen De Gushi - ongoing

It’s the GL counterpart to 19 Days, but with less organized crime and the romance progresses faster.

When Sun Jing sees Qiu Tong at the train station, it’s love at first sight. Cuteness ensues. It’s a really simple premise, but with such a fun cast of characters that it’s enjoyable even when nothing is happening. Qiu Tong is sweet, and Sun Jing’s sweetness extends only as far as Qiu Tong.

Sun Jing’s dynamic with her best bro/wingman is one of the highlights of the comic.

Roommates - complete

Kisub just needs to crash on Jinwoo’s couch for a few days, or months, or forever. Which is a problem, because Jinwoo has secret feelings for Kisub, and they’re bound to come out eventually.

Roommates is just too funny. The art style and story are pretty simple, but it has a lot of funny little details that make it relatable. Jinwoo is affected by the tiniest things that Kisub does, like putting a medication patch on his neck. Oh if he were an icy hot patch against that neck...

The main couple is cute as hell. I’m kind of neutral about the side pairing, but I do really like Jinwoo’s friend who makes up half of the couple. His name changes depending on what translation you read, which confused the heck out of me.

There's also a Roommates 2, which is not a direct sequel and none of the characters are roommates.

19 Days - ongoing

Shut up, you don’t need me to tell you about 19 Days.

Jian Yi and Zhan Zheng Xi were best friends all through middle school, but right after the start of high school, Jian Yi disappeared. Years later, he returns out of the blue.

Is the set up for the story.

But it’s not really about that. At least not yet. The comic so far has mainly followed them through their middle school days, being funny and cute. Jian Yi has no eyebrows, but Xi has enough for both of them and that’s how you know it’s destiny.

I love the main pairing. The side pairing is. Popular. You don’t need to know my feelings about it. I like Mo. Moving along.

On or Off - ongoing

If you haven’t noticed, I tend to go for the more wholesome romances over the smutty ones. I usually find the sex to be gratuitous and feel like it only slows down the plot, if there IS a plot. That being said, this is my favorite webcomic that I’m currently reading.

Based on the synopsis, I shouldn’t even like On or Off. It checks off a lot of items on my list of tropes that immediately turn me off of a story. Starting with the comic opening right off the bat with a quid-pro-quo arrangement in a motel room.

Yiyoung and his friends - a bunch of brilliant but antisocial women - start an app company together, and Yiyoung is the dumb, pretty face of the group. But when they try to sell their app to a major corporation, he flubs the presentation. Now he has to come up with a new way to get director Kang to consider their app.

So the main reason I love this comic is Yiyoung. I would die for Yiyoung. I didn’t like Kang at first, and then I liked him, and now I’m starting to not like him again. But that’s not important. What’s important is that this story had me hooked from the beginning. It had me up all night. It had me spending my hard-earned Tappytoon points to read the chapters as they were released.

Here are some honorable mentions. These are stories that aren’t far enough along yet to call favorites, but I feel like they will be.

Soulmate - *complete

GL. 27-year-old Yu Qi has been dating Yuan Zi since college. When she wakes up one morning ten years in the past, in her 17-year-old body, she decides to use it as an opportunity to meet Yuan Zi sooner. She has her reasons. Meanwhile, 17-year old Yu Qi wakes up in her present-day body and doesn’t know Yuan Zi.

*Update: It’s completed. Super cute. Must read.

Mr 100% Perfect

This is another smutty one. Woo-in breaks up with his too-perfect boyfriend, Suk-yun. After getting a job with a cleaning service, his first client turns out to be his ex, who it turns out is not so perfect after all.

Badluck

Sort of GL and BL, but mostly just hilarious. On her 17th birthday, An finds out she has the power to curse anyone she touches, a power inherited from her father, who’s cursed her to be single until she’s 40. Unfortunately this one was dropped because of something to do with Vietnamese copyright laws, so I don’t think we’ll ever get the full comic in English.

#heesu in class 2 #for your love #someone else's bl comic #someone else's bl manhwa #tamen de gushi #roommates #19 days #on or off #soulmate #mr 100% perfect #badluck #long post #comic recs

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cutegirlmayra · 4 years

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When your tired after a 16hr shift yesterday so you rant about Sonic and explain why aggressive writing vs. neutral writing helps with sharing ideas

Me and my online Sonic friend talking about Belle. (I’m skipping some dialogue throughout the chat, this was lazily put together lol)

WARNING: It’s long, and it’s a rant. So please note that I’m blatantly aware of how wrong my aggressive, sleep-deprived rant was and that I’m stating “DON’T PRESENT YOUR IDEAS LIKE THIS!” because this is not a healthy nor effective way of sharing ideas.

ALSO, ALL THE MENTIONS OF WHAT I BELIEVE MY FRIEND IS FEELING OR THINKING DURING MY RANT ARE ENTIRELY MY OPINON. If she tells me to delete something or change it I will without hesitation but I find it funny, as I look back, to insert what I think might be going on in her mind XD She might have been oblivious to me but I’ll get her thoughts and change anything if necessary.

It’s also how most trolls and antis and even some ‘not experienced writers’ write their ideas out, and it can be easily avoided by using Neutral Writing Methods. So this is a ‘don’t do this, but try this’ post. Enjoy my badly written, sleepy aggressive rant~<3 (Also, my friend gave me permission to share this lol)

Me: She could be for entertaining little kids. But we already have too many OCs, and they're not 'dying off' any time soon so...I smell a mini-series backup plan...and I don't like what that means for Sonic. And it is cute, sorry, my brain is off the hook right now, I'll keep things to myself cause you may not like what I'm predicting and I'm getting sad thinking about it ;-; so, want to be wrong.

(Friend mentioned “Tinker Bell” spin on name.)

That's precious, but can I get a link to the reference sheet plz? Reference sheets can tell a lot about a chara's functionality if you compare it to the 'needs' of the casts. it can help predict their role. I think she's meant to help but also entertain the kids, maybe planted with a secret. Her goal could be to come back to Mr. Tinker but Eggman abuses that and tricks her into a new robot. I got a weird theory about her but I'll just say that she's probably gonna go a bit dark. But be cute and make the audience go, "Aww, poor thing! She's a cinnamon roll" at first, wonder if they'll equip her with 'happy backstory, tragic ending' kinda thing to switch the usual 'tragic backstory happy ending' but I feel this is a tragic character meant to pull emotion out.

(Friend understands my concerns but mentions there hasn’t been a ‘Bad’ Oc for the comic)

No one sets out to create a 'bad character' especially professional writers like these guys. But what makes a character 'bad' is if you ruin or oversaturate their purposes. If she's a main character that over-shines others with too much story then the audience feels 'betrayed' because they want that screen time for the main casts to express themselves and shine through. That's just an example. When working with IPs like Sonic casts, you HAVE to remember the fanbase is expecting things Do you like my OCs? be honest lol Not from my prompts. There's a specific way to handle a OC that helps the main cast shine and reveals their characters more. AU Ocs help Canon Characters in many ways.

(Friend admits they have not seen my OCs in some of my fanfictions, they’ve only really read my prompts.)

Oh, well, some of my fanfictions have OCs, not Lavinya, she's just a mascot. My Sonic OC that retried XD Sorry, I'm misspelling a lot but I hope you don't mind, my spellcheck sucks and I've given up on it lol Oh, so you don't know Harmony, Ol'Wizzy, and Data?Or the Metal Series? Well, there are specific Ocs that my readers like and they express/compliment the canon characters to where even though they're a main character, they don't intervene with the Main Cast's goals. They actually help. Then everything I'm gonna say won't have much merit so I'll just focus on waiting to see if my predictions for Sonic IDW will come true, but I really hope they don't do what it looks like they strategically might be pulling... I hate SEGA marketing-

(The beginning of my aggressive rant, please note that I’m not thinking about my image and am writing tired and lazy. This is an example of how NOT to express your opinions in negative ways. It doesn’t influence good at all.)

Their ploys are outdated and frankly, do not work for their IPs market. They target the wrong age group, they have no idea how to organize themselves, and they don't have a leading 'elder' so to speak (just a professional among them) to make good calls. So you have young adults (not super professionals, this might be their first real company job) trying to target internet culture and failing their IPs. They're doing outdated Nintendo tactics that only worked for NINTENDO! Also some other companies that have DIED so why are you copying their marketing strats!? stop! lol

Friend: Did you study marketing because this entire convo kinda flew over my head in terms of understanding (This should have indicated to me that my words were coming off too factual and had too many ‘jargons’ going on. I was losing my ‘reader’ through my rant, but my tired brain would not cease!)

Sonic's trying to morph into something he's not and they're following outdated college course books and it's not gonna help... they're leading Sonic further down and the creators in japan have no power cause all the power is in the stock holders who are stupid money-hungry americans who have lost faith in American SEGA leading SEGA of Japan to move on to other things

Friend: mostly just got you don’t like the marketing (Huge red flag! This means my friend is starting to tune my info out, it’s because I’m presenting my ideas in a slightly aggressive writing style. There are trigger words here that lead an reader to start doubting you. This is why, in most of my answer posts, I make sure to write Neutral writing methods, but I’ll mention that more after my rant lol XP)

It's just bad. Lol I have a Frankenstein degree, (Now I’m justifying myself, which was caused by my aggressive approach. If I simply stated this in a more ‘neutral writing method’ then I wouldn’t have to worry about creditability claims because I’m not trying to sell my idea as the high authority on it.) which means I have knowledge on many different fields. I never took a fully -dedicated- 'marketing class' I took a lot of different communication classes that went to my overall major. One was directly about how you present, sell, and look at marketing tactics. So I have my fingers in many different fields, my major was "Creative Writing for Fiction and Film with an Emphasis in Video Production and a Cluster in Theatre Arts." So I can be on camera, off camera, post and pre production, creative table and actual filming. Does that make sense? (I’m not fully awake to realize what I’m writing, but it’s clear at this point I’m starting to wake up and realize I’m ranting and tossing my ideals of how to present ideas out the window, but let’s watch my follies and learn from them, shall we?) I have theories on what SEGA is going to do, and I have my worries because it's all outdated. It worked for older companies but those companies also targeted a varying audience, which SEGA refuses to see themselves as for a 'teenage audience' which is exactly why they boomed in the 90s. Their target audience is now 20s.

Friend: There are Kids who also like Sonic, even if they don’t play the games though. (Due to my aggressive tactics from not thinking clearly about, not just the what, but the HOW I’m writing, it has turned my friend into a ‘contrasting neutrality’ which is amazing by the way that she did this! She noticed my writing was turning aggressively ranting, and being my friend, didn’t want to be rude about what she was noticing. -I’m guessing lol- so instead, she took the commentary approach, which is to state the good as well. This is a terrible position to put your reader into, and you should make sure to always have good examples and good praise mixed in to contrast any opposing or aggressive statements you ever make. -though you should avoid aggressive writing at all times- Sadly, this does put the reader, in this case my friend, in a very vulnerable position. It leaves them open for attack... but thankfully, she’s a wonderful friend and had trust that I wouldn’t hurt her on her counter-follow-up.)

So instead of using their 40 to 50 year old charts, start with looking at early millennial trends and desires. They tried for 'angst' to 'adultify' Sonic but it busted because we are STICKLERS for animation. Because their story was so scrapped together and had no actual character depth, motivation, or even emotional growth to develop for future game lore, they went for the 'easy made game' (Easy baked oven quote lol that’s just mean XD) We loved the trailer, it was well made, but they threw their animators elsewhere and made the programmers (WHO BLANATLY ADMIT THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO DO STORY/GRAPHICS) and made them do things they aren't trained in. Those micro-head movements and mouths took them A LONG TIME to figure out.

(My friend is now agreeing with me several times through my rant. This is a tactic that is used as ‘avoidance’ but also for ‘appeasement’. She’s probably tuned out by now, but respects what I’m saying but is also incredulous at it as well. It’s fair, I’ve cornered her into my sleepy-time rant, and being the lovable woman that she is, she is simply waiting for me to realize my follies lolol I wish she would have told me but I think she knew I was beyond ‘logical reasoning’ at this point and was just letting me get it all out lolol What a good friend TDT)

Animation can't be learned that fast AND expect them to program a game AT THE SAME TIME. Sonic Forces was a 'split up SEGA' trying to get those who survived and said, "Yeah, I'll stay in this job." to do things that THEY AREN'T EVEN TRAINED IN. you put a game programmer on animation and some other stuff they didn't know what to do with and expect it be a top-notch seller.

Friend: (in more attempts to join in and be a ‘participant’ of the conversation I’m clearly dominating -MY ABSOLUTE BAD- she tried to engage normal conversation flow into the discussion again. At this point, she probably did notice I wasn’t my usual self, and just decided to play along and enjoy the ride lolol I’m just guessing this tho, but it’s a good chance to reflect on what ‘wrongs’ I was doing and what ‘rights’ she was doing during this situation ;)b) My big issue with SEGA is that they rush everything. A lot of things would’ve been better if they had the proper time.

That was resolved actually.

Friend: Oh? It was? (Although this looks like an encouragement, it’s actually just another avoidance tactic to help me ‘get the venting out’ but it’s clear she’s not fully onboard anymore. When you write to discuss, you have to leave room for other’s opinions to shine through as well. Healthy conversation doesn’t mean forcing the other person to comply to you. A lot of this is educated guess based on past research, she knows this, and it’s clear she’s got her own research. Please remember to never shoot someone down when they try to engage you in your conversations. But again, this is the ‘don’t do this’ and me upset at my tired self for not waking up fast enough to contemplate how I was coming across in my wordings. Let’s continue to investigate and dissect the train wreck, shall we?)

That was an issue a few years ago but SEGA is taking their time, it's just that they can't organize themselves and hire the right professionals. They have old tactics, they have rookies that aren't 'Fresh Blood with professionalism' like they need. They don't need an old fart who knows his stuff, they need a new guy who is dedicated and passionate about their company who will remain there, learn them in and out, and knows his stuff SPECIFICALLY for the things SEGA needs. You have to grow that. You have to hire a very talented and young spunky and fresh professional, have him work with you for 10-15 years, and start training others. But SEGA is already recognized as a 'established' company.

(Friend is still agreeing with me, but is aware of my way of presenting it isn’t “As nice as I usually present it” so she starts mentioning the symptoms of Japanese Work Culture. A wonderful, insightful point to mention! But let’s see how I butcher this as well...)

It's not Japan though! (Again, shutting her down. Tsk tsk, sleepy me. Wake up, you lazy bum.) They won't let Japan interfere! They're all really rude to japan actually. The guys in charge, anyway. We all respect the officials, but SEGA of America people just want results. They are just funders, they don't actually work the company.

Friend: So you blame them for everything? (She’s trying to help me see that my writing is coming off as ‘hate’ which is because of my aggressive writing follies I’m doing so bluntly. Let’s please all admire my friend’s patience as she lets me rant and kindly waits for me to realize how bad I’m handling my 16 hr shift from yesterday lolol)

Look, business is really unfair, and I get that, but if I have to rant (I’m starting to wake up more, oh goodie.) I'd say they really need to humble themselves and ask Japan to please take ownership again. They kicked out people due to a money crisis but they need a game that will be 'safe to secure money but get enough excited momentum to help us push on and continue.' which isn't Japan's strategy usually. Japan likes risks, they also like money too. They trust America too much (especially in the beginning) because America is a HUGE consumer. For the world in fact. But I think they sacrificed too much for the company (common in Japan) and trusted America too much in making decisions. The officials are too nice to say that America screwed them over because America wanted full control. Well guess what? They have too much control now and their product is sinking..

Friend: You’ve got a lot of fire about this topic. (After I completely disregarded reading her follows-ups and continued to rant, my unconditionally kind friend finally threw in the towel, realizing I was no where near my usually ‘present’ self and was probably just flopped back in her chair smiling at my idiocy of not understanding her kind and subtly hints.) Go ahead and rant it out. (BOOM! Obvious right!? I should have corrected myself but at this point, I was writing like wild fire with droopy, waking up eyes and didn’t even read it during my long paragraphs...)

Sonic won't ever fade away due to it's fans, but the company is struggling to figure itself out for YEARS now. I just worry what they plan to do next. But I have a theory that they are really putting the next game in Japan's hands, a lot of activity is happening in SEGA of Japan, and they're spending WAY MORE TIME on the next installment of Modern Sonic (or Classic, still unsure which one it is yet.) I really think they need a remake game to give them profit, then use that profit for their next big installment. But so far, I think they are working on a game BUT corona might have effected production so I'm sure they are working but I'm concerned if Corona helped manage 'time and quality' or is helping to ruin it...That I can't investigate yet :( I just wish for the best (I’M FINALLY WAKING UP FULLY AS I STOP AND REALIZE-) Sorry for my rant! My theory talk showed through and I don't usually like doing that so forgive me. I'm tired and that's why T-T

Friend: It’s cool we all need to rant sometimes. (My friend’s going to make it to Heaven TwT she’s so kind.)

(Then I profusely apologized a billion times cause I realize how badly this all went down. lol)

(But the terror hasn’t ended... she mentioned some youtube videos mentioning other opinions as well. -which I’m usually cautious of cause some of them can be fanon.-)

OHhhh did he mention the arcade crash??? the literal WORST event in SEGA history??? That's literally where they sank the titanic, SEGA has never recovered from selling off their stocks. (I’M BACK AT IT AGAIN. -facepalm-) Shareholders are everything now and it's the biggest loss ever. Also, the problem is that kids don't play the games, (Rereading my follies and wanting to answer but still only just waking up...) but SEGA can't figure out why they like the characters and can't seem to take the FREAKIN' TIME to learn their lore. (Overwhelming the conversation again.) My easy steps: Re-establish Sonic lore CANONLY AND CORRECTLY, Re-gather the Japanese Officials original plans and notes, guides and study art, Re-make some popular games with the most details on Animation, Fluidity of motion graphics, and with modern Technology incorporated into the game. Once that is accomplished, they will have enough money to then- Create a continuity. Only with a flowing story and relevant past lore can they start moving forward. Animation will target their audience, Story and character re-established arcs will bring nostalgia and new blood to the field of their games, and then Japan's influences will keep it authentic for the continuities so we don't have fandom mixing with canon NEARLY AS BADLY as before anymore. Ugh, it does matter their sales, but I literally bought a book on the history of SEGA, and read a really compelling history article about more then just the Console Wars... I know SEGA has survived literally the edge of extinction on multiple fronts, but someone needs to take charge of their Sonic branch, and it's... it's just too outdated. kk, sorry for the rant.

Friend: (After being multiple times ignored, even after my brief moment of clarity, is still an angel. Frustrated, maybe, but an angel.) And your steps sound really good. Also mostly just listen to his vids if you ever do. It’s ok we all need to rant. (THE WORLD DOESN’T DESERVE THIS GURL T-T)

I'm tired so my 'angry' is showing and it's not professional XD do you mind if I post my rant? lol Actually, no. (Realize how awfully I delivered my ideas, this is where I begin to see my errors and where the clarity comes into play. -we all have our off days lol- )

Friend: Go for it

I want to but it's too aggressive. I'm too lazy to rewrite it out so I'll just save that for another day XD You got a rare treat

Friend: (This is actually interesting and fascinating to her. But she realized then that I finally did see my error.) Concerned you’ll get aggressive responses back?

Honest opinion is sometimes too blunt and I need to be careful about that

Friend: I mean it’s always good to try and get most of the anger out so you seem more professional (Saint. Literally. A saint. She’s puts up with too much of my crap XD)

That, and also the war of 'But this is Cutegirlmayra? She's so sweet and constantly puts her answers in supportive, positive lights so that if SEGA were to see it, they would feel empowered to try it instead of threatened and throw it off as hate or something unprofessional.' I have an image too. I can't post something super aggressive or I'll lose trust. You're right.

Friend: I’m glad you put a lot of thought into everything you post

I apologize for it tho T-T I didn't mean to dominate with such opinions...lol I worry who I influence, you know?

Friend: Most people don’t and trust me they get into trouble cause of it. And yeah.

I don't want to create trolls or heated arguments. I want to teach people they can safely express an idea without using such awful communication. Exactly, it's professional fanism. lol Positive writing is what companies and their employees actually read. (I’m almost fully awake now lol, realizing my blunder and starting to explain why I was in the wrong. Good on me, pat on the back, admitting I was coming off as aggressive is the first step to changing and getting better lolol Also, I’m including her more, and I’m saying “You’re right.” and she’s going “And yeah.” which is a indicator that the conversation is slowly returning to an enjoyable and healthy one. ;w; happy endings lol) That's why I skip the aggressive stuff, even if it's passive, I write in a neutral setting so everyone feels safe to read, even someone who works at SEGA.

Friend: (Mentions some nintendo youtuber rant and also news as well, then says-) It was honestly very professional sounding and not rude. (MY HEART, YOU KNEW THAT WAS AN AGGRESSIVE RANT lololol So nice to me TDT)

Lol you had to have seen how slightly aggressive it was tho. (I’M CALLING YOUR BLUFF, BESTIE lol) You literally asked, "You blame America for it?" which is not always true but semi-true. They were way too prideful (Aggressive word) and haughty (Still aggressive terminology) about their success in other Japanese products that they wanted to completely change Sonic to their own wishes, pushing out Japan's creative "licenses" (I use this word loosely, and this gives a slightly aggressive feel but is also more dumbed down so it's more 'passionate' than just aggressive)

Friend: Yeah I saw it was slightly aggressive (Either is starting to realize it or at last admitting it now that I am fully aware of how I was coming across. I also used indicators to show what words were aggressive to help illustrate my point. This is showing I’m much more awake now :)b)

Gotta use those neutral tactics or no one will feel comfortable just reading your idea and instead, will constantly look for a place to intercept with aggression back, whether they agree or not, they're looking for ways to self-insert their aggression if you are also aggressive. I can't write something that doesn't somewhat support and uplift SEGA of America. Why? Because like I said, they literally have survived EVERYTHING and have stuck around. Without them, there wouldn't be an American branch and the money issue would have ended SEGA. Some might say, "But they've done so much harm than good! Why is the money thing such a thing to be praised for?" But it's huge, it's so big, it kinda does offset the wrongs. (Now I’m doing the healthy thing, doubling back and mentioning the good to try and recover. The damage may be done, but she did recommend some videos for me and was polite, so I’m just trying to smooth things over and leave on a ‘wrapped up’ conclusion. But... I should have just left it there in all honesty xD Some things you can’t double-back and correct lol) America is a great business-influenced mindset. None of us would be fans of Sonic without them.

(Friend continues to agree but realizes I may slip into ranting again. She just asks if I can watch the videos.)

America does have it's advantages in some fields and areas, but their biggest most redeeming quality is that they saved SEGA which gave us our biggest love and obsession: Sonic. Now, my usage in that writing was still off neutral, but combined with the slightly aggressive statements, made a GREAT contrast. It's still slightly praising

Friend: And they stopped Japan from giving him a human girlfriend right away.

Me: Exactly.

Friend: I will always thank them for that. (She’s still a sweetheart, working herself into the conversation so it stays healthy. lol Such amazing follow-ups too!)

So although I don't like what's happening, I'm also grateful... to a degree lol We need SEGA of America, which is why I think Japan just ignores them now lolol they know they owe them a lot.

(Friend mentions videos and as I go to save them to my ‘watch later’ sees that one of them is about Nintendo.)

Yeeeahhh I've noticed that Nintendo is starting to trail into 'cash grab' tactics and that's sickening (MORE AGGRESSIVE WORDING??? HAVE YOU NOT LEARNED YOUR LESSON CHILD?! It takes time to fully wake up lolol) cause before, I literally thought, "Nintendo can do no wrong" their marketing was ON POINT! but the stuff they said about Peach and now... I think new, unprofessional blood (like SEGA) has entered Nintendo and the older guys are either 'training' or 'retired to other ventures'. Nintendo is having it's own 'we used to not be prideful but now we're getting a little too pompous (Another aggressive wording... This can easily trigger people to comment with further aggression either against you or for you, but no aggression is the ideal. Which is continuing to show my lack of remaining conscious lol) about ourselves' and they're starting to act like Disney before their big crash. Disney also had 'limited time offers' with their VHS movies. Now, Nintendo is doing that. They'll make money, but at what cost? When you lose your costumer's trust...

Friend: And yeah the 35th Mario thing immediately reminded me of the Disney vault

Me: Yep. I'm worried for Nintendo. Don't get me wrong! Disney is really good with money grabs, but they... they also act high and mighty (More aggressive statements, wake up, darn it!!!) and their fanbase literally calls them 'an empire' so the fan-trust is gone. That makes you 'lame/outdated' and fans begin to look for 'what's cool?' instead.

(Friend is now re-realizing I’m ‘in and out’ so is trying to use a effective avoidance tactic by asking about different things to help my ranting fully stop.)

Sorry, I'm tired, I get on these rants and I don't mean too. (Trying to shake myself awake again.) I'm sorry.

So we returned to a healthy conversation, but I hope this interesting insight has revealed how to and what not to do about Aggressive Writing. Always stick to Neutral writing if you can, putting in a compelling counter-argument. In this aggressive writing demo, you saw that I tried to cover up my follies by saying counter-praise, but praise writing can be just as bad as aggressive writing. Passive writing can sometimes be annoying (aggressive word choice) too if you come off as disinterested or uncaring, which can still result in negative comments coming at you, or someone overly praising in their writings.

This has been all I’m showing you cause it’s kinda embarrassing ^^; but I hope it helps you in what ‘not to do’ while writing your ideas out :)b

Learn from my sleepy-time mistakes! lol

#cutegirlmayra #aggressive writing #what not to do #sonic #nintendo #marketing #sega #commentary #rant writing #an example to help teach #sonic the hedgehog #sonic idw #sonic comic #sonic rant

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viktormaru · 5 years

Note

Amma be honest my dude, expressions on my characters are always godawful. I can put them in the most interesting pose and their face is just •_•. So please, how do you do that so well.

OKAY, Ive talked briefly about this already but I’ll try going further into detail now. Please bare with my limited english and my limited knowledge as well, but this is a tiny crash course on how I do expressions

OKAY! First of all, I won’t go into detail on how to make sad or happy expressions or anything like that cause I think most people know what a sad or happy face looks like and there are great tutorials out there about it. I’m going a little on the specifics of how I HANDLE expressions.

Whenever I’m about to draw a face I think of a few things: what are they feeling? How intensely are they feeling that? and how comical is that feeling supposed to be to the audience?

And those are important points to see what kind of approach I’m going, here’s an example using the feeling Anger

This is an example of a character feeling anger

This is anger, but even more intense!

This is also very intense anger, but it’s supposed to be comical

Well, what’s the diifference? I think the details that help your expressions have more complexity to them are

1. CREASES AND PLUSHYNESS (i’ll explain)

2. SYMMETRY

3. SIZE

4.EXTRA EFFECTS (again, I’ll explain)

5. CONTRAST

SO!

1.CREASES AND PLUSHYNESS

Your face is a whole sheet of skin slapped over many muscles right (what the fuck), which meaaans that all your features in your face are somewhat connected, meaning that moving one part of your face will pull along other parts if you do it too hard.

Like above, how gai is squinting. His eyebrows are trying to meet in the middle and his eyes are following along with creases underneath. I wanted him to squint so bad I even pulled the mouth up into a pount just so it could meet that tension point as well, which is what that crease near the nose and shadow on the lips is indicating.

Thats one thing I put on smiles a lot too!

Whenever I’m making a genuine happy smile I want to bring the whole face up!!!! So the cheecks get squishy around the lips, I’ll often bring the lips further up into the face, the eyes get all squished up as well and the eyebrows are just shot up, like there something pulling everything up because!! happiness is up! its energy! its high!

Making your faces squishy opens room to try a lot of new things like cheeks puffed up from holding a laughter

or lips getting pulled sideways for a grimmacing expression

or even further down for… god who knows what this one is called

also remember about intensity!! if you go super hard in the creases you can create quite a humurous effect

like.. this is true despair

or go really soft to create a gentle expression

the cheeks are still a little squished and so are the eyes!

BUT THATS NOT ALL, CAUSE NEXT IS

2. SYMMETRY

Symmetry is fun (its not), by assymetry can help you convey even more complexity. Hell, even expression like disgusting or the feeling of superiorty come from assymetrical expressions. So those

smirks are a classic example. Lift one corner of the mouth more than the other, keep the eyebrows assymetrical, you get a smug face.

Or a cocky smirk…

I think they can keep the face interesting and puts a lot of character into a simple face, like, even genuine smiles that are a bit crooked to the side can look cute!

I also sometimes use assymetry to indicate where the emtion is direct towards?? if that makes sense? like, here obito is pouting at minato, directly

his pout is even aimed at him.

Or how in here tsunade’s smirk is already going for the bottle even though she hasnt put it in her mouth yet.

I think assymetry also works for separating part of the face to create strange or scary expressions, if that makes sense. Like, a maniac grin comes from wide eyes, a smile and basically a frown, those things are going in totally different directions in my head, so when they come together

it looks wrong, and thats why it works.

Raising one eyebrow more than the other, squinting one eye more than the other, pulling your mouth to one side or the other,those details make your expression look a little more complex, funny or human depending on how intensely you go at it

3. SIZE

So Okay, we’re human, we can open our mouths and widen our eyes and that will definetely have a different effect on hour our expression is read. But the best part is, we’re drawing expressions here, we don’t have to be limited by actual size restricions when it comes to face features!

SUCH WIDE EYES!

I can also blow a characters pupils to indicate something like

not being focused on whats going on at all

or to fill it with tears

I can also make them look like just dots or a single line to express surprise

or righteous anger?

or fear

You’ll also notice I make the mouths really big in many cases dusahdu

and it kind of ties up with the next topic which is

4.EXTRA EFFECTS

An expression is not the face alone! specially when we’re drawing! Sweat, blushes, blue shadows, those are all features we have at our disposal to help making an expression even more complex, as silly as it can be

This is awe and admiration instead of surprise because of the sparkle in the eyes and the deep blush in the cheeks!

These emotions convey anxiety from the sweat, the eyebags under the eyes, its soemthing a bit painful.

a simple blush can make an expresison contraditory to itself

am i intimidated or turned on?

am i angry or embarrassed?

Adding tears and even messing the hair also help in convey different things as well

and I like sometimes changing the texture of the eye to make expressions too! (like shown on some expressions above as well)

even snot can work

this looks dumb!

so , go ham my friends.

even text can help

LASTLY

5. CONTRAST

this one kinda only works if you either have more than one character or you’re making a comic. sometimes.. humor comes from contrast. Making an expression and then a completely different one can be really good, or changing how much detail goes into the expression, or even a sudden shift in style can have impact.

like going from drawing faces like this

to something like this

Or going from charming to … well

or go the other way around, from not detailed to too detailed

its a lot about trial and erro and having fun with what you have

make dumb faces as you draw them, break the rules a bit, find out what you’re comfortable with, go ham

OTHER NOTES THOUGH:

EDIT: forgot to talk abt this:

Heres some of the parts of the face i think of to make expressions

Eyebrows (how high are they? how close together are they? are they symmetrical?)

Eyelids (closed? open? half open? symmetrical?)

Pupils (dilated? small? shiny?)

Lower eyelids (squished? blown wide?)

Nose (creased on one side? nostrils flared?)

Cheeks (puffed out? pulled up? pulled down? squished? blushing?)

Mouth (This can go many places)

You said you know poses but I’m gonna say this anyway, body language does a LOT to sell your expression or emotion.

a hand unconciously reaching for something

or covering the mouth to convey (fake) innocence

she didnt even say anything but you know she wants to ask something

kunai in one hand, other reaching out, flowers indicating that yes he is happy about it and he will kill for it

hands especially can do a lot for a characters expression so try to always draw them when you can.

I think thats it for now though!!!! Hope it helps

#waffle art #tutorials #long post #oh my god im sorry mobile users ?#Anonymous #holy shit this took me more than an hour to do wHAT

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blastoisemonster · 4 years

Photo

Kodomo No Omocha’s Sticker Album Highlights (Merlin, 2001, Italian)

Let's keep talking about retro japanese cartoons, shall we? I've done some posts lately in which I reviewed Game Boy games based on comics or animations from Japan, with the intention of covering series that I either used to watch as a kid or recall being popular during the GB and GBC eras. A lot of these games have never been released outside Japan, so it's also an occasion to gather up some imports and see what Italy has missed on. There's actually a particular cartoon I wanted to talk about since the start of this research, but unfortunately it seems it has never recieved any videogame adaptation. But hey, this is my blog, and I can talk about whatever I want! >:C Also I suddenly remembered my Fandom tag has been created purposely for non-gaming objects. >.> So, let's look at some stickers while I tell you the tale of Rossana.

Rossana can be best described as the soap opera that spawned a second wave of nipponic hysteria among every single italian person under 20 during the very last period of the 90s. It's like The Bold And The Beautiful looked at Pokèmon and said "yeah, I want something like that.". Its popularity hit even harder my personal view of the world as the plot starts with the protagonists attending the last year of elementary school... which is exactly what me and my friends were doing, multiplying the relatable factor tenfold. This cartoon took everyone by their necks since its first episode: it was broadcasted on what was, at the time, the best and most popular italian channel for children entertainment, and heavily advertised before starting, so we knew exactly when to tune in to catch it. The day after the first episode, school looked like a different place. Everyone in class was chanting the opening at the top of their lungs; boys were acting like the male protagonists, all girls mimicked the main role Rossana, the more artisticly inclined ones started doodling the characters anywhere possible, including textbooks and homework. Teachers were in tears. I had watched the first episode and found it amusing enough to keep me entertained, so for some period I fully partecipated in the general enjoyment of the cartoon. Then, I started missing episodes (when you missed something on TV during the 90s... it was gone!) and upon returning to it, I found the plot had become much more complex and centered on sentimental intrigues, of which I never gave a toss about, so I jumped off the hype train while others still followed it until the end.

As it is usual for these productions, Rossana was another anime based on a manga series; the original work is titled "Kodomo No Omocha" (which literally means "Children's Plaything"... yeah, I too find it a tad creepy), drawn by mangaka Miho Obana and serialized by Ribon from 1994 to 1998. It tells the story of Rossana Kurata, a child actress (an idol in the original story) trying to balance her career with a normal kid's life by going to school and having normal friends: however, her class is anything but normal and she finds herself often fighting against the biggest bully of the school group, Hayama (translated as Heric in italian). As the story progresses, though, Sana understands Heric's complex and at times completely inappropriate attitude is a result of a troubled childhood, having lost his mother at birth and being bullied by his older sister and completely ignored by his father. Willing to help him out, Sana befriends him and starts to develop even deeper feelings, also sharing her own troubled past: she had been actually abandoned as a newborn and adopted by Misako, a famous writer. New characters are introduced along the way, among which the child actor Charles, Sana's schoolmate but also colleague which the girl will work alongside during a trip to the States, and Funny, an extremely extroverted kid that will at first become close friends with Sana, but that will, at some point, steal Heric's heart, leaving Sana to deal with heartbreak and jealousy. Despite the story being drawn in an energetic shojo style and the episodes showing many hysterical/demential jokes along the way, Kodomo No Omocha is a dramatic story centered on overcoming past secrets, venomous feelings, and describing the difficult shift from childhood to adolescence.

The original 10 manga volumes got adapted for animation in 102 episodes, which broadcasted on TV Tokyo from 1996 to 1998. In Italy, the anime got imported first with the direct title "Rossana": it was aired in its entirety during all of the year 2000, and yes, all the 102 episodes got translated! Unfortunately, the channel wanted to make Rossana completely targetable to little kids, which meant that many plot elements had to undergo heavy censorship. The result was a comedy/demential series that at times showed a sentimental route, and for the rest felt very cut, like it was hiding something. This was no Chou Gals!-styled localizaion effort: scenes were edited or completely deleted, names and terms translated losing all context, graphics and objects concerning japanese culture got zoomed out, some episodes even aired randomly without following the original order, and finally the ending got cut, leaving it as an open cliffhanger. Kodomo No Omocha is, originally, marketed towards an adolescent audience, but kids are a much more profitable target, so a lot of the original plot points went away: Sana no longer thinks of Rei (her adult manager, called Robby in italian) as his boyfriend; it's never mentioned that her actual mother abandoned her in a park after giving birth at only 14 years old; and many instances in which some kids (Heric, but also Komori in later eps) practice self-harm or have suicidal thoughts are cut in their entirety. And yet, despite this general mangling, the story managed to become popular anyway, gaining three reruns, some video distribution on VHS and DVD (both cut, for unknown reasons, after the 20th episode), and an opening with lyrics that will never leave the minds of an entire generation. The manga got translated only after 2002, getting marketed instead for its actual audience and going for a literal translation of its original title: "Il giocattolo dei bambini - Rossana" got published by Dynit in its entirety, however I'm not sure wether it underwent the same censorship measures of the cartoon or it was left to a more faithful state.

The hype about Rossana was interestingly lacking of any substantial, original merchandise imported from their origin country; instead, every gadget we had about the anime was produced by italian companies and it consisted in the usual cheapish stuff sold in order to cash a quick buck on popular media. We had school supplies such as bags, pencil cases and diaries, decorated stationary, and the never-missing sticker album. This last merchandise, aptly featured in this post, is what I remember most since everyone was trading doubles at school; the blindingly hot pink package has also burned a permanent image in my mind. Published by Merlin in 2001, Rossana's abundantly pink album could contain 204 stickers; be them glossy, holographic, single or combined, it adds up as quite a large selection considering that all images shown were nothing more than screenshots of the cartoon, with album pages filling up a description of episodes shown, or giving a little more insight on the general plot. At least my previously reviewed Pokèmon album showed interesting action poses by Sugimori and doubled up as a Pokèdex, but I do recognize the latter can count on a much more substantial franchise. What Rossana's album excels in, though, is its value; remember when I said a completed Pokèmon album was only worth a few bucks? Well, a completed Rossana album goes instead for nothing less than a hundred euros on secondhand markets. Even the single stickers, if sold in lots, can become a pretty penny, and still sealed booster packs can range from 30 to 70 euros depending on how many you're selling. I can already picture italian readers going through their cupboards to see if they still have this relic intact! As for me, I was too focused on Pokèmon during that period to care about filling up another sticker album, so I had completely skipped that. And no, I'm not gonna spend 100+ euros on an album just to make a Fandom post: what you're seeing here are all images collectors have shown to the net.

It's interesting to notice that Merlin tried to cash in on the anime's popularity even beyond the sticker album itself, by advertising even among the album pages an upcoming periodical (monthly I suppose?) magazine almost all centered on the cartoon, but trying to double up as a typical girls' magazine with pictures of boybands, various articles, and the always present and equally emberassing mail section. For some reason I have very vivid flashbacks of me going through the pages of the first volume: probably some friend brought it at school, they had it lying about at their house, or I may have bought it along with other girls then left it to them. This mag was nothing particular and doomed to be shortlived: you can't keep a single anime series relevant forever, and it was apparent that arguments tried to always pull Rossana into context when in reality it had nothing to do with the articles. It seemingly disappeared after its second issue, and got buried under the sheer abundance of more relevant girly mags, among which the legendary Cioè.

All in all, Rossana’s shout of livelyhood was probably short, but loud enough to have shook the heart and soul of many of us, especially in this country. It’s apparent that companies wanted to keep the profit margin as high as possible by not importing any substantial japanese gadget about Sana and opting instead for printed publications or cheapy stationery; however, apart from dolls, plushes and general toys, even Japan didn’t seem too keen on releasing actually peculiar stuff dedicated to the franchise. The most technological gimmick I found is a toy audio recorder, of which I can only find a few images online and not even one single listing so I can get and review it. Maybe I’m just sour no one ever thought about doing a Game Boy adaptation, because I’m sure it would’ve been a major hit among girls here. Oh well, can’t change the past... but surely you can remember it. :)

#Fandom

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stipethom · 4 years

Text

I wrote some Cablepool fics some months ago but proofreading is such a bitch, so they were incomplete for now. I’m just gonna post some parts of it and hopefully there are more Cablepool people who loves mpreg as I do.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In summary, Mpreg theme uses pregnancy to describe how women and gender/sex minorities are impregnated with the unspeakable powers of patriarchy. Pregnancy is not just a biological phenomenon; it symbolizes embodied experiences, where women’s body is changed and exploited as it bear the burden of child labor. And by forcing such changes upon male body, it declares that any sex and gender that is seen less than a “man” can thus be a “woman”, and that whoever they are their struggles and pains are similar to that of women’s in this world.

In mpreg fics, there’ll be tears, fight, divorce, and broken hearts. It’s fan-favorite melodrama. It’s barnyard humor. It’s self-service to the writer’s own kink.

It is all of these. Or, it’s none of these.

They put all kinds of wires to link Wade with medical equipments. X-rays him, scans him, takes some blood from him. They declares that what’s inside Wade is not a parasite. Not another tumor nor a clog. It is, as the tag suggests, a fetus.

Some other X-students gathers as soon as the word is out: the Deadly mouthy ‘pool’s pregnant. The next session, Wade is unhappy with the amount of audience in the supposed waiting room, looking expectedly at him. From hindsight, it’s better they were there at the time, to spare Wade the horrors of explanation.

Unplanned male pregnancy should have been a comic relief since it’s Deadpool. But when the results indicate that it belongs to a certain Nathan Summers, who recently died, it is no longer a joke.

Cyclops, as his role in any other Cablepool fics, has to be the last one to know it. He learns of the identity of his future grandchild and immediately decides to rushe back to the mansion to confront whatever nightmare awaits him. He briefly talks to Hank, in order to prepare himself before talking to Wade. Eventually, a consultation team that comprises of Cyclops and Beast visits Wade’s at his apartment, who just comes back with discounted pregnancy tests from CVS.

“We must talk about your condition, Wade.” Scott says solemnly.

“Sorry, Grandpaclops, will remember to use protection next time. Guess I should never underestimate dicks from the future.”

Scott clenches his teeth. His expression is hidden under his ruby optics, but Wade can see the tiny creases around his mouth, and he gets the feeling that Scott is anxious. Ans so, so very tired. Hank clears his throat and starts talking about his discoveries. Half of his talk is explaining his daring theory of why life form can be conceived inside a male’s body, which Wade doesn’t listen to. The other half is some warmings on what a pregnant man should not do. Given Wade’s profession and personality, Hank makes 100% sure that Wade listens to him. Scott seems to be holding breath as the other mutant talks with a professional calmness.

The talk ends with “We still don’t know exactly how it happened, but It’s going to be a big responsibility—your responsibility.”

Scott tries again. He keeps his voice strategically even, a little raspy than usual, as if he practiced this conversation in front of a mirror too many times.

“It’s yours, as much as it’s Nathan’s. It’s up to you to ... keep it.”

“Or you can move into the X-mansion—”Hank stops promptly when Wade starts laughing.

“So your guys are what, showing parental support for the guy your son never actually married, and you never even doubt it’s a parasite?”

“We ruled out that possibility.” Hank says, “you know, you don’t have to do this.” He pauses briefly, making sure every sentence is carefully worded. “After what happened, you—in fact, nobody should do this alone. It’s unfair that you have to deal with it on your own.”

Great, now they think of Wade as some mourning ex-lover of Nate’s. He has to find something witty to say, or he’ll just embarrasses himself in front of these two good-intentioned, somewhat guilty-looking X-men. There’s a sorry somewhere that he can reads directly from the thin air, sorry we are so sorry for pushing you away, we are sorry we didn’t accept you—and ignored your feelings— now we are here to make it up for you. No, this ain’t right. They don’t know about him and Nate. All they see is this, which makes them assume all kinds of things about them, about Wade, that Wade doesn’t even want to think about.

He decides to take advantage of their out-of-no-where-guilt because it is better than pity, “OK, wait, is this the part where we hug and cry on each other’s shoulders? I have a feeling there’s always a but. Besides, Hank, you just violated the confidentiality agreement without my consent!”

“I’m truly sorry, it’s an unprecedented situation.” Hank tries not to look shameful. “And, no, no buts. All we’re offering is a place to rest before the, that is, if you want to keep it, It’s very important when it comes to—“

“Nathan’s spawn.” Wade helps him finish the sentence. “That’s why you X-men fucking care. “

Cyclops doesn’t say a word, but he thinks so loud, he is practically radiating sadness and anger, and worst of all, the anger is not even directed at Wade.

Wade snaps.

“Tell you what, I’m gonna fucking keep this little shit till it’s got eyes and fingers and then I’ll fucking abort it! I’ll put it in a filthy jar and sell it to Mister Sinister, and it will be none of your fucking business!”

—

Of course Wade didn’t abort it. And he did move into the X-mansion.

Everyone seems worried. After all, X-men are worried all the time—but they also look slightly relieved. If Wade ignores the eyes they are giving him, the whispers they exchange when they think he is not looking, he almost feels nothing has changed at all.

The big question, after the several years after Nate died, still hangs in the air. Every time someone looks at Wade, there’s a why in their eyes. A mutant like Nate, who is supposed to be a man of proper taste and good integrity, the reasons that he chose to be with Wade is unthinkable.

Any sane human would tell Nate what he did is ridiculous. Like the voice in the back of Wade’s mind. It tells Wade all the time that he cannot possibly believe that him and Nate could last any longer—or long enough to have any consequences.

Being pregnant is not the consequences. It’s the last one of the bad decisions he’s made after all the other ones. He knows the voice is right, and his life sucks mostly because he doesn’t listen to it. This time, he feels a certain remorse satisfaction in disobeying the remaining sense of reason in his head.

Keeping the baby to prove a point is as desperate as it’s poorly intended.

He knows how fucked-up this is.

—

In hindsight, it’s fucking creepy that Wade, Copycat, and Domino all slept with Nate.

Here she is, gonna pop open that can of worms.

Domino has to come to him at his most inconvenience. She knocks three times on the door, each time more curt and determined. She will probably shoot a hole in the wall to make a new door if he doesn’t let her in.

Wade opens the door, grimaces at the way she look at him and meet his eyes. He is a good few inches taller than Dom, but he never feels big in front of her.

She brings in an air of feline elegance and the fresh scent of hair shampoo. It’s endearing for her to allow people to see her like this, yet not entirely unguarded. He catches the innuendo of a more secret, private conversation.

Her eyes touch him lightly, hair flares with the effortless chic style many would be jealous of. There are a hundred things Wade lacks that she owns.

The night is getting dark and the wind is getting wild, he probably should close the window before the storm.

Dom is less of a coward than him, who could barely come up to people and tell them the truth. That he got himself into this long before he understood the true meaning of having someone and then losing them.

She is pretty and deadly as always, not jadded by battles and gunfire. She looks at him with a sadness of someone who think they have the pieces of a puzzle that Wade misses. Or at least they think they know.

“Why do you keep him, the baby—.” She leans against the wall, arms crossed. “He’s not going to be Nate. Nate is not here anymore.“

“Wow, wow, lady, now you’re just projecting too hard.”

“Wade, look. It took me a hell lot of drinking to accept that he’s really gone this time.” She keeps her voice steady and manages to be soft at the same time. “I hear you talk to him like, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m not projecting.”

“Just so you know, I talk to my tummy all the time. Totally healthy habit. Been like this since I’m in my mom’s womb.”

“You’ve been talking to him and you sounded like—never mind.” Now she is just being weird. Wade feels offended that someone dare to outweird him without his royal permission. “The baby—you are drowning him with things he’s not part of.”

“Drowning would be a damn boring way to die.” He comments. “In fact, I’m whispering murder thoughts to him so he can grow up into a killing machine. A cyborg one. Just like his dad.”

“Wade, I’m not trying to take anything from you.”

“Oh sure, you’re here to remind me to invite you for the baby shower, which I am seriously going to reconsider with the guest list.”

A strip of dark hair falls on her cheek as she hesitates.

“You know why I’m here.”

Honestly, Wade’s fed up with this. He didn’t respond, instead, he peels off his mask, challenges her to look directly into his eyes.

She looks flustered, but her thin shoulders are as still as granite. This close, Wade can see how her breast heaves under her loosely-fit shirt. It fucking hurts when he rips through her facade and finds something a lot like the reflection of his own pains. They both had Nate in the past, and now that Nate is the past, they are weirdly equal. They had different Nates, but Wade wants all the Nates.

The voice in his head is so loud that he can barely think his own thoughts. Is that why he came to her after Wade left Providence, for her is smart enough to ask for only what she deserves?

Does she come here to pity Wade, or is she seeking compassion from Wade? He feels an old, dull bitterness creeping up his spine.

Domino backs off a little, “I never liked you.” She says. They both know it, so it’s not really a confess. Something is blown in to the window, making a cracking sound. Both of them shiver. “I couldn’t believe it was you, of all people. “Oh, so she did care. She was not as nonchalant as she pretends to be. “But now you are-you are not just yourself-I don’t want to fight you anymore.”

It stings.

“Does that mean I can finally make your face my new bathroom tiles? Because I love baby poo on black and white.” He quirks a smile. “Oh, And by the way, I reject your nanny application. Bring your broom next time.”

“You hate me for a dead man.” She says dryly, “what does that make you...”

Her voice hitches.

“What does that make us. If we are still loyal to him.”

The wind is loud, and others must be awakened by the noises by now. If wind could talk, it must be full of broken sentences, murmuring and fleeing from the untrimmed trees, circulating in the flying dirt and the waving foliage. Some sleepless mutant girls on the second floor mutters in an annoyed voice.

Dom reaches out to him. Her arms are pale but firm. They are suddenly within the distance of a kiss. He feels his cracked lips nearly brushes hers like a breath.

She jumps back, hitting the nearest surface to her face. The window panes creak from the shockwave, sending the whole room whirls. For a moment they were close enough to dig out each other’s heart. The framed painting falls to the ground in broken pieces behind them. It is relatively intact until Neena steps on it.

“A hard loser, aren’t you.” Wade breathes.

Neena just smiles.

“It’s just you who can’t let go.”

She stubbles on the cracked frame before storming into the bathroom. Wade hears the hot water pours out of the faucet and makes maps of mist on the hanging mirror. Her reflection from the mirror shifts, and from Wade’s angle, he can see her tears.

A small sob sound leaks out of her beautiful mouth. Wade feels envious yet again. He doesn’t understand why it changes how Dom sees him, as if sharing pain with him would be some comfort for both of them. But it doesn’t, he wants to scream, and it shouldn’t. He hears other mutant kids are giggling through the wind, and he is so, so envious of them.

Before he closes his eyes, he feels a light patting on his shoulders, and then all the light runs out with the slapping of the door.

He knows this is fucked-up.

“Nate,“ he murmurs, “If you don’t plan yo come back, I don’t think I can survive this—your too-young-too-be-dad dad, your ex-girlfriend, and your very possessive and angry daughter who refuses to meet me yet—I now understand why you want to elope with me into the future. I’ll forgive you for never asking me to actually run with you, but I know you always wanted to.“

“It’s fucking worse when people try to care. They don’t know you. They don’t know how fucked up you are. All they want is to keep a memoir, and I’m their freaking memoir. What did we have, sweetheart, did we ever agree on anything, huh? Did you even think about what it would be like for us to be together long enough to have consequences?”

“You see, Nate, I’m the one living with the consequences now. Except that you’re not here.”

#mpreg #Cablepool #Nathan Summers #Wade Wilson #Cable #Deadpool

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talesofstyles · 5 years

Note

I just really want some really nice cosy Harry fluff about chilling together and just loving on each other without sex. Please please please x

hi! i’m literally the worst person that you could send a concept to so i’m sorry this took forever! but hope you like it anon! xx

When Harry is in London, he has an additional—and most important if you ask him—profession; his wife’s personal chauffeur. Most of his business is in LA, so his schedule isn’t as tight when he’s back home in London. When he’s home, he wakes up bright and early every morning; sometimes he wakes up first, but most of the time YN has to wake him up. At first, she always wakes him up after she’s all set, dressed in her work outfit, and ready to go. But then Harry started to complain because he wanted to see her getting ready. YN laughed, and the next day she woke him up right after she took a shower so she was still wrapped in her towel. Of course, Harry being Harry, he tugged the only piece of fabric that covered his wife’s body and pulled her back into bed. They did it that morning, and for the first time in history, YN was an hour and a half late to work.

“Sodding fucking bollocking shit wank!” A train of curse words left YN’s mouth, making Harry burst in laughter. “An hour and a half! What am I supposed to say to my boss?!”

“Just tell ‘im your husband gave you a really big breakfast,” Harry teased his panic wife, grinning from ear to ear. “Took a while to finish.”

“Harry!”

Smiling to herself and shaking her head as she recalls the memory, YN looks at her reflection in the mirror to check her make-up one last time, before she stands up and walks towards the bed to wake her husband up. In the beginning, YN refused when Harry proposed his idea to take her to work and then pick her up every day whenever he’s at home. London traffic is no joke and she thought that Harry could just rest at home, but her stubborn husband wouldn’t have any of it and insisted to do it so she just let him.

“H,” YN whispers as she taps Harry’s shoulder gently. “Wake up.”

Harry stretches out his arms in response before he rubs his eyes. “Morning,” he mumbles, opening his eyes slowly. He pouts as soon as he realises that YN is already dressed and ready to go. “Y’didn’t wake me up earlier!”

“Sorry,” YN lets out a chuckle. “Got an important meeting this morning. Can’t risk being late.”

“I wanted to see you getting ready,” he grumbles like a stroppy child, making YN laugh.

“You’ll see more than that tonight,” she smirks at him to cheer him up. “Promise.”

“Oh,” he smiles instantly. “Gonna put on a little show f’me?”

“Maybe,” YN shrugs playfully, laughing at her husband. “Go and get ready. What do you want for breakfast? Eggs? Muesli?”

“Don’t worry about that,” he says as he begins walking to the en suite to get ready. “I can just take a fruit and eat in the car if you’re in a rush.”

***

“Indian or Chinese?” Harry asks YN as soon as they step into their home after Harry picked her up from work. It’s Friday and they always order takeout every Fridays.

“Indian, please,” YN replies without turning her head as she plops down on the couch in their living room. “And-”

“Get extra naan?” Harry cuts her off, smiling. They really know each other so well that they don’t even have to talk in full sentences for the other to understand.

YN chuckles, looking over her shoulder and smiling at Harry. “I was gonna say I love you.”

“I’m not buying that,” Harry rolls his eyes comically as he grabs the phone to order. “Know you too well, darlin’.”

“I’m not selling anything,” YN laughs.

Harry walks towards the couch after he put the phone down. It’s not that often for YN to sit on the couch right away after she gets home from work. Normally, she’ll take a shower right away or maybe just change into her loungewear, but on one of these days when she’s extra clingy—if you ask Harry he’ll want her to be that clingy every day—she’ll plop down on the couch with her husband. She’ll take the remote control from his hand, and begins scrolling to find something to watch on Netflix. The telly is always on, but they never actually watch it. She’ll snuggle up to his side, her head resting on his chest and he’s got one of his arms wrapped around his wife.

Harry knows that she is in that mood when he sees her sitting down on the couch waiting for him to finish their order. And he’s right; as soon as he sits down, she scoots closer and wraps her arm across her husband’s body, resting her head on his chest.

“Tired?” Harry looks down to her, kissing the top of her head.

YN nods before she lets out a yawn. “Very.”

“Take a little nap then,” Harry suggests. His fingers brushing her hair subconsciously because he always does it whenever she’s close to him. He knows how much she loves it when he does that. “I’ll wake you up when the food gets here.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” YN says before sitting up and pinches Harry’s belly.

“Oi!” Harry exclaims, rubbing the spot that she’s just pinched playfully. “What was that for?”

“My workmate found your post-it!” YN grumbles and Harry instantly bursts out laughing.

It started with YN’s obsession with a post-it. She always writes little notes and put them literally everywhere. Most of them are in her work files, but if you open up her collections of books and even magazines, it’s most likely that you’ll find them too. Quotes that she finds on the page, recommendations of places or things from magazines, important things from work, she writes down everything.

So one day, Harry wrote something for her on a post-it and slipped it into her handbag. Then YN wanted revenge and she began to leave little surprises for her husband as well. In his car, his pocket, the back of his iPad, in his suitcase, everywhere she could think of.

And today is no different. This morning when YN was preparing a quick breakfast for him, Harry cheekily wrote down ‘Wanna break our record this weekend?’ on a post-it and slipped it into her files.

“Who?” Harry asks her, still laughing.

YN tries to keep her straight face to make it seems that she’s annoyed but Harry knows she secretly loves it. “Luke.”

“Which one again is he?” His eyebrows knit together, trying to remember his face. The name sounds familiar to him.

“Dark hair, green eyes. The one with a white button-up shirt at my office’s family gathering last summer. D’you remember? You talked to him.”

“Ah!” Harry exclaims when he remembers the guy that his wife is talking about. “The fit one?”

YN giggles and nods. “The really fit one.”

“Good then,” he replies. “Now he knows you’re married.”

YN rolls her eyes comically. “I’m married to Harry Styles. I think even Obama knows I’m married.”

“Tha’ Harry Styles you’re talking about,” Harry starts. “Is he cute?”

“Eh, he’s fine,” YN says teasingly. “Got a bit of a belly but I love it. Think he’s carrying our baby.”

“Oh, is it a girl or a boy?” Harry jokes.

“I don’t know yet but probably both,” YN giggles. “Think we’re having twins.”

Harry gasps. “How big is the belly?!”

YN laughs even harder and Harry pulls her closer to him again as he laughs as well, cuddling her. “Don’t make me laugh, I wanna take a nap.”

“Alright, alright, c’mere,” he says, playing with her hair. He wants to keep quiet but he can’t help himself. “Y’smell so good.”

“Ssh,” YN whines. “I’m trying to sleep.”

“Sleep,” Harry lets out a little chuckle and kisses the top of her head. “I’ll wake you up when the naan gets here.”

#harry #harry styles #harry styles blurbs #harry styles fics #harry styles fanfiction #harry x y/n #harry x reader #harry styles one shot #harry styles fluff #husband!harry #harry styles imagines

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justaghostingon · 4 years

Text

Merfolk are Overrated

Chapter 2: The Sharks Among Us.

A brief flash of green caught Kodya’s eye as he stared out at the sea. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun and get a better look, but it was gone again.

He blinked, and it appeared again a little closer, before vanishing once more. Was that the Kid? What was he doing? Kodya thought as he strained his eyes to see clearer. Gyrus popped up and down a few more times, getting closer for each one.

“What are you doing?” Kodya asked as the Kid finally popped up beside the boat.

The Kid grinned. “We’ve got your catch!” he said, before diving back under. Kodya raised an eyebrow as he leaned over the edge to try and see what it was that they had.

Only to jump backwards as a great white shark reared its ugly head. Kodya cursed, grabbing his knife, what it would do against a great white was beyond him, but the feel of the smooth wood made him feel more secure. Then again, he was in a boat, but… “Kid!” he cried. Fear gripped his heart as he stumbled back towards the edge, wild ideas of tossing Gyrus the knife running through his brain.

“Yes?” The Kid popped up, eyes twinkling. Kodya stopped, off put by how relaxed he was.

“There’s a shark,” he said, a note of urgency in his voice.

“Yes!” The Kid beamed, “Although it’s kind of heavy,” he added as he strained his muscles to pull the massive sharks head back up above the water. “Tori and Sylvia are keeping it up from below.”

“What?” Kodya gaped at him. “You killed a great white? You?”

“He did not!” Red’s head popped up by the tail, barely above water as she struggled to lift it up. “I killed this great fish, which should be more than equal what you would have caught with the broken net.”

Kodya pinched the bridge of his nose and held back a sigh. “This is impressive.” He admitted. “But it’s a shark. The people I sell to want fish like tuna.”

“Are ye telling me that a fish this grand is useless?!” Red shrieked and promptly slipped back under water for a few seconds as the weight of the tail forced her down. The Kid winced.

“No, no,” Kodya shook his head. “I can sell it to Ailstair, he’ll buy anything.” He reached out and grabbed a rope with a hook on the end. “It just means I’ll have to haggle, and probably get less than it’s worth.”

“It seems ye do not appreciate the exchange,” Red grumbled as she surfaced once more.

Kodya sighed. “Thank you for the shark,” he said as he knelt down by the shark’s mouth. “Now hold it steady while I get this hook in.”

“You aren’t going to put it on the boat?” The Kid asked as he maneuvered the shark to the side so he could watch Kodya stick the hook in the shark’s mouth.

“I couldn’t get this up without a net if I tried,” Kodya explained as he tried to avoid the sharp teeth. “But the hook should drag it along until I get to the docks.”

“Fascinating!” the Kid said.

---------------

“A great white shark? You caught a great white?” Alistair said, rubbing his small hands together. Kodya rolled his eyes at the barely contained eagerness in his voice. Clearly the shark was worth more than he thought.

“Yes, but my usual buyer doesn’t want it. You gonna take it or not?” he asked.

Alistair started, then gave Kodya a shrewd look. “I’ll need to see it first,” he said.

Kodya gave a shrug. “Come on then,” he waved a hand as he turned back to his car. “I’ll show you.”

It didn’t take very long to get Alistair to the dock, but Kodya was very glad to get out of the car. Alistair seemed to take far too much glee in being inside it with Kodya, and it was beginning to weird him out a little bit. He led Alistair down the dock to where his own little boat sat, the great white shark still hanging off the edge.

“Where is it?” Alistair asked, looking back and forth at the seemingly empty ocean.

“Just a second,” Kodya knelt down in his boat, and began to twist the crank, dragging the great white’s head up above the surface. Kodya stopped to catch his breath and glanced back at Alistair.

Alistair wasn’t looking at him, instead gaping at the shark. “He’s certainly a sight to see,” he said as he placed a hand on his chin. “But it will be difficult to remove him from the water.”

“If you don’t want him…” Kodya gave his most nonchalant shrug, as if he knew someone else who would buy the shark.

“No, no,” Alistair shook his head. “I’ll take him for sure. How's $1000?”

Kodya’s eyebrows rose. If that was Alistair’s starting price, then the shark was more valuable than he thought. “$2000,” he said.

And so the haggling began, until Kodya walked out with $1,749.99, and the sneaking suspicion he’d been taken advantage of. Alistair certainly seemed far too happy as he called in some of his workers to haul the great shark away.

“Your pay,” Alistair opened his wallet, and pulled out exactly $1,749.99, down to the last penny. Kodya got the dollars safely into his own wallet, but the pennys proved to be harder to hold, slipping through his rough fingers and onto the dock below. Kodya sighed with exasperation and knelt down to collect as many as he could before they slipped through the cracks.

Two lavender eyes peaked up at him from between the cracks. Kodya gave a start, knocking a particularly bright penny through the crack. He glanced up at Alistair, who was watching him with a strange look in his eyes. Had he seen him?

“You still owe me 99 cents,” Kodya tried to keep his voice casual as he shifted his body to shield the eyes from Alistair’s line of sight. The ploy worked, as Alistair’s face twisted into one of comical alarm at the prospect of losing more money, even if it was only 99 cents.

“Oh no! I’m afraid it was yours when you took it from my hands!” Alistair tried to bluster. Kodya raised an eyebrow at him, and Alistair wrung his hands together under his patented stare.

“How about this?” he offered. “I’ll give you back one of the shark's teeth, with a hole for a necklace thrown in! What do you say?”

Kodya frowned, pretending to consider, as he silently tried to will the Kid to take the distraction as an opportunity to get out of there. Alistair took his silence for disinterest and added, “A shark’s tooth is an excellent gift for a friend or a loved one, especially with the story of how you got it.”

“I doubt it's Nephthys’s style,” Kodya shrugged. “And I haven’t exactly got a lover now have I?”

“So what you mean to tell me is that a handsome stud like you is single?” Alistair’s eyes lit up, and Kodya groaned. You better appreciate this Kid, he thought to himself.

-----------------

Kodya was in his boat early the next morning when he saw the Kid again. He came alone this time, or at least he seemed to be alone. The other two were likely lurking nearby, or hunting the fish near Kodya’s nets.

Kodya scowled as the Kid perched on the edge of his boat, wearing his signature wide smile. “That was really stupid Kid,” he said by way of greeting. “If anyone had seen you hiding under the dock, everyone from fishermen to marine biologists to government agents would be out in the water looking for you!”

“I was careful!” Gyrus flicked a bit of water off the ocean’s surface with his tail. “You wouldn’t have noticed me at all if you hadn’t dropped that money! And you didn’t even see Tori and Sylvia!”

“They were there to?!” Kodya ran a frustrated hand through his hair and swore in Russian. “You idiots! You need to be more careful!”

“Tori and Sylvia can handle one other human,” The Kid shrugged. “They’d just sing and make him forget he ever saw us.”

“Right, because that worked so well before,” Kodya rolled his eyes.

“Hey!” The Kid bristled. “Tori and Sylvia are great Singers! Just because you’re an exception to the rule doesn’t mean they can’t enthrall most humans!”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Kodya grumbled, then added. “What were you doing there anyways?”

The Kid crossed his arms. “I wanted to see how your money worked. But it didn’t make any sense. He said he’d give you 1,749.99, which sounds like a lot. But all he gave you was a few pieces of seaweed and those strange objects you dropped down on me.”

“Okay first off,” Kodya raised his pointer finger. “They aren’t seaweed. They’re dollars which are made of paper, not seaweed.” The Kid opened his mouth to protest but Kodya cut him off. “I know what it looks like but it’s just something that’s made on the shore. Second off,” he raised his second finger. “the dollars have different values depending on the numbers printed on them, so yes, he did give me the correct amount, except the cents, which I dropped on you. And third off,” he pointed both fingers directly at the Kid, “the next time you have a question like that, ask me! Don’t go wandering so close to the shore!”

“You know you and Tori really have a lot more in common than you think,” The Kid grumbled to himself. “What with how much you both don’t trust the people on the shore.”

Kodya’s eyebrow twitched, and the Kid hastily continued. “But that’s not what I wanted to show you. He held out his hand, palm up, to reveal the coins from yesterday mixed in with some sea glass. “I couldn’t find it all,” he admitted shyly. “But I found a lot of sea glass, and it looks just as shiny as the money you had, so I thought it might make a decent replacement?” He glanced at Kodya hopefully.

Kodya took the coins gingerly back from him, trying not to notice how warm his palm felt when their fingers brushed. “It’s fine,” he told the Kid gruffly, tucking the sea glass and coins in his pocket. “Coins aren’t really worth much anyways.”

“So it’s a good exchange?” The Kid asked.

Kodya shrugged. “It works for me. Although I wouldn’t try it on any other humans. Some might love it, others, like Alistiar, will probably want their money back.”

“Oh,” Gyrus looked down, a slight frown on his lips. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand how human trade works.”

“Why do you want to learn so much about humans anyway?” Kodya asked, curiosity peaked. “It’s not like you’ve got any plans to go out and meet them.”

The Kid fiddled with his wrist, before admitting quietly. “Because I can’t sing.”

Kodya blinked. The way the Kid’s shoulders were slumped suggested he had confessed something shameful, but Kodya couldn’t for the life of him figure out why it mattered. “And I can’t draw worth beans,” he said lightly. “I don’t see what it has to do with learning about humans.”

“It has everything to do with learning about humans!” The Kid exclaimed, bringing his tail down with a splash. “Every Siren is supposed to be able to enthrall at least a few humans with their songs! It’s how we’ve survived this long!”

Enthrall humans?, Survive? Kodya still didn’t get what singing had to do with that. Unless…An old myth about Sirens that Nephthys had told him tickled in the back of his mind, so much darker than the disneyfied versions he’d known as a child.

“Wait a minute!” Kodya took a step backwards. “When Red and Fluffy were singing when we first met. They were trying to Drown Me?”

“No!” Gyrus shook his head wildly. “We don’t drown anybody! No one’s tried to drown a human in centuries!”

“Then what were you trying to do?” Kodya said, crossing his arms as his brow furrowed. He found the words “in centuries,” far less reassuring than the Kid likely thought it was.

“They were trying to get you to take an interest in environmentalism,” The Kid scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Environmentalism?!” Kodya exclaimed, disbelief coloring his voice.

“Yes,” The kid nodded his head so fast Kodya thought it would come clean off, and pulled himself forward until he was half in the boat. “We use our thrall to instill humans with the desire to take care of the ocean, so that they don’t pollute our homes.”

“Sirens are the reason for ocean activists,” Kodya stated, feeling like the world had tilted just slightly to the left.

“Not all activists!” Gyrus protested. “There are plenty out there who care without us having to tell them. And there are other things we use our thralls for, like making humans forget they saw us, and moving their ships so they don’t come into our hunting grounds, but yeah, a lot of that is because of us.”

“You were trying to hypnotise me into becoming an ocean activist?!” Kodya ran a hand through his hair. “Am I going to stop using straws now to save the turtles?”

“No, no!” Gyrus shook his head. “Although you probably should still stop,” he added. “It’s really bad for them.” Kodya glared at him. “But you won’t start because of us! Since neither Tori nor Sylvia could get you under their thrall.”

“They better not have,” Kodya scowled. Then he frowned. “But why didn’t they?” It wasn’t like Red to spare him, especially considering how initially hostile she’d been.

“They tried,” Gyrus fiddled with the edge of the net. “They’re actually both really good at singing, it's been ages since they met a human who wasn’t at least enthralled by one of their songs, but I guess your desires just didn’t match up enough, so it didn’t work.”

“Excuse me?” Kodya felt his cheeks warm. “My desires are none of your business.”

“Huh?” The Kid frowned at him, like he couldn’t comprehend why Kodya looked so uncomfortable. “Of course they are. That’s how singing works. We sing about something most humans desire.”

“So you’re telling me,” Kodya pinched the bridge of his nose, “That the song didn’t work because I’m not attracted to women?”

“Oh!” Gyrus’s cheeks flamed red. “NO!” he waved his hands in the air in denial. “Not those desires! Although there’s probably a few sirens who do use that desire,” he scratched the back of his neck, “but not us! We go for something more universal.”

“Like what?” Kodya raised an eyebrow.

“Well,” Gyrus figited under Kodya’s gaze. “Sylvia appeals to hunger, and uses that to influence them into considering the hunger of the creatures of the ocean. And Tori,-“ he glanced down at the deck with a faint blush, “-Tori appeals to the desire to protect the ones you love, especially if that love isn’t requilted.”

“So I looked like a hungry loser whose lover didn’t want them, is that it?” Kodya scowled. Gyrus blanched.

“I mean, Tori’s really good at picking out people like that, and you were all alone in the boat.” He twiddled his fingers.

“I can’t believe this,” Kodya threw up his arms as he turned away.

“Wait!” Gyrus cried out, hand extended towards him, but Kodya ignored it as he moved towards the steering wheel of his boat. “Wait please! I still need your help!” he said.

“Why don’t you just go find your friends and learn all about finding hopeless losers?” he grumbled as he reached for the engine key.

“I tried that!” There was a thump behind him, and when Kodya turned he realized the Kid had pulled himself into the back of the boat. He straightened up, shooting Kodya a desperate look. “Please,” he said again.

Kodya let out a long sigh. “Why is it so important to you anyways?” He said as he leaned against the steering wheel. “So you can’t sing. But your friends seem to have it pretty well covered. Just go be a hunter or a poet or whatever else it is you mermaids do.”

“It’s because my hair is green,” Gyrus’s emerald tail pulled tight around him. “Green haired Sirens are supposed to have the most powerful songs of all, and protect the whole pod with their voices. My mother, my grandfather, every one of my ancestors has protected our pod for generations. And here I am, unable to thrall a single human.”

Ok, Kodya could kind of understand that. Not the singing part. But impressive family legacies you thought you could never fulfill? He got that. Even if his mother insisted it didn’t matter at all if Kodya couldn’t follow her into government office, he could relate to how hopeless Gyrus must feel, living in a shadow like that.

“So what do you need me for?” he asked. Gyrus’s head snapped up, clearly not expecting him to get over it so quickly. Kodya raised an eyebrow at him.

“I really do need you to teach me about humans.” Gyrus said as his yellow tipped fin twitched. “I don’t understand their desires, and neither Tori nor Sylvia have been able to teach me how. So I thought, why not ask a human? And since you were so kind earlier, and neither song worked on you, you just seemed perfect. If I can find what you want, I can figure out some part of human desires that the others don’t know.”

“So you’re going to sing me into being an ocean activist when you figure out what I want?” Kodya asked, because he wasn’t just going to forget the mind control part of this.

“Not necessarily,” Gyrus twisted his fin. “You don’t really seem to need it. You’re not dumping oil in the ocean, and even if you do take a lot of fish, you don’t take all of it. I’ll probably just make you walk forward or backward or something simple.”

“Good.” Sat down on the edge of the boat. “So let’s try it then.”

Gyrus blinked at him, at a total loss for words. “What?”

“Go on,” Kodya waved a hand. “Do the singing thing.” Gyrus gaped at him, and Kodya sighed. “If we’re going to figure out what you need to correct, we need to figure out where you stand first.”

“That makes sense,” Gyrus nodded, “So do I just begin?” he peaked up at Kodya nervously. Kodya gave a sharp nod, and Gyrus drew in a deep breath and began to sing.

It was terrible. Just terrible. Kodya had his hands over his ears before he’d even gotten to the third note. “You sure you don’t need a miracle worker kid?” he said.

Gyrus frowned. “I told you it was bad. Besides, I haven’t even added any desire into it yet. So of course it’s going to sound terrible.”

“Then do it quickly, before my ears bleed,” Kodya snapped as he lowered his hands. Gyrus took a deep breath, and tried again.

This time the sound was less horrendous, and Kodya found he didn’t have to fight the urge to cover his ears nearly as much as the first time. There was something to it this time, something not quite beautiful, but still eye catching, like the continuous looping weave of a fishing net.

His net, it wasn’t broken anymore was it? It was whole. Loops unbreaking under swarms of fish. He should check that, look at the looping net and see for himself that it was still unbroken. He stood up, and moved towards it, stepping into the water to get down close enough to see for himself.

The strains of music ended with a sharp cry as the water went up over his eyes. He was out of the boat. But how? He didn’t remember leaving it. Panic set in as he struggled to find a way back to the surface, wishing with all his heart that he had ignored that sailors superstition and learned how to swim. It did no good. The surface seemed to grow farther and farther away as his lungs began to fill with water. The last thing he saw before he surrendered to the oncoming blackness was Gyrus’s worried face as he reached out a hand.

------------------

Kodya gave a sharp gasp as he came into consciousness on something hard and soft. He coughed, instinct driving him to keep doing so until half a lung had come out. He sucked in and filled the newly empty lungs with air, blessed air. Oh air. He would never leave it again.

“You’re alright!” A voice said from above, and Kodya became aware of a gentle weight on his back. He jerked his head upright to see Gyrus crouching beside him, tail stretched out in the sand behind him. Wait, sand?

“Where am I?” Kodya looked wildly about, noting the sand and rocks that were definitely not a part of his boat. “What happened?”

“I’m sorry!” Gyrus’s hand moved to his shoulder, as his red rimmed eyes roamed over Kodya’s form, looking for any injury. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t think my song would work when I sang about a desire for unbroken nets, but it did! And you fell into the water and its all my fault!”

“I fell in?” Kodya’s eyes landed on the open and empty sea behind Gyrus. “Where’s my boat?”

“It’s fine!” Gyrus sniffled. “We couldn’t get you back in the boat, so Sylvia and Tori pushed it to shore for you while I dragged you to shore.” He rubbed his eyes, and gave Kodya a small smile. “We didn’t break your net at all! But…” the smile fell off his face.

“But what?” Kodya asked, heart plummeting to his stomach. Gyrus’s tail twitched.

“Sylvia needed to eat to keep up the strength to push your boat,” Gyrus admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck, “So we may have fed her all the fish you’d caught in your net?”

A beat of silence echoed between them before Kodya drew in a breath.

“You did what?!”

#room of swords #room of swords fanfic #Kodya #Gyrus #Tori #Sylvia #mermaid au #merfolk are overrated

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questioninglogic · 5 years

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY to tumblr user “i love a woman who can kick my ass” @shxyerahol! i’ve been waniting to draw this for your bday for a REALLY long time, and i’m glad i can finally share it with you!!!

i love you so much and i treasure all the time that we’ve been friends! here’s to another 6 years!~ ❤️🎂🦅🎉❤️

here’s the section where i dump a bunch of art and ramble for a while! to start off: i made alternate versions of the costume.. ultimately i couldn’t decide which one i liked best, so i made 3. here’s the other two (and transparents in case you like that):

such as classic shay

and the original colour scheme i was gonna go with until a miscommunication made me pick the first one

now here’s where you should stop because i’m going to babble about how i started drawing this in the first place and the art is...... not refined lol

since i’m more of a casual+traditional artist, i knew i would need a lot of time to prepare for this to look good... so i started drawing for your birthday in january

this is the first piece! when i draw something i’ve never drawn before, i do a practice piece—except this time i really liked it! i was contemplating going with this one before i thought “it needs more action”

this one... ehh..... the “*Note: DON’T DRAW @ MIDNIGHT” really sells the exhaustion of the art, so i did a rough sketch at the bottom corner of an action pose that i think would work better

and... it could have worked? i nailed the face and hair, except i really don’t have much practice with drawing action as i write “I am new to action poses... and muscles 👀”

i drew another rough sketch at the bottom corner of a different pose that i could try

until then, i took a break. however, that didn’t stop me from doodling shay all over the house. this one i drew with pen on note paper and left it in the kitchen by mistake. my mom says she loves the angel!

i drew this on the boogie board we keep on our fridge. i must have pressed hard enough on it that even when i erased it you could still see what i scribbled

yet none of these were coming out right. there was always something off about them that i just couldn’t cling to. the break ended up continuing for about a month before i had to sit myself down and go “WE ARE DOING THIS”

one try. one more try was all i needed before i knew this was the one. this piece was made with the help of various references such as: screen shots from the show to understand her movement when she flies to baseball players to mimic how to hold a mace (google did not give me references on how to hold a mace)

it’s an art style much sharper than what i normally draw, but it gave me vibes of reading a comic book

i transferred the drawing to photoshop where i went to work. since i don’t have a tablet, i drew this with my laptop touchpad. the touchpad itself isn’t a problem. i’ve mastered using the pen tool to get the image i want, yet i’ve always struggled with finding the right brush to do it. my lines always come out too stiff since i don’t have pressure...

i tried a different brush, “flat fan” at size 1. my worries were gone! it was just the brush i needed to give shape to the line art. occasionally i would change the size to 2 for lines i wanted particularly thick

colouring is harder. i’m just generally not good at it? colours look dull and flat, i don’t know how to blend, etc. despite all attempts, i managed to find myself satisfied with what came. i did add a filter called “Color Halftone” for the comic book look (the spots that you can barley see), and i maaay have messed with levels+selective color to brighten everything up after i finished... imafilthycheater maybe one day i’ll learn proper colouring!

until then, i hope you have an amazing birthday! here’s a mistake that happened when i hid a bunch of layers:

i call it “HELP”

#i realize that your birthday is technically in an hour #but because of the magic of time zones you get this early!!!!!#happy birthday sab!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#dc comics #shayera hol #justice league #shxyerahol #qulo talks

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houseofvans · 5 years

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ART SCHOOL | INTERVIEW WITH JUSTINE JONES

Baltimore based artist and illustrator Justine Jones creates her vein of psychedelic fantasy horror drawings–filled with tiny black lines and an occasional pop of bright colors–which have been featured on the covers of Kobold Press and Warlock magazine. Using the hashtag #VisibleWomen to amplify the voices and portfolios of women comic artists, Justine has be able to do more illustrative work and character design. We’re excited to find out more about Justine’s artistic journey, her love of role-playing games, comics, art, her influences and much more. . . Take the leap!

Photography courtesy of the artist.

Introduce yourself? Hi, I’m Justine! I’ve lived in Baltimore Maryland for the past decade and currently live in a small apartment downtown with my partner and my shiba inu Mo, who is a cool and grumpy guy.

How would you describe your work to someone who is just coming across it? I used to call it storybook surrealism, but now I guess it’s more like psychedelic fantasy horror? Monsters and Wizards. Lots of tiny black lines, sometimes with lots of bright intense colors.

How did you start from doodling and drawing to what you do now? I feel like it sort of happened organically. When I was younger, I would do just pencil drawings, and then in my late teens, I got more into using micron pens. I didn’t really discover color until a few years ago, so I’m a huge color noob. I think a lot of it also came from working in comic shops for years and going to conventions. Seeing all of these amazing artists grow, and thinking hey, I could maybe also do that! I first started with t-shirt designs because it just seemed really fun, and I used to have a really hard time selling prints. People don’t need more prints, but they can always use clothes! Now i’m getting more into illustrative work and character design, and I’m loving it!

Who and what were some of your early artistic influences? When I was a baby, my dad hung an Aubrey Beardsley print over my crib. My mom thought it would make me deranged, and maybe it did, but it also made me love ink work and Art Nouveau style haha. I was obsessed with sword and sorcery stuff and loooved cartoons like He-Man and She-ra, and later, Pirates of Darkwater. I also spent a lot of time in elementary school copying sexy comic book ladies from 90s comics, and I know that is pretty far from what I do now, but it’s honestly how I learned to draw. I also copied a lot from children’s storybooks when I was little.

What are some things that inspire the drawings you make? What are some of your favorite creatures and beings you like to explore in your art? Video games are a huge inspiration to me, from SNES JRPGs, to games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Also folklore and mythology from around the world, and fantasy artwork from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Basically anything fantasy. My favorite things to draw are wizards and monsters. I love body horror, anything disgusting and beautiful at the same time. I take a lot of inspiration from Manga, like Berserk, or anything Junji Ito. I’ve done a lot of Illustrations for Clark Ashton Smith stories, which I find endlessly inspiring, visually. Just like, fantasy/ sci fi/ dying earth type stuff.

When did you start collaborating with Kobold Press on creating some awesome fantasy art covers for their publications? I remember getting the email from them when I was on the way to Necronomicon Providence in 2017. I thiiiink they found my stuff through the visible women hashtag on twitter? I was very excited because I owned some of their adventures from back in the day when I played Pathfinder!! Plus, I have always always wanted to draw things for table top RPGs, so it’s been really cool to actually do it! The Warlock mag that I’ve been doing covers for is awesome because it’s going for an old school DND vibe, but it’s all things that are made for 5th edition. You can get it on their patreon, and I hiiiighly recommend it to anyone who plays 5e dnd!!

Take us through your artistic process? What’s a typical day in the studio like? Haha extremely chaotic! I don’t even have a real set workspace, which I really need to change, I just draw where ever. Just chill out, listen to music or a podcast, and draw. If I’m further along in a drawing and don’t need to focus so much, I’ll watch movies or video gameπ– let’s plays while I’m drawing. I also love to listen to/ watch things that are in theme with what I’m drawing, to give me some inspiration. I try to go to coffee shops to change things up sometimes! Basically I just do a bunch of sketches until something materializes, and then I will just slowly refine the sketch. I guess it’s not that exciting, but it’s cool to see the first sketch and the finished product because in my head, the sketch always looked like the finished product, but when you go back to look at it, it’s usually just indecipherable scribbles.

What are your essential art tools and materials? 90% of my art is just done using a .05 mechanical pencil and micron pens. I also draw everything on smooth bristol. If I have time and want to make my lines super crisp before I scan them in, i will use a light box. Then for color, I generally use Kyle T Webster brushes in Photoshop with my Wacom tablet. If I’m on the go, I like to draw things in Procreate on my iPad Pro, but I’m definitely not as good at doing detailed lines digitally.

What do you do when you’re not drawing or working on projects? How do you unplug? Haha, I wish I ever truly unplugged, I think my brain is now melded into the internet! But mostly I love to play video games. JRPGs and anything From Software/ Soulsborne (currently obsessed with Sekiro!) I also love comics and manga. I’ve been reading The Girl From the Other Side, which is a beautiful dark fairytale Manga by Nagabe. I also just got one called Witch Hat Atelier, which has the most amazing art! My partner also owns an insane amount of board games, so we play a lot of those. I’m obsessed with coffee, and work part time at a coffee shop, and my favorite thing in the world to do is eat good food.

What has been the most challenging project you’ve worked on? How did you overcome those obstacles and what did you take away from it? I made a kind of cosmic horror short story in mini comic form last year for SPX, I had very little time, and it was my first time actually writing a story/ dialogue to go with my pictures. It was insanely challenging. I ended up with a finished product that I’m really proud of and that I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on. I think it really drove home the fact that I just need to stick with things and finish them, even if I don’t feel like they’re perfect. I’m never going to have the time that I want, and I’m never going to feel like anything is perfect. I can still make a great thing!

What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps and pursue art? Don’t spend 4 years doing nothing, but playing World of Warcraft (Or doooo?). Uhhh, believe in yourself. Be nice to other artists. Draw all the time! Immerse yourself in things that inspire you! Also, like I said before, things don’t need to be perfect. Let go of perfect, because sometimes it’s an unattainable ideal. Just do as good as you can, and don’t beat yourself up so much! I’m horrible at advice!!!

What’s your best Art School tip that you want to share with folks? Haha, I moved to Baltimore to go to MICA like, 14 years ago, and then realized I was poor, and would never be able to go to MICA… sooo… I never went to real art school. I wanted to go so bad, and I still wish I’d had that experience, but I want other people who can’t afford it to know that you don’t NEED it. Things are a bit harder, but you can find so much free info online if you have the drive, you can teach yourself so many things. Don’t get discouraged just because art school isn’t gonna happen for you.

What are your favorite style of VANS? I love my lavender/ sea fog Authentic Vans, because they basically go with anything, but I am always eyeing those Sk8-His.

Anything you can share that is coming up? Ahhhh, I have some realllly cool things that I can’t share yet, but just everyone keep an eye out (It will be very exciting, i swear)!! As for things I can share, I’m working on some new t-shirt designs, and another comic, and also plan on drawing some more cool wizards in my spare time. So if you wanna see some cool wizards, uhhh, come to my Instagram–you guys! Let’s hang out and look at wizards. And talk about wizards. And if you don’t like wizards well, don’t come I guess.

FOLLOW JUSTINE: INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE | TWITTER | STORE

#Art #Vans #Vans Art #Justine Jones #Vans Girls #Comics #illustration #Art School #Interview #Baltimore

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