#but from a visual and logistic perspective i get it lol

[ach-sss-no]

Prompt: sailor

I don’t think he sails, so here is Gollum on a paddle log. 

Sometimes I get around the ‘only night and underground lighting!’ thing by putting him outside at dawn or dusk where there’s some natural light... I think he was sometimes out with the hobbits in the early morning in LOTR and only starts freaking out when the sun is over the horizon. 

This here is probably evening, because his attitude is more of someone who’s lazily eyeing a candidate for second breakfast than someone who’s going to be panicking and fleeing the Yellow Face in the next few minutes. 

That bird is something called a ‘bar-tailed godwit’. I looked up UK-region marsh birds, saw that name, and decided that was the bird I wanted to use.

I want to finish this challenge up tomorrow so that on the 25th I can post a collection of the prompt art, so tomorrow two prompts will go up, and on the 25th two posts collecting the highlights of this challenge will go up. Tschuss!

[bewires]

Fic 20 questions

tagged by @gallifreyburning! Thank you!

1. how many works do you have on Ao3?

130

2. what's your total Ao3 word count?

1,107,429 which is a startling amount. A lot (a lot) from the lockdown years.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

The old guard, top gun maverick, stranger things, star trek...ao3 will tell you i have also written a lot for supernatural, but that was a decade ago

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

chrysalis

incurable

say the word (& I'll be your rennaissance man)

offer no absolutes

(don't) blame it on the moonlight

5. do you respond to comments?

I really really try to but it gives me a kind of social anxiety where I feel like a dick for saying the same thing over and sometimes that stops me from doing it until I feel like it's been way too long and I can't possibly answer now. I appreciate every single comment so so so much though!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't really do angsty endings. I vaguely recall writing some angstier supernatural stuff back on livejournal? Or I guess I have some joe/nicky/booker stuff in TOG that ends on an angsty note.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably say the word (and I'll be your rennaissance man) which is just high-octane fluff all the way through. but pretty much all my fic ends happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yeah but basically entirely related to all the dumb top!joe discourse stuff. So only people who wanted to send me or others threats for...idk writing about joe topping and bottoming versus only topping. hard to take seriously.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I think I have crossed over every major teen fandom of mine with TOG, so I did a star trek, a torchwood and an SPN one. Although I'm not sure when it stops counting as crossover and starts counting as fusion.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know, but i could be wrong

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah once or twice

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, a few with @dreamtiwasanarchitect! Great experience

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I can't answer this lol. Changes with the hyperfixations

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The choose your own adventure Joe x Nicky one, i wish i had the time and energy for it

16. What are your writing strengths?

I would say dialogue. And maybe, if this makes sense, conveying what a character is thinking and feeling out of the perspective of another character who is nominally oblivious to it

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Describing scenery/physical characteristics/logistics of where what is. I am not a visual thinker

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Depends on the context and whether it's understandable for the audience

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Tamora Pierce's Tortall books. fortunately, these fics are probably no longer findable on the internet.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

In terms of ambition, right where you left me which I co-wrote with @dreamtiwasanarchitect. The process of outlining and writing that one kickstarted my ambition to write my own actual book (a thing that exists out in the world now). In terms of style, I'm really proud of how (don't) blame it on the moonlight came out in that you really don't need Nicky's perspective because it's so obvious.

Tagging @regina-del-cielo @nicolos and anyone else who wants to!

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Ooooh that’s such an interesting observation about the set list! You may be onto something. I know that a lot of it probably has to do with pure logistics: balancing mainstream hits vs. Fan favourites vs. Personal favourites, maintain a good flow for the show (start and end with some major bangers, sprinkle the deep cuts in between the hits, build in some breaks with slow songs, etc. But given how thoughtful she is about her body of work I don’t doubt that she’s chosen to tell a story with the songs she has chosen.

So if we’re going by the eras of the songs chosen on the list:

Lover: Accepting who you are and hoping those you choose to love accept you too?

Fearless: The hope and innocence of first love and

Evermore: I’m sensing a lot about regret and rejection in the songs chosen here (except for Willow maybe). While most of it is romantic love, even one of the themes of “Marjorie” is about regretting not telling someone you love what they mean to you, because you’re not able to process it at the time.

Reputation: Rebuilding, “rising from the ashes” of it all, trying to figure out who you are and what you’ll stand for

Speak Now: lol ok this one doesn’t give us much, but Enchanted is very getting lost in a daydream-y. If we include “Long Live” in here, I suppose you could say this part of the set is about holding onto your fantasy/memories when you’re expecting the world to crumble

Folklore: Interestingly, looking at the group of songs there, I like that there’s something to be said there about perspectives, e.g. each side of the Betty/August/Cardigan story. (I know it’s been said illicit affairs isn’t about the Betty/James/August triangle, but it may as well be with the same themes.) Even The Last Great American Dynasty is about perspectives, and how Rebekah as seen as a gold-digging socialite when she was just a woman living her life in an incredibly prejudiced society.

1989: This is maybe a little harder to pin down, because it’s arguably the “showiest” of the sets, but maybe that’s the point.

Midnights: This is another one that’s a little more all over the place, but the album in itself is introspective thinking about all those other themes from the previous eras, like they’re commentaries on previous songs. I’m too tired to pull this apart haha.

I know there are much smarter people out there who’ve been keeping track of the visuals on the tour, but I think it’s been so interesting how she’s used those to signify the change in the eras (e.g. building then tearing down the house).

I do absolutely agree that from her music, it seems like her reaction to the painful situations in the Fearless to Speak now era was to double down on being an Adult. For a lot of people (and perhaps for her), those situations would lead them to think, “well, I guess this is what grown ups do then,” and add in a person’s normal insecurities, fears, etc. It would cause them to repeat those behaviours and patterns because it’s what’s familiar. (And I would suspect being involved in the celebrity ecosystem would make those behaviours even more common because you have a people with privilege and power and access co-mingling and it creates situations where these toxic patterns perpetuate themselves. Hell, even in normal life, all it takes is being in one clique of people with certain dominant behaviours to do a number on you and blur your own boundaries.)

Thanks so much for your kind words earlier! To think I used to spend this much time thinking about TV shows and movies instead 😂

Starting to think too hard about “I could see you being my addiction” and now I feel unwell 😵‍💫

[flying-elliska]

Seeing that post, I am actually curious, how do you go about writing a fight scene? How difficult is it to visualize everything that is necessary to paint the action effectively?

Anon ! Thank you for this great question which will allow me to procrastinate writing said fight scene for at least five minutes instead of setting my computer on fire :

For me, like most of my writing, it starts with the characters + the emotional dynamic of the scene. What is happening between them ? What emotional process do I want to convey ? And so when I imagine/brainstorm the story in my head, I often have ideas for action that are centered around emotion. It’s a lot like a stage choreography - the beats should illustrate the story.

For instance : the fight between Lucas and Thorston, it’s sort of a theatrical performance ; Lucas wants to prove himself to the Vallès people, so it’s a sort of demonstration. So it’s very staged - one opponent makes a move, then another. A lot of the time when writing action scenes the first thing I have in mind is the dialogue and the character interactions - and the setting that will fit - the rest comes later. It starts with this training sequence where I show that Thorston is a bully asking Eliott to hurt himself. The general concept is that Lucas is a knight ‘jousting for the honor of his ‘lady’ (Eliott) who has been slighted, bc the chapter has these allusions to knighthood. But he’s also an underdog so I wanted his final victory to come as a surprise - so at first it starts like an unequal fight and then Eliott realises Lucas has been hitting all these strategic spots and Thorston crumbles - this is an illustration of ‘brain over brawn’ (also very inspired by the ‘five finger death punch’ in Kill Bill) - Lucas is physically smaller/shorter than most of his opponents and he compensates by being extremely smart and quick . The end goal is a feeling of satisfaction due to this reversal + Lucas proving himself + then Eliott makes his speech which shows he has a ‘hold’ over Lucas + there is this whole thing where Vallès has orchestrated this on purpose to get rid of Thorston for being a nuisance.

The catacomb fight sequence, on the other hand, is very chaotic, it’s in the dark, through Eliott POV and he is terrified, and out of his depth, but at the same, he also trusts Lucas so a lot of that sequence is him trying to figure out where Lucas is and following his guidance. It’s a bit of a trust fall - this whole bit is them really being together outside of the prison for the first time, and the overarching emotional aspect is that, right away, they fall into this sort of ‘battle intimacy’ where they have to immediately trust each other and they find that they actually really work well together. It also being mostly in the dark pushes them to rely on touch and hearing, which adds another interesting layer of closeness. Meanwhile, Nikolai Magnusson, is like this terrifying assassin figure that stalks them in the dark, so there is a very ‘primal fear’ aspect, they’re under the ground surrounded by dead people, I wanted it to have a bit of a horror movie vibe, so there is a moment where Eliott shoots him and thinks he’s down but then surprise, he’s not and he goes for them again and it’s this ‘oh my gooooood the serial killer is actually behind me!!!!’ moment and they run away without really knowing if he is dead or not, which adds to the lingering threat and atmosphere of pressure.

So then when I actually sit down to write, I have this general idea about a vibe and some ‘high moments’ I want to put in ; I know the purpose I want the scene to serve, the starting and end points. Now I need to figure out how to get from A to B to C, which is A LOT HARDER. A few things to consider : the characters’ abilities, the weapons they have at their dispositions, the constraints (are they wounded ? in the dark ? restrained ? are there any rules or is it a free for all ?) the environment (anything dangerous ? they can use ? a time constraint ? a bomb ? somebody to protect ? etc) and again, the character’s psychology and emotions (are they angry ? scared ? determined ? too arrogant ? etc). I basically put myself in the mind of the POV character and imagine what I would think and try to do if I was actually living the scene, focusing on the practical details. I honestly don’t write a lot of intricate fight choreography because this is just not my forte and i don’t really have the knowledge. Mostly I think about what would be cool and how to fit it in, and what the character NEEDS to do

For instance, Eliott doesn’t have a lot of fight experience, so when he actually wins a confrontation, it’s often due to the surprise effect - he has a very fierce streak under pressure - but I can’t put him in drawn out fights (yet). He also has a tendency to be overwhelmed and to get into his own head, which is like, very normal for a person without training. Lucas is different - the dude is supposed to be lethal and a bit of a legend so I have a bit more leeway when it comes to him doing crazy shit that shouldn’t be possible (lol) but again, his MO is to be smart about fights so I have to think ok what funky trick is he going to pull this time. What would make him look the most badass. Really, Lucas is all about the power of surprise, because again, his adversaries almost always underestimate him (or they don’t even see him coming). He’s like a stoat, small and uncommonly vicious. (look up ‘stoat dance of death’ if you don’t know what I mean lol) or like a blackfooted wildcat (which is called ‘adorable remorseless killing machine’ and is the smallest and deadliest wild cat) so it’s a theme that you can be very small and also very ferocious, and yes, i have been on a stupid animal documentary binge lately (animal fight club !! so fcking stupid). anyway, there is often a ‘what the fuck’ moment when he fights and also use of distraction. But it depends on context - again in the aforementioned fight with Thorston he is very elegant and precise because he’s showing off - but he started as a street fighter, ; using everything he has at his disposal, being ressourceful/inventive, ruthless, efficient, etc. Like in krav maga ‘use a pen as a weapon’ etc. He’s also very very attentive to his surroundings, alert to see if there is anything he could use, and he tries to analyse the moves of his opponents. (credit to the 2 krav maga lessons i took in my life lol). And then there is Daphné who we haven’t really seen fight yet, but she’s an acrobat, so that would come into account, etc.

I also have to do a lot of back and forth because what often happens is I get an idea for a solution (really a fight scene is a series of problems to set up and solve) so I have to go back in the story and make sure they have their guns/whatever they need for the scene and that there is proper foreshadowing. It’s often the logistics that drive me a little crazy because I get to a point and I’m like...okay and how would they do the thing I need them to do ? And you always have to have this back and forth between the perspective of your POV character and their enemy because you don’t want either of them to be purely reactive or to act stupid just because it’s easier (i mean, if they’re not supposed to be stupid)

I read this good writing advice idk where that said, basically, in action scenes, the more details you have, the more it feels important. So like, when the characters are just trading blows, it’s ok if you’re not super precise. However when things change - like the balance of power shifts, there is an upset, something that carries character significance, etc - it’s good to be more descriptive  -it’s like the writerly equivalent of slow mo when everybody is holding their breath. I mean, it’s good to have a general idea in your mind of where everybody is and how they react but it’s not like a movie, it’s ok if you don’t have a super precise beat by beat rendering in your head. At the same time, a fight scene is not the time for super introspective character beats, you have to kind of transcribe the fact that everything happens super fast and there is this sense of complete focus on the action and so you don��t want too many distractions where you pause to describe the scenery, etc etc.

So yeah idk I’m still trying to figure it out I guess ^^ because honestly I still feel like action scenes are some of the most difficult things to write, making everything make sense is hard !!!! hope this made some sense tho and was a bit interesting.

ok now i’m back to the story ^^ have a nice day/night anon ! <3

[maevelin]

That is what i find so frustrating about TO. You have to be on another level of crap storywriting, if you have all the characters you need there in front of you on a plate yet instead of using your creativity and working with what you have you conjure up a baby plot revolving around a character no one even asked for. The whole reason we wanted TO as a show was to see more of TO family. These are supernatural creatures that have lived 1000 years yet theyre reduced to soap opera storylines. 1/2

I was really slow to pick up on the fact that TO wasnt going to be the show we all asked for. I wasnt really an active part of the fandom on social media then so didnt know what was going on so when TO was announced i stupidly thought this is going to be amazing, a plot about the original family. By that point i was sick of damon and most of TVD characters and was rooting for klaus to kill them all lol. It wasn't till the scene where Rebekah's driving away from NOLA in her car i (2/3)

Realised that she's actually leaving for good. I still thought in my head that this is just part of the plot but then i found out Claire left and i realised that this baby plot is actually what the show is, and not the show i was expecting so i stopped watching for a long time. Maybe i was just stupid because the pilot did make it clear it was about a baby plot and not TO family. Also weird how elijah was barely in TVD, rebekah was in it more yet Elijah was more prominent in TO. (3/3)

--- 

I honestly believe that JP never cared or wanted to write for vampires. She doesn’t have the knack or the talent for that genre. She does not grasp it. She does not care for it. I think she was there to fill in the blanks for Kevin and together they made a decent team. Kevin had the genre down up to a point and was good with the plot and the characterization and Julie could sprinkle some soap to the ships and the emotional drama and that combination actually fit. 

It is no wonder that once Kevin was out everything became a shipping soup and by the end of it everyone seemed to have one goal. To be human. To act human. To get the white fence, the babies, the normal life. Which would be find for a drama soap or show concerning humans but was catastrophic for the kind of genre show TVD was and what TO was meant to be but never was. I mean how many vampires were even left in the end? Not just those that died but those that turned...human. Come on now. JP wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She didn’t care for TO in the way a genre writer should and would. She wanted to get her baby soap and that was the only chance she actually had to go through with it. Everything else of hers that didn’t belong to the TVD franchise was getting cancelled in their pilots or before their first seasons even finished airing. And in general as a writer she writers for the telenovela kind of soap and she can’t separate in her mind church from state in the way that she couldn’t divide what she wanted as a fan from what she should write as a professional. She believed it to be one and the same and when it would not work she would throw everyone else under the bus so to avoid responsibility and then she would try to make it work anyway. Well... newsflash Felicia!

I on the other hand however was not in the same boat you were where TO was concerned. 

By the time S4 of TVD had reached its middle I was seeing things I hated. When they killed Kol while they were planning for the spin-off my mind was on red alert. I knew by that time how JP operated. It was obvious. I already knew her ways with the fans from Kyle XY too. Then I heard Phoebe had signed first. BEFORE Joseph while they had killed off Kol so Nate wouldn’t be part of the show. I saw where that Klayley trainwreck was leading. I already knew JP’s lack of talent and her inability to actually create intellectual plots and twists. So I was suspicious. I wanted this to actually work. I was an Original groupie first. I was rooting for the Original to get their own show but not in that way. It was like I watching a crash happening and I could not avert my eyes while everyone else was not seeing it.  I was voicing my concerns back then and I remember that the fandom kind of saw me like the crazy lady in the lot but when the backdoor pilot aired I was 100% sure of what TO was going to be. Rebekah was regressed to a supporting cameo ffs! Kol was dead. Klaus was OOC crying in the streets next to his lunch that was obviously by the promotional interviews and the way they framed it in the backdoor pilot meant to be his love interest with what I saw from the gifs later (since I had never finished the backdoor pilot because when they threw the twilight scene I was out) was a copy of a KC scene with the whole art but meant to be more ‘deep’. The whole episode had some cinematic moments that were okay and I remember liking that they had used the Lafayette cemetery from Interview with the Vampire. The soundtrack seemed awesome. Marcel actually seemed interesting. And then...the baby crap and I was out. Back then before the backdoor pilot had even aired Joseph Morgan had said in an interview that if he was in charge some things may have been differently done. But then I remember thinking...oh crap...and then the episode actually aired and OH CRAP.

I never bothered with TO. 

I dropped TVD like a bad habit when S4 ended and saw the ridiculousness with the doppelganger nonsense. At that point given everything JP was doing I found it really hard to understand how people could hold on to hope when it came to her and her writing. I was trying to warn people from the fandom left and right. Because I had honestly gotten truly attached not only with the ship but with the fandom too and I didn’t want people to get their hopes up and get treated as I was seeing them get treated. I was seeing it, I was speaking about it and understandably most people believed me to be irrational. I remember even people that I was close with and still am to give me the sideeye and be okaaay then.

By the time the official pilot aired along with TO’s first season I was 100% they would cut out the KC phonecall scene that was only meant to be a hook to get the green light for the backdoor pilot rather than anything else. The seen was cut of course.

But then I remember thinking that any responsible writer would aim to get a crossover as soon as possible and get Caroline there even to create a closure small arc to span in the two shows slowly (as they did with BTVS and ATS) but then they were all about saying how logistics were not working and the universes were going to be separated and I was still unable to understand how people actually had hope when the people in charge had no talent to do the basics and were so reluctant. The warning bells were there. Kudos to the DCTV universe for actually going for the crossovers in parallel back then so to show to everyone how the excuses the TO writers and producers were using were just that...excuses.

I was out for sure but I remember that I still kept an eye out to what blogs I followed reblogged and I remember when I realized how sloppy TO actually was. I remember seeing a gifset from a flashback of Klaus that aimed to be a visual parallel to Lestat from Interview with the Vampire only in the lore of the TVD franchise it was from before he broke his curse and he was shown with double fangs and golden eyes that were Hybrid traits. They actually didn’t bother to keep the basics of their main lead consistent for crying out loud. I don’t remember from which episode that gifset actually was. Only that it was from the first episodes and I was like...come on!

I remember I basically muted and unfollowed many blogs back then so to get my dash clean from that mess.

Anyhow I then returned for the 100th episode of TVD. When 5x11 of TVD was meant to air and the promos were out I was insisting that anything else that a kiss would be bad news for KC. I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s excitement but I was just getting a bad feeling about it especially after knowing JP’s track record. It was just too obvious to my eyes and it would be a regression in the development KC had up to that point. You DON’T narratively speaking -from a writing perspective- go from one cheek to the kiss to the whole sex when the characters are in different shows forming different attachment and ships if you don’t meant to wrap up the story. Which would mean leaving fans high and dry after leading them along. By that time TO was doing well in the ratings and I knew JP only cared for that and the KC fandom was not needed in her mind. I had made posts about it warning people again before 5x11 had aired. I remember I had even gotten some aggressive asks from KC fans about spoiling their fun and being negative without an actual reason. Then 5x11 airs, the sex scene is there (all sloppy to just get it out of the way...bad directing, not bothering with a song, giving the bare minimum) and JP goes all out and gives the interview about the KC closure minutes after the episode airs so to ruin everyone’s parade. Then there was the bomb with Claire’s exit which in my eyes was pending anyway ever since I had heard Claire had wanted to stay in TVD but was given an ultimatum only for her to be barely there in the backdoor pilot.

So generally speaking when it came to TO I was never hopeful. Not when JP was in charge. Not when they hired Carina out of all people for their writing team. Carina that hated Klaus and the KC fans. Not when they were disrespecting KCers from day one. Not when they were disrespecting the Kol fans. Not when Daniel was out there saying that once we would meet the new girl we would forget all about KC (which was said before TO’s first season aired so it was obvious that everyone was lying about Klaus not having a love interest). Not when the cast was mocking a whole fandom. Not when the conflicting interviews kept coming. Not when they had hired the gossip girl writers and producers and no one bothered with the actual genre. Not when...not when...not when...the list kept going. 

I kept my criticism and my predictions going and I remember being patient because most people believed me to be crazy (which I am generally but not when it came to that so I could understand the confusion) 

....and flash forward and here we are. 

Although, admittedly, certain things did surprise me on a real life level, at first anyway, because fictional stuff aside I could never believe that certain people could act in the way they did (losing flights? getting into twitter fights, picking out fans, and even calling them assholes in podcasts? on and on), but otherwise I never had any expectations to begin with so most things didn’t surprise me and yes I did earn the right to go ‘I told you so’...which I tried to tone it down many times but sometimes it was just too fun to resist. 

[somuchkdrama]

Bride of the Water God Ep1 Pt 2

Several hours later, when dramajib is finally catching up...

The Beginning

dramajib: *just started watching* 2 minutes in I just want to say this looks set to be visually AMAZING

rockinghorss: Yes. It's ridiculously beautiful.

triangularlily: Whoever was in charge of the lighting and the coloring did like such a good job

The End

dramajib: Im almost at the end where hes all "yo i wasnt gonna do this but you leave me no choice" and his servant is all "nuuu dont do it"... He’’s going to kiss her isnt he? This is going to be awful i can tell

rocknghorss: 😂

dramajib: UGH. I knew it ughh

rocknghorss: You knew it was coming.  Doesn't that lessen the disgust? 😊

triangularlily: I just hope this isn't used as a one time thing it would be funny if he went around "awakening" different people lmao

rocknghorss:  Lolol

dramajib: omg that would be beyond hilarious

Finally starting a conversation proper

Habaek / Nam Joo Hyuk

rocknghorss: You know, I really think that the whole thing in the manwha with Habaek being a kid during the day and an adult at night would've made episode 1 a whole lot funnier?  I don't know how that would've worked out logistically tho...

triangularlily: I think it would be super interesting but I feel like it's dangerous territory? Like kdramaland already has a lot of issues with age differences. I didn't read that far into the manwha so I don’t know like how they developed it is all I meant

rocknghorss: Good point! I feel like his over the top arrogance would've been just so much better suited to a snooty 11-year-old, rather than someone who appears to be a grown man. But, it'd also depend on where they took the story originally too.

triangularlily: Ugh that is really such a good point that arrogance would fit so much better. I'm hoping it's a temporary like fish out of water lol or god out of water

rocknghorss: Lolol hope so! I never thought I'd say I want to see a child actor rather than Nam JooHyuk on my screen.  😎

triangularlily: Lol he doesn't seem like a complete asshole so I'm hoping this'll be a chance for character development or something

rocknghorss: Probably so yeah. I mean they wouldn't just let him be like that throughout the whole show… you know now that I've typed that I am remembering so many kdrama male leads that started and finished as assholes.

triangularlily: Haha yeah... but it seems with him like a surface thing like he just sees humans as beneath him and hopefully his perspective will change

rocknghorss: Most likely it will :) Maybe that's the point of the gods having to go to Earth in the first place? To  learn some humility?

dramajib: *finally caught up* I'm totally with you guys on Habaek's character. He seems like your typical stuck up bossypants who hasn't realized what it's like for us lowly plebs, but actually has a heart of gold, and just needs to learn how to think beyond himself. Like he's totally got potential to turn into a sweet ole softy

rocknghorss:  :) I hope you're right!

dramajib:  I love his extremely dramatic flourishes during this phase of not-yet-adapting to the human world - and I like how they make his being a god the reason behind how quickly he adapts. It gives the show an excuse to have him doing fun goofy things like skateboarding (??? what is that preview for the next episode???) but hopefully also means it won't get dragged out too long

rocknghorss: Skateboarding? I totally did not see the preview apparently.

Shin SeKyung/ So Ah

dramajib:  With Shin Se Kyung... I'm actually really pleasantly surprised with her character. I've only liked her in sageuks so far, but I think the fact that this character isn't over-the-top bubbly really helps. It makes me curious about what she's like as a person, because maybe she's actually super low key and unhyper, and that's why she doesn't play bubbly very believably? Like she looks SO GOOD. From that first scene right up to the end, it's ridiculous. And her positivity comes across as genuine and real, rather than unbelievably chirpy, you know?

triangularlily: I'm interested to see how she will develop too cause she seems a little down in the dumps at the moment

dramajib: Yeah, I'm hoping that the fast forward at the start isn't a suicide thing, and just her jumping in the water to get some loving on cos, water god, yadda yadda. Also I somehow had not realized In Joo Hwan was in this show. I'm excited to see how this plays out. I haven't got a hold on his personality yet, but I like how they set up the first meeting between him and her. Like it's not particularly new or groundbreaking, but it didn't feel like the same old tired cliche somehow? Maybe the whiny nurse helped. I mean... I know he's supposed to be whiny but omg he's SO WHINY

triangularlily: This is unlikely but I was hoping her jumping in the water is her going to the other world

dramajib: ooo interesting possibility. I suspect he ends up staying in the human world for ages and ages tho. Like maybe 7 cycles of red water (what even was that) is like 70 human years.

triangularlily: Ah good point they did say it would be for a while. Lol

Next Up: Bride of the Water God Episode 1 Part 3

[amelia-lorenz]

So I want so be a story boarder later in life and I was wondering if you had any general advice for learning to story board? Also I read that there is some writing involved, is that true? And if so what does that include? Because I'm lost in the writing department, but anyway, love your art and thank you!

Hey, that’s awesome that you are interested in storyboarding! I can say from my own experience that it is a very creative career that is challenging and rewarding at the same time. I have never worked in feature, so my advice is coming from a TV perspective. But the principals are the same.General drawing advice that helped me:

First learn the rules, then break them how you want to.

Learn to draw the human body. Drawing people well is probably going to be your most useful technical tool in your toolbox, right up there with understanding the basics of perspective. Gesture drawing will be very useful for storyboarding.

Here is an unusual one: when composing shots draw your character first and build the background around them to fit the emotion of the scene. This helps me still because sometimes I can get caught up in the logistics of the background, the perspective, etc. What I learned from my wonderful perspective and layout teacher, Dan Hansen, was that it’s more important that an image feel right than be correct perspective. If it helps the scene feel moodier with more dramatic lighting, put the lighting in there and invent a way for it to be believable. Maybe a lamp got knocked over, or the window curtain blows open… As long as it feels right, that’s what matters.

Write your own stories. You don’t have to show anyone, but I believe it will help you with understanding what stories you enjoy telling, and you’ll develop a voice.

As far as how much writing is involved as a board artist, it sort of depends. TV boards can be scripted or board-driven. If it’s scripted, the dialog is mostly set and the story should be pretty solid by the time the artist receives it. The artist needs to interpret the script into awesome visuals that plus the story that is already there. For board-driven shows an outline is written instead of a script. Outlines are like scripts, except they are written in a short-story format. Dialog is looser, and the way the story is told can be interpreted by the board artist with a little more freedom. If you’re a little lost with the writing part, don’t sweat it. Writing is like, really really hard. I dont consider myself a writer, but I enjoy it and I make it up as I go. But one book that I found pretty interesting, if maybe formulaic, was Story by Robert McKee. Check it out if you want?

Also study films shot by shot and do thumbnails for sequences you are interested in. I should do this more. It’s like eating veggies. I could always eat more veggies and it will only make me healthier…Lol

Anyways hope that helps a little bit! Go for it!