#but that's also a topic for another day

[solstrix]

Art Journey Log: What is Artmaxxing... and Why Does it Bother Me? (02/12/2024)

There's a specific type of art content creation I've noticed, especially on Youtube, that I've been wanting to talk about for a while. I'll admit though, even now I struggle with exactly what I want to say, and how... But I really want to try, it feels important that I get out what I've been thinking.

So this thing I've noticed is something I've been calling "artmaxxing", which I define as content centered on attempting to and explaining how one can get as "good" at art as fast as possible. Here's what makes this tricky: there is nothing actually WRONG with that type of content. Sometimes, often even, it can in fact be a very helpful form of video, and suggestions from these videos can, in fact, help you improve on an objective level. But...

(I will not be pointing at any examples, as I don't really want to draw negative attention towards these creators. Just know that they are very common on Youtube's art space, and you wouldn't have to look far to find one.)

(These contentmakers also tend to be the type of creator to make "critiquing/roasting your art" videos, which I also have severe issues with, but is not the subject of this current blog post. Perhaps another time...)

But here is where my issues start. The idea that the pursuit of improvement is not only necessary, but MANDATORY, I find, can be extremely harmful to the art mindset. "Soli, that seems, like, really counterintuitive," I hear you say. And you are correct! But here's the thing: unless your artistic goals begin and end with growth for growth's sake, you will end up standing in your way. And I'm gonna dare say that, for most people, the point of making art isn't inherently just to get better at it.

Most artists start making art for a purpose. Whether it's to make comics and tell stories, make characters, to externalise the visions you are plagued with, for fashion design, or just because you liked a piece of media so much that it inspired you to create something new based on it... There are endless reasons, and they are rarely Just For Arts's Sake, or Just For Growth's Sake. So the problem is when an artist holds themselves back, keeps themselves from creating the things they actually want to make, because they see themselves as not good enough yet. They want to wait until they are better, until they've improved,

The problem is that "better" is a constantly moving goalpost, and one which, simultaneously, you may never actually get closer to. Your own improvement is not always obvious, and there is always something more to learn.

Do the thing now. Do the art you actually want to make now. Pursue what inspires you, what makes you want to create. Improvement will follow, because every time you draw, you get better. If you're struggling on a part of a drawing, find reference, look for advice as to how to improve that one part, and remain specific. Remember that you can always come back to the same work, the same themes, iterate and improve on them, your piece doesn't have to be one and done. Do not let yourself get too general, or you will stand in your own way. Ignore the voices telling you you aren't good enough yet, that you NEED to work to improve.

Don't stand in your way, and don't listen to anyone telling you want you Should or Need to be learning and doing to improve.

You are good enough right now to start being the artist you want to be.

[14dayswithyou]

💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖

For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!

The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^

What's been added to the 3.5 version?

📺 Streamer Mode!

I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.

Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh

This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!

⚙️ Custom Pronouns!

It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;

Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!

💗 Choose how others perceive you!

You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.

For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!

📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!

You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3

Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!

I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;

I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao

📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!

You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!

Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!

I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;

It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)

🖤 Additional Scenes Update!

Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!

If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.

After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga

🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!

I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!

I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.

Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.

How to download and play the update?

(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!) To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!

Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)

Enjoy!!

[seventh-district]

Making Incorrect H:SR Quotes Until I Run Out of (hopefully) Original Ideas - Pt. 4 - Nuthin' but Boothill Edition

[Pt. 1] [Pt. 2] [Pt. 3] [Pt. 5] [Pt. 6]

[puppyeared]

you are umasou

[joshuamj]

In Time and Stars

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

MDZS Notes + Analysis — Chapter Two: “Reincarnation”

Three main things stood out to me when rereading this chapter: the theme of status, our intro to WWX, and the information we’re given about his state after death.

…Well, four things, but the other one will get its own post.

The theme of status is immediately introduced* with ‘MXY’’s treatment and the backstory of MXY and his mother, yet again showing just how well MDZS’s ideas are integrated into the text and how well it’s paced! You’re introduced to every important theme so, so early on. Two screenshots are analysed below:

(See: entitlement of the upper classes towards the lower classes, and how this can exist even between members of the ‘same family’; and arguably the idea of debts between a richer family and someone who was 'taken in'. There are a surprising amount of parallels between MXY and WWX, but I'll make my own post about that)

(See: once again, differences in status between members of the same family, and also the worse, and disposable, treatment of one daughter because she was "the daughter of a servant". Now, why does that phrase sound familiar...?)

Also, MXY's mother was sixteen when she attracted JGS's attention... if you somehow needed even more material to hate the guy...

We also get introduced to WWX’s personality(!), which immediately disproves the rumours from last chapter on how he'd cast the world into ruin:

(That's one of the first questions he asks after waking up – I love how he's so concerned about this! It shows us two important things, too: 1) Morality is important to WWX, and 2) Doing immoral things seems to be out of the ordinary for him. Both of these stand in direct contrast to the picture of WWX we were painted earlier!)

(Same thing here, along with showing us some of the (healthy!) pride WWX has – he wouldn't be offended at this if wasn't something he held as important within himself)

(I use this quote again, but here it's once again proving that the vengeful, evil WWX who'd sink the cultivation world into "nothing but chaos and despair" at the first chance he got... very much does not exist.)

(And finally, it's explicitly confirmed here that he's not the type to take exessive revenge and take pleasure in it... at least at this point in time, because. MXY definitely had reason to think this considering Sunshot!WWX, if everyone had been working from the truth. But importantly that isn't who he is now, and isn't who the WWX villified by the cultivation world was – imo that's including Nightless City, we'll get to that when I reach it. But note that actions during the Sunshot campaign aren't even mentioned in the prologue, because, shock, they actually helped the cultivation world win the war! Though that doesn't mean they weren't part of rumours + the WWX hatred mill later.)

Then some non-morality related things:

This is just really funny to me, with how the makeup being badly applied (:o) is enough of an issue to merit a thought – WWX I love you.

And then this way of thinking comes back a few times esp during the earlier chapters, enough to be noted I think.

Confirmation on WWX's status after he died – it's not anything new to point out, but this chapter does give us rare insights into what state he was in during the post-death, pre-rebirth period.

So, he was somewhat conscious, enough to be aware of what he was(n't) doing – seeking vengeance, haunting the living – and was seemingly in control of those actions. However, he was specifically a "wandering ghost" – his soul didn't pass onto the afterlife or "return back to Earth"** like the body-offering spell's caster's would. He was conscious that a long time had passed as well, and this long period of downtime where he could accept + deal with what happened in his first life is what likely allowed him to be so well-adjusted the second time round – even taking into account the remarkably good way he tends to deal with things in general (cue the "forgetting the wound when the pain fades" quote, it summarises WWX's mindset really well)***.

Also, as for resisting the summons from the prologue – I'm wondering how much was due to WWX's experience with resentful energy + general capability (if that affects it..?) allowing him to consciously refuse, how much was due to WWX not being the type to hold onto resentment (so possibly spells targeting ghosts, full of this resentful energy, wouldn't be as affected?), and how much was due to the relative lack of knowledge about how ghosts/resentful energy works compared to WWX. Or, if it was something else. Either way, achieving the impossible, that's WWX for you :D

It is interesting that he hasn't heard a voice in ages despite wandering, too – do ghosts just not hear the same way, or did he deliberately avoid areas with people? I could see both, the second being more likely, especially considering how many people wanted to summon him back for... less than stellar purposes.

Misc:

Poor Mo Xuanyu....

--

*Well, reinforced – in the prologue, one of the things said about WWX is that "if not for the YunmengJiang clan’s adopting and teaching him, he would have been a hobo living on the streets", which is among the insults people throw. So of course, class-affecting-perception is tied to WWX from the very beginnning! But this is the first time it's actually explored, not a throwaway line.

**Though that may be what's literally happening to WWX's soul here – it is wandering around Earth – I don't think that's what this line refers to. There's a very good meta on how different translations handled that line, I really recommend it (tysm @/mxtxfanatic for finding it)!

***It would be very interesting to read a fic where it felt like no time had passed for him since his death, actually! Though the extremely stressful circumstances are gone, it would still be interesting to see a WWX for whom the Siege, Nightless City, Qiongqi Path etc are pretty recent – but only in fic territory, since I'm so, so glad we got the WWX we did in canon. Also, I'd love to see a fic maybe exploring some of his time as a ghost...?

[fluffytheocelot]

honestly homophobic of netflix to remove the interactive with the julethief canon events in it

AND ON THE DAY CARMEN ESCAPES VILE NO LESS 😒

rip To Steal or Not To Steal. you had the entire fandom in a chokehold over that ending <3

[potatoattorney]

I think it’s really fascinating how Susato and Franziska are so similar even though they’re so different. This was pretty much inspired by this post, but I had a lot more ideas than I typed out at first

Susato puts so much pressure on herself to be the perfect daughter and the perfect judicial assistant. And then there’s the imposter syndrome. She feels like if she’s not perfect, if she ever makes a mistake, then it’s proving that all her doubts were right. That she’s not as capable as Kazuma or Ryunosuke, or really anyone else. And then when she inevitably fails to be perfect because she’s human, she can’t trust herself. She gives Karuma, the physical representation of her brother’s soul, to Ryunosuke. She tells Ryunosuke to correct Sholmes’ deductions even though she’s the one who’s a fan of the Herlock Sholmes stories. She tries to take away her ability to be a judicial assistant because she’s afraid she made a mistake with the crime scene. And then she would be a failure of an assistant.

And Franziska’s entire life mission is the pursuit of perfection. She’s a von Karma and a von Karma is perfect and a von Karma is prepared for everything all the time and a von Karma doesn’t lose. If she’s not perfect, how can she call herself a von Karma? She has the footsteps of her papa and her brother to follow in and she can’t fail.

And when you’re this obsessed with perfection, mistakes turn into your biggest fear. While Susato’s instinct is to run away, Franziska’s is to fight. Susato tries to remove herself from the situation so nobody has to see how utterly imperfect she is, and to prevent herself from making another mistake. If she has the chance to make a mistake, she knows she inevitably will. She puts herself safely, forgettably in the background when she makes Ryunosuke do the course correction and only helps him examine parts of the scene. When she tampers with the crime scene and starts to realize how little faith she had in the legal system, she runs and tries to get rid of her ability to involve herself in that system by throwing her law book into the sea. Because if she doesn’t leave, then she could make another horrible mistake, and that’s terrifying.

Franziska’s reaction to this fear is almost the exact opposite of Susato’s. She fights and she throws everything into the situation so that she won’t make another mistake. That’s reflected in the way Franziska approaches the idea of perfection in court, trying to investigate every piece of evidence and every possibility as far as she can. Because a von Karma can’t be a coward who runs from problems. That would be like a failure. So every time something goes wrong, she works harder so it won’t happen again. She searches Acro’s room even before he’s accused of the murder, just in case there’s anything there. But that’s not enough and Phoenix figures it out first. And then Juan Corrida is murdered and she finally has everything she needs and she won’t lose this time. Not even her brother’s return from the dead or a bullet wound can stop her because she keeps fighting, she keeps pushing herself harder until she reaches a breaking point. And there’s nothing left to throw at the problem and that terrifies her.

They’re linked by so much more than their fears, too. Both of them went into law at least partially to not be left behind by their brothers. And then once they’ve put so much of their lives into this, their brothers die, leaving them almost completely alone. Miles Edgeworth disappears and leaves a suicide note, and Kazuma Asogi hits his head and dies in a tragic accident. They react to this like opposites too; Franziska leaving her career in Germany to get revenge on Phoenix Wright; and Susato continuing on the study trip, now helping Ryunosuke to achieve Kazuma’s goals.

And once they’ve made their decisions, life goes on and things keep going wrong. They’re left in a situation where they have to watch as their brother’s partner or their brother’s childhood best friend is succeeding and thriving, and they just can’t seem to do the same. Phoenix keeps winning and for the first time, Franziska can’t seem to stop losing. Ryunosuke is finding his confidence as a lawyer and Susato starts to lose her faith in the justice system over the course of TGAA1. Both Susato and Franziska get their entire worldview shaken up as everyone else around them is going on with their life. Franziska sees that somehow Phoenix can keep going and even celebrate, even when he loses; which contradicts everything she thought she knew about perfection and failure. Susato sees McGilded being acquitted and Soseki being arrested twice for crimes he didn’t commit, and starts to doubt how just the justice system is. And everyone else seems mostly fine, likely leading Susato and Franziska to think there’s something wrong with them. Their internal conflicts are so similar.

It’s fascinating to see how two different characters react to such similar circumstances. The amount of support each of them had probably influenced them a lot too. Susato is a very private person, but she at least has the rest of the 221B family. Franziska is completely alone throughout nearly all of Justice for All.

[flower-boi16]

I find Blitz unbearable sometimes. I know it's only two seasons but throughtout the series he learned so many things yet everything still sets back to zero and he never changed from day one. This miserable man drowned in his past for so long that he can never grow. His trauma is his character. It's so boring man the same shit happened over and over with him crying about his exes, friends and family. I know about his current relasionship with Fizz now but I want this dude to change too not just Fizz.

Personally I dont really hate Blitz as a character. Of all the characters in HB he’s the one that season 2 hasn’t completely ruined. He is actually fairly interesting as a character, but some other people have already talked about the depths of his character so I won’t go into it here.

That being said, I really think the issue with Blitz is less about the character himself and more how the show seems to treat him, mainly in regards to Stolitz. Season 1 directly paints Stolas as the one abusing Blitz in the relationship (as it should), making it seem like the show is taking Blitz’s side here, that he has a right to be mad at Stolas and cut him out.

But then season 2 comes along and suddenly the victim and abuser roles are SWAPPED. Now the show is painting Blitz as the one in the wrong for “not loving Stolas” even though he has every reason to hate him, while Stolas is portrayed as nothing but an UwU soft boy. I’ve talked about this before but the show demonizes all the people that Stolas has hurt in some way, and it does this as an artificial way to make him look more sympathetic but painting the characters calling him out on his shit as in the wrong.

Blitz next to Octavia gets the worst of this, both in the show and the fandom. The Circus directly tries to frame Blitz as in the wrong because he apparently was the one who gave Stolas the wrong idea of the relationship, but that fails because that doesn’t somehow change the fact that Stolas is coercing Blitz into sleeping with him, and Stolas should be the one to accept that his delusions of Blitz loving him aren’t gonna be true.

Plus the line with Stolas saying that Blitz was his “first ever friend” feels like a major case of the writing guilt tripping Blitz into having sex with him for Stolas’s pleasure. Oops then tries further to paint Blitz as in the wrong by gaslighting him by having Fizz say “oh, you just hate him for being a prince”, and by then trying to make Blitz look like an asshole for not loving Stolas because Stolas did “so many nice things for him”…of screen, and “he cares for him!!”

This ALSO fails because just because Stolas did some nice things for Blitz OFF-SCREEN and cares about him doesn't somehow mean that Blitz has no reason to get mad at Stolas for once again, sexually abusing him. And yes, that is what Stolas is doing. Plus, none of these "nice things" lined up with any of their interactions in season 1 COMBINED with them happening off-screen, and it makes it feel like a retcon. They can victimize and UwUify Stolas all they want and portay Blitz as a big meanie UwU but it won't change anything.

Nothing will ever change the fact that Stolas is sexually abusing Blitzo, and Blitz has EVERY REASON to dislike him for doing that, NOT TO MENTION him BELLITTLING Blitz in season 1 constantly. YET the show demonizes him. And guess what? The demonization is only gonna get WORSE based on the trailer, where we litteraly have Stolas singing in front of a sign that says "Blitzo sucks", and the line "do ever feel any kind of remorse for what you do" which is said by Stolas.

It's so funny to me how fans will call US media illiterate for not understanding the "nuances" and "complexities" of this reletionship, yet they demonize Blitz and coddle Stolas, ignoring the things Stolas actually did to Blitz like the fact that he....ya know...constantly bellittles and is sexually abusing him, and getting mad at Blitz for "hurting Stolas' feelings". Meanwhile, we're actually the ones taking note of these things and rightfully pointing out that OBJECTIVELY, Stolas is the abuser here, nothing the show can do can change that and I am SICK of the fandom having this braindead idea that Blitz is somehow in the wrong for not loving Stolas. Because he's not. He's REALLY not. No amount of mental gymnastics can somehow change that.

[varpusvaras]

Continuing on the Fox and other posts. There was this one post somewhere (maybe on reddit?) about someone having a cold and deciding to just pop in a nyquil/dayquil and go to their uni lesson, while drinking a can of redbul or something (please don't do this) and ending up completely blacking out for the rest of the day and just going through the motions while having no idea what's going on.

Fox wakes up one day at 4 am (because he has so much work he has started to wake up an hour early so he can get an early start), his head is pounding, he's tired and achy and sore and cold. He doesn't have the time (or privilege) to stay in bed so he goes and takes the cold medicine he has stashed in his office for days like these. He's still tired after that, and he doesn't have the energy to go get a cup of caf, even if a hot drink sounds good, so he just decides to also pop in a stim (his CMO has banned energy drinks after the mixing episode that gave Fox a resting heart rate of over a hundred) just to get the day started.

Except. Fox sits down on his desk, opens up a datapad, and the next thing he knows is that his lying on a bed in the medbay and there is an absolute chaos around him. He's feeling sore and achy again and he really needs to sneeze, so he tugs a junior medic that was passing by at the sleeve and asks for a tissue.

This just causes more chaos, because now he's awake and that is somehow a huge deal. His CMO comes to him running and asks what drugs Fox has taken. Fox doesn't understand the question. His CMO is losing his mind. He says that it's almost 8 pm and this is the first time Fox has said anything during the whole day and now Fox is losing his mind as well. He was just at his office, ready to start his day, what do you mean it's 8 pm already?

Little by little, Fox gets the story. He had, apparently, been found at the Senate Dome in the late afternoon (Fox has absolutely no memory of this) by a very kind Senator (Fox doesn't even need to ask who it was, he knows and he knows he will be hearing about this later), and that he was absolutely unresponsive, even though he was walking around. The very kind Senator had flagged down the other Commanders (Fox is definitely going to be hearing about this later), who had brought him back to the HQ. Fox had, apparently, looked absolutely high out of his mind under his helmet, and had just been lying in the bed after being pushed down on it while the medics had tried to figure out what the fuck he had got in his system.

Fox is just about to explain that all that was in him was one (1) cold medicine and one (1) stim tablet, when some poor trooper comes running in, gasping for breath, and barely gets out that the Chancellor has been found dead. In his office. Estimated time of death somewhere late afternoon that day.

The medbay falls silent. His CMO turns slowly to look at Fox. Fox stares back. Fox gets a feeling. That feeling that only blackout drunks, or people who have blacked out for estimated fifteen hours recently for others reasons, can get.

His CMO slowly pulls a blanket over Fox, turns to others and says that it's a good thing that the Commander has been here the whole day because he has a cold and couldn't risk the Chancellor's health, since, as you know, the older you get, the frailer your immune system becomes. Everyone nods. Fox kinda wants to argue about it but his CMO glares at him, and, Fox is achy and sore and tired and his head hurts, so he decides that it's maybe for the best if he just goes back to sleep. After all, this is the first time no one is going to tell him to go back to work while sick, because, well. There isn't anyone to do that anymore, is there.

(He's never really sure what happened or if it even was him, but he can't really complain. And no one else does, either, after they find some really interesting things in the Chancellor's office while investigating the crime scene)

[dizzybevvie]

Ik the friendly character being infantilised is very common in fandom spaces but I find the idea that people who are kind are immediately characterised as stupid very worrying actually

[httpiastri]

“oscar 🥹🥹🥹🥹”

who’s the little schoolboy blushing around his crush now hmmm

[emelinstriker]

Ur reader is asleep question just gave me a mental image of Macawue entering the palace through his shadow portals, and before he could even open his mouth, Wukong and/or Nezha grabs him and insists he tells then where their master is. And after a moment of confused blinking, Macaque just tilts his head, stares at Azure, and points to his mane. For once. He is not the one going absolutely crazy. (Meanwhile in the back sonewhere MK and Red Son are turning the whole palace over, furniture and miscellaneous items strewn about)

tfw your teammate is being a smug bastard about being more useful than you in finding your master

[packet-of-staples]

You know, say what you want about Terry, but you gotta admit he put his whole pussy into playing Javert.

Like he had a part to play and he played it for sure.

[skyburger]

kirby is like the funniest character to have in smash and like listen. they couldve just not given him his copy ability in smash but they DID and he has so many stupid outfits because of this and it fucking rules. why are these real images of an official unmodded first-party nintendo game. this is awesome

[imminent-danger-came]

You know, with all the "Nuwa is basically MK's mom" takes going around, I would like to call attention to 4x06, where MK was specifically described as "As simple creature—with no past, no family, and no name." By that point in 4x06 we had already gotten that flash of Nuwa, giving the implication that MK was created with the intent of being that blank slate with no family—not even finding a familial relationship in his creator. I'm mainly pointing this out to posit why I think MK will not be focused on finding "his real family" next season, you know. Like even in 4x08 when he says "You have scary demon ancestors? That just means you have family, you come from somewhere—I don't have a family, I don't have anything." I think that comes from a place of being so distraught over his mysterious origins and his "destiny". It's also set-up, so that Pigsy calling MK "son" later in 4x10 has some impact. It's Pigsy saying directly to MK "I'm you're family, you have me" in contrast to his hesitation at the beginning of 4x05. And you know? MK's happy with that, his friends (or more aptly, his family) are his main driving motivation. They're what he cares most about in the world, and what he does moving forward is going to be for them.