#can you tell all my saved images are from tumblr lol

[violetknees]

Thanks for the tag (: @thetyger

No pressure to do it if tagged and feel free to do it if you aren't tagged but want to :)

@aria-morne @vanillapetrichor @hampsdesu @9rats @ihearasound

[becauseimanicequeen]

Clocks, Watches, and Time in 4 Minutes

We're halfway into 4 Minutes and I thought I would write a bit about the different ways they use clocks, watches, and time in the show (so far).

I've already written about time a lot in my timelines post, but I just can't seem to stop thinking about this, so here I am... Again.

We all know time matters in this show. What I love about it, though, is the attention to detail. Because the details matter. They're being super intentional with them.

Don't believe me? Then let me show you.

When Great picks up Korn's phone at the bar and tries to open it (in ep 4), it says 09:10 pm:

But, the small clock at the top left on Korn's phone says 11:02 when Great snoops through it:

That's just Great continuing to see this anomaly when he's alone (it also tells us he's still at his 11:02 stage in this episode).

But then, when he sends the text about Nan's location to his own phone, Korn's phone still says 11:02 at the top:

But the text Great just sent to his own phone was sent at 09:12 pm because the phone knows what time it is even if Great can't see it:

See?

It's about the details of this show!

All the clocks and watches matter in 4 Minutes, not just the obvious or big ass ones they focus on to capture our attention. All the clocks/watches matter because they're intentionally set by the crew (I'm a thousand percent sure about this).

Now, let's look at some different ways they use time in the show.

So far (in chronological order), we've seen time used for showing:

Cold openings

Great's time anomaly (11:00-11:02 so far)

Great's 4-minute phenomenon (which Den calls it in his research)

Different timelines/realities in scenes that follow each other chronologically

Digital vs analog clocks/watches

Differences in 24-hour and 12-hour settings on digital clocks

The 4-minute time limit

Different timelines/realities in the same scene

Let's go through these one by one and hope that I can work within the image limit (seriously tumblr, I need more than 30 images per post, lol).

Cold Openings

The first two episodes open with events that happen outside the events of the rest of their episodes.

The first episode starts with Tyme getting shot and a patient in the ICU having a cardiac arrest (whom I, and many others, believe to be Great).

The second episode opens with Tonkla beating the shit out of someone with a rock.

Both these openings are isolated events that aren't connected to any of the bigger timelines or other events, yet.

Great's Time Anomaly

This is every time he sees 11:00-11:02 (which is as far as the clock has come at this point).

It started at 11:00 in the 1st episode:

Then it turned to 11:01 in the 2nd episode:

And 11:02 as Great was watching the clock in the 3rd episode:

So far, he's still at his 11:02 stage (which we saw on Korn's phone in the 4th episode). But I think the ominous ticking will continue in the next episode (or the 6th episode at the very latest).

Great's 4-Minute Phenomenon

Great has had 6 4-minute phenomenons (4MP) so far:

Hitting Manee (ep 1)

Bumping into Tyme at the hospital (ep 1)

Seeing Title beat the shit out of Dome (ep 2)

When he had a conversation with Tyme at Uni (ep 3)

His and Tyme's argument at the hospital (ep 4)

Seeing Samarn shoot Nan (ep 4)

The first 4 in the list above include clocks to show that Great is jumping back 4 minutes (I will only show 2 of them because I need to save images, lol).

When he arrives at the hospital in the 1st episode:

After he's bumped into Tyme:

After he's sent back:

When he walks away from Tyme after their conversation at Uni:

After he's been sent back:

The last two in the list above don't include clocks at all, probably because Great (and we as viewers) know what's going on when he has his 4MPs in the 4th episode. We don't need it explained again.

Different Timelines/Realities in Scenes that Follow Each Other Chronologically

I've written about this already in my timelines post, but I will summarize it here.

Chronologically, the scene where Korn is with Tonkla in the 1st episode is followed by the family dinner, which is followed by Korn dropping Great off at home.

Interestingly enough, Korn arrives at Tonkla's place at 07:15-ish pm:

Tonkla wants a second round at 08:55 pm, just as Korn's dad calls and wants Korn home for dinner:

Then, when Korn drops Great off at his condo after dinner, Korn's watch says 07:15-ish:

While the clock on Great's phone says 07:13:

This is all meant to be the same day Great hit Manee. Everyone (Great, Korn, their dad, and Great's mom) is wearing the same clothes throughout these scenes that happen on the same day. Yet, the times are different.

(Technically, Korn drops Great off at the same time as he arrives at Tonkla's place, which is super interesting.)

Digital vs Analog Clocks/Watches

I've already gathered the digital and analog clocks/watches from the first 2 episodes in a separate post (including the ones we've seen in the teaser and trailer).

I won't add images of them here (since I need to save images for the rest of the post, lol), but you can see them throughout this post.

Both digital and analog clocks/watches have a prominent place in the show, even though the digital clocks are more obvious and attention-grabbing.

I haven't yet figured out if there's a pattern behind the use of either in certain scenes or situations. Analog watches can obviously be a luxury item, so Great and Korn's watches are more than likely used for that reason as well. But other than that...

Great use and is surrounded by both digital and analog clocks and watches. Korn always wears analog clocks, but his times are shown on his phone as well. I'm pretty sure Tyme's watch is a digital one. The clocks at the hospital are digital (I can't remember if I've seen an analog clock there). Yet, the staff at the hospital have a mix of digital and analog watches.

So... I don't know. But at least they show a variety of clocks so it doesn't get boring, lol.

Differences in 24-hour and 12-Hour Settings on Digital Clocks

I've written about this already in my timelines post, but I will summarize it here.

The hospital seems to have a 24-hour setting in some cases, as we saw from the image of the clock on the front desk saying 13:10 when Great arrived (image above), but not in other cases even though this is in the evening:

Since it's the same hospital, I would find it strange if the clocks had different settings (or perhaps that's just me, lol). Perhaps, then, this is a way to show different timelines/realities (since Manee is, more than likely, dead in the real timeline/reality).

Interestingly, Great seems to have both settings on his phone as well (or, the phone is showing the time as 12 hours wrong).

The clock on his phone, when Korn drops him off after their family dinner (image above), says 07:13 while his phone at the hospital shows 13:14 (image above) and 16:33 and 16:29 when having his conversation with Tyme at Uni (images above).

His phone is clearly set on a 24-hour setting, yet, it says 07:13 at night? Obviously, he could've changed the setting after that night. But it could also indicate that different timelines/realities are present.

The 4-Minute Time Limit

This showed up in the 3rd episode in a vision Great had of himself and a mystery woman (who we now know is Lukwa) in a gallery:

It also shows up in the 4th episode as Lukwa talks to Den about this gallery and the mystery man (who we know is Great):

And we learned (even though most of us knew it already) that this is the limit of time a brain can survive without oxygen.

Different Timelines/Realities in the Same Scene

The clocks/watches were screaming at me in the 4th episode, to a point where I couldn't ignore them even if I wanted to (which I didn't). I've written about this in my timelines post already, but I'll summarize my thoughts about it here.

Korn and Great were in different times in the scene are the bar. Korn started the scene at 06:50 pm:

While Great's watch showed 03:20-ish when he arrived at the bar (after my ramble in my timelines post about this, I thought it was most logical if this was am for Great considering the scenes that follow):

Great's time is consistent to him as it turns to 03:50-ish while they're still in the middle of drinking:

While Korn's time stays consistent with him, which could be seen when Great grabbed Korns phone and it showed 09:10 pm when he tried to open it (image above).

It's also interesting to note that, if we follow Great's time from the bar, then he's kissing Tyme in the tent at 02:00 pm:

This would mean that Korn's time, at this point, is 05:40 am, which (according to my calculations in my timelines post) is the same time Great ditches Korn at the bar to go save Nan.

(This could mean that everything that happened in Great's timeline/reality after he left the bar didn't happen in Korn's.)

Anyway...

Korn and Great exist in completely different times/realities even though they're in the same scene together. And I absolutely loved that detail with those clocks/watches. That whole bar scene was heaven for my brain.

Things are definitely changing when it comes to timelines/realities in the show, and I'm on the edge of my seat with every new episode.

I can't wait to see what time-fuckery we'll get in the next one.

Is it Friday, yet?

[canarysage]

…make reply icons?

reply icons (or as i call em, replycons) are a weird kind of edit. they’re in the same genre as rentry or carrd graphics—i.e., that you can do whatever you want with no real rules. that said, these are some guidelines i follow

i. make your canvas much wider than it is tall

there’s no exact measurement for this. my reply icons for this blog are 600x150, but they’re fairly uniquely small. the general consensus at least amongst my peers is about a 4:1 or 3:1 ratio will work best.

the reason why your replycons should be wider than longer is because it keeps them from taking up a lot of space. here’s mine as an example:

enough space to be visible, but not so much as to be obnoxious. that should generally be your goal.

ii. collect a wide variety of expressions

this’ll be limited depending on your characters, but it’s best to have a good variety of expressions. i also save my files with whatever the expression is to me for easier searching but you don’t have to do that LOL

also, i feel obligated to mention it, but you don’t have to stick with just one character. you can use a whole group, either an in-game group (i.e. leo/need) or a visual group (i.e. blonde characters.) they don’t even really need to match, though it’ll look better if they do. with this blog and my old ones, i used a variety of characters with the same color palette so i could get the expressions i wanted.

iii. just make the damn thing

ah, the worst part of all editing—actually editing. god fucking damn it. now that you’ve got your canvas and your character(s) it’s time to grit your teeth and make some replycons

first thing i usually do is narrow down a theme. this can be as simple as a color or as complex as something like “cybercore” or whatever -core scratches your brain. for these replycons, my theme is just attempting to match the rest of my blog layout. god fucking speed.

it can sometimes help to make a thumbnail like this ^ but that’s 100% optional. i like to do it for tutorial purposes and it helps me to get my thoughts from my brain and into photopea. your thumbnail need not make sense nor be cohesive. it’s just for you to know

a good way to start is to make a shape and make it interesting—i usually make a shape and give it a border and some fun lines, rp style, but you don’t have to do that. all of those things can be done with just the shape tool. you can also find existing icon masks on tumblr or resource rentries (make sure you credit properly!!) and you can find some templates, like mine!

once you’ve got a theme and a base, start adding shit.

^ pretty easy base. i pixelated the lines around her eyes and added eyes, and added a stroke and drop shadow to the shape to make it easier to see! if you’d like, you can stop there. but i think it needs a background and some details so i’m going to keep going

background complete! for this i just used a color fill and went rasterize > filter > noise > add noise but you can add whatever you like—patterns, wallpapers, solid colors, etc. it’s up to you! i also added a small stroke around my character png so as to distinguish her from the background a little further :)

this one is a little blank on the left side so i’m gonna add some text and details!!

there we are. i added the cd png to break up the monotony of my base, added text because it’s my personal preference, and added a chibi so the text is distinguished! if you do add text, make sure it’ll be readable in any modes—light and dark. i typically add both a black and white stroke for this, and a drop shadow can help a lot, too!

an important thing to note here is any extraneous images of the character you add can’t be too distracting to the main image. if i had, for example, done this:

the new png is obviously too distracting, right? it takes up too much space and completely draws the eye away. this is even more true when the base and the png have conflicting expressions, like so:

because now i can’t tell what emotion you’re conveying—is the replycon happy or sad? what part do i focus on??

so it’s best to keep any extraneous decals pretty simple, for the sake of clarity. it’s also best to remember that english-speakers read from left to right, and native speakers are conditioned to interpret most things that way. you’ll want to draw the eye in that direction as you work, and not the other way around. hope that makes sense lmfao

iv. save as a psd

once you’ve got all your layers and details situated, make sure that you save your replycon as a psd. this is imperative, because it enables you to make new reply icons as the occasion arises, or you can recycle the basic components for a new theme!

if you’re unsure on how to save as a psd, click file in the upper left-hand corner and then ‘save as a psd.’ i recommend labeling it so you can file it more easily; i’m naming this file cobaltpegasi replycons, which is an easy template—just stick your url in instead.

once you’ve done that, keep adding expressions until you have a suitable amount of replycons! i usually made about five to ten to start with and then add new expressions as i see fit, but you can do whatever works best for you.

also, when saving your replycons, it helps to sort them by what emotion you think they convey. for example, my canarysage replycons are sorted by character and then by emotion—so this one is labeled “len smug” because that’s how it seems to me

you don’t have to do that, but i find it helps a lot when trying to find specific ones, especially if you have a lot.

v. go forth and use them

now that you’ve got your replycons done, you can use them! go forth and clear out those week old requests in your inbox (🤨) or whatever it is you want to do with them. that is all. canarysage signing off <3

…so that’s how you do it.

[vulnaviasims]

A new SAVE FILE!

Hooray!

Hi everyone! I am glad to introduce you my sims savefile.

I've been working on it for at least a year, and now it's finished! I had so much fun building and furnishing, I absolutely love every single lot in the game, so I decided to share it with you and opened this tumblr to illustrate this new world.

Without going too far, I summarize the main points:

♡ you can download the save file HERE.

♡ I used all the packs, kits and expansions, updated to 3 january 2023. NO CC or MODS used.

♡ I modified all worlds except Baatu.

♡ no new Sim households have been added, but I changed them a bit and downloaded some from the gallery, special thanks to ObsidianLilith and Simyim, because they make incredibly beautiful sims! I invite you to follow them and see their fantastic creations.

♡ I furnished and built almost all of the lots. Some were so beautiful that I have included them, but there are very few. In this tumblr I will show you all the lots, and I will definitely tell you which ones are not mine (for example the Willow Creek museum).

♡ I always put a sugar skull in my creations. will you be able to find it?

♡ last but not least: every house has an umbrella stand and an air conditioner! it's very important to me LOL

♡ once you have inserted the file in your saves folder, you will have to click on Izzy Fabulous and his sister, as you will see in the image:

Please do tag me if you end up playing in this save file. I’d love to see what you do with it! Thanks for checking this out!

If you have any quastions please feel free to ask.

WHAT IS A SAVE FILE?

"A save file in Sims 4 is essentially a backup file of your playtime in the game. It contains everything that you’ve played up to that point. One save file can be uploaded on the internet and shared among all players. You can also download a save file from someone else and load the game from their save point.

Your Sims 4 save file is located in Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Saves, or a similar mods directory, depending on where you’ve installed the game. But generally, you can find your save file in your Saves folder. And if you’re using Mac, you could find it via the finder application that you have installed. Just keep in mind that if you are searching for mods or custom content, you can find them in the Sims 4/Mods directory, however the rooms, the characters, and lots you’ve created can be found in the tray folder.

When you download a save file from the internet, you should paste it into your Saves folder too. Keep in mind that you can have multiple save files in this folder. The important part is to select the save you want to load when you launch the game via the main menu." (source snootysims.com)

[musicalmoritz]

Uhh kinda stupid question from someone who's technically new to the fandom despite following the manga for a while, where do ya'll find the official au's and their art? Like the Monster nursery one, I've seen them a lot but where does one find the originals?

There are many places to find the AUs!! Fair warning, some of them like Monster Nursery and Ghost Hotel have multiple parts but they’re still easy to find

The easiest place to find them is through the wiki page. Just google the name of the au + “wiki” like I did in the image above, and the first link should take you to a page with the full au.

There’s dialogue and images that will take you through a Choose Your Own Adventure type story, only the options have already been chosen for you. This is probably my favorite place to read them just because it’s all very easy to follow

The next place to check is the @dbs-scans account here on Tumblr! They post all the official art and aus, and I think they might even post the chapters. To find the au you want you could simply Google the name of it and their account should pop up, or you could search their account directly through Tumblr by clicking on their archive or using the search bar feature on their blog

They include all the images from the au with the text that correlates with them translated below. I believe they usually do the aus in full, which is very helpful if you’re trying to find an au like Ghost Hotel with multiple parts. If they don’t have all the parts tho, you can always refer back to the wiki or go to the next source I’m about to show you

Our next resource is the hanakokun.officialarts account on TikTok. Beware, I don’t think they have all the aus, but I know they’ve posted some of them. They get their translations from the aforementioned dbs-scans account which kind of brings this response full circle lol, it’s a small fandom. They’ll post the images with the dialogue in the captions, and you should be able to find them in order all grouped together. You might have to scroll a bit to find some of the older aus. This is one of my favorite resources for keeping up with official TBHK content tho bcuz they post the new chapters in full and it’s an easy way to find official art

You might also be able to read the aus on Twitter if they’re still up but I don’t have Twitter so I couldn’t tell you for sure. At one point I was trying to find the last part of Ghost Hotel and I deadass had to refer to Google Images, sometimes you gotta scrounge around for yourself. But that shouldn’t happen too often because the resources I gave are very reliable!!

Thank you for this ask, and it’s not stupid at all!! I had to ask my TikTok followers where to find the HKOTO au a few months ago when I got a fic request for it. It took me a minute to figure out where to find all the content, which is standard for joining any fandom that has as wide a range for content as TBHK does. I’ve seen BSD fans have similar issues. And by asking that you probably saved a lot of people’s asses who were too embarrassed to ask the same question

[sweetmariihs2]

I'm making a whole new list for extra cedric content, and at the moment i'm not saving it in my tumblr drafts because tumblr deleted my posts two times 😭👍

I've heard that tumblr has a link limit per blog, and I don't wanna make a part one, part two, part three...

At the moment everything is written in my notes app, with all the links and all. I'm wondering if I should post them without really "adding" the links, only writing them like if they were paragraphs, and if you wanna see the content you should copy and paste them on google. Idk anymore i'm to scared to ruin my post like i did last time 😭

It's so big, like... 13 pages. Who writes a full post only with links to Cedric artworks and merch?

Me, I do

Also the emojis are where I'm gonna upload images instead of adding a link, because I lost their source when I lost my post lol

Every time I think I finished I just discover more stuff. I'm not complaining though ;)

When you reblog a post, that post remains in the version it was in when it was reblogged. If there are updates or edits, those changes don't appear on the reblogger's profile because they weren't on that version, so I'm trying to make sure I can find everything before posting. But every time I think I've found everything, I find more!

Again if you guys know anywhere when I can find more stuff, pls tell me ;)

The content of the magazines is the hardest one to find. I know that we have Cedric in more magazines than just the ones he's in the cover. Found some loose images from parts of comics he's in and some activities and artworks, but never the full images or high quality ones.

[peaches2217]

I'm emerging from silently lurking around tumblr to say I am constantly blown away by your writing. The way you are able to convey the emotion of every moment perfectly...I feel like I'm right there in all the environments you create! (Although I have to image I'm invisible for the sexy ones to save everyone serious embarrassment lol) It's such a difficult thing to pull off with words but you make it look easy! You are an artistic master and I bet you worked hard to hone those skills. I saw you've been really hard on yourself lately and I just wanted to come out from probably a completely different part of the world to say that it is truly a better place with you in it. Please keep expressing your wonderful self.

I want you to know that this made me cry. Good tears, good tears! But holy fuck, that last bit… I dunno. I just. I needed to hear that. My brain tells me constantly that my existence is a burden and brings nothing but annoyance for most and outright strain for those closest to me, and it’s told me that for as long as I can remember. “The world is a better place with you in it” is a notion I’ve never had about myself. I perceive my existence as burdensome at worst and morally neutral bordering on irksome but safely ignorable at best.

So I’m currently cycling through multiple different emotions after reading and re-reading this, and while I don’t know what to make of any of them, I know that I want to hold these words close to me. Anon, I really can’t thank you enough. 🫂

[thisismeracing]

hi friend, you still have the potential to be sued here in the US, even if you’re not using images. That’s a big part of why authors likes Anna Todd, scrubbed After (with all references to Harry’s name) from the internet when she started charging for it and before any publication would take an interest. (Before anyone comes for me, I’m sure the original has been saved by some third part somewhere. This is the internet after all. But the point remains if she were to be sued, she is able to claim that she did her due diligence by removing any and all content with any reference to Harry Styles from the internet BEFORE she received any payment.) The US is currently starting to crack down on copyright and intellectual property infringement. In large part due to the fact that so many people have received huge payouts over the last ten years. Unfortunately they’re not choosing to go after the ones that have actually gotten rich from the issue. And while the drivers might not care. Their management most certainly will. If you’re choosing to charge for your fiction it might be best to at the very least change names so you might have some form of deniability.

this was an interesting ask, thanks for the heads up again!

I'm not trying to go against your word, but rather wondering about the topic myself because it seems to me it's a huge gray area, so feel free to reach me on my private messages or on anon again if you want. But speaking about Anna Todd, technically she could still be sued even after scrubbing Harry's name from the story because there was still proof on the internet that it was a story about him, if we're talking about defamation it doesn't need to involve the monetization aspect, it's still defamation without it. This would mean that ANY RPF fanfiction is illegal and could be sued (which is not necessarly the case because theres the whole fair use thing).

We're talking about huge payouts, but I'm getting less than fifty dollars a month with Patreon lol would their team really come for me (a poor grad student) on behalf of a billionaire for getting less than fifty dollars a month to help pay school and medical bills? this would need a huge pr work too to make them seem good after doing something so crazy like this.

Talking about defamation, let's say I change names, but this Tumblr would still be up and everything else would easily show that it's about pilot X, this could still be considered illegal because you can tell who it is about. The reason why nobody comes for rpf is because 1) the money people are talking about is just a few bucks most of the time, and 2) it's exactly this real people's FICTION, there's not much to talk about defamation of a worldwide artist when the content you're sharing is for a nich of less than one hundred people, it's not reasonable. I haven't found a past decision about something similar in the US court, if there is, please send it in, but other than that it's a huge speculation thing in my head, which only a judge could clarify.

Patreon and monetizing fanfiction is quite common in fandoms like Chris Evans', for example, and I haven't seen anything legal come from it yet. again because it's unreasonable for those artists to go after their own fans for taking less than a hundred dollars in content that clearly sets a fictional character that just happens to look and have the same name as them because more often than not it's set in an alternative universe.

[foxys-fantasy-tales]

Hazbin Hotel OC - Silhouette

I think I summarized pretty well here, but her lore goes a bit deeper and I'm still at work on her. If anyone wants to know more they are free to send an ask and I will love them forever. I'm totally normal about all of Vivziepop's work, especially Hazbin Hotel, I promise lol. Besides the character sheet I also have a song for her, since Hazbin Hotel is a musical and all. I don't normally do songs, but this one came to me overnight one night early into season one of the show.

(I hope you can zoom or save and read it okay, if not and curious just tell me and I'll post a text version. The saved version on my computer works fine but tumblr can mess with images.)

This pretty and vicious lady has worked her way into my head and won't leave. Oh, and she owns her bodyguard's soul, but they are cool with it, no really. He traded his soul to her for help and offered his protection in return. I'm not sure yet if she has other deals with anyone, but she does have a basically adopted energetic murderer from this day and age who's a recent arrival and helps her with a zine and social media though she just wants to make print magazines. No one was looking at them anymore though. Those two are Welt and Rue respectively and they also have art because @fracturedfable is the best and art of Silhouette (mine) and Welt (my partner's) OCs was a Valentine's gift. Rue, the bunny, belongs to them. Welt, the cardinal, belong to my partner irl, @unmanagedmystic.

Thank you for checking out the awesome hell-fam of Silhouette's popular clothing business!

Since there is the excerpt of the song, I know they likely aren't in this fandom, but hope it's okay if I tag @jezifster and @wynters-writings. @abalonetea had also responded a while back being the one person who said hearing the song I wrote for my character may be cool so putting you here as well. <3

[thatndginger]

The Conspiracy Corner

Because @leebrontide asked and I am always happy to delve into my most visibly deranged project, I'm gonna go into some details on my Shapeshifter Conspiracy Corner.

Below the cut to save all y'alls dashes lol

On the 'first' wall - AKA the wall I can stare directly at from my chair - we have the Main Trio section. It'd dedicated entirely to Kerr, Jay, and Warrick. As well as their relationships to each other.

As you can tell, it's an insane mish-mash of aesthetic images, silly tumblr & twitter posts, and memes. Each character has their own section within the whole, but they all kinda bleed together and marge.

On the opposite wall:

This is the 'side character' wall. And yeah, there's a lot of side characters lol. This section is split into the various factions. There's the witches, the vampires, the police, the Pack, and 'The Baddies'. I added in a lot more inspiration images for what I see the city of Moressau looking like, and built up what each section of the city looks like with it's corresponding faction.

And lastly, the newest section of the wall~

The Montrose family wall.

This one's funny, because in the main storyline, the Montrose family doesn't even factor into things until way down the line. But I have perpetual brainrot about this incredibly dysfunctional group of people. So they get their own section to themselves lol

aaand that's pretty much the Shapeshifter Conspiracy Corner. I'm in the slow process of setting one up for War Witch, but that one is a much slower process since War Witch is still very much in the fetus stage.

[enniewritesathing]

discussion post #2 (i think?)

This may have been a small update but More Things happened and we gotta talk about it. (Or, I'm gonna talk about it.) More like a ramble, really.

Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Speculation? Let's talk about it. 🤔

Behind the Scenes stuff:

first off, I wouldn't have the ability to even remotely do ANY of this part without @anothersimsstory's CC conversions and I'm glad I had the foresight of downloading it when I did. (they didn't delete their shit or anything but you know how it is sometimes) and the monitor by Theraven (I don't think they have a tumblr? they have a forum tho), and the EKG leads by @jellypawss. It really pays to make niche CC!!

I had to make swatches for the monitor since it is an important visual thing... but it was wholly contingent on me finding something that's close to actual vital signs and I looked everywhere but they were all stock images and obviously didn't work for what I needed. I then had to search high and low for for it, but I found it. For real!! I had to use TWO laptops (one for settings and the other for the actual monitor) and I screenshotted it, slapped it into paint to save it, make it a swatch, rinse/repeat for I think 15? idk how many

you may think, Ennie, that's a bit much, and I say, my attention to detail game is insane when it doesn't need to be but dammit, the visuals have to make sense from a glance. That and the offchance of someone who knows read the monitor would point something out about it. That said! I tried parcing out what EtCo2 is but all I got from it is was "high number bad".

seriously, I spent... a Stupid amount of time setting that up. 🅱️lease clap for me -- I can safely say that I don't think anyone else would go that far.

I told myself after finishing The Incident I was not gonna be doing 5/6 rigs all in one shot again. (🤡)

The lighting situation drove me up the damn wall and after a point, I just said fuck it. What I didn't anticipate was the stark contrast of John and The Werewolf talking and the memory in terms of setting. It's really cool, I think.

I fretted over this part the whole time because I didn't know what order I wanted and what I was going for, but I think I escalated it properly.

For The Werewolf's veins, I had to do the ol' S4S shuffle, but they are a combination of 3, maybe 4 and ofc had to make outfits for the progression, which is why he's still rocking the half-sleeve look (and from an age/timeline stand point makes him 21/22ish). You know what, let's look at them again!

it's a good look

Speaking of... I had to make a lot of The Werewolf solo poses and I found out that uh, it's all in the brows; they can completely change the meaning. It's bad enough with the angles and the general body language. (Or maybe not? Eh.)

Another visual thing -- The Big Scene... that one, I had going back and forth with it until I decided going all white for The Werewolf's eyes (or lack of pupils). It was far more striking and way scarier than the 'blank' eyes I tend to go with.

seriously, I contemplated on tagging it as a jump scare.

Oh! and the shaking of 3 pics, that was spur of the moment because I really kept going back into the post and something was just missing. I have a (cracked) PhotoMosh and I played with the setting a bit and bingo.

It is probably my favorite post so far. I had to settle with the fact that it's not gonna be the one to be spread around. Or any of it really.

Story Stuff:

There's so many crumbs in this! So. Many. There's even a loaf of bread or two. If you tell me what you're picking up on and you're on some kind of track, you get a cookie (🍪). (I'm serious, btw)

John's clearly shook. This may be the first time we've really seen him like this. And The Werewolf is nonchalant... (I will admit John looks very pretty when he's like this lol)

...or is he? I think there are more cracks in the dam than you'd think. A while back in a post that's somewhere on this blog, but John has a tendency to play with his hands when he's anxious.

Another thing that I just noticed is that they didn't really look at each other; I wonder what that's all about?

I've said it once and I'll say it again; even though they share the same body, John and The Werewolf look very different from one another, and I think that's neat.

Jordan being real about taking advantage of the fact that they're getting paid $$$ and they'd be dumb to not take up the offer.

I had to remember that Brian did not know John was a werewolf at this point in time, or even begin to really put 2+2 together. I call it a bit of genre blindness, helped by the fact that this didn't happen all the time. He just rolled with it. Also, wow he looks very young without his tats; ofc this was the college years and he was beginning to fill out/eating good.

Mark is the smartest dude in the whole story. He said, nope, nuh uh, I'm OUT. IYKYK.

There were so many pics I wanted to take of Daniel punching The Werewolf right in the solar plexus (or thereabouts it might've been slightly lower than that). As they say in the FGC, he failed to block that overhead.

I'm glad I decided to leave in the fact that The Werewolf couldn't see too well.

The Werewolf blew his vocal cords out screaming. He said that shit with his soul. Rarely do I go with the funky text with him since that's his "big scary werewolf" voice (that and he rarely speaks like that). My man said "I'll make you suffer my pain." Beautiful. Can't wait to see how that plays out.

That said, The Werewolf did work himself up to the point of nearly killing himself on accident. But as Charles predicted, his body hit the emergency button and shut that shit down.

I spent the most time worried about this part because it needed to get the point across without it being so... cheesy?

also, I have to say? The Werewolf is a Swearwolf. *rimshot*

The Fucking Around part has ended... The Finding Out part is really going to be fun to watch. (I mean, you can already do this if you haven't but now you have way more context.)

There's something about The Werewolf that's becoming apparent (to us). He's still holding back on his actual feelings. Not only that... he hasn't gotten to John himself and I think that's where it's really gonna go down. John knows this; he's not naive to think that he didn't have a role in all of this too. Something to think about.

Charles is a flat out Nasty Man (very derogatory) and yet, I kinda enjoy writing it.

I do love how he is formal with names, "dear ____" and referring to John's formal name Johnathan.

which I always forget this mfer is named Johnathan. Nobody calls him that.

[carpisuns]

I just wanna say I have an old post of yours saved in my drafts, about being a beginner artist…. I look at it sometimes to give me perspective and reassurance. Thank you. It has inspired me to continue my hobby/passion even if I don’t get many notes rn. I improve and I see it! Thats all that matters. Thank you. I hope I can be that for someone someday.

oh wow 😭 this just warmed my heart—thank you for sharing with me. i don't know what post you're talking about specifically, but i'm so glad that something i said could give you a little extra boost sometimes<3

it's both cool and sort of embarrassing that this blog is a record of my entire art journey. i didn't start learning how to draw until i got into ML and joined tumblr again about 3.5 years ago, so it has my very earliest art as well as my most recent. the other day my sister and i went through my art tag and i was literally crying with laughter at some of those pieces alskjdf (particularly this one). they're sooo bad but they were my best work at the time! as much as i cringe to look at them now, it's nice to remember how far I've come. There are still so many things I struggle with and things i disappoint myself about, but that's normal because I am still growing. no one stops growing. the artists you look up to the most, whose work seems absolutely flawless to you, are still growing.

and YOU are growing too! whether you feel like you are or not. sometimes it takes looking back to realize it. i'm really glad you can see your improvement! honestly, that's a skill too! having a healthy mindset about your own development can take a lot of internal work so I'm really proud of you for that.

(i got very rambly so cut for the rest lol)

and honestly sometimes the improvement isn't even about what the art looks like—it can just be about how you feel about making it. I think one of my biggest improvements in the last year was getting comfortable with drawing and sharing things that are Bad and Ugly! for example:

the first one i drew 3 years ago, just a few months into learning how to draw. the second one i drew about a month ago. they both have obvious flaws and you could even argue that the old one is better drawn than the newer one. so it's like omg did i not improve at all after over 3 years?? did i actually get worse? lol. no! because a lot of the improvement is internal.

you'll notice that the first one was done in pencil and the second one is pen. it took me years to feel confident enough to sketch in pen because you can't erase! you have to commit to the lines! you can actually see tons of erase marks in the first one, but i didnt even use my white-erase tape at all on the second one. also, the first one is a screen redraw. i was just looking at the image and trying to replicate what i saw the best i can. the second one is new scenes/poses that came from my brain—not that they are very complicated/impressive lol, but there's a difference there. and what you can't see at all is just my attitude about drawing them! i can't particularly remember doing the first one but i guarantee i spent forever on it and was nervous about posting it. second one probably took me 7 mins and i knew it was ugly but i was zero percent embarrassed about that lol. that's progress baby!! cant even tell you how much of a difference it has made to me to let myself draw ugly things. i draw ugly things all the time. some of them get posted online. some of them get shared with one or two friends. some of them get shared with no one. and i've finally learned how to either embrace them as what they are or just shrug it off and go, "you know, this is not it! moving on." blank pages are so intimidating because you have a million opportunities to mess things up, but you also have a million opportunities to explore and learn and experiment and have fun and also to surprise yourself with what you're capable of.

i started out with nothing but a pencil and some powerful blorbo brainrot, and that was enough! that has been enough to power me through years of all the struggles and triumphs that artists go through. it was enough to help me push through every art block and keep drawing to the point that my instincts have improved and things that used to be almost impossible for me are just regular hard lol. i've actually illustrated for a print magazine a few times now, and a few weeks ago i finished my first animatic—which i always wanted to do but didn't have the skill or confidence for.

sorry this is so long, i'm just very passionate about this subject lol!! i just want every growing artist to know that if you keep trying and having fun, improvement is not only possible but inevitable. like, you don't even have to do formal studies if you don't want to. keep looking at art that you like and figuring out what is appealing to you. keep drawing what you feel like drawing. if you're no longer inspired by a piece or it's a little too tough for you right now, it's ok to drop it. you can come back later or never. you have infinite opportunities to make new and better art. and don't forget to give yourself credit for the progress you've already made. it's so hard not to compare yourself to others, and literally everyone—even the best and brightest—feels bad about their work sometimes. but try to compare yourself to your past self and pat yourself on the back for your improvement! it's okay to grow slowly, or in a way that's not so visible on the outside. just remember that you are growing, and you will only get better and better.

also, side note about notes/likes: i know it sucks to feel like your work is not getting attention when you poured a lot into it :( this might sound rich coming from me because i feel that people have been incredibly generous toward my work from the very beginning. but just know that popularity is not really about who "deserves" what, and it's not an accurate reflection of skill either. so if you feel unseen, that doesn't mean your stuff sucks. and you never know what your work might have meant to the people who saw it, even if there aren't that many. art doesn't have to be popular to be meaningful, and it doesn't have to be perfect either.

the world is a little richer and more beautiful because of the ways you are growing and the things you are sharing. so thank you, and please don't stop.

[ladytauria]

<333 4, 8, 14, 18, 22, 35, 46, 58, 74 for the ask game pls!!

thank you mayaaaa <333

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Everywhere! Fics and books I've read, random song lyrics (whether the rest of the song fits or not), random posts on tumblr, images, posts on twitter, prompt lists, prompt blogs, etc. etc.

8. Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story?

Vastly depends on the story. I've had fics where I've had the beginning and ending figured out, but the middle is a mystery. I've also had fics where the middle was a breeze but the beginning and ending were both like pulling teeth!

I will say I tend to enjoy middles more on shorter fics (uhh, less than 15k) and beginnings & endings more on longform stuff!

14. how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

I try to put myself in the character's shoes as much as possible! Figure out what emotion(s) they're feeling and then draw on my own experiences with it, lol. Especially if I can feel it a bit myself <3

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

Yes.

Sometimes the fic title is the thing that inspired the idea, like when I'm inspired by a lyric. Sometimes it just comes to me in the planning process.

Sometimes a fic title comes to me during the writing process. I'll write a line that just seems to capture the core of what I'm going for, and use that or something like it for the title!

A lot of times I end up titling the fic after, though. I'll scroll through the song lyrics I have saved for potential titles, just in case one fits. I'll look up songs that may have the theme or a similar vibe to what I'm gong for. I'll read through the fic looking for a line. I'll summarize it, try to capture the vibe. It can take a bit!! But I get there eventually. After a lot of whining :P

22. Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

Speaking specifically for fanfic!

Probs won't ever write first person again. It's not something I vibe with in fic, it's hit or miss for me in published fiction too, and it's just... Not a style I like?

Omniscient POV. When I try it it feels too much like head hopping to me, so xD

Can't see myself writing cheating or hard non-con. Dubcon, yeah; gentle nc especially if its nc-to-c, but not anything harder. I will do comfort after, though!! Hmm... Detailed torture scenes or anything gory bc that squicks me out a little lol ^^;

I can think of a few others but I think that's good for now xD

35. What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain?

Good question.

Honestly, I haven't written them in fic a lot? But when I do, I generally try to keep in mind their motivations and like... reasons for doing what they do.

46. How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

Hmm... Character or emotion driven!

58. What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most? (Brainstorming, outlining, writing, editing, etc)

Hmm, I mean, all of them at various points! I guess I'll give brainstorming the top slot because I just have... so many ideas. Therefore I must enjoy coming up with them 😂😂😂

Although nothing compares to writing when it's flowing!!

74. You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

Does it feature two characters taking care of each other? A lot of focus on trust and vulnerability and willingly offering up the softer parts of yourself? Is there an overuse of "x says"? Can you tell fic was fighting not to be overrun with em-dashes? It's probably a Tauria fic :P

[ get to know your fic writer! ]

[inklore]

Hey dear! How long since I wrote to you, I don't know if I can ask but could you give me some advice on how to edit/theme/customize your blog in an aesthetic way?

Idk, even basic tips are fine, I really love seeing your blog and I think you have really good taste in aesthetics ❤️

hey lovey! it would be my pleasure to try and help you <3. i say try because my explaining skills are the absolute worst but i will do my best lmao. gonna do this in bullet points ok:

have an idea / inpisration / a crumb of what you want your blog to look like! you can find inspo literally anywhere, a friends blog even (but please remember to always ask and don't take it harshly if said person declines you doing so). pinterest is also amazing for this, looking up graphics, different aesthetics, templates, i literally have a board on my pinterest i've had for years now where i get graphic inspo or where i go when i just need to feed my creative juices to put me in the mood to create something. canva is also great, i literally go on there and look up headers, moodboards, etc and just star them for later. keywords are everything as well, so like 'aesthetic here + color, vibe, look, graphic, template' helps sites like canva and pin lead you in the right direction. same with just typing things like 'green, grunge, lovecore, etc'.

edit on desktop! now i know not everyone has a laptop or ipad or the ability to do this but i highly rec it over editing on the janky mobile app where sometimes things save and sometimes they don't. plus i always use one of the random saved user blogs i have to make a test layout / theme so if i don't like it everything on my main blog is fine, didn't change, and i didn't waste all that time on a theme i don't even want to look at lmao. so making a side blog where you do that is also great cause you can just copy and paste your nav post over, you can take the graphics you've already made and upload them onto your main without second guessing if they look good because you've already seen what it all looks like!

start small! by that i mean start with a simple theme or idea and build up from that. don't just start with seven graphics and ideas and overwhelm yourself. sometimes i just think of a color and be like yeah i'm make something with this color or wrapped around that color and i create something great.

ask a friend for help! i can't tell you how many times i've asked friends if this theme looked good or to send me inspo pics or what theme they think i should do, or even asked them to help me find resources. utilize your besties and mutuals.

not everyones aesthetic is the same! some people like messy themes, some like overdone, some like super simple. don't compare yourself to anyone!!!! everyone creates differently, everyone sees colors and aesthetics amd themes differently. no matter what you decide to go with is all your own and great and special.

etc: putting all your most important links in your nav is always a good rule of thumb (anything you really want to highlight as well), if you use pngs they're all over tumblr and pinterest 'transparent' + 'png' at the end or beginning of what you're looking for will always lead you in the right direction, and when it comes to pngs i highly rec adding them to a white background or transparent one and make the size of the background 500px and move the png halfway / towards the bottom (centered) of the background so tumblr doesn't make your header all the way at the top and ugly, don't make your nav post too long, take colors from your images / aesthetics to incorporate throughout the whole theme so everything meshes well together, don't use flashy dividers because it's not good on a lot of users eyes and unless you state a tw in the tags it's just not as cool as some people think lol.

that's all i can think of but if you have any more questions bby my pms are open!!

[rjalker]

Tumblr said the first is illegal so here it is again because I saved the meme to my computer.

Finding out The Murderbot Diaries was inspired by The Imperial Radch series is the opposite of propaganda. I don't think I've ever heard worse news about a story I enjoy in my life.

Let's take the ideas this story did right -- but make it bad!!!!!

it's so fucking funny and just. proves even further Martha Well's inability to understand the concept of gender as separate from sex.

She can imagine dozens of nonhumanoid fantasy species, but couldn't once imagine a gender system that was no still locked into the white western gender binary, even when her prominant fantasy race has what ammounts to six different genders if she'd actually given it a single moment of thought.

Martha Wells literally looked at what Ann Leckie did and then went "Oh that's so cool. Let me just not follow any of the examples you set in regards to gender tho"

[ID: A two panel meme.

The first panel shows cupcakes based on the Cookie Monster from Seaseme Street, with expertly decorated icing, a cookie, and eyes.

It reads, "The Imperial Radch series talking about pronouns before the first scene is even over and then consistantly bringing them up and having them play an important role throughought the course of the story".

The second panel says "Nailed it!!!" in large comic sans font, and shows a failed attempt to replicate the cupcakes from the first image, with the icing flat and melting, with the eyes falling off.

It reads, "The Murderbot Diaries literally not even having the word "pronouns" i nit even one single time, never discussing them or having characters share theirs, even though the protagonist uses neopronous."

End ID.]

do you think the word "pronouns" will appear even once in book 7, which is coming out November 2023?

I guess we'll find out, won't we?

If a single character tells anyone else their pronouns, Martha Wells can have this sticker:

[ID: A gold star against a transparent background, surrounded by smaller golden sparkles. Black comic sans text on the star reads, “You did the absolute bare minimum required to respect trans people”. End ID.]

I'm serious I'll never be able to get over the knowledge that she really really really read The Imperial Radch series, which has more understanding and representation of gender in its first two pages than the entirety of The Murderbot Diaries series has in its entirety, and then decided, yeah, I'm not going to do any of the things that actually made that radical and interestng actually. This robot is nonbinary and aroace because it doesn't have genitals teehee that's how gender and sexuality works :))))))

Like. how did you manage to fail that badly when Ancillary Justice is already talking about pronouns in the very first scene.

this is the opposite of propaganda and it's fucking hysterical.

Especially because it is a perfect mirror to everything this fandom does with the things Martha Wells actually does right. She says "Don't ship slaves with their owners and don't demand peopel conform to your idea of normal" and they're all screaming and crying that if they can't ship this touch averse aroace slave with its owner they'll just die.

LOL

[freebooter4ever]

Are the lines on your drawings stylistic choices or are they measurement/guiding lines? Either way, they are cool, but just wondered. I dont understand drawing at all, might as well be a magic spell to me. I was looking at the pencil (?) sketch of Malkin with the cheesecutter hat on.

i, uh, definitely did not google 'cheesecutter hat' until after i saved out these images. :/ sorry about that. if you'd like the other one broken down, i can do that too lol. my reading comprehension when im tired is kinda lazy i just saw 'cheese' and imediately thought 'omelette'. SO here's the 1) initial sketch, 2) 'clean' sketch, and 3) final lines for the omelette boy drawing instead:

also i have had a cumulative of about 9 ish hrs of sleep total for the past two days so keep that in mind for if this explanation makes no sense, its not my fault. :( anyway! the way i draw definitely has changed over the years but currently im really trying to focus on the line i "see" rather than the one that is actually "there". i've been applying this to my writing for years (story vs happening truth) and you know it never occurred to me that i could do it in my drawings too till like...a few years ago. in general these lines seem to form the planes of the subject. if you google 'stanford bunny' you can find an easy example of a 3D surface turned into triangles. I do this too - see things in relative triangle proportions, except i've been doing it long before i knew how computers worked. i cant begin to tell you how long d*sney and cartooning's obsession with round building blocks of anatomical structure fucked with my brain until i finally decided i could cast that teaching aside completely.

ANYWAY sorry off subject again. so we have these sketchy under lines, and usually as im trying to find the proportions and form of the subject these lines end up being where the light/shadow hits. here i saved out the 1) 'flat colors', 2) the 'light', and 3) the 'shadow' parts on their own (i lightened the background for the 'shadow' so its easier to see):

the light is like four or five 'overlay' layers of pale yellow/orange. you can see how each of these layers follow one of those sketchy lines i did initially. and the same with the shadow but instead its a dark red color set to 'multiply' for each layer. and when you combine everything together you get:

some bullshit :). anyway you know that anniversary edition of beauty and the beast that featured the version previewed to nyc audiences in 1990 with the glen ke*ne sketchy keyframe animation of the beast's transformation? i watched that - must have been sometime after i graduated college - and i felt robbed that THAT version was never presented as a final piece. the 'unclean' drawings had so much more life and movement and intensity to them. tldr i like the messy lines, i hate 'inking' with a passion (HATE. IT.), and when i finally allowed myself to stop giving a fuck drawing became way more interesting. but my art is shit and i will never be glen k*ane so i dont really feel like the best advocate for this "style". alas. there was this one artist on tumblr who i fucking loved whose sketches were SPECTACULAR but the asshole racists in the m*c*ha*nz*o fandom bullied her off tumblr and ive never been able to find her art anywhere else since. she was also very negative about her 'unclean' sketches and it made me so sad. there was also this other artist whose sketches were awe inspiring but all she drew was p*rn and well...we all know what happened on tumblr in december 2018.

also i 100% stole the lighting scheme from The Bear which is currently one of the most gorgeous shows on television right now in my opinion

im really really sorry if this makes no sense, if im feeling motivated maybe i'll try again when my brain is fully functioning but with the actual 'cheesecutter hat' doodle ^_^