#compared to traditional mediums at least

[attyrocious]

heyyy I'm new to digital art, would you mind sharing some tips regarding programs and tutorials and etc? also on how to turn a real life piece into a beautiful and clean digital piece... really love your art

oh good luck with your art journey! my experience with digital art is pretty dated (as in a decade + levels dated) and i might be too out of touch to give beginner tips but regardless, allow me to attempt

Programs: it would help to know which hardware you have for digital but ill put down some i have experience in 1. Clip Studio Paint Pro - PC/Android/ipad/everywhere i think? unfortunately they betrayed humankind and its now a subscription everywhere but on PC. i bought a one-time license years years years ago on sale and its probably the best available on my end. I also got it on subscription on android so i can sync works between my PC and tablet. its very flexible in a way that you can draw with it in the most basic way single layer sketches or whatever but they have so many features and keep adding more.

2. procreate - ipad only never been an apple user but my friend is, and he's been a procreate user forever. he recently tried CSP on ipad though and he still claims he likes procreate better for ease of use and compatibility with tablet ergonomics and apple pen

3. medibang paint - pc/android/ipad

free forever. and out of all the free programs i recommended my other digital art newbie friend this is what he liked best.

4. adobe photoshop - dont even look at this the only reason i have one is im leeching off company license. its still unfortunately the industry standard tho but CSP is much cheaper and has the same controls and most of the basic functions 5. Paint Tool SAI - my first art program but i haven't tried it again. honestly still think this has the best brush flexibility and pen pressure control ----- As for tutorials, i find digital art has such a steep and high skill ceiling and its a challenge im still tackling and probably will forever tackle haha. I'm trying to osmosis painting techniques from splash art painters from League of Legends who most of them post complete timelapses (my favorite being Bo Chen) where you can study not just their techniques but like, art directions that make their pieces striking. Anyway, I also promised a friend I would make a simple coloring tutorial so maybe after inktober hustle, I would look for a piece there I'd use for the guide.

---- Traditional to digital is never a satisfactory process to me but if you can, invest on a scanner. I use an epson v39, had it for years.

scanned vs edited. the goal is to at least get the white of the paper as white as possible and the blacks the blackest, without whitewashing/burning the rest of the colors. Level correction function is your best friend here and most art programs have that.

Then i just clean dust and errors and slide the contrasts around until it looks as close to the original piece

If you have a decent phone camera, you can get away just posting instagram aesthetic pics with materials framing it or smth and just edit as usual. natural light tends to be a lot more forgiving than the harsh light of scanners anyway.

Anyway I hope this helps and have fun learning!

[gingerbreadmonsters]

wow the $30 date tickets really did kill obey me for good huh

[4theitgirls]

a beginners guide to pilates

🎀 what is pilates?

pilates is a form of strength training exercise that focuses on low to medium impact movements to improve muscle tone, stability, endurance, and mobility. pilates also focuses more on the smaller muscles of the body compared to traditional strength or weight training.

🎀 benefits of pilates

including the benefits that exercise generally brings, pilates:

improves mind-body connection and body control

improves active flexibility and mobility

works the core, improving stability

improves coordination and balance

reduces mental and physical stress

works muscles that can be neglected in our daily lives

treats and prevents body pain, including menstrual pain

teaches you how to pair your breath with your body

keeps the joints healthy without putting pressure on them

🎀 where to start

while you can absolutely start with studio or reformer classes, you can also do pilates routines on youtube! i recommend move with nicole and dansique fitness. if you want to get your cardio in as well, i absolutely recommend eleni fit. her workouts are some of the best i’ve ever tried!

🎀 personal tips

keep your core in mind. core strength is a major benefit of pilates because each movement requires at least a mild amount of core work to keep your body stable, so do your best to keep the engagement throughout.

start slow. pilates movements can take a while to fully understand and it can take a while to build the mind-body connection, so don’t push yourself too far in the beginning. your coordination will improve over time!

don’t underestimate it! while the movements are generally slower than other types of exercise, you will work your muscles just as much and in a way they may not have been worked before. sometimes i even find pilates more difficult than hiit or weights!

[thewebcomicsreview]

So, Gunwild, the writer of Cassiopeia Quinn, made a comment on that post about webcomics turning into illustrated prose

gunwildversuseverything said: I was hoping this would prompt a discussion about formats and expression, but no, it’s about artist versus writer workloads and “amount of story” being reduced to equations and word counts and update schedules. Figures.

And you know what, it's a good point. So instead of getting into the Artist vs Writers debate for the millionth time, let's take a look at how you, and artist and/or writer, can get a story told on the internet. For the sake of this discussion, lets assume you don't have any actual preference for a given medium that might influence you, you just want to know what's right for your story and will learn whatever skills you need.

TRADITIONAL WEBCOMIC

Comics are the most visual-heavy medium that a solo project can realistically do. This has several business advantages (pictures do better on social media), but it's also a good fit for stories with a bunch of things that are interesting to look at. Cassiopeia Quinn is a story heavily featuring weird alien races, cool spaceships, and attractive young women with extraordinarily casual dress codes. These are visual things! And visual things can be conveyed super quickly and subtly using visuals. Imagine just the "Cassiopeia doesn't wear pants" gimmick, if this was written out. If Cassiopeia gets a description of her appearance the first time she shows up in chapter one and then it's kind of glossed over, the reader would forget. If every time Cassiopeia entered a scene Gunwild had to go

Cassiopeia sauntered up to the motorcycle rack. Her own rack was barely contained by a dangling strip of black fabric, visible through an open orange jacket. Black elbow-high sleeves, covering her hands, matched her thigh-high stockings, separated from her black panties by her thigh pouch.

Somehow it's a lot less cute when it's written out like this, huh? And it also takes way longer to read that then it does to just look at her on the page, which increases the chance your readers might get bored. Comics are the medium that takes the most time to make and also the least time to read, which makes readers a lot more likely to put up with exposition or a plot tangent that doesn't really connect with them. Even if your comic has bits that don't grip your readers, they can grip themselves if you show them interesting bits.

The main downside of comics is the "equations and update schedules" part. They take a looooooong time to make, even compared to everything else. It's also got issues with how people read it. A comic that looks good on a desktop often looks too small on a phone.

TEXT UNDER A PANEL

This style is so strongly associated with Homestuck that a lot of people who weren't making explicitly Homestuck-themed comics seem to have been scared off it. But it's a perfectly cromulent format. It reads well on both desktop and mobile, and lets you use art for all your visuals while using text for dialogue and character thoughts. It's not, however, the best fit for every story. Because each panel is separate, it can be hard to make an exciting action scene this way, which is part of why this format is also associated with special animated pages (I mean, besides "Homestuck did it"). The panels don't really flow into each other, and there's a constant switching between looking and reading.

ILLUSTRATED PROSE

Distinguished from the Text Under a Panel Style mostly by the ratio of text to art, without a hard line demarcating the distinction between them. This style also reads well in desktop and mobile. Well, it should, but a lot of webcomics who switch to this style tend to stay in their webcomic format, meaning it's a picture of text that doesn't resize legibly, grumble grumble. I don't....I don't know if I need to explain the concept of "text" to people. You know what words are, and if you don't there's nothing I can say to explain it.

VISUAL NOVEL

I'm not going to claim to be a visual novel expert, but the main advantages are that it's the most art-efficient medium of any of these (because you can flat-out reuse art), the main disadvantages are that you'll usually need music, it's maybe not as well suited to long monologues, and most importantly that it's not a good method for drip-feed three-day-a-week updates. You kind of have to release the entire thing all at once, or at least in large episodes.

ALL OF THE ABOVE

A comic like Out-of-Placers is mostly traditional, but uses illustrated prose for lore updates. Prequel is text-under-a-panel but not always, and of course Homestuck is the absolute king of format switching, even ignoring the animations. The upside is that you can use the best format for any given scene, and that you're constantly keeping your readers on their toes. The downside (besides having to learn to do all this shit) is that you kind of have to commit to the bit and get your readers on board early with the idea that you're going to just be doing whatever this week. It's also harder to take full advantage of any one medium if you're constantly switching them up

I'm sure I'm forgetting about two hundred formats, but what are the biggest ones I'm missing?

[fulgurbugs]

another doll post!

they cut me from work early, so i had time to stop by my walmart and see if catty was in. she was! i picked her up with some birthday money for 24.99.

forgot to get a pic of her in the box. here she is unboxed tho! she has saran with microbraids around her hairline (be careful, these come undone easily.)

initial thoughts: while her outfit is cute… it’s missing a littleeee bit of flair. some shoe paint, or maybe a jacket, like in her concept art? these little shoulder things are kind of horrendous. (and they kept coming unvelcroed under her pits.) might look into making her something.

now, there’s a reason i i got excited about catty when i was previously unenthused about her. and that’s her new body sculpt! let’s cut to the chase, that’s what we want to see.

here she is! she is now the biggest MH sculpt, by quite a significant amount. luckily she can still fit on this stand, but it has to grab her right at the underboob at her thinnest point.

it doesn’t photograph well, but she has a pink-tinged iridescence to her body, that could read like shiny fur. it looks great, and makes her look very glittery and dimensional.

wide and back views. i love that she actually has a bit of a tummy, and she also has a much thicker tail than toralei. (i wasn’t able to yank the tail out, tho i think it’s supposed to come off.)

here’s some comparisons with some of the other ghouls. she’s a medium height girl, and i’d say she’s slightly thicker in the body and thighs than abbey, though the way she’s proportioned give her a fatter body type compared to her.

it’s more evident when they’re turned to the side. draculaura only has larger thighs, so if we specially compare to abbey, you can see cattys even larger thighs and her stomach compared to abbeys flat one.

she has smaller feet (same as draculaura’s size.) her hands are also standard size.

back to the doll with her clothes on. here’s her boots, as is mh doll tradition

cool sculpt, definitely need paint. probably a pretty simple project to do, but all those buckles and chains are just begging for a layer of silver. only a teeeeny bit got silver paint, which i think is a shame. allegedly most of the budget for catty went into developing her sculpt, so her outfit definitely is a little lacking….

face card. i adore ADORE her makeup, the little stars…. the side glance… augh. my favorite part is her lip paint, though. the gradient looks absolutely lovely.

the accessories. since this is catty’s core doll, she comes with some of the core staples: her phone, a backpack, her pet cat amulette, and some sunglasses. in addition, she has a mic, a broken hand mirror, a water bottle, and some sheet music

here’s inside the backpack and her sheet music open. (the sheet music is literally just a little piece of paper lol.)

here’s her with some of her accessories! i decided to restyle her hair a little bit as well, i saw a cute restyle that took her micro braids and made a little side bang with them, and that was simple to replicate, so i did that too. i also made her ponytail higher, which i think looks a lot cuter. i think i wanna give her a little ponytail accessory or something tho… maybe in black? dunno. i also think she looks cute with her glasses on her forehead, so i’m leaving them.

obligatory .5 shot.

and that’s catty noir! (lagoona foot jumpscare). i think she’s a lovely addition to the g3 lineup, and i really, really can’t wait to see what they do with her in another line. her reception (at least in the spaces i lurk) has been so overwhelmingly positive that i think when we see her next, they can really go all out and give her a gorgeous outfit and a fun theme (maybe a skulltimate secrets doll?) it felt appropriate to put her with my monster fest girlies, so she got center stage (sorry cleo and frankie) thanks for reading this far!

[sylenth-l]

Hi hello, I love your art so much LIKE MY BROTHER. IT'S SO YUMMY, THE SHADOWS THE EXPRESSIONS, I love how you draw Timur , Felwinter and Osiris together 🙏 little bird with his two funky adoptive parents. I stare at your art like , I'm always ready and hyped to give traditional art another try ✨

If I was to go back, any tips for which watercolours to pick? I so far got only aniline colours.

Aah, thank you so much!! 😳💙

Hmmm, the thing is, I use fountain pen inks almost always for painting. I don't use watercolour much, so I can't really suggest anything in particular… I have a selection of colours from different brands, of course, I know quite a lot about pigments, and I like using watercolour from time to time to add some special effects to my works. For sketching outdoors it's also the easiest to use among all other paints, probably. But painting a whole artwork with it……… I try doing it sometimes, but every single time I end up thinking "God, I wish I used inks instead, I hate this so much, why is it so BLEURGH". I guess watercolour just isn't my medium 😂 

I can share my thinking process when building up a palette though, I use it with all mixable mediums I use, be it inks, watercolour, gouache, etc. I found it to be the most effective (and money-saving, lol) approach for me.

So what I want for my main mixing palette is to have 3 sets of primary trios. All colours also must be as smooth as possible, with no surprises or unwanted colour separation. For watercolour - not granulating ones.

(my camera tends to make all colours brighter and also fails to see the subtle difference between some shades, but you can still get the idea)

The first trio is extremely vivid, consisting of bright cool colours - lemon yellow, cyan, magenta-leaning pink. It gives you access to all the bright, open colours.

Second is the classic they teach in all art schools (probably, from what I've heard, I never went into one alkjdshfk) - sunshine yellow, bright warm red and ultramarine blue. This gives you a huge selection of warmer, natural colours, like all shades of golds, eggplant purples, olive greens, etc. It also allows some nice selection of wood browns.

Third is my personal favorite, the muted trio. You kinda can get similar colours from the previous trio, but I prefer having these separately, because of how often I use them all. It consists of golden ochre-leaning yellow, dark bloody red and dark indanthrone blue. It gives you the most beautiful browns, beiges, blacks and other rich, deep colours.

On top of that I also like to have at least one decent black (in my case it's Quink Black ink, I cannot live without it).  And these 10 would be my essentials. Other colours I add to my mixing palette are basically shortcuts to the shades I find myself mixing the most - like a few browns and violets. There are also a few inks that I need for some very specific purposes - like, I have a very vivid cold magenta ink to mix a certain bright cold shade of the Void, and also a fluorescent orange for adding shiny Exo LED lights. And etc.

(Actually I'm currently in the process of re-organizing my main palette and also considering making a few small sets for painting some characters specifically)

I also have a separate selection of chromatographic inks, which can probably be compared to granulating watercolours… But not quite. A few examples:

Here I don't have any special notes or advices, just get the ink you like and enjoy it. Some of these I use so often that I always keep them in my main palette, and others I only get out for some special occasion. These are also mixable btw - I constantly add other ink in Quink Black to get different shades of it.

However, I must say that not all of the ~special effects~ inks are polite and well-behaved, some will agree to work only on some specific paper after a significant amount of coaxing, and others will straight out say "fuck you" at the most crucial moment, even if they worked perfectly just a moment ago.

Btw, when working with inks, I really recommend to put it into smaller bottles with a dropper, so you don't have to open the big bottle each time. It's both easier to use for you and much safer for inks! 

ANYWAY, I hope this post was of some use for you 🌈

[invenienss]

Yeah, so I drew Rin. I've been dabbling in digital art, it's really fun. I'm also beginning to put these watermarks on my artworks just in case. Also, I sent this to the 1-b discord server, but I made changes and improvements after. Ik this looks different compared to the last 2 artworks, but yeah.

Also this took 2 hours to do and the other artworks have taken at least 4 since those were traditional. 😭😭 This is crazy. I might just do both mediums (traditional and digital). I love the tools in digital art, but traditional art is still more comforting to me.

[wannabe-cartoonist-blog]

Key:

Mine: the colors I've used the most consistently in my own fanart

Anime: pulled straight from screen caps from the show (i also tried to find scenes where the lighting was most "average" (so no night scenes, or scenes with noticibly harsh lighting)

Manga: pulled from these official manga box set covers (bc they all seemed consistent in lighting and shading)

More info below cut (bc i started to ramble, like always)

Probably one of my oddest projects yet, but I've always wanted to compare what colors I choose when drawing the characters vs what the anime uses vs what Fujimaki uses. Color choices and art styles usually go hand in hand, so I wanted to see how weird the characters would look in my style with the two different canon color palettes. Conclusion; pretty fucking weird (to me, at least).

I've always suspected it, but I think this is pretty concrete evidence that I go bold when it comes to coloring (which I think fits my chonky lineart and cartoonist art style). It was funny to see that the anime colors especially are actually rather "dull", because they don't look it at all to me in the actual show. Fujimaki's style was hard to translate, since obviously he uses traditional mediums and also does a lot of blending/shading. I still tried my best to pick the colors that I thought were most prevalent in his images, even though, obviously, they aren't quite so flat in the actual illustrations. I used the special edition covers for the manga color palette, but I'm not 100% sure if Fujimaki himself drew/colored these special edition covers, so someone please correct me if wrong!

Some conclusions I made;

apparently, at some point, I decided to make Kuroko pale as hell??? i think he's always read as pale to me (bc compared to other average characters like Furihata and the GoM themselves, he's does look fairer-skinned imo. But apparently I leaned waaay into that lol. Once I got the actual canon color tones I was like "....oh. I made him sickly...". TBH tho, I think he looks better paler in my style, but that's probably because I got so used to drawing him that way lol. Please do lmk if you think I should begin to switch things up tho when it comes to my style!

kagami, alternatively, I ended up making tanner than canon it seems. but my (perhaps controversial) anime opinion is that Japanese artists tend to "whitewash" a little bit (aka they lean into lighter tones as opposed to darker when it comes to poc skintones). Now kagami, may or may not be mixed raced, but i've always thought a rich, tan skin tone fit him quite well, idk.

I already knew I did this, but its clear from these drawings that I really lean into the colors of their hair. once I get to the GoM, this will be very obvious ("I mean, the colors are in their NAMES. ofc i'm gonna exaggerate them" -> I'm sure that was my exact logic whilst picking my personal palette over the years).

since i'm lazy, i usually just make the characters hair and eye colors the exact same hue, so it was fun to see the different tones they can take in the canon palettes.

So yeah, I plan to go through all the GoM and compared my color preferences vs anime canon and manga canon, so look forward to that! If you read this far, thank you I love you.

If you guys give suggestions, perhaps I'll go back and make a "voted on" color palette, so please do let me know your opinions, in terms of what colors you think "feel right"/look best in my style! :)

[her-acts-of-cruelty]

huge rhrn spoilers!!

this is my review. :3

if you spot any mistakes, let me know! curious to see what other people thought

this is long btw... and broken into sections in no particular order.

1. marketing

i, like many other fans, saw the teaser dropped and assumed the movie wouldn't be out at least until the end of the year, as par the tradition with most movies. However, this isnt movies, in fact i think forge released this movie at the perfect time for a couple reasons. the first beingo that the release date was on Litha, also known as the summer solstice. the reason this is significant is that many ceremonies for this holiday include celebrations with large groups, something that RHRN provided. I felt like this really added to the aspect of attending a "ritual". another reason forge was quite smart for this is that the hype for people around the world to see what happened at the Kia Forum hadnt died down yet. this worked in his favour, considering this sudden drop brought up the attention again.

i really liked that they used Father Jim Defroque as a marketing tactic. Especially considering it connected festival goers at Download to feel connected with fans that weren't there. The use of Jim's posters at download was very fun too, and fitting they got vandalised due to non-ghost fans assuming it was a real priest. for me that added to the authenticity that he's a real person that is very serious about protesting this movie!!!

i also liked the experimentation going on, even if it doesnt go to plan (problems with the jim video drop), the fact that these new mediums are being tested out allows room to figure out kinks and try them again in the future. it added to the interactive element, and made me forget tobias existed, and that this was a very real band and there were very real things going on that i had to be weary of.

2. Music

One thing i did notice is the improvement in quality compared to their previous live album, Ceremony and Devotion. Obviously theres a big change in vocals, i was very surprised that Copia's vocals seemed a lot more high pitched than what i had remembered.

the easiest comparison i can make that's accessible to everyone right now here Rite Here Rite now's Absolution, and Ceremony and Devotion's Absolution. most notably for me was the backing vocals and the presence of this growling and sinister tone, that i really enjoyed. the overall quality is definitely there too, i'm not certain on the specifics but i know for a fact there was a very different set up this time around, compared to C&D.

if you have ghost live, was such a haunting moment. theres many little elements, the backing vocals, the gorgeous piano, and the incredible cello players had a huge part in making this version sound the way it did. the amount of passion and emotion here reflected the message of the song, there was a sense of unity that i felt really stood out.

Its also worth talking about The Future is a Foreign Land. oh my god i cried when i heard this for the first time. this song really encapsulates that sort of bond-esque era of music, undeniably it had that 60s ring to it. It did also remind me of Magna Carta Cartel (more so than subvision, i dont think subvision has quite the same sway as this specific song). i know some others have pointed this out and i'm glad.

from a story point, this song is really interesting. considering we previously had no context of how nihil responded following the events of kiss the go-goat, it was kind of cathartic to know that he did genuinly feel bad for his actions. more about this in the use of animation though.

For tobias forge, this song was really interesting. i felt like it was a bit too blatant having the mention of 2024, i guess it felt like it was implying that from that moment nihil knew that thqt was the year copia would take over as head of the clergy, or at least that seestor would die. which wouldnt make sense? i dont think? idk comments are on, share what you want.

3. Animation/mixed mediums

i wasnt sure how the animation element would tie in with the movie when i first saw it announced, but honestly i think this was the best way to do it. while i was a bit disappointed to see nothing new from liz fenning and justin andrews, the decision to lean into the comments of ghost making scooby doo music and using that artsyle was very fun.

i also felt like this was a time effective way of explaining the events post kiss the go-goat. seestor's idgaf attitude was amazing, im so glad that this didnt fall back on letting nihil get the girl in the end. characters dont have to get back together, and im glad they didnt. this felt more real and more personal, the two of them only sticking around to work and to make sure their children grew up to serve their duties.

the overlay during year zero was so fucking cool. i think its clips from swedish black comedy "Häxan" but i could be very very wrong. this made me very happy though, i wasnt expecting this and was a nice way to throw in some references to swedish media, especially one that also enjoys making fun of the fear around witchcraft and satanism,

4. the ghouls!!

suspiciously well behaved. did not expect that. i was a bit disappointed that we didnt see that much of them and that they were so well behaved??? what happened to my feral creatures???

as per usual, their perfomances were amazing. the backing vocals sent me to heaven, i think best example of this is during mary on a cross, or kaisarion. Seeing Phantom and Dew show off their silly skills was very fun, love me a man that can become a pretzel while he serenaded me with songs of satan. while i am upset that we lost Aether, im glad his replacement is bringing some silliness to his role and seeing his growth with the band had been really rewarding.

i will say cirrus's reaction to seestors death did get me. like damn. youre right this is sad. i think also seeing someone die is actually quite shocking, we dont really know much about seestors relationships with the ghouls so theres not a whole bunch i can add.

im so glad they werent unmasked, i feel like that would've ruined the mystery of what ghouls look like. and i mean not as performers but as fictional creatures. everyone has their own version, similar to how Vessel from Sleep Token keeps on his mask to allow the audience to project onto him.

hearing rain's voice scared the shit out of me. i forgot he knew how to do that.

5. the off stage segments

i am so glad this is how the movie was broken up. what comes to mind for me is copia and nihil in the box just before if you have ghost. this was a gut punch of a moment for me, for a deadbeat parent to just decide they want to be there all of a sudden, because your other parent is bothering you? i did appreciate that big drop of "oh yeah actually i had three songs oops anyway deep breaths loser youre on"

the sudden drop of something like that is insane, and nihil being so smug about it, knowing that he's been keeping that quiet for so long just aaaaaah. but also i get why it was kept quiet, considering how personal the Future is a Foreign Place is to him.

it was at this point i began to cry. and i did not stop crying at this movie, even past the credits.

i did love that there was like no real chemistry between copia and Ashley. like yes, she has a job to do, and copia is known for being useless around women. and also like, theyre co-workers, they dont need to have romantic relations. i liked that!!

i am going to jump to the ending. post encore after the hot air balloon scene. i will not be spending much time on this because my dumbass really believed that copia would just float away into space and thats the movie over.

seestor's death was so unexpected. but i think it made sense. i have mixed feeling about her, mainly the whole "lol yeah i told my 55 year old son i was his mum last month and now ive decided to parent" but thats mainly it. she has a job to do, and she does it well. shes also just the baddest bitch in the world.

i was crying at her dying. and then hearing Copia's pathetic cries had me choke at the emotional whiplash as my friend laughed at me. and i laughed at copia because what the fuck was that noise bro.

AND SHE DIED IN HER HEELS??? girl is serving cunt in the afterlife thats C-U-N-T spells CUNT

finding out copia has a twin (?) was also very shocking, id always assumed he was named Copia becauses hes a copy of his dad, not because like... hes one of two??

Post credits had the entire audience gagged. firstly, seeing copia out of his red tracksuit and wearing his fancy new suit that came with being promoted to Father Imperator (or frater imperator, as some have dubbed him which makes sense and is fair) had me yeowling like a cat being dragged to the vets. Tears were over by this point, i was so proud of him. and happy that forge didnt lie, copia dient die he just now is the real one in charge.

the does also shine a light on how papa doesnt actually have any power, he's just a pawn for the clergy (secondo spitting out im a marrionette??? hello??? he knew full well that he was never the one in charge which is insane. but also fitting for him as a person).

if you're still reading i am very impressed. heres where i put the conclusion;

in conclusion, for Forge's first movie, this was AMAZING. For a band that was originally meant to be scary, its nice seeing them be silly and lean into the things people joke about. they're self aware, and they're fun. i really hope there are future installments and that we get an expansion on the lore (tv show when???)

thank you for reading, here's to Papa V and making new memories!

[elzorton]

Some thoughts about Otohan Thull, the impact of chance on storytelling structures and themes in ttrpgs, and the catharsis of fulfilling story beats.

BIG SPOILERS FOR C3E91 OF CRITICAL ROLE UNDER THE CUT

You have been warned.

Hang with me here cause for the first half it could sound like i’m whining but i promise that this isn’t a negative or critical post. (also, i’m a little sleep deprived so if i’m not making sense just ignore me oops)

Okay, so a thing for me when it comes to ttrpgs compared with, let’s call it ”traditional” mediums of storytelling such as books or movies, is that the randomness that comes with dice rolls, chance and improv can sometimes leave certain story beats feeling… unfulfilled? Chance can lead to things getting resolved in a way that doesn’t feel impactful - or at least not as impactful as it could’ve been.

The death of grand villains such as Otohan Thull is a very good example of this. We expect villains to meet their demise dramatically, and thematically. As i was watching the latest episode, i found myself hoping that Laudna, Imogen or Orym would get the hdywtdt on Otohan. They are the ones who personally have been hurt by her the most, and therefore ”should” (according to my brain that is used to certain story structures ) get the final blow. If the story was told through a traditional storytelling medium, these are very likely scenarios. I’m not saying that it definitely would’ve happened like that, but I’m saying that however it would’ve happened, it would’ve been in a thematically impactful way.

In ttrpgs however, the thematically impactful death of a major villain isn’t guaranteed. The fact that some things aren’t gonna get resolved in the most fulfilling ways is something that we just have to accept. And i DO accept that - but it doesn’t stop the moments where it happens from feeling… incomplete.

WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID - here comes the part where it will stop sounding like i’m about to be whiny about the way it played out.

The outcome of this episode, the death of Otohan, DID feel fulfilling and impactful. It WAS impactful - and thematically relevant. Just not in the way that I expected. Which is exactly what I wish to experience around storytelling.

FCG’s sacrifice is heartbreaking and beautiful. It left me devastated and thankful. Otohan Thull has been so masterfully set up as a villain throughout the campaign. For their death to feel fulfilling, it kind of NEEDED to happen in a grand and impactful way. To me, she DESERVED a memorable death. The most obvious ways that could’ve come true is if Laudna, Imogen or Orym would’ve killed them. Laudna, she would kill the person who murdered her and further her spiral downward into Delilah’s embrace. Imogen and Orym, they would’ve gotten revenge on the person killing the people they loved the most.

Of course, those scenarios aren’t the only thematically fulfilling ways Otohan Thull could’ve died. What transpired this episode is absolutely, 100% meaningful and fulfilling. It just fulfilled another story beat then the ones I expected.

I have already seen a lot of posts highlighting 4SD discussions, previous conversations between characters and the growth of FCG as a character preceding this episode, where among other things FCG’s tendencies to want to sacrifice themselves, their journey towards the Changebringer and her philosophy of choosing your own path, and their growth towards viewing themselves as a living being with a soul. Therefor, I don’t feel the need to go into details of why their death felt thematically in line. We knew they were a ”ticking time bomb”. We knew they wanted to keep their friends safe with any means necessary.

What this means for the death of Otohan, is that it happened in a way that is bittersweet, cathartic and simultaneously expected and unexpected. THAT, is everything you could wish for in the death of a major villain. Otohan Thull has been one of my absolute favorite villains in all three campaigns. She has been brutal, involved and has kept the characters looking over their shoulders in fear everywhere they go. They deserved a grand death. They deserved something impactful, thematically relevant and unforgettable.

Otohan’s death will forever be etched into my brain. As Brennan said so beautifully: ”Why do we tell stories? To try to make sense of a world that can be terrifying and enormous”. This made sense. It was still terrifying. But it made sense. It was fulfilling.

TL;DR, ttrpgs don’t guarantee that major villains will meet their ends in thematically fulfilling ways. In this case, it WAS fulfilling and impactful. Just not in the way I, personally, expected.

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

So. Hmm. Idk how to put this.

I never thought of Critical Role as particularly high-brow entertainment, ya know? But something about The Legend of Vox Machina feels like the story has gone from high-quality fast food (original campaign) to pure junk food (animated series). And that's not necesserily a bad thing? I guess? If you're into that? But the way the story has been flattened while upping the spectacle and the presentation feels very ... schlocky. Ya know?

Like. There's something very incongruous with how much gore and sex and inexplicable fart, vomit, and poop jokes there are, with how "mature" the show is attempting to be, while also having just the flattest most boring version of each character and their arcs, while also also offering some of the most trite baby's first found family/friendship is magic/believe in yourself themes possible. These adults who shit and fuck and curse and kill and maim and torture are also, still, somehow, on an shonen anime protag journey, each and every one of them, learning to believe in themselves and to rely on their friends over and over again.

Those aspects were present in the streams, yes, but they were often implied or strengthened by action and characterization, and often came about mechanically through it being a DnD campaign where becoming friends and comrades-in-arms is the whole main draw of the genre. But instead of focusing on how much depth the cast managed to create with improv storytelling, the thing that's mostly kept in the show is the childish humor and the ... gore? But what made the dirty humor in the show work was the improvisational, clever nature of them, it was appropriate for the moment (or inappropriate, but you know what I mean) and it was usually strengthened by the reactions of the other cast members. The gore was fun not because it was gratuitous or "adult", but because it showcased Matt's ability and creativity and heightened the characters' impact on the world, making both them and the viewer feel like players' actions had true consequences and making them feel badass.

The fact that they kept the gore and the shit jokes (and tbh exaggerated them) but flattened and Flanderized the characters is very baffling to me. I can't figure out who this show is for? Cuz as an adult I do not find it very compelling storywise, even if it's a visual spectacle.

And before anyone says "they're writing their own characters so this is good and accurate actually!!" I mean ... it's entirely possible that they're better actors than they are writers. Ya know? And once the excuse that it's improv is removed, I feel like it's totally fine to put the characterization under greater scrutiny than they were when they were just being improv'd by the cast. Ya know?

People say "of course something is lost in translation, it's a different medium!" like it's a given, and, like, it is. But people use it to excuse the shortcomings of the translation, when in reality, some translations are better than others. And sometimes you lose nuances that made the original great to begin with. Some things are hard to translate, and losing them can and does make the translation lacking when compared to the original. That's why some people learn entirely new languages to read their favorite media in the original language.

Once you take the improv and the dice rolls and the long-running nature of the streams, and try to shorten and structure them and lay them out in a logical progression the same way traditional media tells stories, you realize that none of these characters are very unique, their stories aren't unique, and the way the whole thing is constructed is very bland. But the visuals are nice so it tricks you into thinking it's better than it is.

Which is kinda. Sad? But also fascinating.

So yeah. Kind of a big dookie disappointment. At least I still have the original show.

[gemsofgreece]

What is a more ethical way to visit Greece in terms of lodging? Like in terms of over development in the tourist sector? Hotels or air bnb or hostiles?

That’s a good question. With the assumption that there is the budget for any of these, my recommendation is definitely:

Hotels >> Hostels >>> Airbnbs

With an ethical perspective. (With a quality perspective I would probably switch hostels with airbnbs.)

Hostels are not particularly developed in Greece. It can be an okay choice though, especially if you do not care about many amenities, you are young and don’t have too particular needs / preferences or are tight on budget. But it is 90% the lowest quality option in Greece.

Greek airbnbs can vary from mediocre to awesome and you can find okay places for very good prices. However, it is the least ethical option. Yes, it’s usually people renting a property for some more income but a) many rich people with a LOT of properties turn all of them into airbnbs or buy more and more properties to use them exclusively as airbnbs and b) Greece is one of the countries that has started facing very serious problems due to the uncontrollable expansion of airbnbs. The government is trying now to set some limitations to them. Especially the most touristy areas have huge issues since all property owners - regardless of income - turn their apartments into airbnbs, making it impossible for local people and critically important professions such as teachers and doctors to find houses on normal rent to stay. As a result they are forced to quit on their jobs and touristy yet remote places such as islands and traditional towns are left without teachers and doctors and generally suffer from an imbalance of necessary services. There are now just tourists, restaurant owners and airbnb owners frenchkissing or something there and that’s it. Sometimes, when the need for them is too bad yet people still insist on turning their houses to airbnbs, teachers and doctors end up sleeping in rooms or yards or rooftops of the local owners. That shit has turned into a dystopia. Furthermore, the rise of airbnbs has been causing big problems in cities and non-touristy areas as the cost of rent has skyrocketed (as the incentive for house owners to not make their property an airbnb) which makes it impossible for students and young people to find apartments in reasonable and affordable prices! I don’t care if anyone reading this has airbnbs and is pissed, airbnb is unethical in touristy countries!!!

Because Greece is a touristy country there is a huge variety of hotels to choose from, all quality types, all types of businesses. Greece is a country with MANY family run hotel businesses that can have great quality and can provide a cozy environment even better than airbnbs do. There are obviously also many big shark hotel chains but they are not the standard. The standard are the family run hotels. You can usually tell by the websites whether a hotel is part of a chain. For example, the Hiltons are foreign sharks. The Domotels are Greek sharks. But even so, even the sharks, honestly they do not cause a lot of problems. Usually they are expensive large hotels with all sorts of amenities, big breakfasts, nice environments.

There are some concerns about hotels lately getting overbuilt in environmentally sensitive areas but that is also the case for private properties intended to be used as airbnbs. This is something you as a tourist can’t possibly guess. But hotels - big chains or not - definitely cause fewer problems in the society compared to airbnbs.

But if you want both an ethical choice and good services opt for a small or medium sized hotel that is not part of a chain. Usually most of them are of the 3 star and the 4 star range, but you can find lower and higher as well. Those are often called boutique hotels.

Last but not least, a whopping 80% of the services sector in Greece is tourism, therefore all these people need tourists to go to hotels to make an income and help economy run smoothly. We are not talking about the sharks here, but simple owners who have to sustain the hotels, receptionists, cleaners, waiters, cooks and all other professions involved in a hotel. Let alone that the sharks employ a gazillion of people that have to make a living - gardeners, physiotherapists, gymnasts, drivers and so on. Airbnbs are antagonising that 80% of the service economy trying to steal tourism’s profit and turn it into their personal side income.

I know I didn’t have to write all this but I am passionate about this topic.

[rustedbread]

A huge portion of my problems would be solved if I was a member of the literature club Oh yeah, back when the rot was REAL bad [I'm talking the ultra-fixation rot, not the other kind, I'm well versed on the other kinds, but I wasn't doing that in this instance at least] yeah back when the rot was real bad, I was playing through sidestories..? I think? and I stopped playing midway through Natsuki and Yuri both arguing about whether or not manga should be considered literature to just rant, and I went on for like ten whole minutes describing why Yuri was partially wrong I know my main argument was that you can still appreciate and have good writing if it doesn't require you to visualize the scenes yourself, and that the difference between visual novels and traditional [?] novels is mainly just that the authors vision is more clear, with art being able to show exactly what the storytellers WANT to be shown, which can lead to some subtle details that can't quite be perfectly replicated in traditional novels. I don't think that visual novels are lesser than traditional novels in any way, because they both serve slightly separate purposes, and just because one might be a bit easier to digest doesn't mean it isn't literature because like, then I'd have to explain that [to my knowledge] the idea of literature itself mostly extends to media as a whole if it has good writing and merit to it if it serves its purpose well, truly it doesn't matter if the medium it's contained in has a higher wordcount in it or not, because it's still media, in a way it is literature [?] but the main point is that it still has substance even if you don't have to directly involve yourself with creating the world you wish to observe the main reason written works might be seen as more sophisticated is that it may take more effort to actively immerse and vision the world you're reading about, which personally to me a very forgetful and distracted person, is fairly hard to do and I do see why it'd be more preferable for someone to like novels to be compared with media that uses visual aid in storytelling so fairly I can get why Yuri would think that, but honestly, the main thing I feel she's REALLY arguing about when she was saying manga is lesser than regular novels and that manga can't have substance or usually doesn't have substance which entirely is up to the novel itself, and it's a shallow view to have about stuff, to be honest! just because something might be easier to digest doesn't mean it DOESN'T have substance, and if something is so out of grasp for most people, if it still has good themes, but is much harder to access for ordinary people because of confusing writing, it defeats the purpose of writing it in the first place, yknow? that's a bit out of my main point, so let me try to get onto some sort of actual point here, I guess one moment yeah literature and media as a whole shouldn't be about what is the best type of media there is, no, it shouldn't be about if comics are immature or that they won't ever have substance everything has lows, the medium you get in doesn't matter, what matters is the substance itself, and if it's easier for someone to get into something that requires less mental work, good on them! it shouldn't be about what's the most mature way to read a book, all that really matters is if the story you're going to be enjoying itself is good or not [also I feel like literature can be replaced by media as a whole, because like, all media IS literature, but I also know literature is mostly defined as just novels usually, but that's not really what I'm using it as? be assured I feel the definition of literature should be more broadened, but that's what media is for, I'd say] .... no I didn't intend to write this much

[bardic-inspo]

Writer Interview

Playing some catch up on tags. Tagged by the wonderful @pursuitseternal, @marlowethebard, @nyx-knox, @honeybee-bard, @snowfolly,

and @paganwitchisis holy shit thank you all!!

Not sure who all in my circles has done this already, but gonna tag @wilteddreamsofbaldursgate, @astarionancuntnin, @pinkberrytea, @locallegume, @thedreamlessnights,

@ladymdc, and @carooosa if you see this and would like to do it! No worries if not!

When did you start writing?

Around 13/14 years old, doing warrior cats roleplay on proboards forums. Roleplay isn't really my speed anymore, but it eventually bridged me into more traditional narrative writing and then fanfic later. Fallout 4 was the first fandom I really wrote fanfic for.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I really love intricate long-running plots with slow-burn pay off, and used to write more in that vein, but got pretty burnt out on it. It felt like it would take so long to get to those big moments I pictured the whole time, by the time I arrived to them, they felt played out in my head. Trying to strike a happy medium now by writing (relatively) shorter and more focused fic/storylines that still pack a punch, but maybe have fewer branches.

Otherwise my genre/theme preferences are generally the same with writing vs. reading and are pretty broad.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Not a writer, but I've been told at various times there is a poetical element in a lot of my writing, even in just the sentence structure or how I tend to pace my prose. That makes a lot of sense to me, since I wrote a lot of poetry before getting into writing a lot of prose.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I used too many tricks on my brain to jump start creativity (yummy beverage, cozy blanket, favorite candle when writing) and now my brain often demands all of these things be in place to do any writing 😬I can sometimes get away without all of them. Usually, I'm writing in my office, which is a pretty blue color with some gold picture frames and often a soothing space. But, I do work from home in there at times, too, and on workdays I can't make myself do creative things in the same spot I sat in working all day. Then, I'll be at my dining table or sitting on my couch, usually with headphones because I have a hard time concentrating with other noise around me.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Self care. I mean, making sure I've got sleep/food/hygiene etc. squared away where they should be, even if it means taking a break from the page. Most of the time when I'm trying hard to write and it's just not jiving, it's because I've neglected one of those things, and the words always come easier once I've addressed them.

Playing the game again. Listening to character music. Chatting with friends who love the character, too.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Yes! A lot of them became apparent to me only after switching fandoms and realizing I was writing about a lot of similar themes. Grief is a big one. Characters who've experienced both a lack of love and a loss of it. Characters who fall in love again or in spite of that loss. The main ships I've written for all feature characters who either loved someone else first or, in Astarion's case, have gone through the forced motions of romance.

Battle couples is another big one. Bisexual battle couples. 🥰

What is your reason for writing?

It's always felt like something I needed to do to feel whole. Not necessarily the sharing the writing or posting it part, or getting a reaction about it, but doing it at all, even just a little. Even if it's just for me. I feel more me when writing is at least a small part of my life. More free. It's my creative outlet.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I adore any comment. I'm borrowing this from someone else's interview post, but I too am a slut for praise. In all honesty though, just knowing I'm not writing into some void or vacuum can be so powerful. Even just a heart emoji comment makes my spirits soar.

The ones that go full red string and corkboard about the plot or characters, or quote what parts stick out to them always stick with me. It lets me know I'm hitting the mark with what I'm trying to convey.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I want them to know I'm still good for it even if it takes me a long time.💜That's the biggest thing to me right now. I'm not able to pour it out so quickly as others can. But I hope they know it'll be a good time when I do eventually post.

And also that I'm just some lady. I'm just another human bean. Wanting to share and enjoy stories with other human beans, and connect with a sense of community through those stories.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Visceral/punchy action scenes, vivid descriptions, setting tone, and portraying character personalities.

How do you feel about your own writing?

My feelings about it change with the tides. Right now, I'm a bit glum, and I think that's because I haven't had much to share or post lately, even though I've been doing lots of writing that isn't ready to be shared yet. On the other hand, I'm having the most fun with it that I've had in a very long time, and that element feels great.

I'm grateful for what I've done, incredibly blessed to have made friends and found community through writing, and ever-striving to find the happy medium of productivity and creativity.

When you write, are you influenced by what others enjoy might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

It's mostly what I'd like hehe. And I'm happy about that. I am often inspired to try things based on what I see in fandom, but if I don't enjoy it, too, I won't pursue it further.

[finlaena]

2024 - (Art) Year in Review

It's that time of year again, where artists compare each others' output to everyone else on how the year went when it came to art. Not counting some stuff, I finished about 11 works. Which is... pretty sad, honestly. I'm not going to go into the whole spiel about how I wish I could pump out art as frequently as I used to 15 years ago, it'd be pointless. You get older and sometimes, you just wear out. It is what it is.

Much like a comic actor trying to shed typecasting by doing dramatic roles, I attempted to try and *not* do overly dramatic lighting but that failed absolutely miserably. Perhaps 2025 will be a different story, if I can just train myself to be more, uh, consistent.

Started out somewhat promising, too, but the reality of fickle fandom tastes hit harder than I expected this year, like, right out the gate and that was one sucker punch I couldn't come back from. Eh, wygd. ┐(‘～` )┌

Not pictured are some doll rerooting projects I did throughout the year. Still very much in the beginner stages, but it's been a fun to do something totally different from 2D art. It at least kept me from going out of my gourd during the slower months.

My hopes for 2025 are:

Get back to drawing my personal worldbuild stuff more often

Finally get past the embarrassment and start chipping away at "Lara Croft and the Eye of Azimuth" (my take on how a Tomb Raider/Legacy of Kain crossover could work) but it probably won't be shared with the public.

Experiment with traditional mediums and 3D modeling when able

Learn how to sew so I can make doll clothes lmao rip

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 693

So journaling isn’t the only thing that hit a year anniversary today. Chimera Academy is also a year old today.

Writing for the comic has been fun, and surprisingly a learning experience. I’m not sure what I expected when I agreed to do a comic, but I certainly didn’t fully consider the learning curve writing for a comic would entail. 

Now, I already knew that writing for a comic is very different than writing for prose, and I knew this because I had already turned prose writing into scripts for @wereah in the past. However, I had never written anything with the full intention that it would be a comic.

This means from the outset (to make both our lives easier) I ideally had to write the comic keeping in mind that:

Comics are a visual medium, and you should take advantage of that.

Comics are a *static* visual medium which has limitations you should take into consideration.

It’s very hard to emphasize how much flexibility writing in prose has compared to other storytelling mediums. In a traditional prose story, you can read a character’s thoughts, feelings, inner monologue and travel with them as the character lives from one scene to the next. There is a reason why movie and TV adaptations are so difficult, and why being ‘faithful’ to the source isn’t always the answer.

While writing Chimera, I had to be aware that I couldn’t switch locations often within a chapter. If I do a scene change, I need to write in a way that it will not be confusing for the reader later. Frankly in the first several chapters of Chimera, it was just easier to not do it at all. In fact, I still have a chapter that will have at least two scene changes, and we’ll see if both those changes stay or if I’ll say, “fuck it” and get rid of one of them.

That being said, comics (and by extension visual mediums) have advantages that writing prose does not, and keeping that in mind has been difficult. Club Faire, the upcoming comic, is when my scripts start to have a bit more art direction, instead of poor Were-Ah doing all the heavy lifting, but it isn’t until the chapter after Club Faire that I’ve really been leaning into the fact this is a visual medium in my scripts.

I’m very proud of the chapter called Intermission, which comes after Club Faire, because it’s when I really start giving the children personality and interaction that doesn’t fully require dialogue. Now it’s the question of if I can upkeep that for the chapters after that one.

But that is a future writing problem.