#have a consistent art style challenge: ALSO FAILED

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

I've been reading your Erikar posts and I think that they work really well with the idea that moirallegiance really doesn't work the way it's "supposed" to. It's framed in-universe as a very one-sided "stable person pacifies dangerous person" deal, but both Erifef and Gamkar, which are basically platonic ideals of that concept, failed independently because of how unstable that dynamic is -- one person is worn out doing all the emotional labor and the other is not interested in being pacified. Whereas the meowrails, despite also being framed as a "classical" moirallegiance, are much more clearly two-sided, as both parties consistently help, listen to, and advise each other, and the relationship is consequently much stabler and more enduring. I love the way you frame Erikar because it works really well with this by showing both parties taking and giving "pacification" and support in turn, instead of one shouldering all the work.

Yeah! I think this is a good way to talk about something Hussie likes to do that I'm a huge fan of, which is: unreliable narration. This unreliable narration has garnered Hussie the reputation of being a "troll" or even flat-out "wrong" about HS, and I find both of these to be very unfair because the use of unreliable narrator is both deliberate AND thematically fitting.

As part of Homestuck's post-modern stylings (and I mean post-modern in the literature sense, not vis. art, though it has shades of that too), it plays heavily on the ideas of narrator-as-character, author-as-character, metafiction, and we-all-know-it's-a-story-itis. Hussie himself, even in his external commentaries (Formspring, Tumblr, Books, etc.), is fully aware that his additions add to the metatextual texture of the work and change how it's interpreted - that, although his additions technically lie external to the "story" Homestuck is telling, they are also paradoxically part and parcel of that very story.

As a result, they deliberately play a character WRT Homestuck, both in- and out-of-universe, and this character is, by their own admission, buffoonish and oafish. It's really apparent in their book commentary, where they'll sometimes even drop the act, or "realize" they've dropped the act and hurry to put it back on (a standout moment is when he provides a very genuine, honest analysis of Vriska, before going "oh, wait, I forgot, she's literally my wife and has never done anything wrong ever in her life ever"). They also mention how their narrative voice sometimes works antagonistically to the characters, such as when it assures Vriska that she has no choice but to kill Aradia, subtly pushing Vriska towards that option.

Functionally, neither the narrator nor the author (and by that, I mean the caricaturized character of "the author" that Hussie plays) of Homestuck are entities that you can take fully at face value; they need to be challenged and interrogated as much as any other character, have their motives dissected, have their blind spots pointed out.

And why would this need to be the case? Because that's literally one of the main thrusts of Homestuck: malicious entities (in HS's case, LE, Doc Scratch, and Caliborn, who at various times struggle with Hussie for control of the story, before killing him and wresting it away entirely) will attempt to write the narrative. They'll push their version of events, their politics, their biases, their philosophies. They'll try to change the story to suit them and perpetuate their own power and ability to enforce that power. And you can't let them win.

Hussie-as-a-character/narrator himself is not particularly malicious, and, as the narrative prompt serving as Caliborn's guide, is even ultimately sympathetic, expressing that kids need to grow up and mature, achieve self-actualization, emotional catharsis, etc.

However, as a result of his oafishness, he has a tendency to play to the characters' worst instincts, to pick favorites among the cast. The most blatant example of this is his "love" of Vriska, which - contrary to popular opinion - isn't "real". Hussie is not actually in love with Vriska; the whole thing started because - due to misogyny - people accused Hussie of only giving Vriska so much plot relevance because he was literally in love with her. Why else would a female character with an unpleasant personality be allowed to be important, amirite? And Hussie clearly thought that this whole thing was so ridiculous that he 100% leaned into it as a joke. I'm not here to litigate whether or not it was appropriate to do so, just to point out that Hussie's "love" of Vriska was always an artifice - an aspect of Hussie-as-character that he played up to highlight the fact that Hussie-as-character is an unreliable buffoon, and, by extension, that Vriska is not blameless and perfect.

Since this is the Eridan blog, I'd be remiss not to talk about him. Hussie's commentary towards Eridan is especially fascinating to me, because Eridan is one of he characters Hussie-as-character is biased against, in a similar way as he's biased in Vriska's favor. Thus, his attitude towards Eridan is very dismissive, both in the book commentary AND in the comic itself. "Gamzee: Indulge emotional theatrics" and "Jade: Answer this douche bag" come to mind. He also spends the vast majority of the Act 5 Act 2 book mocking Eridan for being sad and alone, with nobody to care about him and nobody who listens to his problems.

Now, the reason I call this fascinating is twofold: the first is that his commentary in the Act 5 Act 1 book has a WILDLY different tone: while he's still biased in Eridan's disfavor, he outright calls Eridan a "good character" alongside Nepeta, and offers genuine insight into his characterization and the powers of Hope - comparing him at one point to Dave if Dave took a much darker path.

So when his attitude changes from "he's a shithead, but fairly complex, I guess" to "he's a loser idiot that nobody likes LMAOOOO", you're supposed to notice that! You're supposed to question that, to wonder why he has a change of heart, why he's suddenly so dismissive of a character he was genuinely writing whole paragraphs about before.

And the answer is multifaceted:

He's playing up his buffoonish character, to let you know that he's about to be wrong as hell. Every time Hussie starts really amping up the Hussie-as-character persona, you're about to be in for an opinion that SHOULD NOT be taken at face value.

He's reflecting a common fandom opinion, because one of his favorite things to do as an unreliable narrator is to speak on behalf of another character or entity, highlighting the biases and blind spots in play - in this case, the audience's. Again, he's about to be wrong as hell, so he's doing this specifically to indicate that the audience members who believe this are also wrong as hell.

Act 5 Act 2 is when we get the one conversation in all of Homestuck where somebody (Karkat) cares about Eridan and takes his problems seriously. During this part of the story, Hussie goes COMPLETELY silent. This is incredibly out of character, as he usually can't shut up, and the commentary is usually dense, packed with words, without pause. Compare:

In those blocks of silence are contained the conversation Eridan has with Karkat where Karkat literally tells him "I know it's hard being you" and that Nepeta's rejection of him wasn't a negative reflection of him. In other words, Karkat cares about Eridan and takes him seriously, COMPLETELY contradicting Hussie-as-character's assertions that nobody does, so utterly that Hussie-as-character has to completely shut up during that entire sequence because he has no way of reconciling his stance with the evidence presented.

Now, Hussie-as-an-actual-person is completely aware of what they're doing, or else they couldn't do stuff like this so consistently and so precisely. So I want to be very, very clear that this is not Hussie "not understanding his own story" or whatever BS the fandom likes to say in order to cast Hussie as the villain. This is masterful usage of unreliable narrator, like, I'm genuinely impressed.

By acting a clown and insisting that nobody likes or cares about Eridan, the audience is MEANT to glean from the text:

That Karkat is clearly an exception, and he quite likes and cares about Eridan,

That those who are dismissive towards Eridan and treat him purely as an object of ridicule are Wrong as Hell,

That maybe it's not a good thing for us - both audience, author, and characters - to be so quick to judge and dismiss others just because they're annoying and nasty - that doing so can have dire consequences, as we see with how Eridan's story plays out.

And I'm not kidding when I say that we have to be constantly fucking vigilant, that there's very, very little that can be purely taken at face value. Not long after this is one of Karkat's memos, where he attempts to warn his past friends about all the murders, only to dismiss past!Gamzee by saying that current!Gamzee going crazy murderclown "barely even concerns [him]." Hussie then notes in the commentary - and not for the first time - that Karkat has a Problem(TM) with not seeing past/future versions of people as contiguous with their current selves, which he does as a defense mechanism so as not to confront his own feelings of shame and self-loathing. Hussie then proceeds not to comment on the following:

CCG: YOU ARE DEAD TO ME CCG: PAST YOU, PRESENT YOU, FUTURE YOU CCG: AND ABOVE ALL, UGLY SCARFNECKED DOUCHEBAG HIPSTER YOU CCG: WAIT I FORGOT, ALL OF THE YOUS ARE THAT YOU

Hmmm... interesting. I wonder why Hussie points out one of Karkat's running character traits, just to "forget" to notice when an exception happens directly after? I'll let this one be an exercise for the class.

So to tie it all back to your ask: why is the exposition on troll romance done the way it is? What are the narrator's motives? Hussie even outright states in the commentary that Kanaya/Tavros/Vriska, which is used as an example of an auspicetism, isn't even a real auspicetism, as Kanaya feels no need to commit to it, and at most is putting out mixed signals - it's just used as an example because it's the closest thing we've seen.

Well, the answer I've arrived at, personally, is that the troll romance explanation is as flawed as it is because the narrator is taking on Karkat's point of view. A movie poster on Karkat's wall, the troll version of Serendipity, is used and namedropped as the ultimate expression of meeting your soul mate in every quadrant - as well as the assertion that "every" troll believes that there ARE destined soul mates for every quadrant, which Karkat definitely believes, but isn't a sentiment necessarily shared by everybody else. Moreover, the explanation ends with a tirade about how Karkat tried to explain quadrants to John, who didn't get it because "he's an idiot".

I'm not saying that Karkat is literally narrating here, just to be clear - I'm saying that the narrator (Hussie-as-character) is relaying factual information as processed through the lens of Karkat's biases, and, as a result, we can't take the explanation at 100% face value (though we can't discount it as entirely untrue, either). It's not so much that "real" moirail pairs work because they're doing moirallegiance "wrong," but that Karkat's view of moirallegiance is simplistic, idealized, and flawed, and we see this play out when he's bitter about his breakup with Gamzee because Gamzee stops "needing" him to keep him calm, even after Karkat has failed to be kept calm by Gamzee in return.

The more I look into Homestuck, the more that I'm genuinely impressed by the way it handles its writing. I hope this was interesting to everyone, too. I feel a little like I'm peeling back a curtain, or opening up a clock to reveal all the little cogs and wheels.

No, you can't trust Hussie as the narrator, but that's on purpose, and it's on purpose because why do we trust narrators? Why do we assume people telling a story are unbiased, benevolent, and have no ulterior motives? Why do we let idiots, assholes, predators, and monsters get away with their version of the truth, when a little scrutiny will have the whole ruse fall apart? Why do we let people tell us not to care about other people, why do we let them tell us that it's okay to be cruel to acceptible targets, why do we let them go unexamined?

And how about the stories we tell ourselves?

[spookyteeth]

have an consistent art style challenge! FAILED!!

also i can post traditional art now yayyyyy

[stonecoldmarimo]

AI ART ALERT

I'm not one to hate blog but god 4000 notes on a piece of ai garbage I'm posting directly so OP can't delete my message and others can hopefully learn what to look for. And before anyone tries to say otherwise I looked through the rest of this person's artworks to confirm if anyone wants to see for themselves. Tattoos and anything that's supposed to have words or small details are gibberish, their art style is all over the place and the coloring is extremely inconsistent. In fact there's so little style consistency that it goes beyond someone who happens to have multiple art styles given that the way they draw one specific character changes at least several times in terms of physical structure/hair, not to mention if they really have as much technical skill as their artwork is supposed to demonstrate then they shouldn't make such glaring technical errors in some of their works (irises not properly touching the edges of the eyes, wonky hair shapes, and I'm presuming because hands are still a challenge for ai that's why they conveniently leave them cropped out in quite a few "pieces". I understand hands can be challenging for some artists but again someone who is supposed to have this much skill should not be making beginner artist decisions like avoiding to draw specific features). They tried to take a picture of their physical hand next to their "sketchbooks" as proof of legitimacy but the lineart is far too clean to be made by a physical pencil or pen since even pen has some amount of unsteadiness to a degree in creating lines so it's definitely digital, not to mention it's more suspicious that they only ever post finished products without proof of process (I'm not talking exclusively about time lapses I'm talking about half-finished sketches, doodles, etc). Tell signs are harder to distinguish in this piece so I understand why people got fooled but the giveaways are the fact that theres no sense of framing in this picture with the way the background is just miscellaneous nonsense colors that serve no purpose in framing the subjects.

The over-detailing of the faces (going along with the supposed medium used to paint the rest of the "artwork" there should be some amount of texture to the faces but theres a dissonance which is given by how smooth they are in comparison to the rest of the piece) and... every artist is entitled to artistic liberty but they dont even fucking look like the characters themselves like Ekko's face shape is entirely off and I find it difficult to believe that someone who is supposed to be as advanced as this would fail at something like facial studies. Also again with the nonsense gibberish tattoo on Jinx's arm which is being masked by the roughness of the paint texture. And in case people still aren't convinced here's a screenshot I took from a different post claiming to be something they drew:

I mean good god those poor fucked up birds in one of their "pieces". Anyways we're living in really scary times where people will try to get away with passing off generative slop cobbled together by stolen artwork as their own cuz they're desperate for validation. Please try to keep your eyes peeled out there guys.

[rocketbirdie]

Have you ever drawn Sephiroth? Also my favorite post of urs is Cloud and Zack chained together and getting caught by a poll XD ALSO ALSO how do u find an art style?? I've been asking this question to a lot of ppl but never get anything that helps me- my "art style" is always inconsistent and I'm trying to do something that expression how I feel as a person while drawing a character (but maybe it's because as a person I'm all over the place and I can't pinpoint how to express myself) I can give a little ref for a few of my drawing to show how inconsistent they are😓 though some things stay the same a lot of other things change (people say I'm hard on myself but I feel like it needs to look a certain way for me to like it ig also also also the 2nd drawing was a fixed version of the og because it was well elongated.. can you tell im no good at anatomy-?)

ANYWAYS SORRY FOR THE RANT!! 😓

HI NO WORRIES FOR THE RANT!! Regretfully I have not drawn a whole lot of Sephiroth... perhaps that shall change someday? 🤔

Hmm I think I know what most people's advice would be, like "oh don't worry about art style just do whatever you like!" and yes, that's kinda true, but it's not really helpful. So here's my thoughts on the matter:

I find that the best approach to finding a style that fits you is to start by identifying your own tastes in art. Instead of worrying about consistency, focus on finding brushes/tools that feel good to use, colors and lines that appeal to you, and then play around with those. You'll find it a lot easier to make art that you like if you let yourself have fun with it, as opposed to subjecting it to pass/fail criteria.

For example, it's probably not surprising to hear that I love vibrant, colorful geometric art. I struggled for so long trying to use fancy brushes and weighted paintstrokes to make more realistic portraits, and it frustrated me because even if other people said it looked great, nothing I made looked right to me. Turns out it was my toolkit hiding my own art style from me. The moment I switched to solid colors and the goofy default pen setting, BOOM. Suddenly I was on a roll.

As for anatomy, you're already doing great!! My trick for anatomy (and for anything at all, really) is to break it down into simple 3d shapes. Fun fact, almost everything with the human body is just varying cylinders. Your neck? Cylinder. Hand? 5 cylinders attached to a cylinder that's been slightly squished. Torso? That's cylinder, babe! Arms? Legs? You guessed it, cylinders.

Challenge yourself HARD, EARLY. Don't wait until you think you're "good enough" to do a big intimidating project, or else you'll be waiting forever. Draw those difficult angles, perspectives, and compositions NOW, not later! It'll make the things that you're already good at feel ridiculously easy, and make those things come naturally to you, enabling you to focus your efforts into the stuff you do want to get better at.

[theywerefive]

They were five - A Delicious in Dungeon AU

The Delicious in Dungeon manga, known as Dungeon Meshi, is created by Ryōko Kui. It’s set in a fantasy world where adventurers explore dungeons for treasures, including the fabled Golden Kingdom. The story begins with six adventurers trying to defeat a dragon, but they fail and lose their leader’s sister, Falin, to the dragon’s belly. Three members—Laios, Chilchuck, and Marcille—decide to rescue her. To fund their mission, they come up with a plan to cook and eat dungeon monsters, inspired by old Dungeons & Dragons games. As they explore, they meet Senshi, a dwarf with monster-cooking skills and Lisa, a tall-man with seasoned sword fighting skills. They face challenges in the dungeon, crafting meals from their discoveries, and the story adds humour as they react to these unusual dishes.

This AU is called “They were five” because it starts with five members instead of four. Here Lisa Lederer joins the party along with Senshi.

This Tumblr consists of summaries of the manga and edited pages as visuals. There will also be original pieces in the future.

All of this is meant for entertainment! (Mainly for me :9)

Thank you Ryōko Kui for creating these characters and the delicious world they reside in!

Lisa Lederer

Manga inserts:

Chapter 1: First encounter - Delicious in Dungeon

Chapter 2: part 1 - part 2 - bonus art

Chapter 3: part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - bonus art

I am calling them manga inserts, since I don’t redraw the entire pages. But I am still drawing bits and pieces by hand trying to keep the style of the manga. Original works will most likely be more in my art style.

Interactions are welcome! (If you have a delicious in dungeon OC that wants to say hi to Lisa LMK!)

Thank you!

[beatthegame]

I just beat the shit out of Elden Ring! It's the least I could do after the game crushed my soul on my first two attempts. But this time, it was personal! Despite being a critically acclaimed gaming masterpiece, I hated it! Grinding for hundreds of hours building your character. one. point. at. a. time. Enduring through frustrating boss encounters. Getting killed by broken enemies clipping through solid surfaces. Collecting a wide assortment of useless items and magic spells. Immersed in a vast, enchanted world with zero context. On paper, Elden Ring checked off all the boxes necessary to enjoy an epic open world adventure. Yet, the game fails in so many different ways, it's overwhelming. Elden Ring was an absolute nightmare. And yet, despite all of the nonsense, I COULD NOT STOP PLAYING! LMFAO!

In a nutshell: Even after enduring 300 plus hours, I still don't know what this game is about? I know that you play as a "tarnished soul" caught up in a war between gods over this magic ring, right? Your very existence is a revenge plot from the slain goddess Marika to wipe out all the demigods in "The Lands Between" and become the new Elden Lord. Although there is no explanation why anyone would want to do something like that? Like, what's wrong with the old elden lord? Why do I want to take his job? What's so great about being elden lord anyway? Aside from sitting on a sweet chair at the end? Bottom line: the game is simply about challenging boss fights and collecting treasure. If that's all you want, then this game delivers.

The Good: Easily one of the most visually stunning games available on any video game console. Kudos to the FromSoftware art direction team for building all of the visual assets in this game. The amount of detail put into everything is really admirable. From the customizable character building to the intricate weapon, enemy and environmental designs. A majority of the visuals are pure nightmare fuel! Which built a consistent sense of dread wandering through the world. Add the fact that you can't pause the game, able to get killed in a myriad of ways, including the threat of permanently losing experience points established an unsolicited level of anxiety between encounters. Not exactly a good thing? But it's a unique gameplay element that stands apart from other titles. While a majority of the fights were incredibly frustrating by design. You can't deny how INTENSE a lot of these fights were! My heart was pounding through my chest during a lot of these boss fights. Notably the Godskin Fights, Crucible Knights, Gargoyles, that Lake of Rot Tree Cunt. But the sense of relief after defeating one of these frustrating fucks was electrifying! Slowly but surely, you get stronger and the fights become less of a burden. Like, there IS an easy mode available in Elden Ring. But you have to earn it!

I also like the versatility of the character classes depending on how you allocate your skill points. Although I decided to focus on Strength, Endurance and Dexterity. You have the option to lean towards Arcane & Intellegence for magician builds. Or perhaps you'd want to build on defense and ranged attacks to kill enemies from a distance? It is appreciated how the game flow will drastically change depending on the style of play you choose to advance with. And a huge thanks to our trustworthy horse/yak companion Torrent. Traveling the surface world was a lot more pleasant thanks to you.

The Bad: I already stated how much I hate this game. Pointing out all the flaws again is exhausting. However, you have to give credit that it took several gameplay attempts to realize that there is a gem underneath all the layers of dung that initially made the game unplayable.

Overall: I really wanted to love this game. It took effort but in the end, it truly was a unique experience. Just like high school! It was a fun, traumatic experience. Glad that it's over. Would NOT want to do it again, but it was a gnarly time. Too many flaws to be perfect, but waaaaay above average. Elden Ring is a real bitch, but loveable once you get to know her.

A Minus - Class

PS: Malenia was not as bad as other players made her out to be. Don't believe the hype. Maliketh, on the other hand, was a real motherfucker lol!

[pinchraccoon]

Pinch Reviews: Pizza Tower

It's been a hot minute since I reviewed a game here, my apologies, other projects have had, and still have, my utmost attention at the moment.

From March 26th to Marth 31st, I played Pizza Tower, an indie platformer heavily focused on level exploration, speed, and tight controls, that's heavily influenced by games like Earthworm Jim, and more apparently, Wario Land.

From the very moment I first saw the game I knew that it would be fun, as was evident in its unique and infectious art style that absolutely reeks of late 90s-early 2000s "crude" cartoons, like Ren and Stimpy or Ed Edd n Eddy. This game's art style hits REALLY hard, and serves to not only provide this game with significant visual intrigue, but the way that characters squash and stretch in such an exaggerated manner contributes significantly to allowing the player to understand enemies movements, as well as those of the main playable character, Peppino Spaghetti.

Speaking of, this game consists of a cast of varied, and memorable characters, many of whom follow a specific theme or reference. For example, the two major main characters Peppino and Gustavo are obvious caricatures of Italian-American pizza chefs, Peppino taking on a fearful demeanor the majority of the game, while Gustavo is combative, cute, or pensive most of the time.

Pizza Tower's character design strength doesn't end there, however, as just about every enemy, boss, or otherwise is EXTREMELY lovable in their own way, assisted by PT's incredibly focused art style, and tongue in cheek delivery of just about everything it does. I would be remiss, however, to not mention my absolute favorite thing about this entire game, bar none. Behold: BRICK

Otherwise known as Stupid Rat, this big guy is my single favorite thing about Pizza Tower. Genuinely. Something about his little hands, his chubby body, and those stupid eyes facing in two different directions makes me absolutely adore these little guys. I smile every single time I see one in a level.

But I digress, Pizza Tower's gameplay is *also* fun beyond fun. Pizza Tower consists of about a dozen and a half levels and 5 boss fights. Each of the levels consist of a goal to collect as many "toppins," which are little pizza topping characters with eyes and legs that need to be freed from cages, to earn money to purchase the boss gate, allowing Peppino to travel further up the titular Pizza Tower. Every level in PT has a unique theme, complete with a unique powerup or gimmick that helps to differentiate the gameplay loop, as well as provide the player with new tools and challenges the entire runtime of the game. I really love this approach to level design, all too many platformers don't feel the need to provide the player with either new challenges or kit options, or, better yet, challenges to use new kit options on, that allow the player to really get creative or technical in the ways that they solve the problem, which, in Pizza Tower's case, is how to route through the level as quickly as possible.

Regarding kit options, Peppino, and Gustavo but slightly less so, have a genuinely intimidating amount of tech to work with built into them intentionally, that the player is encouraged to use to master levels, so as to run through them as quickly as possible. Pizza Tower has a ranking system, ranking from D to P with Pizza Face Medal. Players earn better and better ranks as they complete the levels with increasing points, gained from performing specific actions and defeating enemies while in combos. After reaching the "end" of a level, the player destroys a specific enemy that triggers "Pizza Time," a period where the player has to reach the beginning of the level, with slight variations opening up throughout, in order to escape the level with what they earned. There is only one way to truly "fail" a level in Pizza Tower, and that's to let the Pizza Time timer run out, and for Pizza Face, the invincible enemy spawned by the timer running out, to catch you, ending your run. However, players cannot achieve the highest ranks, P and P w/ Pizza Face Medal, by *just* doing the run back once, no, players have to do it twice, without dropping a combo, and collecting every collectible, in order to P rank a level. Three laps if players want the P rank with Pizza Face. In order to reach this end, players have to become intimately aware with the level in order to construct a route that will work, as well as exactly what inputs to perform when in order to defeat scattered enemies, avoid traps, and collect everything they need, all while travelling BLISTERINGLY fast. Attempting to P Rank any level in Pizza Tower is no joke, but has also been some of the most fun I've had in a platformer this year.

Bosses consist of fights in which Peppino has to use the boss's attack patterns against them in some way, similar to playing Kirby without a copy ability. There are less of these, but despite the lower quantity, each of them are interesting, fun, themed fights that each play extremely different from one another. One floor you'll fight a pepper who's an artist, who fights like a typical platformer boss, the next you'll fight a blob of cheese with a gun, while you also have a gun and can shoot back. It's very silly, and is an excellent capstone to the equally silly floors of this game.

Finally, I want to loop back around to thematics to discuss level themes to tie everything together. I adore most all of the levels in this game. I don't think this game has a level that is downright unenjoyable to be in, from a forest of gnomes, to a FNAF inspired level, to a city filled with Pigs, to a level where you just play golf using the elderly as balls, I rarely feel that Pizza Tower has no ideas. It is crude, stupid, and reveling in it for the entire runtime of the game. This attitude and stylistic consistency allows players to feel eased into continuing their persistence against the myriad challenges, and the effort made to keep the game fresh level to level provides significant replay value, as leaning into thematics allowed Pizza Tower to explore the player's kit even further, incentivizing players to master not just the Peppino, but each individual level.

I would easily recommend Pizza Tower. Might be the best game of the year, honestly. It's wild that it came out fully in January too. I've noticed that this year has been pretty excellent for releases, both indie and, in some cases, corporate. I certainly think that Pizza Tower's landmark quality early this year set the tone for this year, and it's commitment to originality and extreme fun will inspire developers and creatives to do their own thing and make the game they want to play more than anything else.

Also listen to the soundtrack, it bangs!

[demidin]

silly lil essay on a silly lil guy :D

Reki Kyan is the main protagonist of the sports skating anime SK8 The Infinity, made in 2021 by Studio Bones. His voice actors include Matt Shipman, who voices Hiro in Darling in the Franxx and Tasuku Hatanaka, who was listed in Best Voice Actors for Newtype Anime Awards in 2016. In the SK8: The Stage stage play, he was played by Tsubasa Kizu, also known for playing Ryota Mitarai in Danganronpa 3. 

Reki's appearance in the show consists of bright red hair, his blue and white headband, and a hoodie, preferably his yellow one. He mainly fits the street/skater style mainly seen in the show. Most viewers find this style to be aesthetically pleasing. Official art also provides more outfits for him.

When he is introduced in the show, he starts on a speech about how when he was little, he would watch a show with a superhero who asked, "What is my happiness?" It would always frighten him because he never knew what his happiness was. Yet after having discovered skateboarding, he realized that he found his joy in skateboarding. However, in his first appearance in the show, we are soon shown that he has challenged one of the most brutal skaters to a match; Shadow, also known as Hiromi Higa.

Soon, he meets Langa Hasegawa, the main deuteragonist and his best friend. This is where we tie into our first point; Reki is a good teacher. He taught Langa the basics of skating, and even helped him do his first ollie on a skateboard. Even when Langa wanted to completely scrap having to do the ollie, he still persevered due to Reki’s encouragement. In fact, Langa would have never learned skateboarding had he not met Reki.

Yet, Langa’s prowess in snowboarding also contributed to most of his skateboarding.  Which ties into this next instance I will bring up; Reki's insecurities. After the events of Episode 6, it starts out with any other day at school for Langa and Reki, but later that night at S, Reki notices something; no one recognizes him. So he starts to doubt himself, wondering if he's really worthy to be their friend. He starts avoiding them, not going to S matches, and even trying to do Langa’s tricks, failing to do them. Then, when Langa and Kojiro(Joe) skate in their tournament match, he comes to a conclusion. He might be terrible at skating, but he doesn’t want to be cheering from the sidelines. He wants to skate alongside them, to be with them. Yet, his self-doubt worsens, and even says that getting beat up in Episode 10 was “deserved." Then, he realizes that his actions need to change if he ever wants to be with Langa and the others again. Eventually, he reconciles with Langa, becoming his friend once again.

His own skating skills are somewhat on par, yet not at the level of the S skaters. He started at a later age than most talented skaters. Reki can hold his own on beefs, however, and uses strategy to maneuver around tricks, such as using rain wheels and dodging Adam’s Full Swing Kiss despite having been in an injured state. He has shown to be very observant and good at mechanical skills. For example, he manages to figure out how to make Langa’s board feel more natural to Langa as Langa transitioned to having to not keep his feet on the board and why Langa was unable to perfect certain tricks right away.

In conclusion, Reki Kyan is a very 3D character compared to most anime protagonists. He’s rather loyal and cares about his friends, yet also has a vulnerable side, despite being seen as the jokester of his friend group. He puts a lot of trust into Langa, and Langa also trusts Reki a lot. He does have a passion for skating, and utilizes what he can do to skate to a certain level that he is proud of. He does have to realize that he is important to his friends no matter how he feels about himself.

[solstrix]

ART RESOLUTIONS OF 2025

Looking back at my progress this year, I can see how much I have grown…. And exactly where I want to improve in the future! To help me figure out how to improve in those ways, let us make a list to further define my goals and objectives, as well as to consult if I ever feel I am losing my way. But the most important thing to remember, is that every piece made gets me closer to being the artist I want to be.

As a disclaimer, this list is extremely specific to my own goals, please! Feel free to share your goals if you have them! I’d be curious to see, and I genuinely feel inspired by hearing what other people want to work on.

Therefore, without further ado…

Work on comics!! When we really get down to it, this is my most significant and most important goal. I have always wanted to be a comic artist, to tell stories using my art… But I’ve been holding myself back, feeling that my skills were not good enough, not consistent enough, just… not enough in general. That’s a lie though, and it has been a lie for a long time. I’ve been drawing characters since junior high. Backgrounds have never been my strong suit, but that is something that can only be improved by drawing more of them… Which I would have been motivated to do for the sake of my comics! I can only get better if I make them. And so I simply must make them.

Stay in my lane! Make less fanart, and more original work! Now don’t get me wrong, fan art is fun to make, and if making art of your fave is what keeps you picking up the pencil, then do it! But for me… I always find myself at the end of the year, wishing I’d dedicated more time to my own projects, my own stories, my own artistic voice. So this year I want to commit myself to finishing the first chapter of my webcomic, to draw my own characters, to draw from life or reference photos I’ve taken myself. Fanart will now be an occasional treat, not the everyday meal, so to speak.

Embrace my own pace! I’ve talked about this before on here, but the fact that I’m a slow artist has long been a struggle of mine. To make a long story short, I’ve decided that thinking of this as a flaw was in itself the real problem, and that what needed to change was my mindset. After all, it is when I take my time that I end up most enjoying the process. This means I might occasionally have to skip posting for a week, but most difficult… This means I have to give up weekly/monthly challenges. I keep trying to do these, and I keep failing, and it keeps making me feel burned out and worse than before. I have to let go.

Explore and define different approaches to making finished pieces. This one is a little hard to explain, but perhaps one of the most important for this blog. In the past, I’ve convinced myself that there was only one way to truly finish a piece: start with a sketch, do clean lineart, then flat colours, and then shading and rendering. Only once every single one of these steps was done, could a piece be properly considered “complete.” Not only is this completely untrue, but it is also incredibly limiting, and… perhaps even part of what makes me a slower artist… And what really broke through to me last year, was that many of the artists I looked up to and admired, often didn’t even follow these “necessary” steps! Vespertiliu’s hatched inks are just as complete as Abigail Larson’s flat colours as Julia Lepetit’s blocked shadows as PricklyAlpaca’s painterly renderings. I have such a range of options at my disposal, and I’ve been limiting myself to just one! I hope to explore more of these options and become comfortable with each of them, until I can approach illustrations with an intentional style approach in mind. And not every illustration needs to be done the same way.

Draw more scenes! Like I mentioned above, backgrounds have been something I’ve struggled with, and which I wish I was more comfortable with doing. But drawing a background for the sake of drawing a background has always been a bit boring to me… And it’s only recently that I realized there was an extremely simple solution to this “problem”: throw in a character! Not only will this motivate me to draw the background in the first place, but it will help me improve at proportioning things, considering compositions, and, of course, it will make it easier to draw scenes for my comics.

Sketchbook and journal regularly. So here’s the thing: I actually LOVE making traditional art, just as much as digital art. In particular, traditional art tends to be my sanctuary of sorts, the art I make truly and only for myself. Most of it will never be posted, and that’s part of the point. Sketchbooking for myself is how I practice and warm up at the start of an art session, but most importantly, it is how I nurture my own creativity and my love for making art. I must ignore the voice that tells me that art made behind the scenes serves no tangible purpose to my presence online: it serves a purpose to me.

Find my audience. Now let me be clear: I appreciate every single one of you who follow my blog, watch my progress, share my art… But I have to be brutally honest with myself, and with you, here. The fact that my original art gets little to no attention compared to my fanart, is… a little soul-crushing. But this is something that can change. By prioritizing my original works this year, I hope this means I can eventually find those people who would love my original creations for what they are, and to whom my art speaks to and compels in the same way that it does to me.

Have fun, and enjoy the process. Avoid the traps of perfectionism and succumbing to social (or invented) pressure.

[aguworks]

Context

BePower is an emerging energy company focused on urban ev charging solutions. Offering charging points in strategic areas within the italian territory.

Despite the rapid market growth and a less steep adoption curve for new services, the overall charging experience fails to meet user expectations, with dropout after the first use as a major indicator for improving service interactions.

Details of the project are confidential, but here a sneak preview of what we’ve done with the team

Challenge

Position BePower as a leading contender in the market, providing a world-class user experience across all service touchpoints.

My role

I led the research and design team in collaboration with BePower, an emerging EV charging services provider. My responsibility included overseeing the research function and identifying opportunities for business impact and individual growth.

As a team, we conducted studies and organized activities to refine the product strategy and enhance the customer experience across various physical and digital touchpoints of the service.

Measure

Identifying opportunities to stand out in a busy mobility market.

The research team aimed to uncover customers needs. We kept the information shared on research boards, benchmarked with other service providers, interviewed users, and deep dived at customer complaints.

As a result, we recognized the state of the art service satisfaction, mapped the must have functionalities, and tested the touchpoints where customers interact with the service. We also figured out how often and why people would contact customer support and studied their behaviours crossing available information.

The insights served as decision-making input and set the ground for cross-team collaboration.

Map

Evaluating user experience to uncover interaction enhancements 

The detailed analysis of insights revealed over 100 additional elements essential for configuring the Customer Journey and potential technical constraints for future development emerged.

Certain features may be incorporated gradually, considering upcoming stages to integrate them into UX and UI design effectively.

Establishing a navigation flow was pivotal in crafting the new experience, offering a functional representation of the App's features. This process optimizes both functionality and services, ensuring alignment with user needs at the forefront.

Make

Building the blocks of a world-class user experience

Developing the Moodboard concept, is a key step into the design process in order to ensure consistency across both all the new App components and the Be Power brand itself.

The concept focuses on Movement, Dynamism, Energy and Speed: 

Color Palette: starting from the visual identity of Be Power, we selected those colors that express the most energy for their brightness. The colors will be used mainly flat, to preserve their vividness. In addition, the minimal use of color gradients will serve in the illustrations, to emphasize movement and speed.

Icon Set: inspired by the website icons, the new App icon set is characterized by an outline style, to easy adapt to the mobile UX, rounded to recall the shapes of Be Power logo.

Illustrations: to empathise dynamism, the illustrations composition is a mix of flat and outline shapes.

The design process continue into the Design System definition, a key element to guarantee high quality and consistency through all the Be Power new App and digital ecosystem.

The design process refines the TO BE products and services through subsequent detailing: from rough sketches to the detail design.

Rough sketches (Main flow)

To show what screens the application will have, what elements and controls will be on each screen and the connections between them.

Wireframes 

To facilitate a visual representation of the future product and represent the structure of the page.

Concept and detail design

After the consolidation of the structure (wireframes) the final step is the creation of a concept and the detail design, with colors, copy, illustrations

[ashtonlanger]

Trending Celebrities: Who's Making Headlines Today?

Ever wondered who's making headlines in the celebrity world right now? The ever-evolving landscape of Hollywood never fails to keep us on our toes. From shocking revelations to inspiring stories, here's a roundup of the celebrity news currently dominating.

1. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Sensation

Breaking Records

Taylor Swift continues to captivate the world with her Eras Tour, which has shattered numerous records. From sold-out stadiums to unprecedented ticket sales, Swift's tour is a testament to her enduring popularity and influence in the music industry.

Swifties Unite

Fans, affectionately known as Swifties, have turned the tour into a global phenomenon. Social media is flooded with concert footage, fan art, and personal stories of how Swift's music has impacted lives. The tour's success underscores Swift's status as one of the most influential artists of her generation.

2. Zendaya: The Fashion Icon

Red Carpet Royalty

Zendaya has become a staple on best-dressed lists, consistently turning heads with her bold and elegant fashion choices. Her recent appearances at major events have further solidified her reputation as a fashion icon.

A Role Model

Beyond her fashion prowess, Zendaya is celebrated for her advocacy and activism. She uses her platform to speak out on social issues, making her a role model for many young people around the world.

3. Timothée Chalamet: Hollywood’s Golden Boy

Box Office Star

Timothée Chalamet is back in the spotlight with his latest film, which has been a box office hit. Known for his versatile acting skills and charismatic screen presence, Chalamet continues to impress both critics and audiences alike.

Future Projects

Chalamet's future projects, including highly anticipated sequels and collaborations with acclaimed directors, have fans eagerly awaiting his next move. His career trajectory shows no signs of slowing down.

4. Billie Eilish: The Music Maverick

New Album Buzz

Billie Eilish is making waves with the announcement of her upcoming album. Known for her unique sound and thought-provoking lyrics, Eilish's new music is highly anticipated by fans and critics.

Breaking Barriers

Eilish continues to challenge industry norms and push the boundaries of what it means to be a pop star. Her authenticity and innovation have garnered her a loyal following and numerous accolades.

5. Harry Styles: The Style Icon

Fashion Forward

Harry Styles has cemented his status as a fashion trailblazer, known for his gender-fluid style and bold fashion statements. His recent magazine covers and red carpet appearances have sparked widespread admiration and conversation.

Tour Triumph

Styles is also making headlines with his ongoing tour, which has been met with rave reviews. His dynamic performances and charismatic stage presence have solidified his reputation as a top-tier entertainer.

6. Angelina Jolie: The Humanitarian Hero

Advocacy and Activism

Angelina Jolie remains in the news for her tireless humanitarian work. Recently, she has been vocal about various global crises, using her platform to raise awareness and advocate for those in need.

New Projects

In addition to her advocacy, Jolie has several film projects in the pipeline. Her continued presence in both the entertainment industry and humanitarian efforts showcases her multifaceted career.

7. Beyoncé: The Queen Reigns Supreme

Surprise Album Release

Beyoncé has once again stunned the world with a surprise album drop. Her new release, celebrated for its innovative sound and powerful messages, has topped charts and captivated audiences worldwide.

Cultural Impact

Beyond music, Beyoncé's influence extends to fashion, film, and social activism. She remains a dominant force in the entertainment industry and a powerful voice for change.

8. Dwayne Johnson: The Rock's Road to Politics?

Political Aspirations

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has hinted at a potential political career, sparking widespread speculation and debate. Known for his charisma and relatability, Johnson's possible entry into politics has intrigued many.

Box Office King

Meanwhile, Johnson continues to dominate the box office with his action-packed films. His versatility as an actor and his appeal across different demographics make him a Hollywood heavyweight.

9. Kim Kardashian: The Media Mogul

Business Ventures

Kim Kardashian is making headlines with her latest business ventures, including a new skincare line that has received critical acclaim. Her entrepreneurial spirit and savvy marketing skills continue to drive her success.

Personal Life

Kardashian's personal life also remains a hot topic, from co-parenting with ex-husband Kanye West to her legal studies and advocacy work. She remains a fixture in the public eye, constantly reinventing herself.

10. Rihanna: The Beauty and Fashion Tycoon

Fenty Empire Expansion

Rihanna's Fenty brand continues to thrive, with recent expansions into skincare and fashion. Her innovative approach to beauty and inclusivity has set new industry standards and garnered widespread praise.

Musical Comeback

Rumours of a musical comeback have fans eagerly awaiting new music from Rihanna. While she has focused on her business ventures in recent years, her return to the studio is highly anticipated.

Conclusion: The Ever-Changing Celebrity Landscape

From record-breaking tours to groundbreaking fashion, the world of celebrities is always buzzing with activity. These stars are making headlines, shaping culture, and inspiring millions. As we continue to follow their journeys, one thing is certain: the celebrity landscape is as dynamic and fascinating as ever. Please stay tuned for more updates on your favorite stars and the stories that encourage us all.

[swashbucklcr]

HIATUS

SWASHBUCKLCR: Independent, selective RP blog for Tav Finn Locke of Baldur's Gate III. Side blog to GALEFCRCE.

I’ve found myself afar from home across the world to hell and back, Off the edge to parts unknown, I cross my heart to tell you That I’m oft without a plan or means, but if I’m being truthful I’ve always made it by being half the way to useful

Multi-ship friendly and canon compliant. All writing on this blog is 21+. Dice rolled by Day, he/him, 25+, Irish (GMT). BG3 spoilers are found across this blog, untagged. Slow replies and low activity.

Sailing with @imperitvs.

CARRD ─ ☆ ─ PROMPTS ─ ☆ ─ TRACKER ─ ☆ ─ HEADCANONS

Mobile friendly rules and verses below the cut.

Rules

Mutuals only - this is a sideblog to galefcrce and will follow back from that blog.

I am still figuring out Finn so expect everything here to be at a snails pace.

Warning: Finn swears A LOT.

Important Rule: I'm dyslexic, leading to occasional errors and slow replies. I'd really appreciate simple formatting for out threads —consistent font, size, and spacing. Alternating fonts and sizes, excessive spacing, and heavy styling (lots of bold, italics, and strikethrough) make it challenging for me to read.

I don't tolerate hate speech or 'call out posts'. Be kind.

This blog is in a single ship with Osian (imperitvs).

NSFW themes will arise and be tagged (trigger tw). I have no personal triggers here.

Only write with muns 21 or older.

I am a wee bit slow to follow back as I want to make sure I've read your rules before following.

Prompts are always open to be sent in by mutuals.

Anon is on but hate just gets deleted. I don't reply to NSFW anons.

Verses

Spoiler warning. The descriptions contain spoilers for each act of the game.

★ Chapter: Land and Worms

Act I: While conducting trade in Yartar, Finn is abruptly abducted onto the Nautiloid. Despite his desperate attempts to steer the alien ship to land, he fails and wakes on a beach with a splitting headache and a parasite lodged in his brain. Beside him lies the elf he helped aboard the Nautiloid, also stranded.

★ Chapter: Light in the Dark

Act II: Finn ventures through the Shadow-Cursed lands, a journey that forces him to reconsider his life of piracy. As he seeks to rid himself of the parasite, he also reflects on his growing feelings for a certain red-haired wizard.

★ Chapter: Introspection

Act III: With the monumental task of having to defeat the Netherbrain, Finn faces a profound revelation: he no longer wishes to return to his father's ship, yearning instead for a life in the arts. Despite this desire, his roguish skills are crucial in the battle against the Netherbrain, and to ensure the safety of the man he loves.

[bloseroseone]

Book Writer | 10 Must-Read Tips for Aspiring Book Writers

Writing a book is a dream shared by many, but for aspiring book writers, the journey from idea to publication can be daunting. However, with dedication, perseverance, and the right guidance, turning that dream into reality is entirely possible. In this article, we’ll explore ten essential tips that every aspiring book writer should know to navigate the writing process successfully.

Here’s the list of ten tips for aspiring writers.

Tip 1: Define Your Audience

Knowing your audience is crucial in the wide world of writing, especially for aspiring book writers. Give careful thought to who your target readership is before you start writing. Who do they represent? What are their passions, challenges, and areas of interest?

Focusing on your intended audience will help you craft material, tone, and writing style that will appeal to them on a deep level. Knowing your audience’s tastes will guarantee that your work engages and connects with them deeply, whether they are romance fans or fantasy fans seeking epic adventures. Thus, go inside your readers’ thoughts and create tales that will compel them to turn the next page.

Tip 2: Read Widely

“Read widely” is a golden rule for aspiring book writers. Reading a wide range of literature improves your writing abilities and expands your literary horizons. Immersion in a variety of genres, styles, and voices as a book writer provides priceless insights into narrative structures, character development, and storytelling approaches.

Whether you read classic books or modern bestsellers, every page you turn will reveal fresh ideas and inspirations that will spark your imagination and help you develop your own writing style. Thus, remember this crucial advice as you embark on your career as a book writer: read widely since there are lessons to be learnt in every book.

Tip 3: Write Regularly

Being consistent is essential to become a good book writer. Writing frequently is one of the most important pieces of advice for emerging book writers. Writing consistently helps you hone your art and maintains your creative juices flowing, ready for inspiration.

Making a pattern, whether it be a set word count target for each day or timed writing sessions, can keep you motivated and focused on your task. Keep in mind that getting on the paper is half the fight won, especially on the days when inspiration seems elusive. Thus, commit to writing on a daily basis and observe how your literary aspirations materialize.

Tip 4: Set Realistic Goals

Achieving success as a book writer requires defining and achieving attainable goals. It takes commitment to create your literary masterpiece, but you must be careful not to set yourself up for failure by having high expectations.

To begin, divide your ultimate objective of finishing a book into achievable steps, such as creating chapter summaries or establishing daily word counts.

This strategy guarantees consistent advancement towards your goal of being a published author while also keeping you inspired. Remember, neither Rome nor a best-selling book were created overnight. Maintain your motivation and focus, and your literary goals will eventually come to pass.

Tip 5: Embrace Failure

Aspiring book writers view failure as a springboard for development rather than an obstacle on their path. Accepting failure is a necessary part of developing your craft and skill set.

Every manuscript rejection, critique, and obstacle is a chance to grow, change, and get better. Setbacks shouldn’t deter you; instead, use them as motivation to keep moving forward. Recognise that failure is a vital component of your journey rather than its conclusion.

Accept it, draw lessons from it, and use it to inform your future writing. In the realm of novel writing, failing is a badge of perseverance and dedication rather than a sign of weakness....Continue reading

[kinematografiayevsyd]

Critical Essay

This trimester I took part in working on a film project called Elouise’s Best. While my initial intention was to write and direct the film but due to the factors I discuss below, I ended up also recording sound on set, editing and making decisions about costumes. Ross was another head of several departments on the projects, having produced and shot the film. Additionally, Jason helped out in various roles on set, such as lighting and production design and Sophie did sound post-production.

Our initial intensions were the following. The story follows a successful composer Elouise who is struggling with a creative block. In the beginning, Elouise is under huge pressure. If she does not hand in a new piece, as a professional composer it will affect her income, reputation, future opportunities. She is determined, talented - the art of music is her passion, but very clearly her job as well. When she meets Jan, she does not think much of this polite but amateurish club musician. Little does she know that it is precisely his freedom to express himself and make mistakes but keep going, that will help her out of her numbness. She decides to push through the slumber and composes… something. Even though she fails to please the audience, she has finally managed to put all her best into her art. The best she has in that moment. Two of the most intertwined aspects of the story are character and her interaction with the space she is in. Through the interaction we get a sense of her numbness and desperate search for inspiration. This is mainly delivered through the careful direction and blocking of actors and production design. In particular, the relationship between Jan and Elouise is one of the key elements of the film. Not only is there a mutual support between two musicians, but there is also a friendship, maybe a romantic spark. Therefore, the performances will need to deliver all these subtleties.

The colour palette is black and white. Inspired by modern black and white films, like Pawlikowski’s Cold War and Gerwig’s Frances Ha, Ross and I agreed that the simple and naturalistic visual style will not distract from the main part of the film – the relationship between the two main characters, and will compliment it.

Working on the script of this film was a learning experience. It was challenging to deliver all the necessary information and the feel of the characters’ relationships without the script being overly wordy. I know that the actors really enjoyed working with my script, which I think was due to the fact that the dialogue turned out quite natural. I also tried to spend as much time as possible doing read-throughs and character discussions with all three of the actors. On set, however, I was not happy with how I performed the role of a director. I could not have enough interaction and connection with actors, as I simply did not have the time, because I also had to be recording sound recording sound.

Due to our crew only consisting of two heads of departments (with our initial production designer Eilis dropping out of the project very suddenly), we ran into budgeting, transportation and scheduling issues. This is why the compromise we found was to develop a work in progress by filming two scenes that we planned in one of our locations – Barclay Viewforth Church of Scotland.

For my next production, I will definitely make sure to have a more productive recce and to include a test shoot and in-person blocking rehearsals on location in my pre-production process. I think that a lot of blocking and eyeline issues could have been avoided, if we had come to the recce with a slightly more precise check-list and took more and better reference photographs. For example, I think that due to the room being quite big, some of the blocking and the way it related to our chosen shots felt quite awkward and made editing quite tricky in the end. In my view, my contribution was decent under the circumstances but not up to standard to create a high-quality full film.

Currently the project Elouise’s Best exists as a work in progress or a proof of concept. It is a film of two scenes – the second and the last. The main point of the story still comes through and is readable, although it is far from complete.

There are many things I will be working on, should the opportunity present itself for us to finish the film. First of all, it has been brought to my attention that the dialogue in scene two is unnecessarily lengthy. I think that shortening the dialogue and making it more to-the-point, while contextualising them with other scenes. The script would need to be worked on to provide more clarity in terms of the storyline of the main characters’ relationship. The stakes will need to be heightened for the main character, in order for the transformation from the creative block to the spark of inspiration in the end to feel more contrasting and powerful. Apart from the scrip changes, it has been brought to my attention that the music (the chord) played by Elouise in the end, is not powerful or not significantly different enough from what she played in the scene before to symbolise that change in the main character’s arch.

In terms of the aesthetics of the shot and the emotional dramatic effect, the mise-en-scene was quite successful. Paired with good lighting and camera angles, the close-ups of Elouise at the piano, as well as the wide shots in the last scene, produced quite a strong aesthetic effect. However, from the point of view of storytelling and character dynamics, the blocking was not dynamic enough to be interesting and natural. For example, when confronting Elouise, Douglas should have walked over closer to her. Alternatively, she should have moved closer, when confiding her loss of inspiration to him.

I was quite satisfied with the performances of all three actors. We were lucky enough, in my opinion to be able to cast people who fit the roles so well in terms of appearance. However, there are some things from the directing point of view that I think the performances lacked in. As I have previously mentioned, scene number two is quite wordy and should be shortened and less like an exposition. Furthermore, I think there was not enough research conducted on my side (and consequently this information was not delivered to the actors) about modern composing and particularly composing on commission as a job. If I researched the types of contracts composers have with musicians and venues, it would help us make the relationship between Douglas and Elouise clearer. This, in turn, would contribute to the scene being more natural.

During the final critique, I received some criticism of performance of the actress who played Elouise, particularly her facial reactions in scene seven. I think that this could have been sorted if we shot some more pronounced shots of what she was reacting to, which was Douglas walking away from the room demonstratively without acknowledging her.

It is worth talking about some of the priorities I had when directing this film and also some things that turned out quite well. First of all, I think that cinematography was one of the highlights of the project. Although I did not operate the camera, I participated in making shot lists and story boards. I also colour graded the footage. In my opinion, despite certain colour or contrast inconsistencies between shots, the colour grade was one of the things that our course mates enjoyed about the film.  Apart from that, I was also praised on the clarity of the recorded sound, especially considering how big the filming space was and the fact that we had quite a few wide shots. I achieved that by holding the microphone as close to the actors as possible when recording, as well as following the dynamics of the blocking with the microphone when needed. Moreover, the costumes were also complimented. I spent quite a lot of time choosing the right clothes and accessories with the actors. The costumes originally were supposed to reflect the main character’s emotional journey: from being the most formal in the beginning, when she is stressed sand in despair, becoming more and more relaxed by the end, when she regains her creative voice, but never losing her distinct smart style.

Finally, I think that the themes of failure, creativity, inspiration and friendship have been delivered well in terms of clarity and naturalism. However, I wish I pushed myself more to find more creative ways in terms of the dynamism and subtlety of how these themes are delivered.

[chandrandeepesh72]

From Words to Magic: Inside the World of a Professional Storyteller in Pune

What does the life of a professional storyteller look like?

This is how the life of a professional storyteller would look like. He would perform oral storytelling at schools, college events, literature events, book cafes, cultural events, etc

The stories that he would narrate could be fictional or even fictional ones. The fictional stories narrated by him could be published authors, famous folktales or even his own written stories

The audience that he would be narrating could range from 4 years to 80 years, corporate employees, young adults, GenZ or middle aged adults. The professional oral storyteller knows his audience and even better knows the pulse of his audience. He is precisely aware of what narratives work well for which demography.

The audience comes first and then comes the story to be narrated. It never comes the other way around for the professional storyteller.

Every professional storyteller is extremely hardworking. He will practise extremely well for any performance. Just like singing, it is all about striking the chord while narrating with emotion any certain dialogue. One chord plus or minus can miss out the bull’s eye while touching the hearts of the audience. 

Pune’s storytelling scene

For a professional storyteller in Pune, he/she may have their own venues to perform. However, all upcoming storytellers are advised to start with participating in various open mics in Pune. These open mics consists of stand-up comedy, poetry, storytelling, etc.

Once the artist gets the art perfected, the storyteller can perform his own solo events.

However, there are a lot of challenges in performance storytelling

The storyteller might face unexpected hindrances during the storytelling act. These include rare but sudden heckling by the crowd, some audience member is continuously talking on phone while the storyteller performs, some random small kid suddenly jumps into the stage or starts crying, etc.

Here it is easy for the artist i.e. the professional storyteller to lose his flow, as he has to control the unexpected scenario from the crowd and also continue back with the same emotions of the storytelling act.

Hence the storyteller has to double up as the crowd manager and the artist and more importantly, keep switching places.

That is the hallmark of the true professional storyteller

What are the important parts of a story structure?

The important parts of the story are the characters, the story arc and the tonality/ style. With the overdose of content, especially post Covid, the story arc is mostly repetitive. However, good storytelling hinges on excellent framing of the characters and tonality. These 2 aspects are the subtle art that is differentiating good storytelling from average ones, especially post Covid.

Hence a good storyteller is always aware of this while narrating. He needs to paint the picture well for the audience. If he fails in that, then everything falls flat.

Magic of connecting with stories

Out of the various advantages of storytelling, one of them is healing. Here even a common man i.e. non-professional storytellers can imbibe it.

Storytelling is about one person speaking and another listening. If the storytelling is pure, then both the teller and listener get healed.

Imagine a person in depression, he speaks about the incidents that made him vulnerable, scared and traumatised. These are just real stories that happened with this person. He just needs to be heard.

Here the role of a good listener is extremely crucial. This listener, if genuinely puts his heart into listening (not hearing) to what the person has to speak, it turns magical.

People just want to be heard; they just want their stories to be heard. Lending the right ear is akin to lending a helping hand.

Conclusion

All in all, a professional storyteller in Pune or any city in India needs to be hardworking, creative and keep evolving his art, like any other profession on this earth.

Reach out to us for any need of professional storytelling services

To know more: https://deepeshchandran.com/from-words-to-magic-inside-the-world-of-a-professional-storyteller-in-pune/

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try to have a consistent art style challenge (failed) also tumblr stop shitting on the quality thx!