#having a consistent art style is for the weak

[artofmaquenda]

Maybe I’m multiple artists, each with their own passions. One adores cute and funny animal art, another paleo and scientific illustrations, while others call for folklore, horror, children’s books, ceramics, plushies, animations, or photography. Whoever whispers loudest guides my hands. It's both a blessing and a curse/weakness and strength: I don’t feel like I have a clear "brand" or consistent style. One day, it’s a mushroom penis, the next a silly opossum. This unpredictability makes it harder for people to know what to expect, but it's what keeps me going. 😊

[mikartwheat]

These guys again...

[prokopetz]

On the one hand, it's true that the way Dungeons & Dragons defines terms like "sorcerer" and "warlock" and "wizard" is really only relevant to Dungeons & Dragons and its associated media – indeed, how these terms are used isn't even consistent between editions of D&D! – and trying to apply them in other contexts is rarely productive.

On the other hand, it's not true that these sorts of fine-grained taxonomies of types of magic are strictly a D&D-ism and never occur elsewhere. That folks make this argument is typically a symptom of being unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons' source material. D&D's main inspirations are American literary sword and sorcery fantasy spanning roughly the 1930s through the early 1980s, and fine-grained taxonomies of magic users absolutely do appear in these sources; they just aren't anything like as consistent as the folks who try to cram everything into the sorcerer/warlock/wizard model would prefer.

For example, in Lyndon Hardy's "Five Magics" series, the five types of magical practitioners are:

Alchemists: Drawing forth the hidden virtues of common materials to craft magic potions; limited by the fact that the outcomes of their formulas are partially random.

Magicians: Crafting enchanted items through complex manufacturing procedures; limited by the fact that each step in the procedure must be performed perfectly with no margin for error.

Sorcerers: Speaking verbal formulas to basically hack other people's minds, permitting illusion-craft and mind control; limited by the fact that the exercise of their art eventually kills them.

Thaumaturges: Shaping matter by manipulating miniature models; limited by the need to draw on outside sources like fires or flywheels to make up the resulting kinetic energy deficit.

Wizards: Summoning and binding demons from other dimensions; limited by the fact that the binding ritual exposes them to mental domination by the summoned demon if their will is weak.

"Warlock", meanwhile, isn't a type of practitioner, but does appear as pejorative term for a wizard who's lost a contest of wills with one of their own summoned demons.

Conversely, Lawrence Watt-Evans' "Legends of Ethshar" series includes such types of magic-users as:

Sorcerers: Channelling power through metal talismans to produce fixed effects; in the time of the novels, talisman-craft is largely a lost art, and most sorcerers use found or inherited talismans.

Theurges: Summoning gods; the setting's gods have no interest in human worship, but are bound not to interfere in the mortal world unless summoned, and are thus amenable to cutting deals.

Warlocks: Wielding X-Men style psychokinesis by virtue of their attunement to the telepathic whispers emanating from the wreckage of a crashed alien starship. (They're the edgy ones!)

Witches: Producing improvisational effects mostly related to healing, telepathy, precognition, and minor telekinesis by drawing on their own internal energy.

Wizards: Drawing down the infinite power of Chaos and shaping it with complex rituals. Basically D&D wizards, albeit with a much greater propensity for exploding.

You'll note that both taxonomies include something called a "sorcerer", something called a "warlock", and something called a "wizard", but what those terms mean in their respective contexts agrees neither with the Dungeons & Dragons definitions, nor with each other.

(Admittedly, these examples are from the 1980s, and are thus not free of D&D's influence; I picked them because they both happened to use all three of the terms in question in ways that are at odds with how D&D uses them. You can find similar taxonomies of magic use in earlier works, but I would have had to use many more examples to offer multiple competing definitions of each of "sorcerer", "warlock" and "wizard", and this post is already long enough!)

So basically what I'm saying is giving people a hard time about using these terms "wrong" – particularly if your objection is that they're not using them in a way that's congruent with however D&D's flavour of the week uses them – makes you a dick, but simply having this sort of taxonomy has a rich history within the genre. Wizard phylogeny is a time-honoured tradition!

[autisticandroids]

i've been seeing ai takes that i actually agree with and have been saying for months get notes so i want to throw my hat into the ring.

so i think there are two main distinct problems with "ai," which exist kind of in opposition to each other. the first happens when ai is good at what it's supposed to do, and the second happens when it's bad at it.

the first is well-exemplified by ai visual art. now, there are a lot of arguments about the quality of ai visual art, about how it's soulless, or cliche, or whatever, and to those i say: do you think ai art is going to be replacing monet and picasso? do you think those pieces are going in museums? no. they are going to be replacing soulless dreck like corporate logos, the sprites for low-rent edugames, and book covers with that stupid cartoon art style made in canva. the kind of art that everyone thinks of as soulless and worthless anyway. the kind of art that keeps people with art degrees actually employed.

this is a problem of automation. while ai art certainly has its flaws and failings, the main issue with it is that it's good enough to replace crap art that no one does by choice. which is a problem of capitalism. in a society where people don't have to sell their labor to survive, machines performing labor more efficiently so humans don't have to is a boon! this is i think more obviously true for, like, manufacturing than for art - nobody wants to be the guy putting eyelets in shoes all day, and everybody needs shoes, whereas a lot of people want to draw their whole lives, and nobody needs visual art (not the way they need shoes) - but i think that it's still true that in a perfect world, ai art would be a net boon, because giving people without the skill to actually draw the ability to visualize the things they see inside their head is... good? wider access to beauty and the ability to create it is good? it's not necessary, it's not vital, but it is cool. the issue is that we live in a society where that also takes food out of people's mouths.

but the second problem is the much scarier one, imo, and it's what happens when ai is bad. in the current discourse, that's exemplified by chatgpt and other large language models. as much hand-wringing as there has been about chatgpt replacing writers, it's much worse at imitating human-written text than, say, midjourney is at imitating human-made art. it can imitate style well, which means that it can successfully replace text that has no meaningful semantic content - cover letters, online ads, clickbait articles, the kind of stuff that says nothing and exists to exist. but because it can't evaluate what's true, or even keep straight what it said thirty seconds ago, it can't meaningfully replace a human writer. it will honestly probably never be able to unless they change how they train it, because the way LLMs work is so antithetical to how language and writing actually works.

the issue is that people think it can. which means they use it to do stuff it's not equipped for. at best, what you end up with is a lot of very poorly written children's books selling on amazon for $3. this is a shitty scam, but is mostly harmless. the behind the bastards episode on this has a pretty solid description of what that looks like right now, although they also do a lot of pretty pointless fearmongering about the death of art and the death of media literacy and saving the children. (incidentally, the "comics" described demonstrate the ways in which ai art has the same weaknesses as ai text - both are incapable of consistency or narrative. it's just that visual art doesn't necessarily need those things to be useful as art, and text (often) does). like, overall, the existence of these kids book scams are bad? but they're a gnat bite.

to find the worst case scenario of LLM misuse, you don't even have to leave the amazon kindle section. you don't even have to stop looking at scam books. all you have to do is change from looking at kids books to foraging guides. i'm not exaggerating when i say that in terms of texts whose factuality has direct consequences, foraging guides are up there with building safety regulations. if a foraging guide has incorrect information in it, people who use that foraging guide will die. that's all there is to it. there is no antidote to amanita phalloides poisoning, only supportive care, and even if you survive, you will need a liver transplant.

the problem here is that sometimes it's important for text to be factually accurate. openart isn't marketed as photographic software, and even though people do use it to lie, they have also been using photoshop to do that for decades, and before that it was scissors and paintbrushes. chatgpt and its ilk are sometimes marketed as fact-finding software, search engine assistants and writing assistants. and this is dangerous. because while people have been lying intentionally for decades, the level of misinformation potentially provided by chatgpt is unprecedented. and then there are people like the foraging book scammers who aren't lying on purpose, but rather not caring about the truth content of their output. obviously this happens in real life - the kids book scam i mentioned earlier is just an update of a non-ai scam involving ghostwriters - but it's much easier to pull off, and unlike lying for personal gain, which will always happen no matter how difficult it is, lying out of laziness is motivated by, well, the ease of the lie.* if it takes fifteen minutes and a chatgpt account to pump out fake foraging books for a quick buck, people will do it.

*also part of this is how easy it is to make things look like high effort professional content - people who are lying out of laziness often do it in ways that are obviously identifiable, and LLMs might make it easier to pass basic professionalism scans.

and honestly i don't think LLMs are the biggest problem that machine learning/ai creates here. while the ai foraging books are, well, really, really bad, most of the problem content generated by chatgpt is more on the level of scam children's books. the entire time that the internet has been shitting itself about ai art and LLM's i've been pulling my hair out about the kinds of priorities people have, because corporations have been using ai to sort the resumes of job applicants for years, and it turns out the ai is racist. there are all sorts of ways machine learning algorithms have been integrated into daily life over the past decade: predictive policing, self-driving cars, and even the youtube algorithm. and all of these are much more dangerous (in most cases) than chatgpt. it makes me insane that just because ai art and LLMs happen to touch on things that most internet users are familiar with the working of, people are freaking out about it because it's the death of art or whatever, when they should have been freaking out about the robot telling the cops to kick people's faces in.

(not to mention the environmental impact of all this crap.)

[wordsnstuff]

Hello! How are you? I have a question:

Should I focus on what I'm good or what I'm bad at in writing? I like to think that I can write poetic stuff rather well, but I can't write dialouges to save my life. So should I just focus on writing the stuff I'm good at and ignore the rest or should I focus on getting better at dialouges and such?

Leaning into strengths vs focusing on improvement...

I'm very well! Thank you for asking.

I think that this is an important conversation to have with yourself as any sort of artist, and I don't believe that it needs to end with a choice between practicing a skill you could improve at or the sticking to what you're good at.

A writer's brain is a muscle, and as you gain experience honing technical proficiency, you become more informed as to what strengths and weaknesses are apparent in your work. The first step is to examine how you approach different parts of the development of a story. Take the time to observe how you personally think through the process of writing dialogue and how that differs from your process writing poetic prose. Harmony between different parts of your writing process will make writing easier and lead to a more consistent style and quality. Your aim is to bring one skill to the level of another, so until you understand why prose comes more naturally to you, it will be challenging to identify why dialogue doesn't.

Perhaps dialogue requires you to exercise imagination in a way that isn't as consistent with the way you process the world around you. For me, dialogue can be challenging because my inner monologue centers observation and my thoughts occur to me in a more abstract way, leading me to be more adept at skills like articulating metaphors. However, this way of thinking makes it challenging to frame my ideas literally, as you must do to imagine a scenario and then predict a chain of events or interactions between elements. Identifying how your imagination functions organically will help you understand where your ideas come from and why certain ways of expressing them come more easily.

I think it's important to incorporate experimentation and practice into the routine of any art medium that you aim to improve at. Designating specific time to stretch the muscles, experiment with a new exercise, and broaden your skillset will always have a positive effect on your work overall, and when you identify a weaker area it's even easier to focus your time and energy to practice that. Alongside any large project, there should be a separate area for practice and play, because regardless of how skilled or passionate one is, there is always room to learn something new and expand one's ability.

I highly recommend installing time in your writing routine for specifically practicing the skill you are least confident in without pressure to contribute that practice to your primary project. Utilize whatever exercises motivate you. Personally, I like the idea of selecting a simple writing prompt and challenging yourself to write a scene entirely composed of dialogue, but you might prefer to set a short timer and try to imagine and record an organic, simple, and believable conversation between two people about something like choosing a paint color for a kitchen.

Always make time to better your craft. It will always deliver results.

Best of luck,

x Kate

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Masterlist . Ko-Fi . Patreon

[cupidastrology]

𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬 ︎ ♀︎ 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐨 ♌︎ 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟐 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬

Please do not repost or copy <3

This is a general post of how Venus ︎ ♀︎ in Leo behaves in each house of the tropical zodiac, this is not a transit post. Please apply natal venus ︎ ♀︎ and house position within interpretation.

All Birth Chart Readings are available to book.

( ★ _ <)

1st - confidence is shown through the physical appearance, stomach sensitivities and issues are prone to happen if careless in what you intake food wise, your insecurities manifest as stomach aches. many are either highly jealous of your position in life, style, look, and eyes, or worship your presence.

2nd - you are never ignored, the voice and opinion is always highly favored or hard to overlook by your peers. you may do well in a position of power, where you are speaking for others or defending them. focusing on possible exercise as your emotional outlet may influence others to walk your path.

3rd - your thoughts are focused, consistently tailored to your values, and may have large spending ventures when the check hits. its important to take note on your choices, which may involve much indulgence. being sure to have a clear mind on what you want is important before anyone else.

4th - you are private in your home manners but loud about the raw childhood you may have experienced. possible abilities to learn homemade remedies to better the look, style, and body that may want others to know your secrets to success physically. others are influenced by your humble demeanor and secrecy. you are able to do well in the world of real estate and interior design.

5th - dating is always full of drama but creativity is endless, you may do well in spaces of theatre, music, and drag. connecting with others in a artistic space is important and may help you to grow more in confidence. love can be seen through flings or start at parties or the club.

6th - the power in work and self care is prominent here, and is admired by your peers and family. you do well in taking care of others, and may focus on the well being of those you protect and defend constantly. your self care comes first and creation of new remedies or makeup styles make you otherworldly.

7th - romance is always heightened but can attract partners that want a piece of the confidence that you have. you are constantly attracting others into your world through networking, but generally you're a person with a lot of dominance and importance through daily life.

8th - money is consistently coming into your life, depending on the confidence and security that you hold towards yourself and your assets. to focus on your privacy can be difficult, especially due to many wanting to access you more than a romantic way. you attract long term romance and intimate people and relationships in your life, for once not easy to cut off when it becomes old and weak.

9th - you have high beliefs and spiritual understandings of the world around you, and this can help with finding strength and motivation in times of dread or worry. you connect with those that believe in a higher purpose, that focus on teaching others way of living, and may find power in the world of spellwork. powerful women in magic is attractive to you.

10th - you are both the powerful boss and the target to other competition in your life, especially when it comes to romance you connect or attract beings with a lot of status, motivation, confidence, and at times possessiveness. you are shown off, never to hide in the dark, and constantly with a lover that has big dreams to take actions towards in your life.

11th - friendships and travel may be a big deal with a possibility to find big time romance in your friendships and in your social meetups/parties. it is always fun to connect with others, and you do well in the world of fashion, art exhibits, or creations of the skin (skin care, makeup) that influences others to follow you.

12th - your love can continuously be tested, at times nonunderstanding of why what everyone does doesn't work for you. finding your own ways of motivation and confidence is important through much isolation, but also observing the confidence/security of others. to find yourself to see the root of another, but to observe the ideas you have that can become stronger through much time and patience. possessive partners can be a drag, and self creation can heal you here.

[whimpee]

by the by, the doodles and comments from my friends are kept there too just cause i didn't bother to take em out

i was dead for a while, i'm sorry.

anyways massive death note whiteboard posting + some rambling about it from me if you care enough to read, it's nothing impactful.

I actually have been really enjoying DN despite not really being interested in anime, currently catching up on the manga and stuff cause I really like the art style.

both the anime and manga have different strengths and weaknesses so consuming both has been kinda fun.

so anyways I have no where to really dump my neurotic thoughts about Death Note and so i'll make some notes (haha) for possible future things I may post about it. hopefully this interest will be consistent but I doubt it.

the interactions between the characters are by far my favorite thing about this show thing.

one thing that I want to touch on is my thoughts about ships because they seem kinda goofy in this fandom, I really don't really care for most of them much. however, I obviously have a lotta opinions. so, I find Lawlight (romantically) is funny as a joke and actually wish they could've been friends. I've never been into poly ships and so i don't quite like Misa x Light x L, speaking of Misa, she really deserved better. her obsessiveness was something that did influence the story I guess.

I'm a bit tired and my words will be a bit scrambled, I'll stop for now but hope that i will rise again with something better

[nevarroes]

Hello! Not really a question related to your characters but moreso to you art in general: sometime ago someone asked you how you keep the faces of your characters so consistent and you advised them to use a 3D modeling program. I happened to read that post and tried your suggestion and it's been so incredibly useful and life changing!! What I admire about you is that you're so insanely talented but also so honest and humble, many artists out there brag about not using references because "it's for the weak" (bullshit lol), but instead you are so kind to share your tips with other people 😭😭😭 I have a question for your in terms of poses: I think you mentioned you have a library of pictures as references, but do you also happen to use a posing tool? If so, which one would you recommend?

Thank you for being an amazing artist and an inspiration 🙏🙏🙏

gosh thank u so much, I’m so very glad to hear it helped you!! also MORE than happy to talk about using references nd tracing references and photobashing at every opportunity I get. It took me a long time to “accept” that I’m just not an artist that can draw well without references nd even a clear vision of what I want as it kinda gives me security in the process and I do think that this applies to a good amount of artists btw! Like aiming towards being able to draw fully without references may be fun and worthwhile for some but definitely isn’t the standard imo, and there’s not much to be gained from it besides personal fulfillment (or maybe being able to flex to non-artists if you like that) considering that this is so far from away professional expectations too. Not minimizing the effort or joy one might get from freehanding at all btw, but to me its similar to looking at another art style that I adore but will never work out for me personally if that makes sense

anyways yes I do use a posing tool at times, currently I mostly use MagicPoser since it’s convenient! I have mentioned this before but I don’t think relying on posing programs too much is useful, meaning the 3d model made for programs like that will never be able to replicate the bend of muscles/fat etc well enough to fully rely on it and you do very much need to be aware of this. I tend to very, very roughly make the pose I want in the app, mostly to understand angle and perspective, and then I will photobash nd liquify it afterwards (good to mention here that often times you want to stylize proportions too) to get the actual reference I need. I take pictures of my hands, cut together reference photos nd pictures of the head 3D models I made and just kinda…. collage everything until it looks vaguely like what I had in mind🙏

I do have a few of the original poses saved still in case someone is curious how far i tend to go with them/how much effort I actually put in

[inafieldofstarflowers]

Top five reasons you (yes, you) should watch Star Wars Rebels:

Immaculate found family energy—these characters have a home together. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and support one another in achieving the things that are important to them, and their relationships drive the show in a way that feels incredibly genuine.

Character depth—Rebels genuinely has some of the best character development of any Star Wars property I’m familiar with. Each of the characters gets a chance to grow in some way, whether that’s gaining perspective of the world or understanding something new about themselves. They are well fleshed out and consistent. It’s also such a cool look into both what it meant to be a Jedi in the rebellion era, between iterations of the Jedi order, and what it meant to not be a Jedi but still fight in the rebellion. I love that Rebels tells both stories and doesn’t favor one or the other.

Quality Lore—Rebels has a clear trajectory: you get to watch the cast progress from being one of many isolated rebel cells to helping create a unified rebellion. And yet, the show never loses sight of its roots, and the heart of the show stays grounded on Lothal, the planet where it began, and Lothal becomes something of a symbol throughout the show. Also, in terms of broader Star Wars lore, SO many important items or people have their stories told—you get lots of nods to or arcs centered around the darksaber, the mortis gods, the rebellion, darth maul, and more, all of which enrich the experience of watching a lot of the other movies and shows.

Cool visuals—I know a lot of people are turned off by the animation style, especially the saber size, and wish it was like Clone Wars. But Rebels honestly has really beautiful art, and you see a variety of cool planets along the way (Lothal is especially pretty imo).

Compelling villains—This is big for me personally, because to me, Star Wars thrives most when it has a good villain—think Vader and Palpatine; think Maul and Pong Krell. And Rebels has multiple villains who are believably threatening and also work incredibly well in terms of adding to the plot.

Give Rebels a chance; it’s truly incredible, and also just so genuinely fun. Whether you’re a fan of TCW who was thrown by the animation or a fan who just watched Ahsoka and wants to learn more about these characters or a fan who hasn’t dipped into the tv shows, you should ABSOLUTELY watch it. I promise you get used to the sabers being animated differently, and that the characters continue to gain depth throughout.

[anormaladn]

So I started rewatching Kill La Kill and I just wanna gush over the art direction. It's so fucking cool. It constantly knows what it's doing! It's Bold, it's Extra, unashamedly so! Keep up or drop out!

The art style and animation style are so snappy and full of personality (that's just that good TRIGGER shit!)

Yes! You can bend reality to have the huge character that's the chief of discipline of the school take up the entire room! Right after interrupting a lecture about the rise of fascism in Germany in 1933! Subtlety is for the weak!

So many shots are clearly well thought about in terms of composition, colors, iconism, and it's pretty consistent not just for the first episodes/a few trailer-moments but when the story needs to be intense or serious- The planning of all that must have been crazy, imagine storyboarding this madness

The camera movements during some action scenes?? insane

They used a BUNCH of 3D cgi models and you wouldn't even see it because they're worked into the art style and used very smartly, notably in the heavy action shots with the aforementionned insane camera movements (watch that gif closely! the characters, the desks, the background! I don't think it would have been possible to do all that fully hand drawn! even if only for a time/budget reason) I fucking love that! It came out in 2013 and it's so clean!!

Ah, I just like it a lot when a production is unique and carefully thought about. Anime is really fucking cool.

[raithwithwings57]

WIP rough draft Stucky fic where they both go down in the plane together

Just posting some bits and pieces because I have so many unfinished Stucky fics in the wings and I want to show them off a bit and I've not posted anything of my fics in months so, yeah I'm making several posts like this. I do intend to finish these out and post them on ao3 at some point, and if y'all really like any of these, let me know.

Bucky had always wanted to see the future. He’d dreamed about it, read about it, listened to the radio shows about it, dragged his best friend to science fairs he’d not been terribly interested in, gone to those free college lectures where professors pontificated about advancement. He loved the future, he wanted it, he read the technology journals and gushed to Steve over the new artists and their styles. Bucky was always looking forward.

Steve was always looking back. He was a man of the past. A man of possibilities the same way that Bucky was, and yet a man who saw the possibilites like missed opportunies, a reason for pennance rather than hopefullness. Maybe it was the Catholic guilt that Steve carried around, maybe it was his dead war hero dad, or later, his dead nurse mother. Maybe it was being small and weak and having something to prove (no matter how much he claimed he didn’t). Steve liked the old art, the history, the classic literature and the old architecture. He delighted in sitting for hours and sketching old buildings. He memorized all the old prayers and recited them in Latin with a fervor and consistancy that seemed to Bucky beyond just religous, though he didn’t have any other word for it. Steve lingered at history lectures and in muesums looking at marble statues made by the greats. He went to the old graveyards and lingered over the plain stones of soldiers.

Bucky and Steve couldn’t be more different, but they couldn’t have been more the same. And even if one looked forward and the other looked back, they always did it together. Balanced each other out, had interesting long conversations in the dark when they couldn’t afford to have candles or lamps to burn in the night. Or when they huddled close on one bed for warmth in the depth of winter. They could look both forward and back and not stumble, not forget anything important, because they did it together. Steve and Bucky. To the end of the line. Looking out for each other.

Steve would probably not live to see much past the other side of thirty. That was what the doctors had said when he was born, and they’d always maintained it. Bucky couldn’t help but think that Steve didn’t look forward because he didn’t know how. That he saw himself a bit like a still living corpse, or a ghost drifting through this world of the living. Because Steve would never live to see the future. Bucky wasn’t sure he would live to see the future either if Steve died before he got there. He didn’t try not to think about it, because he wouldn’t do himself the disservice of the lie. So he did think about it. Steve was his person, and Bucky wanted his person with him when he was admiring the future. If he was Catholic like Steve he would have begged and prayed.

However Bucky didn’t believe, and he wouldn’t do himself the disservice of that lie either. Nor disrespect something Steve held in such high esteem by blasphemy toward it.

But for all that Bucky wanted to see the future, he’d never really thought that he would. But he did. Oh how he did. Bucky saw far too much of the future.

The ice was rushing up to meet them, and Bucky was facinated, transfixed. Steve’s hands were on the controls, pushing the plane down into the water. They were going to die, and they both had a few moments to know it. To maybe say something, if they had been the kind of people that left things unsaid. But they were neither of them foolish enough to leave things unsaid. To the end of the line. And the end of the line had come. Bucky had seen his future, and Steve had seen his past. And now they were going to die together. Steve wouldn’t see the other side of thirty after all, and neither would Bucky.

There was nothing to say. Nothing at all. Bucky had seen the future in Hydra’s weapons and the experiments on his best friend and on Johan Schmitt. Steve had seen the past in the horrors of war and the power of becoming a hero that would surely outlive them both.

[tizzypizza]

How are you so good at drawing?

Oughhh. Simple answer? Study EVERYONE’S art. Nobody is bad at art. Some people (even non-artists) have an affinity for certain features and are really good at them! For example some beginners have a very intact sense of values, colors, or maybe they’re just really good at drawing noses. Study them! Study Disney cartoons even if it’s totally out of your style. Study dinosaur illustrations even if you’ve never drawn nor do you intend to draw dinosaurs. Study a picture you took offhandedly of an alleyway even if you’re more into character illustration. Study everything, there’s always so much to learn from everyone and everything.

Real answer? Dog I’m sooooooo not LMFAOOOOOOO Believe me I stayed up until 8 am this morning painting a few things and I kept a physical tally of how many times I cried because of how ugly it was and confusing I’d made the process out to be 😭😭😭😭 BIGGER POINT BEING If you’re an artist and you’re asking this question you are already in a dangerous headspace… “getting good” feels impossible for a lot of people and setting such a vague and lofty goal is unproductive at best and discouraging/destructive at worst. Set goals for what you wanna be good at and DRILL THE HELL OUT OF THEM !!!!! This is what I’m trying to do. Tackle your weak points and BEAT THE FUCK OUT THEM I’m so fr.

One of my favorite art quotes is “YOU ARE GETTING TOO COMFORTABLE, TOO COMPLACENT” which I got off Knight Zhang, a digital freehanding legend and an idol of mine. Always push your comfort zone. If you go to draw something and it’s just super difficult (backgrounds, hands, perspective), you have no muscle built up there! TRAIN THAT SHIT CONSISTENTLY !!!!! If you WANT to get better, never let yourself wallow in complacency because you will feel so good after the days to weeks to months of torture that is practice.

…But also like. Don’t push yourself too hard lol Art isn’t really fun for me anymore ever since I tried my hand at improving at it so be moderate and find silly brushes to use and doodle your favorite fandom characters instead of just drilling croquis or plein airs or something

[quibbs126]

So I drew this

I was just thinking of White Lily as a drow, and then I drew that

To be honest, I probably could have done more with her design, I literally just gave her a different skin tone since drow have dark purple skin, and then pointed ears. Like, give her a different outfit or something. Oh well I guess

*sigh* sorry if I sound unenthusiastic, I’m just not very satisfied with what I’ve been drawing recently. I just draw one random drawing on a 500 x 500 canvas, slap on some random color as a background because I don’t know what to do for backgrounds but I feel like maybe my normal white background isn’t cutting it, and call it a day. I mean granted, it does mean I’ll actually finish my ideas, because I have multiple pages for sketch dumps that I’ve never finished, but it feels weak to me, like I’m just doing the bare minimum

And on top of that, I haven’t even figured out that consistent art style thing or how to draw humans, I’m just guessing along because I didn’t make up that style thing for my regular sketch pencil, just my small pixel one. So I’ve effectively accomplished nothing

*sigh*

Also I’m just now remembering drow are usually evil. I’m gonna be honest, at least in terms of DND, my only real experience with drow is Drizzt Do’Urden, and his adventures in a graphic novel interpretation of his backstory I read when I was 9, and then about half of the Icewind Dale trilogy since I never finished the second book. I forget he’s supposed to be one of the rare exceptions, but maybe White Lily can be one too. I don’t know why but I feel like a drow fits her

I need to brush up on my DND lore. Which might just equate to stealing my dad’s Forgotten Realms books that were published in like the 80s. So I don’t know how up to date they are with the current lore, but shush

[thesilliestrovingalive]

Updated: November 7, 2024

Reworked Character #5: Trevor Spacey

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING: Viewer discretion is advised due to references to child abuse, neglect, suicide, death, crime, and drug addiction.

Real name: Yeong-Gi Kwak

Alias: Argentum Chill

Occupation: Sergeant of the P.F. Squad

Retirement plans: Become a security programmer

Special skills: Proficiency in security programming, computer hacking, and coding, repurposing captured enemy software, nunchakujutsu, taekwondo, and knifemanship

Hobbies: Helping Marco with technological issues and computer programming, doing graffiti on abandoned buildings, creating anti-virus programs, hacking into people’s accounts to see what they’re up to, and playing darts and video games

Likes: Marco’s heroism and superior computer skills, tinkering with security software while listening to progressive metal, EDM, video game soundtracks, and K-pop, the nunchucks that once belonged to a former friend named Haneul, his two combat knives, and Nadia

Dislikes: Being called “Trevor Spicy” and “old” due to the frequent misspelling of his last name and his bleached hair, laughing so much to the point he’s coughing and wheezing, people making fun of his graffiti art, faulty security software, and boredom

Favourite food: Samgyeopsal

Favourite drink: Slushies (preferably blue raspberry, fruit punch, pineapple, and orange)

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Gender: Male

Age: 13 (in 2022), 19 (in 2028), 21 (in 2030), 23 (in 2032), 25 (in 2034), 32 (in 2041), 34 (in 2043), 35 (in 2044), and 38 (in 2047)

Blood type: AB-

Weight: 148 lbs. (67 kg)

Design: He's a 5' 9" (175.26 cm) Korean ectomorph with a lanky build, a weak musculature, sloping shoulders, warm ivory skin, dark brown eyes, nails painted a silver-grey, and a black mole beneath the left corner of his lip. His hair is styled similarly to Trevor Spacey's from Metal Slug 4, featuring a jet-black undercut topped with icy blonde locks that appear silvery in the sunlight. Right below his upper back, he has a large tattoo depicting a fiery Jindo dog chasing a golden pheasant in orbit around the moon. His lower right leg was amputated due to gangrene caused by the use of the opioid Krokodil, and has since been replaced with a bronze-hued prosthetic. He bears several scars: a curved scar on his left cheek; an X-shaped pair on his chest; a jagged stab wound on the top of his right hand; and a long scar running down the length of his left upper arm.

Trevor's military gear consists of a metal dog tag necklace with his name, a scarlet bandana worn around his neck, bronze-plated goggles with orange-tinted lenses, and glaucous fingerless gloves. He wears a ruddy blue sweater adorned with two deep pockets, a cerulean wool lining, a bronze zipper, scarlet cuffs featuring silver-edged black bands at their centres, and an embroidered P.F. Squad logo on the back. When not worn, the sweater is often tied securely around his waist, its sleeves knotted. He wears baggy Cambridge blue army cargo pants, tucked into his Russian violet paratrooper boots, which have hidden knives and are held up by a glaucous belt. He also wears a sleeveless reddish-black shirt with a mock neck and a bust mesh panel, sheathes for his two combat knives, and a gun holster for his handgun.

He carries around a bag of THC-infused red and light pink box gummies, flavoured like raspberry and watermelon, a gift from Ralf after their victorious battle against the Invaders, symbolising their newfound friendship. The pockets of Trevor's sweater carry a gourd-shaped jade charm necklace believed to capture fortune and health, and a photograph of him and Nadia. He also carries around a metallic pink-purple lighter and a plastic bag that contains six weed joints. A claw hammer is concealed in the right pocket of his cargo pants, while the left pocket is occupied by a barn red sound-cancelling, bluetooth headset and his black cellphone with a metallic blue case.

Over his shirt, he wears a Soldier Plate Carrier System (SPCS) with a MultiCam pattern, which carries his walkie-talkie and ammo for other firearms. A black bandolier is wrapped above his belt, holding onto the ammunition for his handgun. He carries a Cambridge blue load-bearing backpack containing camping equipment, tactical explosives, portable ammo boxes, a canteen full of water, seven cans of spray paint in different colours (metallic copper, rusty orange, sunflower yellow, neon green, teal, pastel pink, and dark purple), a wide range of hacking tools such as the Flipper Zero and O.MG cables, and nunchucks. It also contains a blue-green laptop featuring three distinctive silver stripes on its lid, which he often uses for hacking and security programming.

He has an extensive collection of piercings, which he got during his involvement with a gang in his younger years. His collection includes sapphire wire hook earrings, black industrial piercings, dark blue tragus piercings, a silver nose bridge barbell, and a gold horizontal eyebrow piercing. Completing his look are a metallic purple frog eyes tongue piercing and a gold hoop vertical labret piercing.

Character summary: He's a stoic, assertive existentialist who focuses on what he can control, accepts what lies beyond his grasp, and believes in the power of individual free will to shape the course of one's life. He's a highly intelligent, cunning, and resourceful man who’s confident in his knife skills and computer knowledge, but can come across as overconfident at times. Despite Trevor’s easy-going demeanour and calm smile, he’s watchful, and his jovial nature often serves as a facade to conceal his underlying anxiety. He's easily amazed and intrigued by the wonders of nature, unexpected revelations, explosions, and impressive feats performed by his friends and comrades such as effortlessly hacking into an entire military mainframe. When discussing his interests or sharing fascinating experiences, he becomes quite talkative.

Trevor is a gentle-hearted ambivert capable of being ruthless, intensely serious, and unsettling when the situation demands it. He's a skilled manipulator, able to turn enemies into allies in desperate situations by exploiting their morals and convincing them they're in the wrong. When manipulating others, he also instills fear through physical and psychological torment, such as breaking their fingers with a hammer or threatening to kill a loved one in front of them. However, he's unexpectedly stubborn when it comes to protecting those he cares about and the lives of innocent people. He holds immense respect for Marco, whom he regards as a role model for excellence in computer science, and enjoys assisting him with investigations and tech projects. He enjoys tagging along with Tarma, Marco, Eri, and Ralf because he regards them as role models, skilled fighters, and experts in their respective fields of expertise.

He has a playful and mischievous streak, evident in his habit of licking his combat knives and taunting those he considers “morally weak” and “blindly stupid”. Unlike most people, he's willing to forgive his enemies when he realises they're suffering and have an opportunity to redeem themselves. He's a high achiever who takes pride in his diligent work ethic, but occasionally succumbs to bouts of laziness, particularly when he’s high. Trevor is surprisingly internet savvy and enjoys using internet slang in both his online and offline conversations with most of his friends, often finding humour in it. Whenever someone he admires, like Marco, calls him "old”, he feels a pang of emptiness inside and becomes noticeably melancholic. On the other hand, when people jokingly refer to him as "Trevor Spicy”, he seems unimpressed, responding with either the silent treatment or a blunt "bug off" accompanied by a deadpan expression. However, he's perplexed by his popularity among women, who admire his physique and exceptional computer skills.

He occasionally participates in Nadia's antics, adding a touch of dramatic flair to them, but will draw the line when her schemes exceed his comfort zone. He’s often disappointed and shocked by Nadia's actions and words, frequently expressing his distaste and uncertainty. When he's extremely bored, he becomes lethargic and sleepy, making it challenging for him to muster interest in anything until the feeling passes. Trevor cherishes Nadia's friendship, admiring her confidence, optimism, understated intelligence, and playful humour, which helps him unwind and find gratitude in his life. He's driven to protect and understand Nadia, fearing that losing her would leave her confused and hurt. Nadia's charm has captivated him, but he's uncertain whether his feelings are rooted in platonic affection or romance as he's still grappling with the complexities of true love.

He holds an extreme disdain for illegal substances and champions the responsible and lawful use of substances. If he notices that one of his friends or comrades is struggling with a drug addiction, he'll go out of his way to provide them with comfort and try to help them break away from that addiction. Due to his upbringing, he struggles with golden child syndrome, but he has made significant progress in overcoming its challenges, thanks in large part to the support of friends like Fio. He's struggling to come to terms with the loss of Haneul, his first true friend, who not only taught him essential survival skills but also introduced him to the world of graffiti art and fostered his passion for security programming and hacking. He's extremely allergic to felines, so he regards domestic cats as “diabolical little buggers” and makes every effort to avoid them. He hates how Perifa often likes to bug him for cuddles and how Marco is a "cat magnet", which attracts cats that exacerbate his allergies.

Backstory: Yeong-Gi Kwak was born on June 25, 2009 in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, South Korea. He is the eldest of four siblings: his twin sister, Eun-Gyeong; his younger brother, Il-Seong; and his youngest brother, Seok-Jin. His father is a businessman who owns a computer software company, and his mother is a medical engineer. His parents, who were workaholics, put a lot of pressure on him and his siblings to be high achievers, believing that more effort and hard work would lead to a successful career. However, they were quick to forgive the faults of Yeong-Gi and Eun-Gyeong, allowing them to get away with more than their two younger brothers. As the oldest children in the family, his parents put a lot of pressure on him and his twin sister to set a good example and be proper role models for their two younger brothers.

This parenting style fed into Yeong-Gi and Eun-Gyeong's need to consistently achieve, satisfying their perfectionistic and people-pleasing tendencies. Nevertheless, it also stirred an inflated sense of self in both, with Eun-Gyeong exhibiting signs of narcissistic personality disorder and Yeong-Gi experiencing a great deal of guilt on behalf of his two younger brothers. In contrast, Il-Seong was often scapegoated, frequently blamed for things he didn't do and severely punished by his parents, who would often lock him in the basement for hours. Meanwhile, Seok-Jin was neglected, retreating from his dysfunctional family by spending time alone in his room drawing or going to the park to play by himself. Yeong-Gi made a concerted effort to support Il-Seong and Seok-Jin, which undoubtedly brought some comfort and solace into their lives.

At the age of 3, Yeong-Gi received his first computer from his parents as a gift of appreciation. By the time he turned 7 years old, he had already developed a comprehensive understanding of binary codes and computer languages. During his summer breaks from school, he spent most of his time creating anti-virus programs, which often served as his homework assignments.

However, his dedication to his work left him with little time to spend with his two younger brothers, Il-Seong and Seok-Jin; however, he did manage to sneak in some time to read books on psychology, listen to K-pop, and play video games with Eun-Gyeong. His parents heavily encouraged his efforts, as he strove to make a positive impact on his school. Ultimately, his hard work paid off, as the school he formerly attended continued to utilise his sophisticated anti-virus programs to combat growing threats from the Internet.

By the time he enrolled in secondary school, his twin sister, Eun-Gyeong, mysteriously vanished. She was last seen with her friends near a shopping mall. Although their relationship was complicated due to her narcissistic tendencies and disrespect towards their younger brothers, Yeong-Gi still cared deeply for her. He had often tried to help her, teaching her the value of humility and assisting her with homework she struggled to understand. He was utterly devastated when his parents announced her disappearance, and it made headlines in the news. A part of him felt lost that day, and the family's desperate search efforts ultimately proved futile. Despite their best efforts, Eun-Gyeong was never found by the authorities and remains missing to this day.

Despite the tragic disappearance of his sister, Yeong-Gi continued to excel in all his classes, but the pressure on him to become successful and be a role model intensified. As he finished grade 10 and summer break began, tragedy struck again when Il-Seong took his own life, sending Yeong-Gi spiralling into an identity crisis. He ran away from home and sought solace with Feodosiy, a Russian transfer student he had befriended in grade 9.

Feodosiy introduced him to his street gang and offered him his first dose of the opioid Krokodil, which Yeong-Gi accepted without hesitation. He became a delinquent, rebelling against his parents and their mistreatment of him and his siblings, but at the cost of becoming addicted to Krokodil. He frequently injected Krokodil into his lower legs to avoid scarring his arms with needle marks, which were easier to conceal with long pants. He bleached his hair to an icy blonde, adopted the alias Trevor Spacey, acquired multiple piercings, and got a tattoo from Haneul, Feodosiy's trusted right-hand man.

For three months, he lived with Feodosiy and his street gang, surviving by stealing essentials and inhabiting a rundown apartment. During this time, he engaged in various criminal activities, including theft, mugging, drug dealing, extortion, and arson. With Haneul's guidance, he honed his knifemanship skills and mastered the art of taekwondo and nunchakujutsu. However, his Krokodil addiction spiralled out of control, leading to a near-fatal overdose, which led to the subsequent amputation of his lower right leg. This traumatic experience forever deterred him from using street drugs.

After receiving medical help from Feodosiy's gang members, he returned to a life of crime, although at a reduced level because he was still adjusting to his prosthetic leg. He eventually abandoned his delinquency after accidentally killing a junkie behind a restaurant. Haunted by the incident, he remembered gazing at his reflection in a seedy restaurant's mirror, realising he had gone too far. The deep-seated fear of arrest drove him to the brink of madness, and he decided to eliminate Feodosiy, who had dragged him into crime.

After orchestrating the demise of Feodosiy and his cohorts, he scrubbed himself clean in the bathroom of the rundown apartment where Feodosiy had been staying. He then returned home, where his parents, relieved to see him, sensed the guilt and shame etched on his face for mistreating their children. Seok-Jin was also relieved to see him come home, fearing that he would never return. He confessed to them about his experiences, but kept his murders and certain crimes a secret.

He returned to high school, completing his remaining years successfully, embracing his new identity. Upon coming home from his graduation ceremony, he noticed a flyer seeking recruits for the Regular Army. He expressed interest to his parents, who were initially hesitant but eventually agreed when Seok-Jin showed support for Trevor's decision. Leveraging his expertise in knifemanship, nunchakujutsu, and computer languages, he joined as a military scout in the Regular Army. Although he rarely talks to his family, he often tries to stay connected with them, especially Seok-Jin, who’s currently working as a medical officer for the South Korean military.

After enlisting, he befriended Nadia, formerly a tactical scientist for the Amadeus Syndicate, and thwarted a computer virus that Marco had inadvertently released. After being free from street drugs for a long time, he learned that marijuana was legalised in Canada from a fellow comrade and decided to try it. During a trip to Alberta, where he and Nadia admired the province's stunning natural beauty, he visited a licenced cannabis store and purchased 30 grams of legally produced cannabis. This experience led to him developing a mild marijuana habit, which helped alleviate his anxiety and cope with past traumas. During a mission to counter a cyber attack on European governmental forces, he earned Marco's respect due to his exceptional computer skills in hacking and security programming. As a result, he was invited to join the prestigious Peregrine Falcons Squad, where he rose to the rank of Sergeant.

[oneatlatime]

The Blue Spirit

Before we get into the episode, a couple of thoughts that have been rattling around my brain: -Last episode was heavy. I need jokes please. -it's been a while since I've seen a hybrid animal. I thought those were going to be a running gag. -It's been a while since there has been any gorgeous background art. -The last couple of episodes have really pushed Sokka and Katara to the background. I'm missing the ensemble style episodes.

Episode time!

It's Zhao. Hi asshole. Actually this conversation is touching on something I've been wondering about:

The fire nation has bigger fish to fry than a quarter-trained 12 year old.

If this whole episode happens at night time I'm going to really miss my CRT.

Zhao is now turbo asshole. Also there's a weird blue cat on his roof.

Imagine having a sick day on an Appa couch. Heavenly. And where are they hiding this time? Why is there a giant tapestry?

Looks like this won't be much of a Sokka episode.

Not going to be a Katara episode either. This is a novel way of benching your side characters.

How does airbending make you go faster? I could see earthbending making you faster, just by moving your running surface, but how does Aang do it?

I do like roadrunner shenenigannery.

Momo doesn't understand English confirmed. Also he has green-tinted vision? Do his irises coat his pupils? That would be weird.

Behold! A non-hydrid animal.

"It's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order." Ouch. Burn.

I'm not much of a Zuko fan, but even I have to admit that this is a sucky situation in a long line of sucky situations. You have to feel for him here.

Frog popsicles. Did not see that coming. Note the lack of hybridity.

Now he looks like those arrow guys.

Using aerial weaponry against an airbender seems really stupid. I guess they've got numbers one their side.

Is literally everybody in this world a professionally trained acrobat? Do all four nations include that in the school curriculum?

Compensating?

Could the action wait until morning please? I can't see.

Zhao doubling down on the asshole behaviour. Not cool. Keeping someone barely alive in captivity for as long as possible has to be some sort of war crime. Waging a war for a century against an entire planet is probably also a war crime, so again, bigger fish. There are assholes that are entertaining to watch and fun to root for, and assholes that are just plain mean. Zhao is now firmly in the latter category.

Poor Momo is trying his best. Zhao's right about there being no one to rescue Aang this time though. Even Appa's benched by babysitting duties.

The blue cat is back. Clinging to the underside of a moving cart using just your fingernails has got to be murder on the hands.

Good lord these guards are blind. This episode is too dark for me to see anything but I still saw blue cat guy hot foot it into the compound. His mask even has white parts.

Oh god he's monologuing. Blegh. Although convenient for blue cat guy. A desire to monologue may be Zhao's most consistent character trait.

Did the frogs do that?

The hallway-that-eats-our-guys just ate one of our guys. What should we do? How about send two more of our guys down the hallway-that-eats-our-guys? And leave only one to guard the door keeping the world's most powerful bender contained? Sounds good.

CAT.

He extinguished that guy! That gets funnier the more I think about it. All that fancy bending, years of training, and your fatal weakness is a bucket.

Exactly how many of those sword flourishes were necessary?

I like the blue cat's theme music. It's some sort of wind instrument, a bit kazoo-like, but it sounds a lot like this plastic toy trumpet I had as a kid that I'd play with whenever I was mad at my parents. I loved that thing, but it mysteriously vanished one day.

Blue cat is doing some seriously precision sword bending. Imagine if he'd missed? How do you live down cutting off the Avatar's hands and feet?

It WAS the frogs! Caught red- um. Footed? Do frogs have hands?

The return of One Man Army Aang.

Blue cat is surprisingly go with the flow for having just been catapulted dozens of feet without warning. Stuck the landing too. Sort of.

I'm sure there's some fascinating fight choreography going on at the moment but I CAN'T SEE IT.

Aang can briefly function as a load-bearing helicopter. Briefly.

So… how many of these guards are dead?

I am a dumb! How did I NOT see that coming? I am dumb! Much dumb!

Turns out there is one hairstyle worse than Zuko's usual.

In addition to roadrunnering, helicoptering, and ladderwalking, Aang can also carry someone taller and heavier than him at high speeds while fleeing the enemy. Is there anything airbending can't do?

Or maybe it was the frogs. Also I just realised that Fire Nation ships are shaped like Fire Nation shoes. I bet those shoes give you bunions.

Zuko was out for a WHILE. Might want to get that head wound checked out.

This hit unexpectedly hard. This episode's second surprisingly heavy scene. Can't they at least hug?

Was the kazoo-trumpet diagetic all along?

"Did you make any new friends?" "No. I don't think I did." Me:

Appa is your friend, not your toothbrush.

Final Thoughts

This was a character episode disguised as an action episode. Which I did not realise until I figured out that Blue cat man was Zuko all along.

Firebender Zuko has chihuahua energy. Blue Spirit Zuko has cat energy. Discuss.

Everyone needed a hug this episode. Including me. Except Zhao. Screw Zhao.

Zuko seems much more confident with those swords than he is with his fire. I don't mean to compare skill levels; I have no way of evaluating that. I mean he seems more sure of his movements with swords. Fire makes him shouty. Swords make him dance.

Can't really say much about Sokka and Katara this episode, although I do like that the reason they're out of commission is a direct consequence of last episode's exploits. Makes the through narrative feel more grounded if the small things as well as the large plot points have continuity/consequences.

Momo! Poor Momo. He really tried! Actually, I've been assuming, but is Momo a boy lemur?

I am utterly indifferent to the Arrow guys. Nice bit of stealthy worldbuilding, but I'll eat my hat if they ever recur.

This episode was The Storm part 2. Parallel angst threads concluding in the two mains staring contemplatively in silence after each other? Yep. Storm Part 2. This episode may have had even less humour than The Storm. I found the recurring frog jokes worked better than the Sokka and Katara are sick jokes.

I've been kind of nitpicky about this episode, but don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it. Kind of really ended on a downer though. It's also contributing to a growing suspicion of mine: would they pour all this development into Zuko, and set up a more powerful villain to take his place, if they meant for Zuko to stay the villain? The show started giving us insight into Zuko's character, and arguably a reason to pity him, at the same time as it gave us those things for Aang - The Southern Air Temple. This show has 60-some episodes. Would you humanise your villain in episode three if he was supposed to be the antagonist for the rest of the show's run? You could, but it would be a waste of writing energy. So what's going to happen? Is this war going to have three sides? I can't see Zuko fully switching sides, when his reasons for chasing Aang are so personal. Whatever Honour means in the fire nation, Zuko's only way to get it back seems to be capturing Aang. I can't think of anything Aang could give him that would be worth forever forfeiting his Honour.

I think this episode made the correct choice, in not having Zuko say anything when he wakes up in the forest with Aang. Like the end of the Southern Air Temple, and the end of (I think?) the Winter Solstice Part 2, some moments are enough - no dialogue needed. But - bear with me as I stray into fanfiction territory - wouldn't it be fascinating to hear the conversation Aang and Zuko might have had? And isn't it neat that Aang chose the conversational topic he did - not questioning why Zuko rescued him, but attempting to reach out? There was a choice made in his one-sided conversation with Zuko that I want to pick at. I can't put into words why I found that short scene so impactful. But I want to pick at it.

I'll be rewatching this episode on the CRT in my parents' basement when I can, because the brightness on my little laptop just does not go high enough. This episode was dark. Fittingly so, but still. I want to SEE.

[aylen-san]

The Image of Sauron Through the Ages: From Couture of Darkness to Corporate Tyrant

Ah, my dear reader, time and space are curious concepts, aren’t they? They constantly shift, giving each moment new shades of fear, reverence, or dread. And what remains unchanged? I, Sauron, Lord of Darkness and incurable devotee of “big and wicked” ambitions. Yet even I have had to change my image because ruling must always be done with style. So, let’s delve into the depths of history and discover how I evolved—from a youthful mischief-maker in gleaming armor to the renowned master of all realms of darkness, now exuding a "modern corporate" aesthetic.

---

The First Age: Conqueror’s Style in Bronze Hues

Ah, the days when the world was still young, and blood ran in rivers. Back then, as a loyal servant of my master Morgoth, I was a pioneer in the image of destruction. What was in fashion? Massive armor adorned with sharp spikes and a helmet so menacingly gleaming that its mere reflection could send any mortal into a faint.

My appearance in the First Age was quite traditional: rugged black metal armor, chains, and fearsome symbols conveying one simple message—“I’m coming for your soul, so you better start running.” And how grand those sandals looked (yes, metal was only for ceremonial appearances) as I strode over the flaming ruins of yet another fallen kingdom!

---

The Second Age: The Seductive “Annatar” Look

How I transformed by the start of the Second Age! Friends, in the art of deception, style is crucial. I decided it was time to shed the dark chains of the past and don the guise of “Annatar, the Lord of Gifts.” This was an elegant transformation requiring not only wisdom but a refined fashion sense.

What did Annatar wear? Golden-white garments, flowing fabrics adorned with filigree and patterns that could dazzle anyone daring to look too closely. My image was refined and sophisticated, as if magic and light were embodied in one form. All the elves in Eregion were taken aback by my taste. I charmed them with exquisite jewelry and rings, giving the impression that no darkness could ever accompany me. And I? I laughed quietly, for within that brilliance I hid a dark void, waiting for its moment.

---

Late Second Age: The Classic Dark Lord in Black Armor

After the creation of the One Ring, the era of kind Annatar was over. It was time to don the familiar black armor again, adorned with runes and dread symbols. Now, I was not just a commander but the monster of the age. My image became even darker: massive gauntlets, blades fused into the armor plates, and a spiked helmet that seemed capable of crushing my enemies’ skulls with a mere glance.

The aesthetic of the Lord of the Dark Lands: heavy chains on my cloak, trails of black smoke at every step, and a wicked grin hidden in the shadow of my mask. It was a time of fierce conquests and grand schemes. Yes, I looked terrifying, as befits the Lord of Mordor.

---

The Third Age: The Eye in Modernist Abstraction

Ah, the Third Age, where my image took on the form of a true modernist masterpiece. I became the Great Eye, as bright as the fire at the heart of the universe. No more armor, no physical body! Just an all-seeing, all-knowing gaze that was always on you.

The image of the Great Eye symbolized absolute control and total domination. The towering Barad-dûr, adorned with black steel and banners of living darkness, became my main “office.” The burning Eye at its peak served as my calling card. Abstract art? No, my dear friends, this was my true power, dragging dreams into the abyss of horror.

---

The Present Day: The Corporate Tyrant Look

And now we come to the most intriguing part: my image in the modern world. Naturally, I adapted. Now, I am Sauron, Dark Lord of the Corporation. My top-floor office in a skyscraper is minimalism personified. Black glass walls, mirrored floors, and a command center where each screen tracks your weaknesses. My wardrobe consists of sharp suits, black ties, and shoes as cutting as my malice.

Today’s style: the corporate tyrant who knows how to negotiate (and obliterate competition). I hold meetings in conference rooms filled with cold light, where even the tea is served chilled. And if someone asks, “Lord Sauron, shouldn’t we soften the image?” I smile. My answer is simple: “Softness is weakness. My fashion is always in vogue: black, timeless, and terrifying.”

---

Conclusion

You see, my dears, an image is not just an appearance. It is the embodiment of power, control, and fear. I have changed over time to always stay at the top of this game. Today I embody modernity, but my dark heart still beats to the rhythm of destruction.

And remember: fashion comes and goes, but Sauron remains eternal.