#i also have a cheat sheet of which character is a ref to who in canon

[the-dangerous-mute-lunatic]

The characters from "Years of Science"!

[thedrown]

Interloper Rework!

 Hellooo everyone, sorry for the sporadic doodles been adjusting to the new stylus/tablet and also working on some ref sheets that can be time consuming. Now then as you know I have several comic ideas the main ones being my vigilante comic BLAABR and a Star Wars story set during the Clone Wars called GOTS. While both of these series are pretty fleshed out both story and character wise, my newer series are still developing and as such my Imperial era Star Wars story “Interloper” is getting another rework! Details bellow if interested in how it will affect the fledgling story/art of characters from this series.

 So then, for a quick refresher since it’s been ages since the last upload, Star Wars Interloper is a Star Wars story set during the Imperial era following the small crew of an Imperial Light Cruiser as they engage in counter espionage predominately within the more autonomous zone of the Corporate Sector. The main cast include a young Umbaran pilot of a prototype TIE/Umbaran fighter, a spunky Rodian engineer, a nervous Pyke nurse, a Whiphid bodyguard and her Twilek boss, an Inquisitorus reject turned force adept spy, and the ex-shoretrooper captain of the whole ship. The villains were a cell of highly aggressive rebels separate from the mainline Alliance who were seeking to lay siege to the Corporate Sector to deal a major blow to the Imperial economy via terroristic means as this cadre of diverse victims of the Empire have little to lose and burn with vengeance. That’s really the long and short of it and thinking of a mainline story of these two parties engaging has been difficult to an extent. I eventually added characters from a scrapped Old Republic idea to be in a second arc so to speak with this one focused on an Imperial Moff going rogue with his fleet within Unknown Space seeking to build a true Sith empire that follows his pureblooded ancestry. This story idea held much more weight than the first and has been easier to flesh out yet getting there remained the issue.

 Enter another facet, a character from GOTS named Kanta Cym, who seemingly dies at the end of the series, survives via the dark side of the force and manages to cheat death via cloning but finds herself without any force abilities as a result and continues her studies of the ancient Sith unhindered by the Jedi as the Empire now reigns. Originally this was little more than a character epilogue post GOTS but I’ve taken more and more of an interest in fleshing this idea out thinking of her struggles without the force, survival in the slums of city worlds, and meeting a comrade in a shapeshifting Shiido bounty hunter as they evade the Empire, cartels, and a band of Jedi in hiding all the while she attempts to rekindle her force abilities by donning the mask of Darth Nihilus albeit with detrimental repercussions from overuse.

 So! I intend to essentially merge these stories into one, taking the stronger narrative of Cym’s endeavours during the Imperial era with the colourful cast and look through Imperial eyes of Interloper. Essentially the story now will follow Kanta as the protagonist for a time as we follow her efforts to pursue the dark side alongside her compatriot (whom I may change from a Shiido to a Harch) and the early antagonists being this rogue Jedi group. This portion will be fairly short and culminate with the Jedi being caught by Adaso’s men thus bridging the two stories as Cym is quietly brought into the fold given Adaso’s meager command and leniency brining her and her comrade aboard as a new spy for the crew (though he only knows of her borderline nonexistent force abilities not her past with the Jedi or Dark Side). And from here we enter Interlopers original plot with the Rebel cell albeit now with a more active protagonist as the Umbaran was very inactive as a protag and lacking in character while Kanta will replace the original spy character from Interloper. Kanta being unaligned with or caring about the Empire as well as her highly peculiar personality will give the plot more life and act not as a parallel or counter to the extremist Rebels, but essentially just being another character with neither being the “good” guy and both seeing the other as little more than obstacles which will allow for the characterization of the Interloper crew like originally intended whilst also keeping the central conflict engaging instead of feeling like just another skirmish. Similarly the spy character now being former Jedi and dark side student Kanta over the original spy character will work far greater in the second arc given it’s central plot point of the Sith species and darksiders acting as the primary antagonists. 

 Basically, moving forward this new Interloper iteration will be the perfect blend of every small scale Star Wars story I’ve invested in but found unable to turn into a full story. That said, the central themes of Interloper will be unchanged, it will still be a series from an Imperial perspective focusing on Adaso’s crew despite Kanta’s addition to the main cast. The exploration of the Sith and Kanta’s furthering of her efforts to reconnect to the force won’t be lost either as the second arc will provide ample material to do so while the first Rebel arc can instead look more at her relationship with Nihilus and her becoming accustomed to this new era and her new clone body. Now then, expect (much needed) updates to the existing Interloper cast with new backstories where necessary as well as some new characters/new versions of characters and unfortunately the deletion of some characters who won’t make the cut. Thank you and Stay Tuned!

[jezahna]

Portrait Studio and Clip studio 3D for figure referencing

Now there are a lot more options available than there used to be for posing software. Today I am just going to talk about Portrait Studio and the Clip Studio 3D ref function because these are what I have been using on and off for the past year. I have used both or either depending on the project. But I thought it might be useful for myself to create a little review.

Note: Keep in mind I’m not necessarily comparing them as they are two completely different programs, more just taking about my experience in use them for drawing reference.

Working on a commission, I decided to create the same pose in both programs just for the fun of it. Here’s how the commission turned out:

This character is an assassin, and I wanted the POV to be facing in an upward angle towards her, almost to insinuate that the viewer is taking the position of the victim. I still wanted the viewer to look into her eyes though, so I couldn’t make it exactly realistic.

Portrait studio:

In short, Portrait Studio is an excellent program made exclusively as a referencing tool.

In Portrait studio the model feels realistic and the 3D shapes represent the human form in a useful way for simplifying. The controls are simple but I find them a bit confusing and fiddly depending on how long I go without using the program. The cheat sheet that you get when you click “Help” is great though as it allows you to get the information you need to use the program quickly.

The software also allows for advanced control of lighting which is obviously fantastic.

Something that I found frustrating as a user is that the program has no visible undo function, and I would often press Ctrl+Z only to be met with disappointment.

The issue becomes most apparent when I am repositioning the pose, as joints can easily be deformed or tilted incorrectly and there just seems to be no way to undo this. It also can get frustrating if I accidentally reset something. For example, with this pose at one point, I hit a button on my keyboard by accident and reset the viewing angle so I had to go in and set it up again.

I also couldn’t find the export function, if there was one. You can save your pose, but it would be useful to be able to export the current angle and framing so that I can refer to it as a .jpeg, without having to minimise all of the control windows or keep the program open.

As someone who comes from portraiture painting background and being a fan face of heavy customization in RPGs/The Sims growing up, on a positive note I should probably mention that I am a HUGE fan of the face sliders on the portraiture model! It is very useful if you suffer a nasty case of same-face syndrome as I used to struggle with.

Overall, I use Portrait studio when I am looking to create something with realistic and professional – and when I have a lot of time to spare to pose my figure correctly (although maybe if I use it more often, I will be able to get my references faster in this program).

Clip studio

Clip Studio is primarily a drawing program, which is why I mention the two programs really can’t be compared. The 3D posable reference functionality is accessible in the “Materials” section of the program.

Now the reason I use clip studio for some projects is because it’s native to the art program and the controls incredibly easy, making for quick turn-around in posing and therefore quicker production for an artwork. It’s particularly useful if I only need a rough reference for an artwork.

Joint movement is a little more limited to what is realistic. For example, finger joints (with the exception of the knuckles) are restricted to moving up and down, not side to side, and when positioning them, the bone will not move beyond its realistic point. So in this sense it’s difficult to slip up and break your model’s finger.

The body of the character is also very easily customisable. Which means you can create a variety of body types to suit your project needs.

As a base, I found that the default “skinny anime” body type didn’t really fit with my style so I have a modified version that fits more with the proportions I normally use.

Above: Default vs. modification.

The fact that that there is no definition to the face can be a little inconvenient as I would prefer to know more information about how the angle affects the shapes and placement of the features in the face. It’s particularly unsuitable for me in this circumstance as I don’t have as much experience drawing faces from this angle so I feel like I would be doing a bit of guess work

Sometimes when I am using the ref tool I notice I am focusing less on depicting the human form and more about replicating the shapes and angles that I see. Obviously these figures weren’t made to be realistic, and note that there are no muscle shapes used to assist with realistic simplifications of human form. There are those grid lines though which could be useful for foreshortening.

At the end of the day, both of these tools are very useful and what I use is very dependent on my time constraints and the style that I am looking to achieve.

[seenashwrite]

“Sweetheart,” Dean said, looking right into her eyes, “I think you should...”

Careful! How you finish that line is gonna make-or-break how well you’ve captured Dean Winchester in that fic you’re working on. Why, you may ask? Keep reading. And to you who are familiar with this topic... 

NOTE: Any subsequent “add-ons” via others sharing their thoughts on the topic which resulted in other posts will be linked at the bottom!

Abstract

Persistent usage in fandom writings ascribing one Dean Winchester a mannerism that relates to interactions with those he is romantically involved - specifically, the substitution of their name with “sweetheart” - is shown via evidence-based research to be in conflict with this fictional character’s established persona and speech patterns thus far.

Data

For your quick ref convenience, “sweethearts” meant in the traditional sense of the word have a ❤️ by the episode title. Let us begin. The facts are these:

SEASON ONE

1.02 Wendigo

[TO FEMALE CHARACTER] Well, sweetheart, I don’t do shorts.

1.16 Shadow

[DEAN looks at MEG, who smiles at him] Oh, sweetheart—you’re dumber than you look…

Later–>

MEG: You know, that shotgun’s not gonna do much good. DEAN: Oh, don’t worry, sweetheart. The shotgun’s not for the demon.

SEASON TWO

2.06 No Exit

[TO JO] Sweetheart, this ain’t gender studies. Women can do the job fine. Amateurs can’t.

SEASON THREE

(The writers’ room got a real hard-on for it this season)

3.04 Sin City

[TO FEMALE CHARACTER] You know, you’re piling it pretty high there, sweetheart. I’m not sure I’m buying.

3.06 Red Sky at Morning

[TO BELA] Well, sweetheart, I don’t need your kind of help.

3.07 Fresh Blood

[TO FEMALE CHARACTER] Well, I hate to tell you this, sweetheart, but your blood’s never pumping again.

3.11 Mystery Spot

[TO FEMALE SERVER] ‘Scuse me, sweetheart? Can I get sausage instead of bacon?

3.12 Jus in Bello

[TO BELA] Oh, I’ll find you, sweetheart. You know why? Because I have absolutely nothing better to do than to track…

3.15 Time Is on My Side

[TO BELA] Sweetheart, we are weeks past help.

SEASON FOUR

4.01 Lazarus Rising ❤️

[DEAN approaches the IMPALA, runs a hand along it] Hey, sweetheart, did you miss me?

SEASON FIVE

5.09 The Real Ghostbusters

[FEMALE CHARACTER walks into the room nervously] I don’t wanna do this.

[DEAN leans around the corner] I’m right here sweetheart, I’ve got your back. Trust me, this is going to work. [he then pulls back so he can’t be seen grimacing]

5.11 Sam, Interrupted

[FEMALE CHARACTER walks in their direction]

[DEAN spots her] Oh, no, no, no. Not today, sweetheart. Come on, keep walking…

5.12 Swap Meat

FEMALE SERVER: Here you go, guys.

DEAN: You know, do me a favor, sweetheart. Would you bring me a cheeseburger with extra bacon? And fry an egg on top of it, would you?

SEASON SEVEN  

7.17 The Born-Again Identity

MEG: That hurts my feelings. I’ve been good to you, Dean.

DEAN: No, you’ve been good to you, sweetheart.

SEASON EIGHT

8.08 Hunteri Heroici

FEMALE CAREGIVER: You’re not supposed to be here.

DEAN: Well, trust me, sweetheart, you got bigger fish.

SEASON TEN

10.02 Reichenbach

[FEMALE DANCER is disgusted; she moves to leave]  And we’re done.

[DEAN grabs at her] Hey, hey, hey. Song’s not over, sweetheart.

SEASON TWELVE

12.17 The British Invasion ❤️

[DEAN looks down sight of newly-returned Colt] Welcome back, sweetheart.

SEASON THIRTEEN

13.16 - Scoobynatural ❤️

[DEAN prepares to swing sledgehammer at enchanted TV] Sorry, sweetheart.

.

SEASON FIFTEEN

15.10 - The Heroes' Journey ❤️

[DEAN grabs the grenade launcher] Hey, sweetheart.

Analysis

Of 15 seasons and 320 total episodes aired as of this writing, "sweetheart" appears in [*adult] Dean's dialogue 20 times in 19 episodes. So, 19 is 5.9375% of 320. That's not even one quarter.

He just doesn’t use the word often, folks.

[Note: to get a precise percentage of its appearance in his actual dialogue, you’d need to count every single word the man has spoken - I’d think taking out “a”, “and”,��“the”, and “I” would be acceptable - and good luck, there. I ain’t your girl. Another possibility would be to compare “sweetheart” to other nicknames he’s given people - again, knock yourself out. This is just to illustrate its appearances across seasons. A tangential comparison? Take your number of fics involving Dean - i.e., your # of episodes - count the “sweethearts”, and do your percentage.]

Of the 20 usages, 4 are of a clearly affectionate nature: once to Baby the Impala, once to the Colt, once to the enchanted television, once to the grenade launcher.

The remaining uses - all directed at female characters - are of a false comfort, patronizing, and/or manipulative nature, because a portion of Dean’s persona is that of an irredeemable asshole. The character is greater than the sum of his parts, true - but that is an undeniable part.

Thus, this does not seem to be a substitute name Dean Winchester bestows upon persons of a beloved nature. It is scantly, possibly endearing - albeit patronizing - when he’s used it as a substitute name for waitresses.

Visual Aids

[Note: Someone jokingly asked for a pie chart last time - ‘cause hello, what’s a Dean topic without PIE! - and I did them and they were silly. Here’s the replacement, which IMO is an improvement and completely scientifically accurate, I’m sure you’ll agree]

Wrap Up

Could there be any exceptions?

Sure. If he's Demon!Dean and it's not romantic and is a pure smutty hate f*ck - in that instance, the data would most assuredly support the author’s choice.

Also supportable would be complete off-the-rails AU fics [as in: Dean's not a hunter, he's a mechanic from Regular Town, USA] because in those cases, no one expects him to be canon-friendly.

Here, have a cheat sheet:

.

And what’s my personal opinion?

Dean doesn’t call people of significance by that endearment in a heartfelt manner, reserving it solely for inanimate objects (Baby, the Colt, the TV, and the grenade launcher), because they pose no threat of rejecting him. So... maybe it actually does mean something loving and sentimental to him. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t used it on someone he’s crazy about.... has he met that person yet? Again, maybe. Are the writers doing this purposefully? Is Jensen maybe slipping a handful of ‘em in, as well? Ya got me.

In any event, there’s the obvious: They’re all objects to him, useful for specific tasks regarding things he needs/wants - food, beer, sex, baiting a ghost, mindless entertainment - or they’re an adversary who is standing between him and something he needs/wants. Either way, all ultimately disposable. That ain’t sweet, nor does it have heart.

Bottom line

If you are professing that your story is canon?

Stop. Having. Dean. Call. You. Sweetheart.

You, your O.C., the friend you're writing into a fic so they can get boned by Dean, any other character you're having Dean bang-a-rang... if they don't go VROOOOM or go BOOM or go ZOOM, it's an inappropriate nickname.

Hypothesis on overall reception by SPN fanfiction authors, specifically those writing Dean in sexual/romantic encounters?

Utter rejection.

* Final Note: there is Teenage Dean usage of a snot-faced “sweetheart” that further supports the hypothesis, however it has been excluded due to age - as the topic is Dean in romantic/sexual fanfics - and due to the fact this was already a slam-dunk case. 

Astute data-crunching followers have also pointed out the use of “sweetheart” by one John Winchester in a patronizing manner towards a female vampire. 

The original data crunch - linked at top - also noted the use of an affectionate “sweetheart” by one Mary Winchester, which was directed towards Baby. 

Sam is not covered here because I don’t care about him.

I’m kidding. To not care would be something, and I nothing Sam.

I’m kidding. 

See? He gets me. 

(Sources: Available SPN Wiki transcripts)

ETA: More sweetheart talk via “Dear Nash” HERE and HERE

ETA #2 [Feb. 2018]: Nash’s breakdown of how to assess & choose a NON-sweetheart endearment specifically for “Dean In Love” situations is HERE  

.

* Up to date as of July 2020 *

[sakamichidiary]

Nice to Party You ☆ It's Tomita Suzuka YO!

Member: Tomita Suzuka Source: 2nd gen Hiragana Keyakizaka46 blog Post date: 2017/12/04 20:37

I've been a party-goer since before I was born! I've come here as a newbie, and every day is full of discoveries (´∇`) Let me once again introduce myself. I'm Tomita Suzuka, a second generation Hiragana Keyakizaka46 member. Nice to meet you～～～～～!! Nice to party you～～!! 1 I'm a 16 year old, second year high schooler from Kanagawa prefecture. The second generation members' blog has started! I'm very happy!! I've wished for a place that would let me quickly connect with everyone. And I've finally, finally gotten it! Haa, haa... I'm really so happy ( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ ) Tears are welling up. I'm pretty sure fans are expecting Paripi-chan2 to have a party-like blog but... From here on out, I'll leave Paripi-chan behind and write as Diligent-chan3. Please stay put and don't close the page!! If I ever started a blog, I told myself I'd definitely post this picture ( ´﹀` ) What do you think? I think this is a good picture of myself. In fact, it's so good that I seriously consider it the best picture that I've seen of myself, in my whole entire life. So good that I should be charging money for it (^^) j/k (^^) I wonder how everyone sees this picture? (lol)

The food family (Matsuda Konoka & Watanabe Miho) are attacking Hina (Kawata Hina) (∩´﹏`∩) During lessons or in the dressing room, there's always something frivolous like this happening (lol)

Well, well, 2017 will end in about a month. Somehow, that went by quickly... Especially since the month of August! During the summer break, without doing my homework, I struggled hard and risked my life for the SHOWROOM auditions. Actually, on the last day of the SHOWROOM auditions, I made a very important promise with my best friend. At that time, it's because my best friend told me "Let's stop this tomorrow!" that I'm able to be here right now. Starting at 5:46AM, I did an early morning broadcast and my Mom made sure to take the dog out for a walk at that time. I'm sure that my dog was happy about getting an early walk too (U｢･ω･)｢ I'm grateful for all the support that my best friend, my mother and my family gave me. I've been watching all of the recommendation comments that I received from people after the SHOWROOM broadcasts ended! I've properly remembered them!! I want to quickly meet with all of you (^^) At that time, I had decided to do the broadcasts without showing myself. I took that decision fully aware that doing broadcasts without showing my face would put me at a disadvantage compared to the girls who would show themselves. Because I didn't show myself, all I had at my disposal was my talking skill. Since people would only be able enjoy my broadcasts through their ears, I put a lot of thought every day into what I was going to do. For example, I played "Overture" on the guitar. On the last day, I had recorded the accompaniment in advance, and played the melody live during the broadcast! I came up with things that I thought the other girls would definitely not do! To tell the truth, I personally thought that what I showed was too good! When thinking of what I did, I was conceited and thought "Ah~ That was awesome!" (￣▽￣) With each passing broadcast, I felt like I was getting better at talking! These broadcasts will become a source of encouragement for myself in the future, when I look back at them. They were a wonderful experience (^^) I think the people who listened to me from the beginning know this, but during the first broadcast, I tried to portray the "good girl" (lol). That was an impossible feat wasn't it...? With how I am now, I'm so embarrassed when I listen to that first broadcast (lol) This is the cheat sheet I put together right before the SHOWROOM broadcast. Since it was done in a hurry, my writing was sloppy, but as long as it could help me convey my thoughts, then that was good enough (˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ ) My Paripi-chan character is the result of all the people who watched my SHOWROOM broadcasts and helped me create that persona! I want to become an idol who considers "individuality" important~! It's been about three and a half months since I was chosen to become an additional member of Hiragana Keyaki. I still haven't come to grip with that fact yet (´•ω•̥`) There are instants where I tell myself "Ah, I'm an idol now." I'd like to challenge myself with singing, dancing, appearing on variety shows and the various other things that I will be faced with! Even if I can't get you to like me, I'm happy just knowing that you are aware of me! At first, you might dislike me, but you'll gradually grow to like me. I think that it's the same thing as with food (^^) [So she's something like an acquired taste?] Back then, I disliked yogurt (^^) But now, I love it! I want to become someone who people rapidly get hooked to, after having gotten to experience me time after time. [Does this mean she wants us to consider her like a drug? ww] I guess I'll make this my favorite motto: "someone who's taste becomes more apparent the more you chew on"...4 I'll become a human gum. [Uh, what? w] That's why no matter what your impression of me is, Paripi-chan will give it her all so that you remember me even just a little bit ⊂( *･ω･ )⊃ And also, I'd be glad if you could give me your support and encouragement. Thank you for reading my first blog! It ended up being long! [No kidding... This is by far the longest 2nd gen Hiragana member blog up to date!] Well then, it'll be from Diligent-chan back to Paripi-chan (lol) I think this is the first time for everyone, but please forgive me for my split personality with Paripi and Diligent m(_ _)m Tomorrow, it'll be Nibu Akari, also known as Nibubu!☆ Well then, that's a wrap! This was Paripi-Juju-Nobuko-Suzuppi! Pari Peace ('ω')v P.S. I wonder if there are many people who want know the origins of the nickname "Nobuko" ( ´﹀` ) Which nickname should I use?

This was a... difficult blog to translate. I had a hard time following Paripi's train of thought at some points in her blog post. So I'm not sure this translation properly conveys what she wrote, as there are subtleties that I feel went right above my head. There are some parts where she seems conceited and brags about herself, which I don't often see in idol blogs... I hope I'm just misunderstanding something w

Also, the amount of white space that Paripi uses was even more pronounced than Kosako Nao orz...

She makes a pun on "hajimemashite" and writes "parimemashite." ↩︎

Tomita Suzuka's nickname is "Paripi", which an abbreviation of "party people" and is used to refer to a party-goer or a clubber. ↩︎

She refers to herself as "Majime-chan." Majime (真面目) means diligent/serious/honest. ↩︎

The expression in Japanese is 「噛めば噛��ほど味が出る人間」. ↩︎