#i dont really know if i can call this drawing successful

[houndfaker]

sunflowers

[drdemonprince]

When other people say that they do not have enough time to get something done, they (often, if they're quite healthy) mean they are taking into account the time it takes to do the laundry and arrange new pieces of furniture and cook dinner and meet up with friends to see a movie and run to the post office or the hair dresser and take the dog for walks and do the dishes and paint their nails and drive to the store and go to their cousin's wedding and go to the barbecue their friend is throwing on the weekend

they don't winnow their life down to just spending time at the computer, working from when they wake up until they cannot focus their eyes anymore, granola bars, coffee, and bottles of water all around them because of course they did not take time to have lunch or breakfast, only dragging themselves away from work when they are truly too exhausted to do any of it anymore, and then lacking the energy to do much of anything that remains of life but to eat a tiny bit more, sponge themselves off, and go to sleep.

i just saw a video of a fursuiter on their bed, legs kicked back, head propped on their hands, delightedly announcing that after many years of hard work they had finally finished their Master's degree. And some part of me, some sick withered part, thought really? you had time to do a Master's degree while also getting a fursuit done? and going to conventions, presumably? you had time in the day to research fursuit makers, have a sona designed and drawn by someone else (or to draw it yourself), to contact a maker to make a duck tape dummy of yourself, and to have a friend over to help you make it and to cut it off of you, to send it in the mail to the maker, to then get it and make videos? you had time to set up this beautiful bedroom that i see in your video, with a soft pink sham on the bed and LED lights behind your bookshelf and lamps and all kinds of stuffed toys? you had a life? you were out playing, and dancing, and pursuing your hobbies, and you did a master's degree?

because when i was working on my doctorate, there was nothing. three layers of foam on the floor with a fitted sheet over it. a folding card table from aldi that had cost $40 that my grandparents got me. no food in the fridge. no time to even get the internet installed, just stolen wi-fi when my laptop could pick it up. i woke up, got dressed, and slunk into the office. i sat alone in the dark working until my hunger made me furious and i could not write another word. and then i walked to the grocery store, got something to subsist on, went home, ate, kickboxing video, went to sleep. every day. with almost nothing breaking the routine.

and ive gotten better, so much better, but my brain still kind of works that way. i feel like i have to quit my job and stop being a writer if i want to have hobbies. to paint my bedroom. to marinate a meat for longer than fifteen minutes. to get a driver's license again. to take a trip. but i dont want to be like that any more. how do people know when to stop? i feel like i have to give everything my absolute all until there is nothing left or else i have done nothing. i feel that i would have to treat a hobby like a job to get it done. I feel that anything that takes more than two minutes is a huge waste of time i must feel guilty for. i am working on all these things. jesus i have been working on them for years at this point. but because i have been so successful at telling people to do less, i get pulled in. interview. workshop invitation. email. urgent in the subject line. call from my agent. meeting request from my boss. new book idea, better sell it now while my sales figures still look good. recording studio session. deadline. writing. can you talk about this. can you talk about that. tag. email. book idea. deadline. long heartfelt email. still so often i have to take my own damn advice.

and this is why i am getting a fursuit made!! and going to cons! and going to leather and latex events! and making socials that are separate for these things!! i am going to let myself be silly and soft and do frivolous things. i am so sick of what i do to myself, all the pursuit of seeming like a strong mature adult.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Can you do TADC cast x reader with an amazing singing voice? And what each member thinks of their voice. Like let's say they just one day hear the reader singing in the halls to themselves or something, what would be their reaction

TADC cast finding out the reader has a good singing voice!

i think ive done a singer!reader before but too be fair iirc correctly those are with a reader who sings to cope... plus it was only for about half the cast, i think! speedrunning this since im answering this while i got something in the oven YAHOO

CAINE:

i think he would first hear you after mindlessly barging into your room. like usually hes good with knocking, but i think sometimes he gets so antsy to see you that he just. invites himself in. thats an issue for a different post, i think. so imagine he finds you singing to yourself in your room... and you sound so amazing... oh he would be in love with you, even more... assuming this is romantic, of course! though i guess thats the default for these kinds of posts.... that aside, i think he would start to ask for you to sing for him alllll the time. its like hearing an angel singing... or perhaps even a siren, given how it draws him right in... adds that to his long list of things about you that he gushes about you

POMNI:

writing her right after i do ragathas but i think that her reaction would be similar... just minus the successful getaway; she would probably trip on something behind her while shes trying to slink away; thus alerting you and stopping your song. tries to stammer out an apology before just blurting out that she heard something; heard you singing and that she didnt mean to intrude but it just sounded so..... alluring? is that the correct word? very bad at trying to defend herself, though is there really anything that she needs to defend herself against? its not like she did something bad, she just walked in on you doing something innocent.... needless to say, i think it would be awkward between the two of you for at least a short period of time... perhaps you offer to sing to her... would that still make it awkward, or would it dismiss it? up to you, my silly reader!

RAGATHA:

probably finds you singing to yourself while cleaning and/or tidying up one of the common areas of the circus after jax's prank leaves it particularly messy! doesnt interrupt you, in fact you might try to quietly back out of the room... i mean she didnt know you could sing, and you never sang around her, plus given that youre doing it while no one else is around... well it would get into her head that this is something personal and private for you. whether or not thats true is up to you, though! i do think her curiosity would eat away at you though, and with thinking about your voice, it would lead to her asking about it. keeping this open ended for you to expand upon this yourself, you could explain to her what music means to you and perhaps you offer to sing to her... shrugs

JAX:

honestly i think he would try to mess up your singing, like it could be his first time hearing you sing and he could be totally captured by your talent; but the asshole in him is telling him to do what he does best. its like setting a glass down when theres a cat nearby. something is bound to happen; you know? like do i think he would sneak around you and form some elaborate prank thats going to dunk slime all over you while youre singing? no, no no not at all. in fact i dont think jax would do that to his actual close friends or partner.... now to zooble or gangle, yeah definitely.... though to be fair he is comfortable with teasing the idea of putting centipedes in ragathas room, knowing that shes deathly afraid of them; and they seem to be decent friends... but im getting off track... no, i think he would just call out a random word while youre focusing on your lyrics; which makes you repeat him and thus breaking your focus

though, he does make up for kind of complimenting you

not quite a sour patch kids kinnie since he doesnt have the sweet part nailed down </3

KINGER:

okay cute idea. while most of the other characters (if not all since im writing everyone out of order) find you singing on accident... imagine you sing to him to try to calm him down after a particularly rough day that leaves him more antsy and anxious than usual. i think depending on the song, if you pick the right one it calms his down real nicely. maybe im biased, but rises the moon... my beloved... cough coughs

anyways... i dont think he would ask you to sing, not because he doesnt like your voice. no he just doesnt want you to feel forced to do it plus i mean... your digital vocal cords can get worn down... maybe... actually i dont think they would?? digital bodies are... weird.. might be a case of temporary strain that doesnt stick but the point still stands, he doesnt want ANY harm or discomfort to come to you; physically or otherwise!

ZOOBLE:

not much impresses zooble, but even with that being said i think they would be able to recognize talent when there is... well talent! though, they are bad at showing their emotions; at least not the ones that are more positive if that makes sense! given their general attitude as well as their flatter voice, a lot of the genuine compliments they give you upon first hearing you sing may come off as sarcastic... or maybe they dont, since you guys may or may not be close and know that this is just how zooble is. they arent going to shower you in compliments like caine, or ask you to sing for them. thats just not how they are, and they simply treat your singing as another part of you! not to say that its not worth gushing over; its just that... gushing isnt really something zooble.... does... you know?

GANGLE:

stealing from kinger but imagine singing to her to help calm her down or get her mind off of something... like i think she would be entranced.. or perhaps confused because now that im thinking about it more imagine youre crying to your partner and they start to just. sing...

shh we can pretend that gangle just enjoys your voice..! finds it very pretty, but also like kinger i dont think she would ask you to sing for her often out of fear of making you feel forced to do it. plus gangle, at least to me, seems like the type to not want to ask anyone for anything for fear that it will make her an annoyance or inconvenience. poor girl... absolutely loves your singing, though

[tboyblogger]

finally finished the profile for the danseiroido!! this took way too long just because drawing anime headshot is my biggest nightmare... and then ended up not even looking That anime LOL... i've already had a few comics up in the tag (search em to read!) but. a brief intro is that i basically just made them idols (somewhat) and threw them in the same boygroup to write sitcom/4-koma slice of life random jokes, as i always do! they also share the same universe with my entire vocaloid neighborhood setup (but this will - might - be for another day)

there isnt a deep overarching plot as for now, its just daily lives of a boygroup that doesnt really do anything idol-like and occasionally featuring others around them from the vocal synth ville. oh and idk if i can call them a polycule because they dont really think or operate that way But! i do want all of them to fool around and have their own "ship moment" (if you want to call it that? i dont really label these things and i want to write it that way) tldr they all fuck one another. every single ship in the group canon (EXCEPT the obvious anyone x len. timeout for him he got his ass kicked out whenever they do it...)

my concept/idea for it (not much tbh this is just me rediscovering my love for vocaloid - though one can argue it never went away - and started make up random shits for them so its pretty much spontaneous and not a serious project or anything) is a parody of sort on stereotypical otome/bl genres and boygroups and anime tropes and obviously the vocaloid fandom/history. but i dont think i know enough about bl nor anime nor boygroups so at the end of the day its just guys hanging out XD hm i should just tag my other vocaloid stuff something else too considering its an elaborated world now, with these guys in it, but... that... really is for another day...

wait forgot to say also making len the leader is idk vocaloid meta funny or sth since hes the most popular but here hes just a wee child not even allowed to getting involved much (to be fair its cause most of the involvement are either freakish or sexual. or both) hes already more than involved in the irl success go away little boy. but Boom! funny ass kid leading army of 6 gay ass men (one of them isnt even a man. but only when its convenient) (sometimes there are 7 of them)

also: everyone learn vietnamese to understand how funny their viet names are rn

SORRY I KEEP EDITING. but they also have a playlist... just for funsies. some of them are serious canon lore related the rest are probably all shitposts

[thehopelessexception]

how can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22 (almost 24)

warning: im writing this while im on my period and eating ice cream.

i've been dissociating for what now? half a year maybe more. i dont recognize reality. i feel im floating in this sea we call society and i've been feeling the wilson of the story here. i assume everything that's happening around me is real, ofc. but that doesnt make it any less a convenient arrangement i build for myself to try to act like a real person and not freak out. i am feeling out of reality. like the part of the game where you let the sim on auto-mode. i am the sim on auto-mode. and i don't know how to stop this stage of oblivion.

to make a vague introduction, the thing with me is that im a living paradox of a full time contradiction. i am flamboyant but i hate being perceived. i like to speak up for myself but i hate people thinking about me because of it. i have my own process of how i understand things. i trust logic and i question everything. im quite skeptical over things when there's no empirical evidence. i seek for knowledge. critical thinking, data analysis and the whole stuff. i know myself. i sometimes look like i am too obnoxious, frivolous, morally corrupted (people have told me that), when i obsess over something —because i sometimes treat people like they are stupid (not my intention really)—; but probably the only thing im completely sure of is myself. i tend to be a confident person, to have an ego, to not let the guard down, to calculate every single move. and lately i am noticing myself being impulsive, insecure, nervous, weird, saying stupid shit, nonsenses, feeling small. and i don't know how to make it stop. the thing is i put my whole self-esteem backed up by my intelligence, however im not sure of anything anymore. i don't know if the reason behind not recognising myself lately is the fact i have somehow a new crush —or a new hyperfixation for that matter— or just the natural act of growing, also known as the quarter life crisis.

i have this thing where i hyperfix on random stuff, i've been like this my whole life. one of my friends even made a powerpoint of all the things i've been obsessed with over the years. and the issue here is that this things never last that much, or maybe they do? i actually never though about it. the most random ones i remember are probably me buying ice-cream cakes of this specific brand every week for two months. i also got obsessed with eating too many scrambled eggs all day every day for a very long time. then it was that turkish telenovela on an airing channel. then ofc succession, and it grew into watching every single movie kieran culkin was part of. the world cup. mbti —im intj by the way—. red white and royal blue (i watched it five times in a day), then nicholas galitzine —did yk he has a lineage that comes all the way from the romanovs?— and his entire filmography. and also politics, i got way into politics; election campaigns, follow up candidates, history, economy, the law, etc (my candidate lost tho) (we're succumbing to disgrace) (like literally we collectively, as a country, haven't had any kind of good news since then) (please help me). and etc etc. but the thing is, i also hyperfix on random people, or not so random i guess. it doesnt happen very often tho, im quite picky, but the procedure is this: i meet someone, they draw somehow my attention, i want to know everything about this person, i talk to this person a lot (medium to long term) (week to months), and then this person becomes my friend or i get bored and completely ignore them for the rest of my life and move on.

but this time is different, or im feeling it different. i find myself questioning everything i know and i was convinced of. i dont know if it has something to do with the fact that i met someone, probably the first person wise enough to make me question if i was ever correct about anything. maybe i am hyperfixating on this person, idealizing them. but it's truly amazing how much more data this person has about everything i know of. and right now i feel way too insecure, because even if this person told me they find me smart and they enjoy talking to me, i am always thinking that if i say something not completely fact-checked they'll think im stupid. it's absurd. it's a boohoo situation, i know. and it's a process im having about who am i, or what am i supposed to be. some months ago the whole context around my life changed or i think it changed? i dont know how to explain it, —i mean i know how but i would have to talk about other things not related to this (politics stuff, things happening in my country, etc). i'll probably will make a new post about it someday—. but the whole issue is, i dont know myself anymore. and everything is crumbling.

im afraid the person i build for myself it's a fraud. or doesnt exist anymore.

i remember myself at 18, and i was this marvellous whole person. independent, smart, focused, driven. that girl spent their whole days outside her house. did everything she wanted to. wasnt scared of anything. and i look at myself now and think how? the pandemic has a lot to do with it i guess, but when i first heard taylor saying that in nothing new i thought "that wont happen to me". guess what, i was wrong.

for my fellow girlies being 23 —in my experience— is exactly how they say it will be. the worst age of your life.

next month is my birthday and im pushing 24. and i have to say my life is a mess. but i dont know if i can call it a mess because it is truly a mess or because i am a complete drama queen. because people probably have worse problems than mine, and i am what you call a white girl, only poorer —and a third world country citizen—. the issue is, i am almost 24, almost 25. almost 27. ALMOST 30. and i did nothing with my life. absolutely nothing. my mom had me at 29 for god's sake.

and by nothing i mean everything i do is not enough to feel it worthy of a life well-lived. should i look for a job and work while studying just to say i am extremely occupied because i have somehow a life? just to feel something? even if that makes my stress situation and anxiety even worse? should i somehow save enough money so i can move from my parents house? even if for my whole generation it's close to impossible? is studying something i (kinda) like enough to not feel like shit about myself? i've never had a boyfriend, nor girlfriend. shoud i look for one? get myself one? even if i dont think any of that would make me happy? i dont think i know happiness as a state of mind, nor the concept of it.

i dont feel like i have many anecdotes to tell in my future. should i measure the life-worth by anecdotes? my friends feel the same way i do, but they have a more organized life. jobs, boyfriends, careers, plans for the future, one of my closest friends move to the other side of the world with her boyfriend (!) in the blink of an eye. but they aren't much happy nor they have many anecdotes either. and i dont have the money or the guts or the available friends to create any.

every day i understand fleabag a bit more.

my favourite anecdotes about my life are from when i was about 13 and 15 years, also known as the worst time of my life. i didnt appreciated it back then, probably none of us did. but when we were teens everything was possible and we didnt have a care on anything other than mundane stuff or rebellious stuff but nothing more than yelling at people, drinking and smoking weird shit (i never had weed tho). not a real responsibility. being careless, free, avoiding consequences that mattered. i think that girl hates me right now. and i am not sure if that's the feeling i should have or if it's just utterly pathetic.

[aproxm]

you're a big inspiration of mine. if anything ever happened to my body to where i lost the current capacity to draw like i do now (pretty much my only creative outlet), i know from your experience that it would be a tough road to climb back towards creating but it's very much doable, and i would find success like you have if i put in the dedication and work. please keep making things forever.

;_;

i hate sounding like a baby but life is so difficult, even insulated within a first world nation, even with jobs with downtime... this ask was sent in oct 2023 and between then and now i almost went homeless and had my ebt frozen for a spell there. i ended up working with a local org and it took a dozen calls and appointments and drives and deadlines but i did end up getting put in a cool new place and they helped with the initial payments and i even got free utilities now hahaha. i also spent much of this time with mind wracked over trying to get a second job with my first on hiatus--i'm working both now, never had 2 jobs at the same time before but rent's gotta get paid. where was i going with this? life is really difficult. you could say me dealing with my fibro diagnosis, losing my ability temporarily to draw, game, write, work, etc was a mountain with first a slope way downwards, but i got over it (i mean im still disabled but at least i can do things again with minimal pain lol).

but then having my roommate bounce and being faced with wholly supporting myself again was a second mountain, and facing it from the bottom was particularly excruciating. nothing pumps the brakes on managing stress like scrounging the floor of Maslow's pyramid. but i'm past that now, too, and just like with my first climb it required help from several sources before i could become self sufficient again. but i did do it. so if you or a reader ever faces a situation like that, it's not impossible to survive. like you said, dedication and work, but also reaching out, and waiting. it can be a lot of agonizing waiting... and i advise diversifying your creative outlets on that note. it helps me to bounce around different hobbies hahaha. i lost where i was going with this again

i'm still drawing, still making things and trying. i dont think 'success' is quite where i am... i write a chapter a week for 'DWARF IN A HOLE' and i'm up to like 38, and i revise the hell out of it, and i hope that goes somewhere. im working on visual novels plural, revising 'GYNOGENESIS' so the script is less... well it's certainly the result of an unedited 16 day marathon lol. 'STUDIO HOOP' has gained new members for its next project and it's the director's dream so i'm going to do my best to not let her down. i practice DJing often and try to throw fun live shows on twitch but my headset and speakers both fell dead so... well anyway i work on my website 'WWW.APROXM.COM' when i find time and it has a lot of new pages and is a cool archival for very embarrassing past work. but it's cool to see a distance crossed from that--that's the intention anyway. and drawing, i'm still drawing, actually mostly with dollar store ink pens these days--ease of access at work. really just abstract shapes and simple crap like that. let's finish this ask out on some samples

i'll set up a trad blog at some point cuz i dont really want to shit this one up with these--there's dozens, seriously. ok well anyway thanks for the ask and the opportunity to type some things. i'm going for a walk

[sburbian-sage]

Hey so ive been watching your posts quite a bit and you seem pretty knowledgeable so i had a question

I was wondering what other species have been run into out in sburb?

I have a coplayer this session whos is a smith of heart who is some kind of plant creature? Shes made of vines or something

Tried finding info on the web and could find nothing but clearly made up rumors after a day or two of searching

Shes cool enough but has a habit of trying to pet my hair which like, no fuck off ive been through 4 sessions now thank you very much im not a child (although I am fine with her cooking because God damn I don't know how she does it but she makes that shit taste way better than it should)

Shes a fucking whizz with the alchemiter as well, making shit i can barely comprehend

Ive also never seen her kill an imp but according to grist torrent she has grist in the quadrillions which should be completely fucking impossible since we have only been in session for about 2 weeks

Currently shes building a 'ath based quantum code entangled communications array' which was about the only bit i understood other than the fact it somehow uses the furthest ring to send messages long distances? Which i dont understand the point of since we can communicate instantly anyway

Just wondering if anyone else has encountered them before, i asked for like a species name and she just rustled a bunch and changed the subject

Oh yeah, there are other guys out there. Humanity and Trollkind seem to be the most common (technically Trolls propogate more as a species across universes, but Humans tend to have more successful SBURB sessions and thus are over-represented among the Replayernet), but there are four other "well-known" species. Not to imply they're at all common, in fact I'd say all of them combined, there's probably less than 200 of them in the Replayernet. Less than 100, potentially.

Cherubs. Skull-faced, seemingly solitary, prone to doing solo sessions, and with a weird split personality thing going on. I recently got into drama with one of them. Technically one half of them. Keep up!

Hobs. Furry dinosaur things with prehensile tails (and sometimes arm-gliders). Evidently they frequently come into contact with Trolls (as in, they get conquered by them and tend to resent this). Known to be inordinately gregarious, making them pretty good networkers. Probably the "most common" of the rare species.

Birdbros. Big intelligent parrots with two-meter wingspans that tend to form technocratic societies. They have trouble walking on flat surfaces, but they can also fly so cry about it I guess. If you have a Birdbro coplayer, you can pretty much give up on navigating their houses unless you ask them to build accommodations, gain flight, or get really good at balancing on horizontal poles.

Hoofdogs. Technical bipeds, but they prefer four-legging it. Natural telepaths, but it's left their spoken and written language rather atrophied. If you want to hold a conversation, either get ready for a not-quadruped to get inside your brain, or get ready to start drawing pictures (and figuring out what they're drawing). In fact, they have a Pesterchum/Trollian equivalent called Expressfriend where you can only draw.

I can't say I have heard of a plant Player Species though. I tend not to think of them in general due to their rarity, but still, you may have actually come across an as-of-yet undocumented Playeroid. Assuming she isn't just a human who got heavily mutated, somehow. That might explain the evasiveness concerning her species.

Some notes, questions for you, and questions for her. Documentation appreciated, as always.

The fact that she can communicate seamlessly with you is quite notable. Some Player Species can communicate with each other mostly fine (Human English and whatever language the Trolls speak are kind of identical but with different alphabets and some goofy terminology, the Trolls get around like I mentioned earlier which may explain why Hobs and Cherubs can also communicate well), but the Birdbro language is mostly whistling and trilling, and the Hoofdogs barely even have a language. Either it's a hell of a coincidence (but not a conspicuous one), or the errant "she's actually a human" conspiracy theory I came up with on the cuff is holding up.

~ATH is a universal factor, nothing worth raising suspicion over.

SBURB's mythology and trappings vary wildly depending on the species making up the session. Alchemy is a universal, so it makes sense that she would have prior experience. But ask her what differences she notices between your (assumedly mostly-human) Session and her plant-based Session. In particular, if the Carapacians were physiologically/psychologically/culturally similar to her, if the Battlefield's chess metaphor was replaced with something else, if God Tier or other mechanics were different, stuff like that.

Related, while the game does have different "localizations", in a mixed-species Session it will actually partially localize itself in proportion to the different species present, and their proportion, in an attempt to create a maximally accessible Session. So you might be able to notice slight differences between this Session and a "Human Session" which clue you in to the more severe changes you'd see in her Session.

While you're at it, try to learn as much of her culture as you can. Do they have a fucked up romance thing going on? Was her attempts at tousling your hair a sort of mating ritual?

Extortion is a tool that must be used with discretion. If she can't provide a name for her species, you have free reign to make up something goofy like "Vineys" or "Verdancies" or "Seedrians" and make that the de-facto common terminology among the Replayernet.

This is your duty as a SBURB documentarian. It is also your duty to put to rest the "new species or a weird human" allegations. As well as, now that I am thinking about it, maybe keeping an eye on her. The phat Grist stockpile is pretty suspicious, and the communications array seems very odd. If it's actually a cover for her sending a signal to her home base so they can descend upon your Session and drain it of its resources, don't worry about it. Not only is any home base she had destroyed (SBURB Moment), but she ain't doing shit with the Furthest Ring unless she stakes her soul on it. But still, better to know than to not know.

[davekat-sucks]

i was doing some research cause i wanted to get into indie dev cause i want to make one of my ideas into a visual novel, came across a video called Why 96% of Indie Games Fail on youtube and so much of it was about market optics. understanding your target demographic is really important when it comes to marketing and it got me thinking about homestucks current devs and how they dont get what made homestuck fun to begin with

The Homestuck devs probably only know the basic surface levels such as cool character designs and music, but don't know the deeper stuff such as the adventure dos game style the original comic was inspired from. Or the premise was more simple back then before it got big. After all, the beginning of Homestuck was just about 4 kids playing a game. Another is that some take the easy route, which is using visual novel gameplay as a means to pump it out faster. Not realizing there is a market to visual novels and there are different ways it is appealing to others, despite it's simple nature. There are ones that have mixture of other gameplays such as seen with Ace Attorney or Danganronpa. Another is story tied to it that invokes readers emotions such as crying whenever someone reads CLANNAD. Even something like sound novels, visual novels that only have music or sound effects in the background with no voice acting, can leave a lasting impression with a good story, as that's what made Higurashi successful despite having few resources. As well as the time and placement the series was released in. Homestuck was made with old flash in years 2009-16. They should have a better understanding of people who played flash games on sites like Newgrounds. How can you bring something old to new people who have never seen it? Henry Stickmin Collection was able to do well because they were able to weave the separate flashes into one. And the different choices of each one gives a lot of replay-ability as well for people who want to see every possibility. The most important thing that Homestuck devs struggle with the most as well is something that has been going on ever since Hussie had even released the Kickstarter game. And that is PR. Public Relations. I get that the series is based on fandom interactivity. But the problem lies when stuff like Andrew Hussie starts to antagonized the audiences. It may work for some, but not all, especially if you want to draw in new readers or players. This extends out to members of WhatPumpkin and HICU too. Certain members do not have self control on what they want to say or do on social media. Thus, they may end up looking bad or unfavorable to the crowd. Nobody is told to not post or share certain shit. Freedom is speech is one thing, but it's another when you are working on a project that needs to make money that whatever your post is tied what you are working on that people know. Even stuff like a political posts that is unrelated to the project, will make audiences assume of what the person is like and how it could affect the game. PR in a way, does go hand in hand with Marketing. Not only you have to research the right audiences, but you also have to have a good image too when showing off your project.

[epithet-beloved]

ill try to keep my ramsey-related requests limited cause i dont wanna lose control but what are your dating headcanons for him 🤔

DATING RAMSEY MURDOCH

synopsis…  headcanons about dating Ramsey Murdoch !

ft. Ramsey Murdoch 

tags… relationship study, fluff

word count… 839

a/n… never feel bad for sending requests that’s what we’re for !!! It always makes us happy and we love writing these !! Also I promise you will catch me writing other characters in the future (I have a silly Slim post locked and loaded in the queue) for now I’m just snatching all the Ramsey posts and I feel confident about this one in particular because I am a Ramsey kisser myself so boy do I have headcanons ✧ 🦇

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Starting off strong Ramsey is really into physical affection. Hand holding, hugging, kissing; you name it. He’s up for all of it.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 So part of dating him is genuinely just having him hover around you constantly with at least an arm wrapped around your shoulders, whether you’re in public or in private (he has no problem with PDA; but if you do, he��ll stop. Your comfort comes first!)

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s a really attentive lover, he’ll memorize small things you mention about yourself or stuff you like

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 If you mention you want something, he will probably definitely get it for you as a gift, no matter how cheap or expensive it is. He’s big on gift giving too.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Genuinely? He does not understand how you find him attractive, people usually recoil or make a face when they see him.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 And yet you look at him with those big eyes full of admiration and wonder… Oh he could just melt right then and there. No one has ever really looked at him like that.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Call him handsome? Gorgeous? Beautiful? Anything? He’s gone. There’s steam cartoonishly coming out of his ears. He is unresponsive and his face is redder than his hair.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 It’s kind of part of the fact that draws him to you: you’re not disgusted by his appearance at first glance, nor do you seem to find it hard to look at him; he knows he’s not the most attractive person and to think you do find him attractive?? The most beautiful person he’s ever seen??? He’s a WRECK

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 It is so obvious when this guy has a crush on someone

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He hands you flowers he morphed into gold. He just always kind of stands around you when you’re in the same room. He definitely tries to flirt just to fluster you or hear you laugh.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Even if he fails catastrophically at flirting with you and falls over while trying to lean on a wall, he still claims it as a success if he hears you laugh (before he melts into a puddle when you’re all worried asking if he’s okay)

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 All in all Ramsey is very open with his emotions. You can easily tell when he dislikes or likes someone, he feels like it's not worth hiding it.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 But when you start flirting back and showing genuine interest in him? He’s terrified you’re making fun of him. Because why would someone as gorgeous as you want someone like him???

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Please hold his face and comfort him. He has small tears in his eyes if you do but he promises they’re happy tears

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He understands that perhaps what someone has inside is more important than the outside, but he has to admit the judgment of the outside still hurts a little bit

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He has so much to offer in terms of personality and affection and you definitely get to see all of it.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Think of a love language and this guy probably has some of it in him.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Physical touch? Absolutely. Big cuddler. Holds you like a teddy bear if you sleep in the same bed (he snores really loud though so good luck with that)

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s also warm so bonus points in winter you have your personal heater

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Gift giving? As mentioned above, mention literally anything you like and he’s getting it for you. He might have scammed someone to get it if it’s expensive. He does not tell you.

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 And he hopes you don’t figure it out because he does not want to get yelled at. He just wanted to get you something nice :(

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Acts of service? He’s not a morning person but would absolutely get out of bed earlier than you in the morning to make you both breakfast. 

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s not a very good cook but he tried his best!

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 Quality time?? SIGN HIM UP

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He loves date nights. He gets so excited to do anything with you. But honestly? His favorite way to spend time with you is at home with some takeout and maybe watching a good movie together (and maybe you also cuddle)

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He also likes cooking with you but again. Not a really good cook. You’ll have to do most of the work. Sorry

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 By the way the flirting he does with you pre-dating does not change in the slightest after you’re an official thing. 

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s just more confident now and has no problem sounding all cheesy. He looooves making you flustered

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s the type of guy to point at the scar on his eye and ask you to kiss it better

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 (He just wants an excuse to kiss you)

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 My favorite headcanon is that he would definitely turn something of yours into gold so you just always kind of have a memento of him with you, he thinks it’s nice. 

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 He’s a good partner but certainly not perfect (who is, honestly) so there might be some bumps in the road here and there

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪 But no matter what he absolutely adores you and wouldn’t trade what you two have for anything in the world

[quirkthieves]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.

REPOST DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME: viverra ! but ive also been called vixen, dogma, gabe, etc. any works

PRONOUNS : he/him

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION : big big fan of discord. tumblr ims are hard for me to read </3

NAME OF MUSE(s) : monoma neito, ibara shiozaki, chitose kizuki/curious, kaina tsutsumi/lady nagant, setsuna tokage, ryo inui/hound dog, natsuo todoroki, kendou itsuka, hinata haruka, nobimaru, inari yoko, marik ishtar, ishizu ishtar, rishid ishtar, atem, and lacramioara strigoi.

jesus christ who let me do this

BEST EXPERIENCE : ummm gee okay i cant just name one it turns out life is actually about the accumulation of small joys and not just a few big ones but every time i get in the car and listen to my music and go OH! THIS REMINDS ME OF THIS PERSONS MUSE AND OUR DYNAMIC! or when talking to people inspires me to draw little comics (esp while im at work let me live) it really just makes me so so happy

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS : im pretty chill for the most part i think like ive definitely mellowed out a lot over the past few years but. i gotta say it:

formatting. the over-formatting of everything is killing me. i cant read most peoples carrds. i dont even know how they read it, because of how insanely tiny the text is. eye strain colors, hard to see icons, weird fonts... i dont mind a little bit of formatting, naturally, like go girl give us everything, but its getting to the point of being genuinely frustrating that almost every new blog i encounter has me fighting for my life just trying to learn the important info. i have visual and neurological issues please lord im only seven

MUSE PREFERENCES: seconding cam on if the "when someones pulled a muse apart like the spaghettification of a star and then put them back together". its fascinating. i think the fun part about rp is that i get just as invested in my partners character and what they get out of each thread as much as i do mine, so when people sit there and talk about their ideas and meta and really dig into that thing like . WHOOO NOW WE'RE COOKING

PLOTS OR MEMES : I like both! I think memes are good to kick things off regardless, and I dont mind building off of it. I like to plot a lot ooc but more in a loosey-goosey kind of way; i really like to get to know other muns and their characters and also talking is just sort of how i think through things so its very helpful to me. i also just get a lot of ideas because these things live rent free in my head but to me a natural progression is more important than like, sticking to a script.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES : i write insanely long replies because i have things wrong with me. theres NEVER any pressure to length match-- a lot of the time im just doing it to establish exposition or setting so the other person finds it easier to work with. just give me something i can work with and we are a ok :D

BEST TIME TO WRITE : it really depends... i typically end up writing in the evening/afternoon because of my schedule. i think the biggest thing is that i work on weekends, so you may only hear from me ooc on those days. im also really trying to fix my sleep schedule.........to varying levels of success. sometimes the thread is too good

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S) : just talking about monoma here... i've also got a pretty snappy mouth and natural love of finding loopholes, but i just went into paralegal instead of making it class A's problem. i also love to laugh, but id like to think im a lot less meanspirited about it

tagged: @dynmghts

tagging: @veroxins @cloistress @killerhubby @enignoema @eclipsemuses @yeonban @starshinc @ofluminance @paracide @ohcruel

[thousandyearphantombunker]

the show should have never had belos be some puritan white dude, the boiling isles should have stayed this hostile whacky dimension instead of just bland and good except for that one evil dude, there's so much the show could have done tibbles lording his power over Eda and not letting her get the medicine she needed because of his own greed, boiling rain, the amity who would kill to be successful and if she saw a disabled witch like Willow achieving her level of success with an accommodation of some kind she'd be furious and call it cheating, Willow and Luz struggling because they have a disability in an environment that is super sink or swim and success is viewed in a very narrow lens, like what if bump didn't accept Luz into hexside because she uses glyphs? or maybe lean into the idea that people will do anything to get the money or success or power they want or need- steal cheat extort- having the isles a hostile dystopian land of intrigue, but then the story would lose the wish fulfillment element and we wouldn't get 'BAd EvIL PuRiTAn' and 'progressive' commentary- you already have bi, gay, disabled etc protagonists maybe focus on that, also fuck the worldbuilding. it felt like rejecting the coven system was like going into a trade school or straight into the workforce not like a rebellion or avoiding a cult, it felt more like being pushed to go to college and being told dropping out of school was bad- by making into a cult the show shot itself in the foot, it could have leaned into the idea not everybody wants to be an archmage or ceo or doctor or go to magic harvard that there's different types of success or that we should stop fucking over people who dont want to do something academic or something about greed and capitalism or the school system and how the isles values money and power over everything else there's a video by bad writing advice on how not to write cults and yeah toh is rough and again the show didn't need to do this, they didn't need to write a story about a cult, or they could have tied it in better with themes or greed and corruption but they already had an interesting world that they could have explored, how the owl beast curse worked exactly, also why has no one but Luz learned glyphs? We know witches did magic differently back then what if instead of Luz learning magic so easily she had to go some quest to find an ancient teacher or learn an ancient language and study super hard and learn how her magic was mechanically different from the rest of the isles, I reiterate the cult thing and wish fulfillment elements are not only unneeded but they are so contradictory! Belos whole plan hinged on the coven system and bump just gets away with letting Luz and the detention kids take every track- what if bump got arrested? And then another principal who was god awful took over- that would have been something! What if bump started to open secret underground classes for kids who wanted to take more than one course? Like there's potential there for a story but then it wouldn't fit the wish fulfillment element of the show, and it would make Luz look selfish it's just so fucking annoying pick one or the other! I love me a soft magic system and I think TOH was okay enough but I feel like the owl house could've been more creative, your magic comes from a dead titan which your land is built upon, imagine if there really where people who could speak with the titan? Could they control the city or landscape in some way, some crazy body horror shit where they can fuse with titan or control different bodily functions of the titan like it's nervous system moving the continent or it's legs etc, what makes that spell circle from amity controlling and abomination different from the one Willow uses to control plants- they are drawing the same thing- why must a witch master the basics of magic to get a palisman? Palismans are also used as disability aides why not show more of that? They could have developed so much more, the weather could have made for some great gags, just make the world building interesting

[tectco]

Hello, just wanna start this off by saying that I love your art. I've decided to ask my favourite artists for art tips as I wanna get into it, but no matter what I do it never looks right. So, any tips?

WARNING YOU JUST OPENED THE FLOOD GATES GET READY FOR A LONG ASS POST

WOOOOO BOY, first off huge fucking compliment i honestly didn't think i was anyone's favorite artist (despite what my friends say) and i find it super cool of you to try and draw

Anddd nowww the cowards will run out as soon as you read more

okay so first things first, disclaimer! I AM NO PROFESSIONAL BY ANY STANDARDS, IM JUST SUPER INTERESTED IN ART, DO NOT TAKE MY WORDS AS GOSPEL AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO TAKE MY WORDS OF ADVICE (you didnt say i was but just to cover my ass)

I am still learning as an artist so this will just be advice that helped me, lets just hope i can remember what got me here, and this will be just me jotting down my thoughts as they come so maybe im not the best person to come to about this (i may repeat what other people say in terms of art so bare with me)

SO WITHOUT ANYMORE DISCLAIMER! YOU WANT ART TIPS FROM ME? WELL GET READY FOR SOME BULLSHIT FROM A PERSON WHO'S BEEN SO ARTSY FARTSY IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFE AND HAS NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT, WELL COME INTO THE SHIT TRAIN!!

Now i dont know if you are an intermediate artist, beginner, need help in specific areas or whatever the hell else but! here's the three main points i always wanted to scream at artists who are just starting out!

Your art WILL look like shit in the beginning

References and inspiration are YOUR FRIEND

DONT be afraid to trace

(I know I know this feels like regurgitated and it probably is BUT HEY STICK WITH ME)

does your art looks fucking trash? THATS GOOD!! KEEP DRAWING!! My art looked fucking ugly when i started and some might say (me) it still does, but thats okay!! You learn more and more from just drawing without any tips, art is a pure skill that builds up, do not be discouraged!! The point of art isn't to be the greatest in the world, it's to be at peace with what you create so if your art looks good to you and you are in a happy place in your progress, you are basically successful in my eyes at least (this doesn't mean to quit learning obviously but it'll come in time, be patient, do not push yourself! that's how you stop loving art and we don't want that happening!)

Ever find yourself asking "man why the fuck does (include art shit here) not look accurate??" well here's a tip, USE REFERENCES! DO NOT BE LIKE ME WHERE YOU JUST WING IT OR ELSE YOU'LL BE CRYING OVER YOUR DRAWING TABLET LIKE I DID AT SOME POINT!! Pay attention to the shapes of the reference, break it down and draw over it if you need to, shapes are very important in art and you need to be able to draw whatever you want in the most basic forms (im no good example of this, i really need to practice more aughhh). As well as references, inspiration is KEY!!! Everything is inspired off each other, nothing is original, so steal from your favorite artists!! Look at their speedpaints, look at how they use colors, analyze how they draw anatomy in their style, see how they use shapes, etc etc, learn from who you consider are the "greats of their times"!! USE ALL THE INSPIRATION YOU HAVE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!!LITERALLY COPY THEM IF YOU WANT EVEN IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THEY DID THAT, YOU'LL LEARN WITH TIME!! just whatever you do, don't compare yourself so heavily against other artists, i know its hard, i do it myself even! If there is an artist who has a style you so so want, don't crumble if you can't draw in their style perfectly, you'll never win against someone in their art style. I suggest taking inspiration from multiple artists and mashing them together until it looks good in your eyes!!

That actually leads me to my next point! TRACING IS OKAY!! Now obviously I do not mean directly tracing over like some lines, showing it off/posting it and calling it completely original. I mean tracing over the references i mentioned before, or like what i said before, i believe you should actually trace from your favs! (don't call it original like i said before), tracing can help build memory on how to draw certain things like how i took a photo of my hands before, traced them, and then put it to the side to redraw it, making me understand futher how hands work! OR like how i traced a piece of art that i liked to understand how the artist drew their bodies, tracing is used by total professionals in the industry so do not be afraid!! You have total permission from me to trace my art and learn how to draw my wack ass bodies

and for a little extra bit, little bit of a hot take (I'm actually not sure how much of a hot take this is), i don't think you HAVE to learn the fundamentals to get into art. NOW BEFORE YOU RUN OFF SCREAMING AND SHITTING, IM NOT SAYING YOU DON'T NEED THE FUNDAMENTALS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!! I'm just saying that if you want to get into art as a complete hobbyist and just want to draw to yknow draw and be happy, you should just go for it! Again don't make art something you hate! I completely encourage learning the fundamentals but don't ever feel like you're failing just because you don't, get into it when you have the time! be patient with yourself, this goes for any hobby/skill but just sink some time into it, i promise you will get further in you hobby than if you push and rush yourself into complete burn out

OH AND HERES MY ULTIMATE TIP! THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO DO ART!!

Uhhh i think that's everything? Im not exactly sure how comprehensible this is or how the spelling is since i am not beta reading this! But apologies if this wasn't what you were looking for! (if anybody even read this far) and i hope that if you asked your other favorite artists they answered with anything better than whatever this is! I wish you alot of luck in your art journey and thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about art! OH AND REMEMBER TO TAKE BREAKS

[abimee]

my attention seeking brain does the same except i get 0-10 notes instead of 30 so i always was jealous of u as an artist. it's nice to know that even artists like you get like, insecure about that stuff. except it's not nice because i don't want you to feel bad. sorry

dont qorry im the same way when i see people call getting 100 or less notes ''flopping'' to them i lose my mind cause my art usually does so bad that ive gotten used to celebrating when my stuff got like, 50 notes because that was A Lot to me not even 3 years ago. and no need to apologize i understand how jealousy can be so cruel and how much it sucks to experience it, i try to be open and honest and one way i do is talk about how i dont really follow artists for media i like (like ff14) because i have terrible self-confidence issues and so its a struggle for me to see people ''better than me'' and see how successful and loved they are and not take it personally. or take it personally when people like smthn i do but LOVE it even more when someone i know does it because they do it better than me

and i dont ever wanna make people feel bad for being good at something and being well-liked, its a personal issue for me alone to deal with that just comes from growing up under the heavy weight of ''if i cant be good at something nobody will care about me and ill be left alone'', which lead me to constantly being compared to others and being made to feel like my worth was entirely on my art. it was a really shitty thing and i spent a lot of time as a kid very alone and vying for attention through my art only for kids to point and go ''look, [classmate] can draw better than you!" and then being left alone at recess. and jealous children grow up to become jealous adults. and my mind just cant undo the connection it made to Not Being The Best -> Being Abandoned but i dont wanna be jealous anymore i wanna love things its just very hard. i want good things to come to you and me both and i want us to get better and feel better one day

[normalsnails]

Oho~ I hope you don't mind if I send a lot! 3, 6, 18 for Ein, 31 for Aikawa and 44, 48, 49 and 50 for both! :D

Aaa i dont mind dww! Ty for asking :DD

Ein ♥️

3, what first drew me to her.

Before Ein and Aikawa my favourite was Aohara, but it quickly changed to adoring Ein, What really drew me to her is her dress actually. I thought “wow her dress is cuteee I’m gonna pay attention to her more” and i fell in LOVE.

6, do i have any petnames / nicknames for her

YES. I call her prettygirl. It stemmed from me rambling about her in class whilst i was persuading my friend to read and watch hri (success, gonna persuade her to join tumblr next >:D). She called her pretty so i was like “yes yes she is prettygirl” so now i just call her prettygirl whenever i talk about her irl XD.

18, do i prefer angst or comfort, or both (for her)

ANGST. Im sorry ein but <\33 i cant resist.

A little comfort is nice at times but angst all the way.

Aikawa!!

31, am i ashamed of liking him?

Sorta, i had a few old friends (just to preface this by saying i didnt leave the friendship because of a manga 😭) that were like “doesn’t he like eugenics 😬” and i told them “yeah i obviously don’t support that hes insane i just like his character” and then I realised that maybe aikawa wasnt the best silly of choice for my brain.

BOTH!!

44, what season do they remind me of?

For ein, definitely spring, 100%. When i think of spring, i think of flowers, and Ein reminds me of flowers for no reason.

For aikawa, id have to say late autumn, specifically late. I dont know why but its so fitting 😭

48, my favourite feature of their designs!

OO OKAY.

So for ein, its the dress and bow. I ADORE lolita fashion sm!!

For aikawa, id have to say his hair, its similar to mine (the type of hair not style) but mines thinner than his. AND HIS HAIR IS SO FUN TO DRAW!

49, favourite personality trait!!

For ein, its her childishness. Its hard to explain but its so cute how she was excited by the rain and scared of thunder 💞. And also the manga panels where shes swinging her legs when she’s sitting on the railings aaaaaa.

For aikawa, its how smart he is. Im not sure if I dreamed about this or something but i so clearly remember him talking about a hypothesis about the lightning power, talking about ionising and stuff like 😍😍 in a world where people die 24/7 he’s casually just making hypotheses about stuff i love him.

50, fav song / playlist / quote / headcanon for them!!

So ein, my FAVOURITE headcanon that people can PRY off of my cold, dead hands is that shes not 12 like the wiki says 😭 have you seen how tall she is shes atleast 14-15.

And also, some lovely quotes:

“Boom” - ep 9 anime

“When enemy comes, you are in my way” - 152.5, extra chapter. (Can be found on tenkuushinpan.com)

ALSO BEFORE SHE COULD SPEAK THE LITTLE NOISES SHE MADE 💞💞💕 cutie pie 4ever.

I dont think i have any songs for her apart from “angry too” by lola blanc (ein revenga au btw haha) and, i dont know how to explain it but Melanie Martinez’s “crybaby” album suits her sm!

And!! For Aikawa, my favourite song i like for him is “oh ana” by mother mother!

(Songs may be slightly ooc but its kinda them)

And some aikawa quotes just because :

“This calms me down like no other.” - ep 9, again. We all know that one scene XD

“Since im inferior, i’ll bleed to death. Fair’s fair. That’s completely in line with my doctrine.” - direct quote from chapter 204

“I wish i could see my mom.. just once more before i die..” - chapter 204, again.

[trickstarbrave]

a big argument i see for pro-ai stuff not being stolen is "well humans reference things all the time in art and writing. then all people who reference another artist's or writer's work are also unethical"

and this argument misunderstands the nuance of reference in writing and drawing that can be very tricky line to toe in terms of ethics, as well as what "machine learning" is

when you use a stable diffusion model the program is pulling up a variety of images, overlaying them based on the prompt you have entered, finds commonalities, and produces a semi-coherent amalgamation. its basically like making collages. and depending on how specific the prompt is it will have very little to scrape from and thus will at times completely recreate an existing illustration by an actual human artist with some minor tweaks. this is also why there are very common "genres" of ai art like random pretty person makes a neutral face looking off into the distance" or "big titty anime waifu" or "uncanny sports illustrated cover" and are severely limited in scope of what you can easily make or not based on the biases of the data set.

in word models it scrapes information in it's database and uses common phrases and strings of words like a predictive text. when it says things that are accurate or make sense it is basically rewording existing bodies of data or literature. when it's not its basically like bad predictive text that is random phrases that are confusing messes strung together.

both of these things can be done by humans. you can look at an image and basically recreate it with some tweaks. this is called heavily referencing and is done during art studies, and some artists also really hate it and ask people not to, and it is largely frowned upon to not use this artwork for commercial use as it is mostly just regurgitating the years of study, variety of references, and ideas another artist has already done. if someone makes a rip off of finding nemo for instance we can recognize this is a poorly made, cheap imitation that is trying to capitalize off of something more successful for low effort and trick people who dont know the difference or who dont have access to the original. they do not add anything to the medium besides a cheap imitation. they're allowed to exist, but aren't exactly good.

you can also do the same as what chatgpt does: regurgitate the same information with some words changed and rearrange the structure by adding in bits and pieces from other sources you have reworded. this is regarded as a form of plagiarism and is unethical and will get you kicked out of academic or literature spaces. you arent coming up with your own ideas and finding materials to back it up and elaborate upon your ideas. you are taking the finished idea, slapping a new coat of paint on it, and marketing it as your own with a few more things hastily taped onto it. this is what james somerton did and we saw how that worked out: he was eventually called out for plagiarizing much smaller creators.

actually making new material via referencing requires understanding what you are looking at and reading, having your own ideas, synthesizing how these things work best to communicate your vision, and taking care that you are not lifting too much from the source material to the point you are just repeating what someone else did but better than you already. this is a lot harder than people outside of creative or academic circles wanna believe. anyone can read a wikipedia article, reword things, and pull up a few quotes. its very basic. but it doesn't show you truly understand the subject or have anything new to add.

this isn't to say i think anyone who repeats similar ideas or heavily references shit is a bad person. these are often the first steps you learn towards understanding a subject and building your own ideas. people do art studies recreating pictures because they wanna learn through experience how certain techiques are done, why, and then later apply them to other pictures or written works or whatever. you have to follow a few sewing or crochet patterns before you can make your own. likewise i don't have any problem with ai in certain applications--so long as the database is sourced with consent and ethically, it can be a useful tool for reference gathering and idea generation (though i don't like it in terms of academic work or referencing factual information. datasets can be polluted way too easily or the model can get all wonky and end up spitting shit out that is just objectively incorrect. actual fact checking and research is going to be the only real method but companies like it bc its new and its cheap and ppl like google and microsoft prefer people look at ads then actually learn)

but the referencing without fully understanding is the beginning stages of learning art. it should not be the end product being regurgitated and then sold commercially. that's just exploiting other people who did all the hard work of understanding form, lighting, values, composition, poses, and so on as art fundamentals to spit back out something that is a cheap imitation. it is the knock off movie version of art. in order to make anything really worth while it will require a human being to rework it so heavily it is basically more of the human's work than the AIs.

[scolek]

@tunkus you ready to have your mind blown?

alright, so first off ive been aware of akira since before enstars, he wrote a light novel series called "kyouran kazoku nikki" which got turned into an anime and i saw it and remembered it fondly. its one of those "crack" type things like flcl or nchijou but with a really strong emotional core, like, the government assigns them all to be family but then they find it again on their own. i recommend it! i know the anime is subbed.

oh but theres a trans character in it! it's from like 15 years ago so its not. its not a great portrayal. but you can basically draw a direct thru line from that to early arashi who was very clearly supposed to be the same type of person, and then from early arashi to modern arashi as we move into an era where its not fucking acceptable to say the o word so goddamn much. progress!

so what i found out about. i was on akira's wikipedia page and because i read at a second grade level my eyes are often drawn to any snippets of hiragana/katakana i find and i see the phrase センス・オブ・ジェンダー (sense of gender) and its another wikipedia page so i click on it, and then that page, unlike akiras, has a version in english so theres this award for literary works that deal with themes of sex and gender, and akira wrote a novel called 'biscuit frankenstein' that won the grand prize in 2009.

so im like, ok, what the fuck is biscuit frankenstein, and its never been translated into english, but there is a review of it in english.

and THEN, in that review, it mentions another novel akira wrote called ikemen kanojo, and theres even less about that one than there is about biscuit frankenstein, especially since theres some fucking isekai or whatever novel out there with kind of the same name, but from the name ikemen kanojo alone its like.

AND THATS AS FAR DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE AS I'VE GOTTEN BUT THERE COULD BE MORE!!! THERE PROBABLY IS BECAUSE IT APPEARS AKIRA HAS A COMPULSION TO TRANS CHARACTERS' GENDERS.

like you know how serial killers can only go a certain time without killing, and usually the more they kill the shorter that window gets. the time between shu's grandpa and hokke was like, barely four months!!! if this guy were a serial killer i'd be like somebody please stop him, he cant keep getting away with this, but honestly. imagine youre like 9 years into a successful franchise and you go. hey you know one of the main fucking characters??? that dude's been trans the whole time. yup. fuckin afab. and then you just, dont explain???? thats legendary and we need to keep letting akira do whatever he wants.