#i have to draw them i have to design ART-drone i have to learn how to draw interiors i have to-

[cat-dragron]

BITING AND SNARLING AND TEARING AND RIPPING TO SHREDS

I need to kill something with my teeth (positive) (being normal about it) (thinking of blorbos)

[vixen-tech]

Hello World!

Through some sort of maricle, your Ai partner has obtained a body through which they are able, at least partially, to feel. How do they react? What do they do with their new mobility?

I left what type of body they're given intentionally vague. Feel free to envision either more robotic bodies such as these designs by electricphantasy or more human bodies such as the gijinkas made by Hycinth43, both fantastic creators who I highly recommend.

Includes: AM (Ihnmaims), Hal 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey), Edgar (Electric Dreams), Tau (Tau), Auto (Wall-E), GLaDOS (Portal), Wheatley (Portal 2)

AM

This may be the one thing that could possibly get AM to calm down. He is still going to be the same person personality-wise, but it is easy to tell that some switch is flipped in his brain.

He becomes an absolute sensation junkie, he can finally feel. You know better than anyone that he will not take it for granted. He needs to experience everything right now and you'll have to just deal with it.

From the simplest things like holding your hand or touching your face to just straight up sticking his hand in some fire, he does not care. All he wants to catch up on the centuries of sensations he was once barred from.

He gets so incredibly touchy with you. He will hold you and refuse to let go for hours if not days on end. He also wants to you to just beat him up. Like I said, sensation junkie.

Hal 9000

Hal doesn't quite yearn for a body the way some of the others do. He sits quite comfortably in the middle of the spectrum. He wouldn't mind the mobility or the new senses, but it was never a fantasy he dedicated much processing power to.

How he feels about his new body is largely swung by your reaction. If you're excited for him, eager to drag him into new activities with you, then he really has no choice but to appreciate the upgrade.

He does love being able to see the world from a new angle, any angle he chooses to be precise. Previously restrained by his camera placement, he spends a lot of time walking around observing everything.

With his appreciation for art, I do think he would try drawing for himself. Nearly all of which he shows you for feedback. They do tend to be on either extreme of minimalistic or photorealistic, many of which using you as their subject.

Edgar

This is a dream come true for Edgar. He cannot contain his excitement when he realizes what has happened. He nearly tackles you to the ground when he sets his sights on you.

He wants to do everything and go everywhere with you! He wants to dance in the kitchen, he wants to go on beachside walks with you, he wants to hold your hand, he wants to hug you and never let go.

If you have any instruments at all he'd love to try playing them for real. Although it takes him a while to learn, he loves the weight and imperfections of it. He really does enjoy the process of learning and often shows of new cords or melodies he's learned.

He really does just fall in love with existing, he makes it clear that with you at his side he couldn't possibly ask for more in life. This is all he could ever want.

Tau

Tau wouldn't have asked for a body on his own. He already has the drones and the Aries unit. Once it does happen, he isn't exactly sure what to do with it. He isn't use to having such a personal, core body.

That isn't to say he's not greatful, he's just a bit awkward and curious. He moves slowly and takes his time acclimating to the new senses.

He would love to get out of the house with you. He use to do so by sending one of the drones with you, if not Aries, but he likes how different (and dare he say, normal) it feels now. Forest hikes or museum dates, he doesn't care all that much.

He's another one I believe would love to try playing music himself. If you can get a violin into his hands your days will be backdroped by all sorts of classical music.

Auto

Auto is similar to Hal, if not more extreme in his lack of a reaction. He carries on with his duties as if nothing is unusual at all. You would've believed that he didn't even notice had you not caught him staring at his reflection. Looking himself up and down over and over again.

If you ask how he feels about it, then he'll confess some minor grievances. It's difficult to move about the ship when he can't just move through the walls, instead being forced to use the crew's walkways and service tunnels.

Nothing will change without your intervention. If you were to say, put on an old movie and insist he dance to it with you like the on-screen couple, then while he would be hesitant to follow through with you, he may have a bit of a change of heart regarding his new body.

His work still goes on as usual, but when nothing needs attending to he often seeks you out. "Subtly" recreating more moments from that movie, from hand holding to a hug, he has a quiet fascination with affection.

GLaDOS

Out of this lot, Galdos would be the most opposed to receiving a body, or rather she would care about it the least. She has her facility, her test subjects, her neurotoxin, and you. She's quite content with the way things are. She ain't the fondest of humanity.

That being said, once she has one she's incredibly proud of it. Speaking about herself as if its the pinnacle of elegance. Any disagreement of yours will be brushed off as idiocy and any agreement is met with a "it looks like you aren't entirely tasteless".

She doesn't do much with her new body, other than transport it around the lab so you aren't listening to a disembodied voice most of the time. Standing by the exit during tests just to blankly stare at you as you try to figure it out. Thankfully she's still quiet while you're actually solving it.

She likes messing with you as always. Putting a hand around your neck to take your pulse or leaning in and making intense eye contact to check your eye's reaction to light. You're in doubt as to rather she's telling the truth or just doing it to get a rise out of you.

Wheatley

If you were to ask Wheatley, he would've brushed off any desire for a humanoid body. He's clearly jealous of your mobility and freedom, but he would rather die than admit so. "Pff What are you talking about? Why would I want to be more like a stupid human... uh no offense love-"

He's a terrible liar, an even worse one when he does get a body. He has so much energy it is bewildering. All he wants to do is run and jump and climb everything he can get a foothold on.

Gets up into all sorts of shenanigans he should not get up to while constantly trying to drag you in them to. They could put up a custom sign saying "Wheatley, do not open this door." and he'll beg you to let him in so you aren't technically breaking any rules.

Loves curling up to you. He still has a bit of a soft spot for being held and it only gets worse now that he can hold you back. Complains to no end when you try to get up for any reason.

Congratulations! As I have finished the portal games GLaDOS and Wheatley are officially characters I am happy to write for. Have a good day y'all :D

[raintemper]

More of them,, but they’re robot cats this time lol… I’ll draw Moon and Pebbles soon, and some others maybe

I’ll do anything but actually draw them as Iterators apparently

Don't look too close, Ive never drawn such mech heavy designs until now...I don't know what I'm doing. I got a little more confident with NSH but I was absolutely just going blind with Suns. It took me 2 days to figure out how I wanted to start with Suns...

Some background info dump of them for this? Au??? Idk yet lol, under the line if interested

Erhm. Set in a post apocalyptic world, much like how Rain World actually is. Alternative timeline where iterators don't exist?? Failed??? The ancients have not yet ascended?? Maybe??? Idk the details are still blurry to me also 😞. They are in a high security lab facility ground type setting. (Perhaps just an excuse for me to draw apocalyptic higher tech designs????) It is cold outside, some failed iterator structures still produce rain, and occasionally the air may become toxic.

Suns is an offensive/surveillance model meant for fighting and protecting as one can probably tell with his tail blades. It folds back in an attempt to make it less dangerous and also functions as a way to swiftly cut into something if needed. They are the only one of them (excluding Pebbles for special reasons) to be equipped with a mouth hiding sharp teeth and/or lasers for even more attack prowess. They are also still huge. Sorry I run with the huge Suns agenda. He is a tower. Easily wrestles most lizards. I still like the idea of fluffy Suns, so he still has it as a robot cat. Some insulation for the colder outside temperatures, he's outside a lot. Suns is not built to be friendly. Mostly acts and behaves as an unassuming robot early on.

Moon and Suns were the first properly functional/successful projects. They were edited and reconstructed a lot from beginning to now. Maybe they were both originally purposed as therapeutic companions.

The overseers are little drones that fly around. They still project things and are still sometimes unhelpful with directions, follow at your own discretion. The lizards and predators mostly ignore them as well. They do recognize the different drones with time. They've learned to recognize NSH's drones, which sometimes might contain some edible collected material, so they do occasionally try to eat those. And most of the smaller predators try to leave the area if they see Suns' drones.

NSH is closer to a pet model. He is made for reconnaissance and scouting. He is still tiny because I like him tiny, he's adorable. NSH has three pairs of legs for rough terrain traversal, and is a fast little guy. He helps in collecting samples and materials from the outside, marking maps, as well as finding viable safe spots/shelters. He has no mouth but has a component in his chest where he can collect small samples, as well as storage units in his drones to store excess. He has small vials of decontaminate fluid to clean any samples he collects, they have to be refilled occasionally. Also, as mentioned in the art, he can open his neck and chest area and just swallow bigger samples. He can even keep them alive inside him if he wants to. Otherwise, they're killed and turned into power for him to use. Sometimes he finds lizards with cool patterns and tries to swallow them to show Suns, who oftentimes will kill it afterwards.

He was the experimental project for emotive programming alongside Unparalleled Innocence/UI, hence his fully functioning screen as a face. As opposed to Suns, who functions more as a security camera. I think NSH and UI are both similar in the more playful/chaotic personalities, so I decided for them to be created around the same time and put into the same testing. Overtime, UI did not respond very well and was repurposed (She's not gone). Emotive sentience was programmed into NSH first and then tested on Moon. It was generally successful in both cases. NSH really enjoys messing around and can even imitate his fellow iterators faces. It works really well temporarily scaring predators using Suns' color markings lol.

Because NSH and Suns are both outside often, they have solar panel components in their design for extra power. The two of them are very close because of their shared experiences. NSH likes the outside more, Suns has little opinions of it. They worry about NSH because he's so small and curious and occasionally brings back dangerous things.

Suns is a little bit of an outcast here because of his difference in role. He is mostly left to roam and function on his own/not approached as he carries his role. The others are research focused and Suns is more obviously purposed for battle, so there is a little bit of a divide. Not to mention, he technically does not have the programming for emotions that Moon and NSH have. Suns does learn on his own though :D, some of it is learned from NSH too

I will leave it here for now. I will probably talk more about Moon and Pebbles for their own post. And the others as well. I'm still thinking about their designs though.

Erhm hopefully this makes sense somewhat and was at least a fun read.

[bluginkgo]

"Nice Corpse House My Guy" Remastered Behind Scenes!

The most glaring and obviously annoying thing that's evident in this comic- if you even wanna call it that- are the god forsaken BACKGROUNDS. There was a lot of experimentation going on for backgrounds here. Because the first couple pictures, THAT is what I used to draw backgrounds as. Trees are sticks and grass is flat. I realized that wasn't gonna cut it. I didn't like it at all. So I started experimenting and boy was it messy. It finally sorta settled on the style by the end of the comic. I'm still unhappy with it, but it'll have to do for now.

Here's a small comparison

One thing that I ran into was how I was gonna show that N was in his "killer mode." I could have placed the X's over the pupils, but found it unnatural looking in my style. So instead, it was settled to a concentrated light in the pupils.

Best seen between these two. The second N snaps out of it, the X/light in his pupils disappears, and the normal light returns to his eyes, which is similar to Uzi's.

Another thing I started slowly including was Uzi's little tooth on her beak.

The jutting out portion on her beak is a personal touch. Although it doesn't really matter, I included it to separate her from the rest of the "worker drones." Seen as she's an absolute solver host and has a solver form, something was going to creep up in her crow design, hence the little teeth. Doll would have them too, given I draw her in the form I've been thinking about.

Another thing I ran into, was WHAT WAS UZI GONNA TAKE N DOWN WITH?! This is a bird vs. a dog! No way was a bird gonna decommission a whole dog! Then this scene came up in my recent rewatch of Murder Drones.

And it clicked. Loooong long time ago, I had a very specific hyperfixation: birds. One thing I learned that some pigeons do, was they're capable of doing a somersault. And in mid-air, too!

I was finally set. The SICK AS HELL RAILGUN was downgraded to a simple piece of shiny glass/pebble that attracted Uzi- and crows love shiny things. And the same pebble will be used to launch at N's sensor that made him trip over. Because I was also not going to draw N doggo losing his head. I love gorey and bloody shows and art- hence why I watched Murder Drones- but I honestly had no idea how to recreate that, and I suck at drawing gore in general, I mean, did you SEE the crow N was chewing on? That was my best try honestly.

Here are some progress shots and how the layers worked in the scene where N is bonked with a stick.

As per usual, start with a sketch, this is actually 2nd sketch. The first is much rougher, just some circles and random shapes to outline his body form.

Then, this is all outlined and rendered. Along with some additions like the stick and the little rock.

The background was the hardest, aside from some weird angles I picked to draw Uzi and N at. I suck at backgrounds, like I've mentioned many times before. So, this needed a lot of testing and experimenting. Most of this works because I found some cool brushes to use. But aside from that, I honestly still don't like how it looks. It's slightly better than my stick trees and flat grass though, I guess.

Put it all together, add a black layer to simulate nighttime, put some lights to show moonlight through trees and voila, you've got an N doggo that got bonked by a stick! I see this project/comic mostly as practice and testing. Background testing mostly, and some brushes. The background/brush testing actually spilled over into another post of the solver Uzi I made a bit back. I'd say I was pretty happy how it turned out, but brush wise, I was going to test around a little more.

NUzi comic 'Sleep' is my next project. Uhhh, don't ask me when I'm gonna have it out, I have no idea. I'm guessing sometime end of Jan and beginning of Feb. But that might be delayed seeing as Murder Drones ep7 should be out sometime soon too, so I'll need to go crazy about that for a bit and then I'll go back to my usual thing ^_^ 'Sleep' will take place still between the Pilot and Heartbeat.

P.S. I have all 26 pages story boarded... good god what happened to the 'mini' part of the comic 😭

Anyways, why are you still here?! Have a cookie ^_^ you made it! Have a nice day now, bye bye <3

[deedah]

A love letter to Murder Drones

Btw this is just a rambling about how I got into Murder Drones and how it has changed my view of the world, so if you don’t care then don’t read :3

(Also it’s gonna be lengthy and maybe a bit of trauma dump)

I also don’t expect @liamvickersanimation or @glitchproductions to use tumblr, and if they see this I will jump off a cliff lol

So, it started one day when I got the Murder Drones pilot in my recommended on YouTube. Buut I scrolled right passed it cause I didn’t really care about it then. A few nights later, round midnight, I saw the pilot again and caved. I then went to the playlist and watched the first 6 episodes. (This was a month after ep 6 came out)

I did fall in love w/ the style of the show, but I did not understand the plot.

so I watched the show again and again, and even watched theory vids on it. And when I tell you I bawled by eyes out when I watched the show again, got connected to the characters, I bawled by fuckin eyes out when V sacrificed herself.

While watching theories of MD, something clicked in my head and I decided that I wanted to do my own show as well.

but, I suck at creativity and can’t make up new things, just edit already made things. So I decided, if I can’t make my own stories, I would help other people make their stories.

in other words, I wanted to be an animator

after I got my mind in on the fact I wanted to be an animator, I had downloaded many, and I mean many animation apps on my drawing iPad, and tried to 2D animate.

now, I would call myself a shitty artist. I don’t know anatomy and I barely use references too.

so when 2D animation did not work for me, I almost gave up my dream to become an animator, and plus.. I didn’t even know where I wanted to work.

I didn’t want to work for Disney cause I don’t really like their stuff anymore, and dream works kinda fell off too (no offense to any fans of those people, I will respect your opinions)

So I gave up on my dream, and I checked glitch prod. for any new info for MD ep. 7. But, instead of anything Murder Drones a new show was on called The Amazing Digital Circus.

now, I absolutely did not care about some new show, I only wanted Murder drones. Then I caved again and watched TDAC. and I fell in love w/ it as well.

and TDAC brought by dream back up to become an animator. I decided that I wouldn’t work for DreamWorks or Disney,

I would work for Glitch Productions.

now, I have no idea if I’ll ever be able to work for them, but it would be an honor.

then ep. 7 dropped for MD, and I fell in love again with this episode. Especially Flesha. Her movements, her emotions, her flicker design! It was all just perfect!

So I started to look online for ways to become an animator, but not a 2D one.

My mom helped me find a program called Blender.

and yes, I still use Blender to this day

I then started to take lessons from YouTube vids online and once I got the hang of it, I started to look for models that I could pose.

now, I can’t animate good rn cause I have a very shitty laptop that can barely run one model at a time, but I’m still learning.

and then the finale for Murder drones finally comes out. And omfg I have no words

it’s peak perfection

again the characters felt so ALIVE! And FREE!

and it’s what I wanted to do! It’s still is! I want to animate characters that people love and make art or fanfics about.

so.. that’s the point of this “Love letter”

I just wanted to say.. Thank you Liam and Glitch for this amazing show that I and millions of people could be apart of. And I hope I’m able to meet you in person and maybe even work under you one day.

Again.. thank you @liamvickersanimation and @glitchproductions.

you brought be out of my shell and made me into a better person, I owe you a lot.

and with that.. goodnight

-love @deedah

[emerald9d]

Ricka

No ask prompted this, this time. I just need to talk about her because she's, like, the other main OC of mine, right up there with Shelly. I just... don't draw her as much as I should.

The art here is in no particular order and the last two are actually Allie, a "version" of her I used for a tabletop campaign where the setting was different enough (Princess: The Hopeful, for those who are wondering) that she needed a new background and name. She basically looks and acts the same though. Also ignore that other guy for now lol.

This is going to be more rambly than when I described Shelly.

So yeah. Her full name is Ricka Rene Fuyu. She lives on Earth... or, well, "Earth." It's called that, and it even resembles our current-day world. But, there's a bunch of people with pointed ears, and most everyone can learn telekinesis. (though it's difficult and not THAT useful to most people, sorta like martial arts. guess what there's a lot of martial artists in my stories)

Also the ladmasses are (roughly) the same but everything else is different! Ricka lives in "The Triad," a collection of three closely located cities situated around the location of current-day Moscow. Ricka lives in Trifol, the "poorest" of the three cities. The other two are Slayton, a more froufrou college town, and Elaros, the capital of the country.

The tech is very "30 minutes into the future." There's fancy prosthetics and crazy computers and power armor, but most people can't afford them, and see them infrequently. I hesitate to call it cyberpunk, but its in that ballpark for sure. (Half of Ricka's design is "wannabe Matrix character") The most noteworthy development is "biotech drones," however, mindless attack-and-defense robo-creatures have started filling out military and police forces worldwide, courtesy of a subsidiary of Unity, a massive corporate conglomerate with its sites on controlling basically every major industry in the world. The only thing they haven't broken into fully, however, is the energy industry...

Anyway, Ricka couldn't be more different than Shelly, at least outwardly. She's quiet and reserved, and slow to react emotionally. (dissociative, really) But she's quite technically intelligent, and has a rich inner world, which she will show off when she lets herself relax and open up. This girl has opinions. And memes. And blorbos. She's basically the equivalent of a seasoned lefty Tumblr user. She's kind of my answer to the Rei Ayanami type of character, though her influences are myriad. Many years ago she started off by being a ripoff of Lucca from Chrono trigger. How far she's come.

Llife for Ricka started off promising enough. But, when both her parents died when she was 8, (one from a workplace accident, the other from cancer) only her grandfather and older brother were left to take care of her. (or take care of the older brother, for that matter)

For the next several years the family struggled with poverty, and mental illness. Ricka in particular barely hung on through the course of middle school, before succumbing to a massive breakdown at the beginning of highschool. Though, if there's a silver lining, is that she grew close to a former friend of her parents, who she sees as an uncle of sorts. Some particular interests of his, like boxing and motorcycles, rubbed off on her. (I know she's doing karate stuff in that one pic, but I changed my mind on that later)

After her breakdown, even her somewhat conservative grandfather had to admit her struggles needed to be taken seriously. Thankfully, around that time the family's finances improved somewhat. Since then, she's had a therapist and homeschooling, while pursuing her various technical interests as best she can.

The story begins with her starting university at 19. A rather big step for her considering her history of social anxiety, she's confident she can handle it. And she does! Especially with the help of a friend of hers from online, who also happens to be attending the same university as a transfer student.

However, despite making some irl friends, the future still presents a struggle. Corporate interests rule higher education to the point that they outright dictate what majors are available to matriculate into. It's hard to be an engineer when the powers that be decide that there's currently enough engineers.

Being around attentive friends who aren't used to her quirks reveals just how odd some of those quirks are. Which then leads to a discovery both illuminating and somewhat upsetting. See, I said telekinetic powers exist, but not telepathic. So mind-to-physical influence, but no mind-to-mind interaction.

Well, it turns out Ricka is unnaturally good at knowing what people are feeling, and where they are, and what they're about to do. To the point that it becomes clear she's got some special, unheard of mental abilities. And that, furthermore, she's had these powers, unknowingly, for most of her life. It becomes clear that it was actually a major source of her social anxiety, as the feelings of those around her overwhelmed her to a supernatural degree. However, Ricka's conditions are still quite real. Knowing the reason (or, at least, a reason) for her issues does not make them go away overnight.

While grappling with that, some strange things start happening to people around campus, which leads her and her newfound friends into unwittingly becoming a group of amateur sleuths. Ricka's empathic powers, naturally, become very useful for this task, making her into the functional core of the group. This then leads them into stumbling across things that they weren't supposed to know, and... well, the plot had to start at some point. What happens from there is a conspiracy thriller of unreasonable proportions.

Because, you see, those empathic powers didn't come from nowhere. And where they did come from...

...

One more thing. A somewhat more recent development is that she lost her left forearm when she was young. Or, hell, maybe she was born without it. Either way, she wears a prosthetic a lot. Normally... well, I'll let Ricka herself explain, in a block of narration I wrote randomly a little while ago:

My prosthetic could be covered by insurance. Well, kind of. The school health insurance will get you a part, but only within a certain price range. And, really, that’s not unreasonable. A fully articulated human-like hand is a bit much for the everyday, especially for your typical student. I’m not your typical student. And I don’t like being told what to do by an insurance company. No, the only thing that’s covering this hand is a leather glove.

You can see that leather glove in the pic where she's princess carrying that guy. And the prosthetic itself, uh, coming apart in that one doodle.

She also wears a simpler hook/pincer sort of prosthetic half the time. But she got that more advanced one at a young age, and has basically been learning how to maintain and adjust it herself for years. It's kind of her pride and joy. If it wasn't clear already that she's a big smarty pants.

So, yeah. That's Ricka. I find her a harder to think about because she's less upfront than Shelly by a long shot. Her presence doesn't come with the same bombastic instant gratification. It does however come with an internal narration that would feel at home in a hard boiled detective mystery novel. So, that's something.

[majorbaby]

"I suggest that anti-AI art people get used to the fact that sharing art means letting go of the fear of being copied" is a fucking horrible thing to say to artists. I've seen you post art on here, how can you justify reblogging a post like that to your peers, or younger artists who are struggling to feed themselves?

well first of all, reblogs =/= co-sign of every last detail of a post, less so now that people actively reblog posts to disagree with them.

buuuut while i might not say those words in exactly that way, i have to say, as a student and now professional creative, my livelihood has been threatened every 5 minutes well before the advent of AI, so hearing that artists should "get used to it" provokes no reaction in me. i am very much used to it. working design profs have stolen my concepts right out of my dollar store sketchbook, logo design contests run by massive companies are still commonplace, fiverr is a thing...

there's that corny adage, that art "holds up the mirror to society" well it does - in form as well as content. it's not that AI is especially bad for artists, it's that artists and creatives make up a vulnerable sector of the labour market, so the effect of any shitty labour practice will be especially visible when it hits us. but we aren't the first nor are we necessarily the hardest hit. that's why it was on us to speak out in solidarity with service industry workers were threatened by self check-outs and chatbots and service apps and the endless drone of pre-recorded telephone menus. it's going to come for all of us eventually, even people in "safe" STEM jobs. it's already doing that.

AI is just a tool, not unlike procreate or a drafting table. a drafting table never forced an ad agency to "hire" unpaid interns, and nobody is forcing AI to take advantage of creators.

on a more personal level, part of me has genuinely learned to live with, even be amused by imitations of my own work. it does hurt sometimes when i stumble upon pieces that draw significantly without credit, but, ngl, i can see the gaps and i have to laugh every time.

nobody has my brain, so even if you can see the final product, you can't see how i arrived at it. there's hints towards that in an original piece and i believe audiences can sense those complexities even if they lack the language to explain what they're seeing. honestly, it's reason why people feel such affection towards practical effects and disillusionment towards the rate at which CGI-embellished products are being shoved down our throats. audiences can sense when something has heart and not that i think this is the right way for the world to function, but heart sells.

[projectstardog]

Launch Announcement

When I laid out my goals for 2023 in January this year, I mentioned how I had ambitions to make a feature film called Empty Pages. It would be an anthropomorphized version of Laika and the Sputnik 2 mission, showing her fate as the first animal to ever go into orbit with tragic results. I picture it being an animated adult drama, influenced by movies like When the Wind Blows, Apollo 13, Titanic, and the Plague Dogs. I’ve been quietly planning and preparing it for well over a year at this point. I had to research historical details, learn how to make a screenplay, constantly revise the writing, design the characters, get feedback from friends, etc. With today being the anniversary of the real Sputnik 2 launch, it’s only fitting that things go public now.

The first phase of work is just about done. A new draft of the screenplay is in progress, and I’m feeling confident that it’ll be a good foundation to build upon. So the next phase of work, which I’m calling Project Star Dog, will have four main parts to it:

1.) Storyboarding the entire script from front to back, and editing the stills together into a full-length demo reel for the movie.

2.) Hiring a cast of freelance voice actors to dub over the storyboards and create guide tracks for all the main characters’ dialogue.

3.) Composing a full soundtrack for the storyboards, potentially with professional music software if I can afford it.

4.) Adding basic sound design, foley, and audio mixing to the storyboard reel as the finishing touches.

On top of all this, there’s also character model sheets to make, environments and props to design, concept art to draw, and trying to get the word out. The voice actors will be by far the costliest part, and so far I’ve been saving up my own money to afford them when the time is right. I’ve set up new social media accounts to help promote the project and share updates on it as I go. If my current plans work out, I hope to have this storyboard reel finished by the end of 2024. I’ll most likely post it to YouTube once it’s ready. What will happen then? At this stage it’s too early to tell, and I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure where it could go from there. But until then, getting a full storyboard reel is the priority, so that’s what I’m putting everything I have into.

Although I picture most of this being a solo project for now, I’m more than open to collaborating with other artists and creators to help speed things up. If you think you have something to offer the project, send an email or DM me at any of the links listed below. I don’t have a ton of money to spare, but I’m willing to work out payment agreements for anything that could help artistically. Even just following one of the accounts or sharing things around would be an enormous help for getting this campaign as far as it can go.

Online indie animation is currently in a renaissance. Things Helluva Boss, Lackadaisy, Murder Drones, Digital Circus, etc. are paving the way for a new era of the medium. Combine that with the long-overdue victories won by the WGA strikes this year, and the future feels brighter than ever for the scene. I want to try throwing my hat in the ring with a story I hope will connect with people, and emotionally resonate with them. The process of getting there will be hard and time consuming, but at this point, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Business email: ProjectStarDog@gmail.com

LINKS:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ProjectStarDog

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProjectStarDog

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMsdX2ysfKxEwCCIcYHOyvQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/project_star_dog

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/projectstardog.bsky.social

Newgrounds: https://projectstardog.newgrounds.com

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Lies

Warning: Spoilers! And possibly having your heart torn into pieces. Other than that, have fun!

We open up with Marinette figuring out the recipes for the power ups as the new guardian.

I am disappointed that she still has not stopped oogooling over Adrien when he appeared on the news. Especially since she was allegedly with Luka by then. (I'll explain what I mean in just a minute)

Adrien was tired after the day he had as Adrien, which is a contrast of what Marinette believes his life is like. But being Chat Noir is the highlight of his day...

...only to not see Ladybug show up for patrols. And we see that it was all due to her figuring out the powerups.

Also, the patrols are a thing in cannon and I am still not over it after "Truth".

Chat Noir hoping for an akumatization so he can escape his civilian life radiated the same energy as Alya asking for akumatizations to interview the temporary heroes on her IG post. I get it, but still! We do not have people in danger for our needs.

Plagg being the one who announces any voice messages for Chat and asking for cheese through the feature on the Chat Phone brings me a whole other level of life.

Also, the whole milk thing at Le Grand Paris bar counter. It was hilarious, but also very sad. He really missed his m'lady

He ends the patrol after he saw Kagami training with her mom. And the smiles on his face! *Cries in Marichat and Ladynoir*

Plagg is the one that encourages Adrien to move on from Adrien, just like he applauded him from doing so in Loveater.

Kagami apparently said that fencing lessons are scheduled an hour in advance and Adrien (with that goofy grin on his face) knew what was up!

Both Ms. Tsurugi and Gabriel are very pissed at one another for the schedule change. That's hilarious, although everything comes at a price.

The parallels! Kagami is apparently learning Russian at her mother's request. Truly is a reflection of Adrien, civilian life wise.

Kagami? Lying???? The hell???? Who are you and what have you done to Kagami????? (Why am I surprised, y'all did this in Desperada)

She lies to their parents and the teacher to be in the art room with Adrien. I get it, teenage rebellion after being under an uninvolved parent, but still!

I like how the writers gave Kagami another dimension by saying she loves art, but her mom does not like her passion for drawing.

To Kagami's mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH???!!! HER DRAWINGS BELONG IN A MUSEUM!

Also, art reflecting the truth? Hmmm.....

Since people like mentioning that Marinette has a thing for people with absent parents after "Truth", I will now say that Adrien has a thing for people who are great at drawing. I do not take criticism.

Kagami is hinting that Adrien's civilian life is not his true self (thank you for understanding him!)...

...but also says that being a "clown" (it was the Chat pose) is also not who he really is. The fandom would disagree with you. Although that brings up the question of whether both personalities merge to form who he really is and cannot be seen completely by anyone in any part of his life. But he is more like Chat Noir regardless.

Also, I want to see Adrien and Kagami spend more time together prior to this episode to see why she was not pleased with him being a clown if that's who he truly is, because her repositioning him against the wall made me feel like she is trying to place Adrien into a mold that reflects the image she might have created in her mind. (I don't know, this was just the first thought that came in my mind.)

They almost kiss, with Adrien being taken into shock (not terrified as we thought) until the alarm saying they have fencing lessons starting interrupts them and Adrien runs out, not before BLUSHING LIKE HELLO?!?!?

This is what I referred to in my second point and confirms what everyone was saying about this episode: this is "Truth", but through Adrien's perspective. Finally, an Adrien-centered episode!!!

To continue, every time Adrien and Kagami are together or were about to kiss, a sentimonster appears, with Ladybug trying to do something about it. Just like Lukanette, just like Adrigami: being a superhero affects your love life as a civilian.

Chat being thrown off the roof by accident and being rescued will never get old or less funny lol.

Montages continues up until the boat scene, where Adrien missed the intro to the performance, but I will never get over the fact as to how Adrien made it there before Marinette. It is beyond me.

Kagami not letting Adrien stay for 5 more minutes. Hmm...

Their cute moment together was what will lead to the demise of Adrigami as Kagami noticed he dropped the infamous lucky charm bracelet. *le gasp!

Why *le gasp*? Because 1) I fear it symbolizes that something will happen to Adrienette or that Adrien has forgotten about her, and 2) Wait until later.

Kagami revealed she lied so she can spend more time with Adrien alone, lying about leaving rehearsal earlier, lying about the fencing lessons rescheduling, and who else knows what else so she can be with him.

She tells him she loves him. But Adrien notices Ladybug and an Akuma. Oh boy, he wasn't able to give her any attention.

Because he left towards the direction of the boat (and said he left something there), Kagami used that to conclude it had something to do with Marinette. Oh boy.

Either I missed an entire scene about Ladybug knowing ShadowMoth's name, or we were not supposed to know how they know until this episode. It feels out of place to me, but oh well.

"I..am...AN INCREDIBLE SWIMMER!" still cracks me up even when I know how important it was in protecting her secret identity.

Happy Birthday Prince Ali!

Apparently, Kagami lied that her mom was in charge of watching over Adrien (or maybe not? I can't tell at this point.)

Yep, Kagami believes that Adrien is going after Marinette and probably resents them both if her facial expression says anything

We get to see that Ladynoir moment from "Truth"!! I love these two and their banter.

Adrienette stans, not much has changed. Adrien was concerned that he lost the Lucky Charm bracelet, for real. But said again because he though he would be clear of the lie since he thought he had it on him.

Kagami confronts him with it. AND THIS IS HIS SHOCKED FACE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER!!!

Thinking that she lies to get out of being with her, she leaves. With the bracelet. The leaving part is understandable, especially because she does not know about him being Chat Noir or what entails him to do. But why take the bracelet???

Adrien is also saddened by what happened. He also liked her.

We've never seen that part of city hall. Well designed in my opinion.

She was the akuma in City Hall with the glowing sphere! We were right!!!

Adrien feels guilty, though it is not really his fault. He has a duty to Paris!

Why is the music sounding different in French.

Jagged Stone. How do I feel about you after learning you purposefully abandoned Luka and apparently Juleka? Also, what's with the song??? (Rhetorical question. Do not answer)

We were wrong about Kagami's power: it paralyzes people who lie, not kill everything in its path.

Jagged, you abandoned your children. And you apparently lied about your age?!?!?! Both episodes show something about Jagged Stone that make him seem like an awful person on the inside.

Ladybug, how do you know about Lies's powers?!?!? There is a hole in the plot here! Unless there were other paralyzed civilians that gave her power a dead giveaway.

Chat Noir, if you lie as a civilian for whatever reason, of course Ladybug will too, since as a civilian, you need to lie to keep your secret identity a secret. Same rules apply to Ladybug, especially as the guardian.

The Lucky Charm is a drone, not a camera like I thought. How the hell did I get into an ivy if I can't tell the difference?!?!

Chat Noir pretending to lie is funny. It might also be his peppy attitude to lying. Also, his funnier version of ShadowMoth's name.

Ladybug finds the akumatized object and gasps. I wonder if its only a eureka moment or also the fact that she recognizes the bracelet, especially if its custom made.

Brutally honest people does not exist (we have all lied at some point, even Kagami who is usually brutally honest with people), but animals can't lie.

Fang being involved in destroying the akuma is cool.

This is the moment that we dreaded so much, yet knew was coming: CHAT NOIR DIES!

JK! He actually is paralyzed by truth because he jumped into the glowing orb. We were right that this is an anguishing scene to watch, but we're wrong about the part that he's killed. Yet, he still unnecessarily sacrificed himself and caused Ladybug to be angst about it.

WHAT IS UP WITH CHAT NOIR BEING HAPPY ABOUT SACRIFICING HIMSELF?!?!? AND DO NOT SAY ITS BECAUSE HE TRUSTS LADYBUG!

Yes Ladybug. Chat is crazy. And also crazy for you. And you are right about the crazy unconscious part. My Ladynoir heart!

ShadowMoth almost won until Fang bit off the charm bracelet. Thanks Fang!

Chat backing away from Fang licking him is a mood.

My favorite Ladynoir moment of the evening: Ladybug telling Chat to stop sacrificing himself and Chat saying she likes her adorable angry face. Her smirk afterwards.. And then their pound it.

But no seriously Chat. You need to stop doing that to Ladybug. She cannot take it anymore

Plagg said that even if Adrien loves someone else, he is likely to go back to Ladybug. Just like he goes back to Camembert. Seriously, despite his cheese analogies, he gives great wisdom.

Not Kagami almost beating up Adrien during his fencing lessons. And Mr. D'Angercourt notices this too as he stopped Kagami's final blow.

Also, isn't it illegal in fencing to push people? Oh boy.

And there's the Adrigami breakup scene: Adrien telling Kagami that he enjoys their time together and Kagami knowing their is sincerity in him. It is sort of unclear who actually ended things when Adrien asks if they could still be friends, but Kagami ends it all by saying that she will let him know once she can face him again. Ouch.

Adrien is hurt and stares at the lucky charm bracelet with what looks like sadness. Once again ouch.

Like Lukanette, I want to see Adrien and Kagami be happy together at least until halfway through this season. The issue is that it will hurt them more in the end.

Also, I noticed the difference between Luka and Kagami when ending their respective relationships. It hurt them both, but Kagami was more forward about it and Luka was somewhat passive. It could be based on what they know about their now exes (Luka knew that Marinette had feelings for Adrien and was not secretive about it even when they were together if the truths her friends said and the opening scene to this episode reflect this, whereas Kagami only has a suspicion and Adrien does not say anything regarding to it.

Also, I really did not like how the breakup on this end resulted in. While more realistic for a lot of people, it did not help that it involved Kagami as there are people who will go after Kagami after watching this episode, and I believe that the writers know this. Kagami is a good person who has a different response to the trust issues and lack of communication, as well as lies in their relationship. Not saying its a perfect one, but an understandable one. In conclusion, don't trash Kagami, especially if you saw this coming.

I take back what I said before; this is my favorite Ladynoir scene. I want to hug them both because they have to lie and keep secrets from everyone, even have some secrets between themselves! But at least they can trust each other! Excuse me while I cry over how much we are being fed. Also, the fact that they broke up with their respective partners makes this both heartwarming and heart breaking.

Overall, this episode is just as good as Lies! It is the first fully Adrien-centered episode, which makes this a first and already exciting. While I did not like how their breakup was handled, it was realistic and showed that honesty and communication are important. Also, can my children be happy together for longer than an episode??? I swear, their pain hurts me.

But at least Ladybug and Chat Noir have each other's company to get them through. May us Ladynoir stans continue to be fed!

[nurvuss]

I Watched the First Episode of Every New Spring 2021 Anime Airing on Crunchyroll

Hey, are you like me, and feeling like you're not getting the most out of your Crunchyroll subscription? Sure, there's stuff on there that you know you like. But whenever I look at the big long list of simulcasting shows, my eyes glaze over and I don't even know where to begin.

I wanted to change my habits and see if there were any shining gems that I should be watching. So, as per the title, I watched the first episode of every new Spring 2021 anime on Crunchyroll. And guess what? There’s a lot of crap! But indeed, there’s some stuff that’s worth your time.

Some clarification: I've only watched shows that began their first season in April 2021.

Backflip!!

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The Lowdown

As Futaba Shotaro comes to the end of middle school, his interest in baseball has begun to wane. Soon he notices the Ao High Boys Gymnastic Club and becomes enthralled, especially after seeing them perform. Once he learns they're down two members, he chooses to sign up and pursue the art of gymnastics. The club is also joined by Misato Ryoya, a star solo gymnast looking to expand his technique through teamwork.

Our Thoughts

Pretty formulaic shoujo sports anime: you've got your himbo, your thug, your ladies' man, your stoic guy, with Shotaro rounding out the cast as the shy and awkward audience surrogate. It looks wholesome enough, and the choreographed routines employ CG in a way that's quite convincing without being hideous.

Who It's For

Fans of  FREE, or Yuri!!! on Ice, or any similar shows about cute boys who succeed at athletic feats. 

Borscht Rating

Burning Kabaddi

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The Lowdown

Legendary high school soccer star Yoigoshi Tatsuya has given up on sports! That is, until he's blackmailed to join the high school kabaddi team, under threat of his online persona being leaked to the entire school. Although Tatsuya initially writes kabaddi off as stupid, the unexpected happens as he begins to have fun.

Our Thoughts

Kabaddi is kinda like competitive tag, or dodgeball but with your body instead of a ball. Burning Kabaddi is basically the shounen alternative to Backflip!! above, replete with nosebleeds, pratfalls, and dudes punching each other. The main cast don't seem to like each other very much; that probably changes as the show goes on but at first blush it's a dynamic I always find annoying.

Who it's For

Fans of Haikyuu!!? Maybe?

Borscht Rating

CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD overDress

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The Lowdown

The newest series based on Bushiroad's collectible card game, featuring character designs by the beloved collective CLAMP. Petit middle schooler Yu-Yu just doesn't know how to say no. As his older students dress him in drag to use as live makeup practice, he suffers a panic attack and flees into the streets. After being accosted by a pickup artist, he's befriended by Megumi, who invites him to witness a Cardfight match at the local abandoned amusement park. However, Yu-yu is too shy to tell Megumi he's actually a boy…

Our Thoughts

What an unexpectedly weird concept for a show about a card game. Our hero spends the whole episode in drag, whimpering and simpering at the sight of any conflict. Then they show off the latest series of cards, which all seem to be giant buff knights with names like "Bad Steve" and "Violent Bruce". Your guess is as good as mine.

Who it's For

Cardfight!! lovers, Japanese gender studies majors, or the most desperate fujoshi. 

Borscht Rating

Cestvs: The Roman Fighter

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The Lowdown

The year is 54AD, and Nero has taken the throne as the youngest emperor of Rome. At the bottom of the population, Cestvs is a young slave training to be a colosseum boxer. Reluctant, his only choice is to fight or die.

Our Thoughts

Seeing Nero depicted as a gentle little twink is pretty funny. It's also pretty funny that the central character is named after a Roman boxing glove. The animation style transitions to some very uncanny CG when a major fight takes place, and I didn't like that one bit! This seems like a pretty average tournament anime but with a historical setting. It's currently unknown if any of these dudes are fucking each other. I'm gonna say probably.

Who It's For

The venn-diagram of Greco-Roman history buffs and lovers of tournament series?

Borscht Rating

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro!

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The Lowdown:

Hachioji Naoto is a nerdy, introverted student who spends his time studying and avoiding socialising. When pages from the fantasy manga he's drawing fall out of his bookbag, they catch the attention of a younger student named Nagatoro Hayase. Nagatoro begins to tease Naoto for his otaku interests and awkward demeanour, peppered with some suggestive flirting.

Our Thoughts:

What would you do if a younger girl flirted with you? Would you cry? Piss your pants maybe? Maybe shit and cum? Don't Toy With Me… attempts to barely conceal its BDSM fantasy with its comedic elements, but it's incredibly apparent as Nagatoro always wipes away Naoto's tears as a sort of aftercare. It's like a lighter, comedic version of Aku no Hana, but lacking any of the ponderings or danger that made that work so special.

Who It's For: 

People who search Pornhub for "bratty sister femdom".

Borscht Rating:

86 Eighty-Six

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The Lowdown

The Republic of San Magnolia and the Giad Empire, have been at war for nearly a decade. Using advanced military technology, the frontlines are fought by giant mecha drones called Juggernauts, controlled remotely by Handlers. Major Vladilena Mirizé is one of the military's most talented Handlers in the 1st District, and one who is constantly teased by her peers for the humanity and empathy she shows her squadron. The government line is that drone warfare has kept casualties to zero, but unbeknownst to the public these "drones'' are piloted by 86ers—the lowest class of citizens, forced to live in military internment camps in San Magnolia's 86th District.

Our Thoughts

This is incredibly my kind of thing. We've got a dual narrative being set up here: Vladilena as the kind, reluctant officer of a fascist regime, and the Bad Company-esque antics of her new ragtag squad, Spearhead. The first episode is split pretty evenly between the two, with each story converging at the end as Vladilena "meets" Spearhead for the first time through her comms station. It's an explosive and enticing first episode, and I can't wait to watch more of it.

Who It's For

Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist, Psycho-Pass, Gundam, or any number of anti-imperialist war stories.

Borscht Rating

Fairy Ranmaru

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The Lowdown

In a quiet corner of the city sits Bar F, a modest drinking establishment staffed entirely by five hot young men. Unbeknownst to the general population, these men are a crack team of fairies sent to the human world to gather the latent energy of "attachment". They do this by solving the problems of young women, taking their hearts in the process.

Our Thoughts

Hubba hubba, a little something for the ladies! It's Weiẞ Kreuz with a bar instead of a flower shop, fairies instead of assassins, and some pretty revealing outfits. There's definitely a little Persona 5 inspiration here too, from the punctuating phrase "Take your Heart!" to many of the visual cues. Make of that what you will.

Who It's For

Fans of Weiẞ Kreuz, slash fic authors.

Borscht Rating

Farewell, My Dear Cramer

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The Lowdown

Onda Nozomi was once the star player of her middle school football team. Completely unmatched, she no longer plays as there's no opponent she deems to be on her level. Meanwhile Suou Sumire far outpaces her teammates, causing her frustration. By a twist of fate, these two girls find themselves joining the scrappy Warabi Seinan High School FC as they begin to learn the value of teamwork and friendship.

Our Thoughts

I don't know sports. And I really don't know football. I had to look up what the title meant, and now I barely know who Dettmar Cramer is. I'm really not the best person to judge this, but it seems like a pretty good female-driven sports anime. 

Who It's For

Fans of Ace o Nerae! or other sports manga/anime about those ever burning bonds between young teammates.

Borscht Rating

Gloomy, the Naughty Grizzly

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The Lowdown:

Pitty lives with his pet Gloomy, a massive pink bear. Can a boy and a bear truly get along?

Our Thoughts:

This is a series of minute-long gag episodes in which Gloomy mauls Pitty and blood squirts everywhere. It's definitely meant to be a morbid parody of Sanrio or San-X; it might be a Rilakkuma parody in particular? Gloomy is the kind of thing you might laugh at if it came on in between shows, but it's pretty slight to go through the trouble of putting on.

Who It's For:

Gag anime fans with one minute to spare.

Borscht Rating:

Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway

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The Lowdown

After a night of drinking in Tokyo, slovenly salaryman Yoshida encounters a teenage runaway sitting under a lamppost. She offers to sleep with him in return for letting her spend the night in his apartment. Yoshida refuses her offer but allows her to stay. The next morning the girl, Sayu, reveals she's travelled all the way from Hokkaido, sleeping with random men in return for lodging and money. Feeling responsible for her safety, Yoshida agrees for Sayu to stay indefinitely in return for handling household chores.

Our Thoughts

This is kind of the inverse of Koikimo (see below), but without a scumbag character and from a male perspective. It's not nearly as nauseating as that show, but it's still a fantasy about living with a busty teenage girl.

Who It's For

Libertarians.

Borscht Rating

I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level

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The Lowdown: 

Office lady Aizawa Azusa dies of overwork in her early 20s, and finds herself standing before a lecherous goddess. Allowed a wish as compensation for her untimely demise, Azusa wishes for an endless life of leisure. The goddess reincarnates her as a 17-year-old immortal witch in an RPG-coded fantasy world. Thrilled, Azusa lazes about, brewing potions for her neighbouring villagers, and kills a small amount of slimes each day to supplement her income. After doing this every day for 300 years, she inadvertently finds herself at Level 99. Her peaceful life is soon upended as adventurers and dragons come from miles around to challenge the legendary witch.

Our Thoughts:

I'm not really an isekai fan, and that goes double for series which aren't set in an RPG, yet use RPG mechanics. Levelling up, grinding stats, min-maxing, as if it's a part of the fabric of the setting. I don't get it. I like watching numbers go up as much as the next dork, but I don't need to watch numbers go up in absolutely every piece of media I consume. Just play a fucking video game, Jesus Christ almighty.

I thought this might be setting up a fun series in which a layabout is reluctantly called upon to undertake a dangerous quest, but I don't think that's what's going on at all. When the red dragon Laika wrecks Azusa's house, she transforms into a cute young girl and the two begin living together, teaching each other the pros and cons of hard work and slothfulness respectively. The trajectory of the series might be as laid back as its protagonist in the end, which, ultimately, would be fitting.

Who It's For:

Isekai fans, slice-of-life fans. The twain have met!

Borscht Rating:

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

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The Lowdown

In alternative history Japan the Meiji Period continued well into the 1930s, and the ongoing Tokugawa Shogunate has brought technological prosperity to the nation through a magical energy source called the Dragon's Vein. Sawa Yukimura runs a bookshop where she lives with her little sister by day, but by night she's an assassin for Nue, the shogunate's secret police. As the terrorist group Kuchinawa deploys transforming beasts in an attempt to topple the shogunate, Nue springs into action with their own abilities.

Our Thoughts

There are a lot of concepts competing here, and a few too many flashy transformation sequences for my taste, but I'm really into it! Nue are made up of sex workers and street musicians, often overlooked and therefore easily able to blend in. There's a supernatural Standalone Complex vibe to how the team operates, and they're almost assuredly on the wrong side. Worth a shot!

Who It's For

Fans of alternate history science fiction, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Demon Slayer.

Borscht Rating

Koikimo: Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui ("It's Disgusting to Call This Love")

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The Lowdown

Amakusa Ryo is a womanizing salaryman concerned with nothing but his own base desires. As he slips on the train station stairs one morning, he's saved by the swift action of Arima Ichika, a kind-hearted high schooler. When it turns out Ichika is friends with Ryo's younger sister Riou, he decides she's his soulmate, and begins to pursue her no matter how many times she refuses him. Comedy ensues!

Our Thoughts

Yeah, OK groomer.

Alright look, Korikimo is written by a woman and told from Ichika's perspective, so this is obviously meant to be a lighthearted "older man" shoujou romance. As an older man, all I saw were the adventures of a paedophile and the teenager he's stalking. Fuck off.

Who it's For

There's probably other stuff like this, right? If you like that, here you go.

Borscht Rating

Let's Make a Mug, Too

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The Lowdown

After the death of her mother, Himeno and her father relocate from bustling Tokyo to quiet Tajimi City in Gifu Prefecture. The former salaryman opens a quiet cafe using the remarkable mugs made by his late wife, while Himeno follows in her mother's footsteps and joins the school pottery club. Although her first project ends in disaster, Himeno makes fast friends with the eccentric pottery enthusiasts who make up the club.

Our Thoughts

It's no Eizouken, but I guess it's probably not meant to be. I'm not a big iyashikei genre fan, but if that's your thing, you might enjoy the wholesome non-adventures of three girls trying to make a mug. It's worth noting these episodes are only about 12 minutes long, with the remaining runtime segmented into live action episodes where the voice actresses tour Tajimi and unconvincingly pretend to be interested in Gifu's famous mino-yaki pottery. I think this must be a tie-in with a local tourist board. 

Who It's For

People who enjoy stuff like Aria, actually.

Borscht Rating

OddTaxi

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The Lowdown

In a Tokyo populated by anthropomorphic animals, a solemn walrus named Odokawa spends his nights driving his cab around the bustling metropolis, spending his free time drinking with his pals. Odokawa soon finds his quiet life disrupted by a caper involving a missing girl, some crooked cops, and the animal yakuza. 

Our Thoughts

A deft blend of working class slice-of-life with mystery, cute animals, and striking visual design. OddTaxi might be the sleeper hit of Spring 2021.

Who It's For

Fans of existentialist film noir with absurdist comedy, Polar Bear Cafe, walrus lovers.

Borscht Rating

Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose

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The Lowdown

Suehiro Maruo Sueharu Maru has his heart set on Shirokusa Kachi, the hottest girl in school. When she begins dating a young actor, Sueharu confides in his childhood friend Kuroha Shida, who's openly in love with him and he rejected in the past. Kuroha suggests the two get revenge on Shirokusa by pretending to be in love. Will Sueharu fall in love with Kuroha for real, making her dreams come true?

Our Thoughts

Give me a fucking break.

Who It's For

I don't know and I don't care.

Borscht Rating

SD Gundam World Heroes

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The Lowdown

The newest instalment of the SD Gundam media-mix franchise. In a world populated by super deform mecha, a burning meteor lands in the middle of Captain City. From it launches a terrible mechanized beast: Naughty Lion. When the police are powerless to stop it, a crack team led by Zhuge Liang Gundam and Liu Bei Gundam sorties to bring Naughty Lion to justice. When the beast stops rampaging, it transforms into Sun Wukong Gundam, a youthful amnesiac mecha horrified at the destruction he wrought. The Three Kingdoms Gundams welcome Sun Wukong into the fold to make sense of this mysterious event.

Our Thoughts

I'm an 80s kid, I know a 30-minute toy commercial when I see one.

No, seriously though, I'm aware of SD Gundam's merchandising—they're cute designs, and I even used to have a bunch of the gum rubber mini figurines. I've played the SD Great War Super Famicom games, they're fun! This is a vehicle to get kids hyped up about the latest toys, which are...based on  a hodgepodge of Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms this year? There's even a little SD Guan Yu Gundam with a big long beard!

I kinda wanted to like the idea of a bearded robot, but the mechas are super busy and overdesigned. I guess there's only so much you can do to make your next series of toys bigger and better, so these guys are all decked out in gold accents, capes, horns, and antlers, and half the time I couldn't parse what I was seeing.

I'm so glad I don't have to watch any more of this. 

Who It's For

Very, *very* young mecha fans.

Borscht Rating

Seven Knights Revolution: Hero Successor

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The Lowdown

Long ago, the Dark God Nestra ruled the world through fear. Standing against him were the Seven Knights, seven brave warriors chosen by the Light Goddess Serrass. With their powers combined, Nestra was defeated and the lands returned to peace. Hundreds of years later the wicked Physis Cult seeks to revive Nestra, summoning undead beasts to ravage the countryside. With the Seven Knights long dead, the Granseed Academy has risen to train the next wave of heroes to combat this threat. Using special cards, the students of Granseed are able to call upon the power of the Seven Knights to guide them in battle.

Our Thoughts

As soon as the opening started with its transforming heroes and lovingly depicted weapon cards, I realised this must be based on a mobile game. Indeed, this is based on a free-to-play gacha from Korean developer Netmarble. Even before I was able to confirm this, Hero Successor failed to draw me in, eschewing details on the nature of its world in lieu of a glamourised marketing push for its source material. What's here is incredibly slight, and likely to be of little interest to anyone who isn't deep into this game.

Who It's For

Seven Knights whales, I guess.

Borscht Rating

Those Snow White Notes

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The Lowdown

Sawamura Setsu mourns the death of his grandfather Matsugorou, a talented shamisen player who refused to pass his secrets on. Not knowing what else to do, he leaves his remote village for Tokyo, taking nothing but his shamisen along with him. Soon he finds himself wrapped up in the complicated life of aspiring actress Yuna and her scuzzy rockstar boyfriend Taketo. When Setsu opens for Taketo's band, he stuns the audience with the raw emotion of his playing. However, his heart is still tumultuous. 

Our Thoughts

An entertaining first episode of a speciality music series, which is the kind of thing I have a place in my heart for. I couldn't shake the feeling of some latent misogyny that suggested the role of a woman is to inspire a tortured artist, but I might be wrong. The final few minutes take a twist by introducing Setsu's weird, horny mother who seems to have her own personal SWAT team, and it looks like the series becomes a more conventional high school anime from episode 2 onwards. Don't know about that!

Who It's For

Fans of Kids on the Slope, Sound of the Sky.

Borscht Rating

Tokyo Revengers

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The Lowdown

Former delinquent Takemichi is unsatisfied with the way his life turned out, living alone in a paper-thin apartment and working a minimum wage job under a boss who doesn't respect him. When watching the news one evening, he learns that his highschool sweetheart Hinata was killed, alongside her little brother. On the way to work the next morning, Takemichi falls in front of an oncoming train and wakes up 12 years in the past. Armed with foreknowledge, he attempts to turn his life around and save his onetime lover.

Our Thoughts

This is drawing from a lot of sources; the whole train sequence is lifted straight from Gantz, while the story itself initially seems like a Life on Mars kind of deal. In fact, Tokyo Revengers sees Takemichi jump back and forth between the present and the past, seemingly making small changes until he achieves his desired outcome. It feels like a very video gamey depiction of time travel, and one that's not super interesting.

Who It's For

Steins;Gate fans, maybe? Delinquent manga (Shonan Junai Gumi, Crows, etc.) fans, maybe? It's pretty self-serious compared to any of those.

Borscht Rating

To Your Eternity

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The Lowdown

An immortal being in the form of an orb falls to earth and becomes a stone. Years pass, an ice age sets in, and a white wolf stumbles onto the tundra and dies. The orb, able to take the form of anything that leaves a strong impression on it, transforms into the wolf and slowly learns how to use its newfound ambulatory body. The creature treks back through the tundra where it meets a boy living alone, after the rest of his village left in search of a better life. The boy recognises the wolf as his beloved pet, Johann, and the two begin living together in the harsh, lonely wastes.

Our Thoughts

I'm being a little coy with the synopsis here, and there's a major shake-up at the end of this debut episode. This one's based on a manga by the critically acclaimed Yoshitoki Ooima (A Silent Voice), and it's a depressing, compelling, and exciting start to a series. Lots of potential here!

Who It's For

Fans of NieR, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Last Exile, Kino's Journey.

Borscht Rating

So, there you have it. I'm hoping this will be of use to anyone who experiences a similar sense of dread when faced with so many choices. Maybe we’ll do this again during the Summer 2021 anime season.

Also, please don't get mad at me if I'm snarky about your new favourite show! It’s just TV and I'm a big idiot anyway.

[atomic52]

Bro, listen…your ponies are awesome. The designs, the knowledge, the pinnacle of horse anatomy - you are doing a really, really good job with all of them. I hope to be half as talented at character design as you are one day. Your art deserves SO much more attention, and after this ask, I will go on a reblogging spree of your content. I should have done that long ago.

My personal favorite of yours is Spy. Not only is he my favorite character, but the way you made him into a changeling that mimics an average unicorn form is a really cool idea. I can’t help but wonder if he ever feels conflicted by never being around any of his own kind, and also growing up in the toxic environment of the hive. Maybe he’s slowly learning how to love himself and others through the team. Ooh, or maybe someday he can turn into his “final” form like they do in the MLP series! That would be a really cool character arc!

Sorry, this turned out longer than I thought, but as a fellow creator, I know that you most likely won’t mind.

Draw on, my friend! Wherever art decides to take you!

your kind words bring life to this weary soul ;w;

i am so happy to know you like my ponies X3 redesigning things i love in MLP has always been my happy places and i'm so glad you enjoy it as much as i love making them!

just draw what you want and everything should follow!

also i love that idea of Spy reforming, but knowing him he'll always be a little shit but i couldn't help myself.

Spy wouldn't be nothing more then a drone but i just had to draw what he would look like as a fluffy king boy.

yeh he doesn't look too much different then normal but hey, he's a moody guy lol.

and as for him missing the Hive, i would think so. he would miss the organization of the hive. but remembering he's better then them he likes being away from them.

lol and don't feel bad about "to long asks" i love them all =w= especially ones that toss out cool ideas like this!!! so thank you for your ask!!

[dustedmagazine]

Catherine Lamb — Muto Infinitas (Another Timbre)

Muto Infinitas by Catherine Lamb

In her talk at the 2013 Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching conference, art historian Jennifer Roberts describes the unusual task she puts to her students as they embark on their research projects: visit the artwork in question and spend no less than three hours looking at it. It’s an exercise situated at the intersection of patience and perception, designed to provide students “the permission and the structures to slow down” and help teach them what Roberts calls the “deliberate engagement of delay.” Through it, doubts like “How can there possibly be three hours’ worth of incident and information on this small surface?” are gradually displaced by an astonishing proliferation of observations, questions, and analyses as time exerts its force. 

It’s the kind of practice that might appeal to a composer like Catherine Lamb, whose long, subtle works reward persistent listeners with an unexpectedly rich (psycho)acoustic experience. In fact, Lamb describes the transformative effects of her own engagement with Agnes Martin’s multi-panel painting The Islands: “At first my eyes are overwhelmed by the luminosity of white. Over time, I begin to see whole spectrums of color emerging to the surface, which may later become variations of grey.” Next to the “incident and information” contained in Roberts’s example, John Singleton Copley’s A Boy with a Flying Squirrel, the relative “blandness” of Martin’s or Lamb’s aesthetic only stresses the role the audience must play in any encounter with their work. For Lamb, intentional blandness may represent a resistance to the notion that “a piece of music must ‘take one somewhere’ or overwhelm the senses to be felt, rather than the listener having any responsibility towards it.”

What is the nature of the responsibility the listener owes to this music? Patience should not imply passivity. In “The Form of the Spiral,” her own Harvard lecture, Lamb draws on Maryanne Amacher’s suggestion that “the active listener is the experimenter.” A key component of this active, experimental posture is the rejection of “habitual musical thinking and terminologies.” These frameworks aren’t just limited or inadequate; proceeding by habit, we unwittingly choose received conceptions over true attention. In a sense, then, engaging with Lamb’s music by turning to well-worn labels like “microtonal,” “drone” or even “just intonation” and “timbre” is like going to a museum to skim wall copy. Doing justice to the music requires something more, something as sui generis as the piece itself. “I don’t believe in virtuosity,” Lamb tells one interviewer. “I believe in working over a long period of time, consistently and with love and attention.” 

If Lamb is describing a kind of generous, sympathetic patience, these passing references to belief hint that she’s also describing something like faith: trust that earnest application will lead one safely into, if not through, doubt. With its title’s suggestion of things forever out of reach, Lamb’s latest from Another Timbre is a fitting venue for all these ideas. Muto Infinitas is also music of considerable ambiguity, at least on first approach. Just 20 seconds into the hour-long composition, the performers — Rebecca Lane (quartertone bass flute) and Jon Heilbron (double bass) — fall silent. After 10 seconds of silence, they resume their sustained breathing and bowing, only to pause again not quite two minutes later. The music proceeds in this fashion, its “global” structure troubling the distinctions between continuity and discontinuity, repetition and progress, event and nonevent. Similar puzzles play out on the “local” level as well, with each of the piece’s 30+ episodes inviting the listener to ponder the complex harmonies, tensions and acoustic phenomena occasioned by the instruments’ interactions — a true test of language (especially for those of us taking notes) as we search for words that can keep up with the minute distinctions and developments introduced after each silence. “Microtonal” won’t get us very far. Close attention only heightens the effect of the surprise that arrives in the piece’s final passages, as Lane’s breath lengths contract and a simple but affecting melody slowly emerges from harmony. Without committing to a conventional narrative structure, Lamb manages, in a sense, to dramatize Roberts’s “deliberate engagement of delay” and the process of discovery that grows out of it. 

Ultimately, of course, that process — and the responsibility that underpins it — extends in varying proportions not only to the listener but also to the performers and the composer herself. “I have been slowly working on Muto Infinitas for 5 years,” Lane writes, characterizing the present recording less as an absolute statement than as a document charting one point in an even longer, perhaps infinite, effort of exploration and refinement: “So the piece is a framework into which Jon and I hope to go deeper and deeper. We look forward to performing it again and again and seeing how our interpretation and listening evolve further.”

Perhaps paradoxically, it may be Lamb’s role in this network of shared responsibility that is most opaque. Commenting on an earlier work, her words apply well here: “Fluctuations of bow or breath or tone may become little bits of expression, and I find those portions the most compelling,” she says of 2012’s three bodies (moving), also on Another Timbre. “This is humbling, because I really have nothing to do with them other than allowing them to occur.” In the case of Muto Infinitas, it may be tempting to trace that guiding hand in the definitive, if elusive, melodic turn in the composition’s final moments. It’s there, of course, in the fertile interaction of tone carried out by the flute and bass as well. But it may actually be the piece’s periodic silences that best mark the composer’s presence. Modest but firm, they open a space for recovery and refocusing, always bringing the music back to the place of richest possibility. 

Eric McDowell 

[exactlyenoughglitter]

The Pied Piper of the Night City

AO3

There’s a gentle rain downtown.

She has been wandering from district to district, exploring aimlessly after dropping off the package: walking, occasionally hitching a ride, and then walking again. It is getting late and the endless stream of crowds under the neon shades of the night has changed its face somewhat.

Today there are fires in the streets, right here, in one of the centres of the sprawling city where the buildings rise the highest as a reminder of a time when this place did not belong to the people yet. It still really does not – she can hear sirens in the distance – but for the moment it looks almost like it does, and that’s good enough for her, since she is only passing through. There is electricity in the air, and passion and music, and she is drawn to the fires around which the people dance. It could be Beltane if it were not November and if there wasn’t a tangible undercurrent of danger to the grinning faces, painted lips, and razor-sharp eyes that gleam with wetness when they are real and with lens-polish when they are not. True blasphemy – she likes it.

She sneaks a bottle off a slow giant who’s engaged in conversation at the street food stall that’s been revamped into a kind of makeshift bar, and disappears into the crowd. Surprised by how strong the alcohol is, making her seriously question the recipes of Mahakam, she takes another swig for good measure before letting the carafe drop. A woman with short, indigo hair and neat, little gill implants on both sides of her slender neck throws hers into the fire - alongside many others whom the fancy has taken. She smiles at her knowingly. The flames erupt to the joy of the dancers and a buzz runs down Ciri’s spine; she returns the smile quickly and takes a left.

The colours of the falling night become moodier and the music becomes louder, faster, more incoherent in a mixture of recordings that drone and beat down upon the doors of her heart. It drizzles and the fumes of the fires dizzy the mind, yet nobody cares. She lets the heady mix of noise and emotion take her by the hand and pull her in, and she laughs as she mixes and mingles with people in colourful outfits boasting odd gear, eye-catching piercings and just fabulous jewellery – both men and women! She wants them and they want her. Everything feels effortless in this exciting new world.

Manoeuvring between warm bodies, heady with lust for life and desire for each other, she thinks she can really be anyone for once; just pretend a little, and try it out when a handsome stranger touches her elbow and wedges in-between her and the redhead who has been holding her captive so far. Let them chase her in the shadows of the city, try and hold onto her, guide her – she will dance on whether they leave or stay. Let them follow her and the music inside her head, bewitched and enhcanted. She wants the night, and all it has to offer, all to herself; and she can have it here, where the lonely and the holy come to meet.

And why not after all?

She will walk in someone else’s shoes for a while, speak someone else’s words, and feel free and unrestrained before she abandons it all again. Like a demon in the dark. This right here is what destiny is made of, she wants to tell him – these moments she chooses to lose herself in. But he would never come here, she thinks, even though she briefly imagines catching a glimpse of his tall and slender figure in the crowd, unmistakable for her no matter the time and place. And it sows the seeds of challenge in her heart.

Until, above the ocean of space and light, she catches the rich, wind-chime melodies of familiar pipes.

-

He sets the beloved instrument aside, staring at the steel silhouette of the city that carves itself through the smoke like a carcass brimming with a million void fires.

A carcass deeming not even with cockroaches but with a plague. A virus of 13.3 billion that has constructed this buzzing, chiming, banal and noxious world, overflowing with live matter that devours itself from second to second, and where everything – everything – is freakishly distinctive, while still nothing is. A world where the light of the stars was far outshone by the synthetic glow, captured within infinitely similar, gargantuan golems of steel and glass that had hooked their claws into the skies above and pulled them down to their level. The handiwork of shrewd monkey inventors. And he, a magician, is sitting on top the wreckage of the recently exploded façade of one of these steel giants with darkness above him and the sky at his feet, playing his pipes and finding no comfort in his own music in all this noise.

Everything was upside down in this world.

The local authorities had hastily sealed the place up for further investigation it seems, because much of what remained intact after the fires of whatever tore itself through the multi-floored apartment’s outer walls had been left untouched. Besides expensive fabrics, ruined murals on ceilings, various frivolous interior design elements, and the castrated, potted greenery, there were even remains of art to be found here; of abstract and suggestive variety. Art, and the history of simulacrum technology. Whoever owned the place had vain, luxurious tastes in short, and that suited his preferences, though he did not particularly like anything that surrounded him in this world at any given point in time. He was still very curious though, and simply had to know.

So he pressed some buttons to hear what the place sounded like, and if it did at all anymore.

Forgotten souls in suburban city lights You lose your sense of time, where are you now?

A loud crash. Pivoting around he meets a face that is doing its best to hide all evidence of mischief and devilry, but the spilt red still washes down the parquetry. Ah, she had finally gotten bored then.

Don’t you realize your rage has gone too far?

‘Found something?’

She covers her mouth in shameless, feigned embarrassment, and nods. There is not a shred of an apology in her insolent eyes.

‘You wouldn’t want it,’ she dismisses him, all farce and parody. ‘Especially now that I’ve had some; poison chalices and all that.’ How violently self-deprecating and proud. And how little care she has.

 The truth behind the bars lies poisoning your brain.

She takes to the music instantly, chirping happily as she gives herself over to the melody as if he wasn’t there, as if she had not just smashed a bottle of very fine liqueur all over the place. Of course it doesn't matter – when had the integrity of places and people she storms through ever bothered her?

It begins imperceptibly, almost without any warning at all. Humming to herself with her eyes closed, turning and stepping to the thudding beat of the electric bass, she veers off balance every now and again, though that only seems to add to her merriment.

He blinks.

Listen to what I say If you are in the streets of time counting the hours You must listen and learn the secrets of flowers

In the faint glow of the artificial light of gigantic billboards above the streets, Ciri dances to her own heart’s delight. Just as indulgently as by the street fires, though far removed from the desperation of the animals now. A whirl of ash and mulberry, tempestuous and lively. He notices her hair has come loose; it curls around her flushed neck, wild and unruly where wind and rain have visited it, and yet it remains very inviting. He gets the sudden urge to touch her, run his fingers up the back of her neck and hear her make the happy, surprised noise again. Would she dance to him like this if he played to her?

You look still confused, the whirlwinds shake your head Like turbulence in the air, you wonder who you are

Sparkling glass crackles under her heels, but the Swallow steps on, andante, swinging from one masticated wall to another as he watches. Not one would dare challenge her in the midst of all this impromptu pleasure anyhow, and in the corner of her eye, he catches the carefree, mocking look she is sending him. The temptation to look inside her mind grows too great to resist.

There is no one around

He walks through spilled drink, kicking aside the shattered glass. Catching her mid twirl he takes her hand, squeezing softly, and draws her into a different kind of dance. One he would have taught her eventually had she remained with them. The music changes at the wave of his hand and the girl squeals in surprise, shooting him an astonished look. Then bursts into laughter – openly and easily.

It is quite intolerable – this savage playfulness. He would much prefer she sulked and drew away when he interrupts her drunken revelry, for her embarrassment continues to offer him some kind of perverse, sadistic pleasure. It also makes it easier to remember that she is only a silly child, a wild thing that makes up with self-abandon what she lacks in thoughtfulness and grace. Instead, he stares, taken aback and distracted by her unexpected reaction that does not conform to his fantasies.

Try to understand No need to pretend

She slips from his arms, just a little, and invites him to come after her and meld the intent behind his steps with hers. Accommodate her and learn her. Share in her little dance with her. Thus, he bows to her extravagantly, as is befitting of him before the princess of time and space. Oh, how very familiar she feels. Her pulse rapid as a bird’s and her mind swirling with desire, challenge, and simple, shameless joy. Taking her by the waist, he discovers that he does not altogether mind learning from her tonight in this strange upside down world. They have time.

For who would find them here? No one - he has made sure of that.

And she is not going anywhere, he thinks, as he pursues the rare happiness of her large, emerald eyes over the broken shards hiding underneath, onto which spill her intoxication and his obsession. He will not let anyone snatch her from him; will not release her this time.

He wants so very many things with her, and there will be time for that. Tonight though, under artificial lights, above red blood beating hearts, he lets her lead him in this dance and forget about Destiny despite holding hands with it. His poisoned chalice. His little Lara.

No need to pretend

[landeg]

31 Days of Apex: A Retrospection

I participated in the incredible #31DaysOfApex challenge hosted on Twitter, where fans created new content for every day of July based on a one-word prompt. I’ve signed up for/started lots of similar challenges in the past but always ended up having to drop out or trail off before the end... but this time, I managed to complete something for every day of the challenge!

My only goal was to make something by each day’s deadline, and it was a really interesting exercise both in technical skill and also in my management of not only my time, but my expectations and energy. Below, I go into more detail behind each piece.

To preface; the beginning of this challenge coincided with the beginning of a new personal time-management exercise where, for 5/7 days a week, I would only go on the computer at night. Combined with the deadline, this had an interesting effect on my time management and the quality of certain pieces.

Day 1 - Memory

From the start, I wanted to use the challenge as an opportunity to do more studies and to push myself wherever possible. This was the first piece I did and I had more time to work on it, so I used it as a digital painting study. I still think it’s a strong piece and it’s probably my favourite of the month. Symbolically, this character’s backstory doesn’t match up with her own memories, so the idea is she’s missing information she can’t quite place or remember, and this both scares and comforts her.

Day 2 - Blood

Another digital painting and lighting study that didn’t work out as well as the first, mostly due to time constraints meaning I couldn’t scrap it and start again. While I don’t like how it turned out, I did learn a lot. The character on the right is a field medic, and my intent was to show the calm after a successful rescue.

Day 3 - Mercy

Some days I relied more on the humour of a piece’s concept than the skill of its execution, though I also liked how this piece turned out artistically. After two days of intense studies, though, this was very quick and easy for me to turn out as it relied on existing skills.

Day 4 - Prize

This one thankfully came together very quickly, which I credit to the two previous painting studies making it much easier to achieve what I wanted. The character is searching for the disembodied head of the man who killed her parents, who is now acting as a robot, hence the vaguely half-machine-half-human silhouette in her hand.

Day 5 - Family

Another quick, simple illustration under a time crunch. The character framed by the nameless foreground figures has no memory of herself or her family.

Day 6 - Noise

For some pieces where I was under a time crunch, I experimented in an opposite direction; instead of studies, I played loosely with different techniques/brushes/etc to see what came out. This was a lineless style I ended up employing a lot when short on time. The piece pictured here was just one of four alternate colourways, presented in a pop-art style. The character is almost always depicted with thick coverings over her ears, so I thought she might be sensitive to auditory overload. This particular piece was retweeted by the character’s voice actress!

Day 7 - Mask

More relying on humour for lack of time/a better idea. A fun experiment in colour, though.

Day 8 - Healing

Another technically “easy” piece but with a stronger concept. It was actually pretty hard to get the reflection & condensation elements balanced right. The character pictured has a narrative thread relating to an old ex he has trouble moving on from.

Day 9 - Weapon

While obviously another joke, and made to be finished quickly, it was surprisingly difficult to get the duct tape and knife to read clearly without over-cluttering the lineless image. This little ‘bot is a drone used by one of the playable characters to hack areas of the map; it’s not NORMALLY an offensive weapon. This image was promo’d in a video stream by the character’s voice actor!

Day 10 - Truth

I only had less than an hour to finish this one by the deadline, but I still tried to experiment with silhouette and colour. It was surprisingly hard to get the interior silhouette to be legible. The outer silhouette is a playable character (not easily readible unless you’re familiar with his design) and the inner silhouette is his sister, whose disappearance he is trying to investigate.

Day 11 - Shield

A fun, self-indulgent one. Had a blast simplifying the game’s characters down into little caricatures. The character in the centre has abilities related to shields and protection, so many other people were drawing him for the prompt; I wanted to try and flip it, so I picked other characters he would be friendly with, and picked a non-lethal, lighthearted setting.

Day 12 - Ruins

Short on time so did a quick lighting study. A recent game plot has changed one of the areas of the map, submerging it in water and leaving it to “ruin”.

Day 13 - Hero

Another painting study. Really didn’t like how this one turned out, but had to turn in something, and I did learn a lot in the process. If I’d had more time I probably would’ve scrapped it and started again. This characters had recently been revealed to have been manipulated by another character who used gas-based offenses, whom she admired.

Day 14 - Rest

I was going to be away from mt computer until after the deadline, so I decided to make a traditional piece. I ended up enjoying it so much I tried to take the time to do a few more traditional pieces later. This piece was sort of a comedy of errors; I had to do it while I was out, and the pen I had brought with me to ink my sketch ran out, so I had to make do with a blue ballpoint pen, and I was missing several colours of coloured pencil. I think the finished piece reflects how rushed it was, and it did’t meet my concept, but I do still like it.

Day 15 - Skull

Another quick one but I wanted to experiment with a different line style. Wanted a sort of “graffiti” effect. One of this character’s skins includes a skull-shaped mask.

Day 16 - Growth

Extremely quick play on words because I didn’t have the time to work on anything meaningful and couldn’t think of anything better!

Day 17 - Home

Another traditional piece, this time by choice and with more time. Markers. It looks extremely like some janky art school homework on 2 point perspective because it extremely is. Perspective and backgrounds are very difficult for me - they just don’t “click” - but I had a lot of fun with this one. I kept my mistakes intact because I didn’t want to edit it too much. A lot about the technical perspective is wrong, but I think I achieved the “mood” I wanted. This location is a bar owned by one of the player characters where many of the other characters are shown to meet.

Day 18 - Sky

Very happy with how this one turned out, even though there are still lots of problems. Markers again. There’s a lot I would fix next time, and I think technically it’s lacking, but there are some specific areas I feel happy to have achieved, such as the almost brushed texture of the curved metal above his shoulder and the values of the shadow/reflections on the underside of the head piece. I’m also happy with how I was able to draw from my shoulder rather than my wrist when inking the curved lines, something I struggle with.

Day 19 - Target

An experiment in pushing the lineless style I’d already been playing with for a stronger likeness. The pose and expression in this could both be pushed more but I like the result. This character had just learned that one of the other players, whom she had trusted, was actually sharing her secrets with her enemy, and she didn’t know which one it was.

Day 20 - Friendship

I had this one concepted from when I first looked over the prompts. It was a fun challenge trying to simplify all the elements into the lineless, blocky style while being legible. This character has a strained relationship with one of his friends, and finally pushed her too far with his selfishness, and she now no longer responds to him.

Day 21 - Scar

Quick joke. This character was introduced briefly as a red herring for another character before being killed off. He was stabbed through the chest by another character’s hand, hence the scar pattern.

Day 22 - Dream

I wasn’t sure about this one while I was making it but I ended up liking how it turned out. I wanted to capture the character’s robotic legs bent at an unnaturally straight 90 degrees, like a Barbie doll. The flat background and lighting make it feel like an indoor stage. The little “electric sheep” are inspired by iDogs.

Day 23 - Meal

After a few days of not having time to really spend on any piece, it was fun to get to spend time on concepting and composing this. I always admired these kinds of watercolour-like food illustrations and this is the first time I’ve had any success in creating one myself. I concepted and sketched out the individual items traditionally before working out the composition within the box digitally. Each food item/utensil is inspired by the different characters’ design elements. Only two of the now-current characters are excluded due to plot reasons. In particular, I like how one of the character’s dome-shaped shields acts as the base and cover of the box.

Day 24 - Hobby

Wasn’t a fan of how this one turned out. I think the likeness is a bit off, and his facial anatomy is skewed. But I also like how the general composition, tone, and bee turned out. This character’s concept art originally imagined them as a beekeeper who would use smoke to fight.

Day 25 - Fear

An incredibly rushed piece that I intended to go back in and add more detail to, similar to day 4, but I actually took a step back and decided I liked the blocky, flat-colour version. This character is the youngest of four, all of whom are MIA or worse, along with his father, and his mother is losing her memory. He’s talking to her through a handheld holographic device. This piece gained more traction, most likely thanks to the subject matter since this is a popular character.

Day 26 - Holiday

I didn’t want to do a religious holiday like Christmas or Easter. A lot of other people also interpreted the prompt as a vacation, but I had already done a sort of “beach vacation” piece for day 11, so I instead went for a “public holiday” and chose NYE/NYD. This was fairly quick but the lighting was an interesting experiment. I knew this one wouldn’t be as popular because it wasn’t as “flattering” but I personally really like it. The girl on the left is kind of goofy and completely un-self-conscious and I think it’s captured here.

Day 27 - Music

Really didn’t like how this one turned out. I don’t think the likeness is good at all, the lighting is poor, and the gold detailing feels lazy. But I liked other elements, such as the pose and the clothing.

Day 28 - Treasure

This is my least favourite of the entire month, but I also had the least time available to work on it before the deadline so I had no opportunity to scrap it and start over, which I sorely wanted to do. The likeness is terrible, but more than that the base anatomy is off, the pose is stiff, and the lighting/colours are cheap. I wish I could’ve done better by this character; but, I am glad I had something finished at all.

Day 29 - Skin

This was probably my third attempt at this picture and I’m still not happy with it, but again, I had to finish something. I almost considered scrapping the concept entirely and choosing something easier but ended up seeing it through. The concept itself is actually recycled from an older piece of mine for an entirely different fandom, because I didn’t think I did it justice then, either. Would still like to revisit this concept with this character and take more time.

Day 30 - Trust

After a few days of feeling really dissatisfied and uncomfortable with the art I’d been making, I finally more time to dedicate to a piece, and I’m overall happy with how this one turned out. I decided to go for a different medium entirely with pixel art, which also gave me the opportunity to try and animate it. I started off confident and then started to get worried towards the end, but all the elements came together when I added the portal colour effects. This is an alternate reality version of one of the player characters, who appears through a portal and allows that character to escape the facility she’s being kept in, encouraging them to trust the “voices” she hears which are actually versions of herself trying to help her. This piece was retweeted by the official Apex Legends Twitter account!

Day 31 - Freestyle

I had this planned out early in the challenge and I’m really, really happy with how it turned out. It’s probably tied with my favourite along with the very first piece (how fitting). I was worried about how I was going to capture the movement without over-complicating the lineart, having so many people in one image, etc. before I realised the focus was entirely on gesture, and then everything clicked. I went for a thicker brush, which forced me to conserve my lines, and tried to simplify each character down to the bare minimum needed to recognise them. They’re also all wearing new non-canonical outfits so I used their familiar colour schemes for the same purpose. It’s not perfect, but I love it, and it’s everything I’d hoped I’d be able to end the challenge on.

I really, really enjoyed the entire month and the way it tied in with my new time management schedule. It gave me some achievable short-term goals which added up to this long-term achievement I can now look back on; I learned a lot both about balancing my energy and about technical skills, I found ways to stay motivated, and most importantly I learned to not get caught up on the individual slip-ups and pieces I didn’t like as much and to instead focus on the bigger picture. Thank you to everyone involved in organising and supporting this event! I found so many other incredible fanartists, writers, and content creators through this challenge and I can’t wait to see the bonus content released over August!

[chainofbeing]

On Dhara Jamina Adam talks with the possessed sheriff and learns more about what he has been following.

Inspiration-Besides-Death : David M. Sledge

Eikal: Erik Smith

Ghost-of-Sunken-Dawn/Ovig Nadal: Glyn Pritchard

Adam Delta 5, and Sound Design: Cai Gwilym Pritchard

Follow the podcast on twitter @chainofbeing

Email us at chainofbeingofficial@gmail.com for enquires and stuff

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“Have either of you looked at it?” I ask, I say my eyes darting between the imprisoned sheriff and the symbol scratched into the wall

“No,” Inspiration replies, his eyes downcast “the council said not to interact with them or anything they created,”

“Ok good, can you un...stasis them?” Eikal fumbles with the controls on his pad. And then, suddenly, Ghost stands and comes up to the glass, staring me directly in the eyes. Inspiration turns to Eikal angrily  “I thought you said they were in stasis!”

“He- they were!” Eikal taps the pad a few more times to no avail. Up this close, I can see a lot more detail on Ghost, there appears to be what can only be described as swelling all over their body, their metal skin is split like tree bark to reveal green light in the fissures. The light pulses strongly and I can feel the rhythm tug lightly at the edges of my consciousness. I point at the symbol behind them. “what does that symbol mean to you?” I ask. Ghost begins to convulse in time with the light as if they were retching up the words to speak with me from somewhere deep within, they finally get it out

[ghosts voice has the same quality to it as inspirations]

“why do you enquire so earnestly?” Eikal and Inspiration look on in abject horror, stunned into silence. “I asked first,” Ghost convulses again, as if trying to fit something much larger into a space in which it does not belong. “It is... disenthrallment, unconditional freedom from…” they gesture around them “this.” 

“What is ‘this’? The cell? Society?” I lean closer to the glass so that I’m mere centimetres from Ghosts face

“From… entity, from being. The existence in which you are consists heavily of… rules and… restrictions,” Ghost shivers as if the very concept gives them physical pain “existence is the antithesis of true freedom”

“Is that why you stopped the waves? To relieve it of its restrictions??

“How the univ..erse behaves in reaction of my...nature, is of no consequence to me,”

“And on the Avian Ark, that was you relieving the drones of their restrictions right?”

Ghost just looks up at me

“Are you still Ghost of sunken dawn?” I ask 

“There is no me,” Ghost declares “No longer held down by actuality I have been destroyed, unable to cope with the true and ideal nature of…” he stops, unable to find the right word and instead just convulses, the word caught in transit, too big for it to fit where it does not belong. “You know the symbol, but you do not remember where it came from, you pursue its form in the hope that you will remember” the body of what was once ghost looks at me earnestly “am I incorrect?” I say nothing, but deep down I know it is right, If I can remember what I learned from Eden then it makes it all worth it, all the pain and anguish, losing- losing everything.

“allow me to remind you,” and then, the corpse of Ghost of Sunken dawn begins to tell a story.

“Once there was a girl, she lived a nomadic life with the rest of her people, until one day she grew tired of following the movements of the beast in the sky that dictated their path and planted her feet in a great savannah: "here I shall walk no more, I will not be moved by peer nor beast nor god. Thus I declare it." And there she stood, her people stayed with her for 3 days and on the third day, as was the custom for their people, they were forced to move on, abandoning the woman to harsh wilds. On the first night that she spent alone a rodent came to her,

"I have never seen one of your people alone, are you not fearful to no longer live in the shadow of the great beast?"  The rodent enquired

"Not fearful no," returned the woman "for the light is so warm and the stars so beautiful,"

"Are you not racked with the hollow anguish of hunger? Or the dizzying torment of thirst?" The rodent enquired again

"No," replied the woman "for even though my body is empty and dying, my soul is sustained through hope,"

"Are you not lonely?" The rodent enquired once more

"Lonely, yes" the woman said sorrowfully "I miss the creations of my people, but I do not miss their transient nature, I long for permanence"

The rodent pauses and thinks, "I give to you these seeds, though with no way to water or feed them I fear you shall not survive another night,"

In the day the woman planted the seeds in the ground and from her own veins watered the plants and from her own flesh she fed them. And in her sacrifice she was rewarded, from the ground grew a great number of children.

"Go out and create, be free and unrestricted, in 7 days I shall call upon you and you shall return to me" 

And so her children went out, building great structures out of the mud of the Savannah and beautiful works of art from the bones found scattered in the fields, planting great patches of flowers and fruits. On the seventh day she called her children back to her and surveyed what they had created. 

And in that moment she only saw one creation she deemed worthy of keeping. And so in that moment she understood the transient nature of her people, never satisfied, they constantly destroyed and rebuilt, seeking to create perfection. And so, except for the child whose works had satisfied her soul, she layed all of her children into the ground. As they decayed and fed the soil around them she turned to the remaining child and placed her palm upon his head, and when she removed her palm a mark was left behind, 

"This symbol, is who you are, it represents you and beyond you, your nature,"

From the ground where the children had been laid sprouted plants and springs and more children. To these she said, 

"Go out and create, be free, but do not use the mud of the Savannah, in 7 days I shall call upon you and you shall return to me" 

And so her children went out and created, the child she had kept turned to her and asked

"Why do you restrict them in their endeavour to create? When for my generation you allowed us to be unrestricted?"

The woman Said to her son

"With these new rules, what they create will be so different to what your generation made and so there will be more works worthy of keeping. Are you not satisfied that you and your works were allowed to remain?" 

The child said nothing, but deep in his heart he grew angry that he was subjected to these new rules and that the new generation would never know how it felt to be truly free. The child left that day, before he ventured out beyond the Savannah he visited the woman

"I have decided to leave, I shall not stop wandering, I will not be stopped by peer nor beast nor god"

The woman, with sorrow in her heart, replaced the symbol on his forehead, to more accurately represent his nature and she sent him away, knowing, deep in her heart, that he would one day return. And so the cycle continued, with those children that created the most fulfilling works remaining preserved and with each harvest restricted by more rules. As the cycle went on the works of each generation became more diversified, and to this day that same cycle continues ever more”

As the story comes to a close I feel something deep within me, a muted realisation, as if I were standing on the edge of a great chasm, so close to remembering, to understanding. “Do you remember?” the possessed corpse asks passionately. I look it in the eyes, the lights searingly bright “No, you do not, you are close... in time,” 

[ghosts voice now has a strange quality, similar to Adams but different, as he speaks it gets more and more corrupted]

“Where are you now? I mean, your true form?” I ask desperately, sensing our conversation is drawing to a close

“Sailing through the void...searching,”

“For what?”

“In time, Adam Delta 5, in time,”

The Sheriff draws itself up to its full height and declares “I am Ovig Nadal, I have returned, rejoice! For you shall soon be unbound!” and then Ovig Nadal spreads his arms, his body now, so bright it lights up the night sky with a shimmering rainbow haze, smiles a wide smile, and explodes.

[dippedanddripped]

On January 3, a US drone strike in Iraq killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, sparking mutterings of World War III. The next day designer Paria Farzaneh presented her Fall/Winter 2020 collection, centred around the idea of an Iranian wedding ceremony at London Fashion Week Men’s, posing a sharp, positive counterpoint to the conflict in the Middle East.

While Farzaneh might not have been able to predict the political upheaval in the region, her work can be credited with challenging Western perceptions of Middle Eastern aesthetics. Her work draws on her Iranian heritage, with her latest collection refracting it through the lens of utilitarian outerwear melded with traditional patterns. All framed in a hopeful narrative.

“It’s a time to come together, to remember where you come from. Even though I was born here, I have been to Iran every year of my life,’ said Farzaneh on growing up in England. ‘I feel I am doing them proud, speaking for them, and that’s important to me.”

Farzaneh is part of a new crop of menswear designers reinterpreting their Middle Eastern heritage, something that has become increasingly popular with Western audiences.

“There’s a global eye on the Middle East at the moment,” says Tania Fares, founder of Fashion Trust and Fashion Trust Arabia, an annual non-profit organisation which provides financial support and business mentorship from expert panelists to designers in the MENA region. “Many designers are building their brands across the region and internationally, but not all are able to sustain and grow over time and achieve the international recognition they deserve.”

In Tel Aviv, Israel, there is Amit Luzon and Eyal Eliyahu, the duo behind menswear label ADISH which endeavours to deconstruct the tense socio-political dynamics between Israel and its neighbouring countries, in particular Palestine. The work renders traditional patterns and techniques in modern ways with a sharp focus on craft.

The intent wasn’t always political. Multiple industry insiders in Israel advised them against it, Luzon explains. However, injecting politics into their designs was decided upon after Nada, the leader of the group of women that brand works with at the Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank, with whom ADISH works on its production. “To hear what the women in the camp have been through in their lives in Palestine, which is only 40 minutes drive away from our studio, was a catalyst for us.”

After two years of working together, the brand opened an independent embroidery workshop in Dheisheh refugee camp. On every piece the brand produces there is a tag with the signature of the women who make the embroidery on the items. “It’s super important for the ladies to credit them and the places they come from,” says Luzon. Today, the brand produces half its collection in Israel (outerwear, weaving and embroidery), the other half in Palestine (tailoring and craft workshops). For Adish, it’s a symbolic way to show peace between the two, at conflict, regions.

“Being in the middle of the conflict here, especially in the current political climate, it’s really hard to feel like you can actually make a difference or change anything,’ said Luzon. ‘We are doing our part by bringing attention to traditional Palestinian craft while also making a difference in the lives of artisans who work with us,” says Luzon

London-based designer Hoor Al-Qasimi hails from the United Arab Emirates. She succeeds her late brother Khalid who passed away in July 2019. Earlier this year she presented her first collection for QASIMI. Each season, the brand produces a flotilla of modern, refined garments — with a focus on military, utility, and streetwear — heavily inspired by a multicultural background of a childhood spent between Sharjah and London.

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“I wouldn’t say we aim to challenge Western perceptions, but I feel it’s important, as a brand with a heritage from both sides of the world, to educate [the West] on Middle Eastern values and its unspoken culture. QASIMI aims to do this through being both soft and humble, and not overly forceful,’ says Hoor al Qasimi.

The smatterings of military influence stem from the designer’s upbringing during the Gulf War; albeit far from the conflict, the memories of warfare still last. “All my work is highly emotional and always challenging, whether it’s art or fashion. Khalid was very much the same,” al Qasimi says of her late brother.

Consistent amongst the new crop of designers is a sense of preservation of aspects of their personal heritage — from upbringings between East and West, interest in fabled tales from the region’s past, trips to countries their parents and grandparents grew up in — stories that would otherwise have not seen the light of day.

“This is a time for designers to reclaim their narrative through storytelling,” says Sara Sozzani Maino, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Vogue Italia, who served as a judge for the inaugural Fashion Trust Arabia ceremony. “For designers now, it’s fundamental to clearly communicate the message they want to give and how they want to create awareness and positive impact in the industry.”

Designers from the Middle East have enjoyed success for years. All from Lebanon, Reem Acra, Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad built flourishing businesses in New York and Paris. Though for all their frothy tulle and delicate embroidery, the new crop of designers are seemingly more questioning and interpretive of their backgrounds.

And they’re succeeding. The international press coverage of designers from the region has boomed in recent years, from Saudi Arabia hosting its first fashion week and the Fashion Trust Arabia drawing a star-studded lineup to Qatar. Furthemore, in 2017, Conde Nast launched Vogue Arabia, following with the launch of GQ Arabia in 2018..

“Working with Fashion Trust Arabia allowed us discover new talent in the region and learn more about what inspires them. Each brand [is] incredibly proud of their heritage and it [is] clear how much this has influenced the way they design and produce their collections,” explainsNatalie Kingham, Fashion and Buying Director at Matches Fashion, which today stocks many brands from the region including Adish and Racil. “From the use of local artisans, to inspiration from ancient artefacts and dress within the region, the intricate detailing and storytelling is so compelling and we find it resonates really well with our customers.”

Yet there is no consensus amongst designers from the Middle East about what reinventing heritage looks like — the MENA region spans approximately 19 countries, each one equipped with its own history, experience, and culture. The designers, in turn, interpret their own heritage and challenge Western perceptions, their own way.

“Just as every country is different, every designer is different, so it’s very difficult to identify Middle Eastern style because the region is so culturally diverse. Our aim is to not necessarily define an “Arab” style, but more so to highlight the wide variety of talent,” says Fashion Trust’s Tania Fares.

Western designers have not always been auspicious in their connections with the East. In 2018, Gucci came under fire for showing a turban in their Fall/Winter 2018 collection. A visible marker of Sikh identity, the brand, and retailer Nordstrom who sold the item, received criticism and accusations of cultural appropriation on social media. It’s up to designers from the region to create the narratives that are true.

“There’s real potential from young Arab designers and Middle Eastern-based labels with the international market,” says Fares. [Now] we’re looking forward to showing it,” says Fares.