#i might try to digitally render this one at some point since I have a picture of the pencil sketch. we'll see

[ghostgreations]

This was a fun one to redraw

[noctilin]

Hi Jez!! First of all, I would like to say that I LOVE your art so much! I've been following you since the days you were obsessed with AkiHam and made me buy P3P just to play with her, hehehe~ Your art is so inspirational!! Could you explain a little bit more about the underpainting process on digital, please? Do you lower the opacity on the flat colors and after that you merge it so it gets a bit of the underpainting color? Or is it another way to do it? I get the idea on traditional painting but I can't get it right on digital for some reason T___T

hi! thank you for the kind words and continuous support!! 😭

to achieve the best results with underpaintings, i would suggest a semi-transparent brush and slowly build up color from there! like so:

before anything else, when painting digitally, it's good to remember this: pigments mix naturally in almost all traditional mediums! but this doesn't happen as nicely on digital because instead of pigments mixing, the colors simply overlap one another. this is one of the reasons why it's easy for digital paintings to lose vibrancy and look muddy.

so you will have to manually pick colors to retain its vibrancy while you build up your colors while rendering. a quick way to alleviate this is to eyedrop the middle point of the two colors and ramp up the saturation and hue

but this also has its own fallbacks as you might lose color value (also important to make your paintings retain vibrancy) if you're not careful! doing it this way is frequently inaccurate as well, so use sparingly! i encourage you to try and manually pick the in-between color instead as it also helps you practice your color intuition.

i'm telling you this because you will most likely run into this problem of your colors gradually looking blander as you keep layering your colors over the other if you don't adjust them as you go.

as for my process itself, what i tend to do is lay down my local colors in the bare minimum, just so i get a general sense of what they are in my paintings. this way the underpainting still seeps through more naturally. look at this, this is pretty much the "flat color" i laid down

after this i lay down a rough sense of the shadows i want, merge it into a new layer and start rendering from there. i personally try not to overrender it because like i said earlier, the more i layer the colors the muddier it gets and i don't want to cover up the range of colors i've made by eyedropping.

hopefully, you get the idea!

[kimeoshi]

HEY YOU

Um...

Hi hope you're having a a wonderful day

I just wanted to ask since you're a digital artist... how do you color your art?? Because I'm a traditional artist trying to become a digital artist but I have no clue how to color my work (I made the mistake of using 'fill' on ibis paint before realizing oh wait that's not how digital artists color their work dummy) like I know base color and all that but the layers... how... How color? Line art no fun...

*cries*

I have no idea what I'm doing 😭

Don't feel pressured to answer this or anything, just thought to ask you since your art is so CRUNCHY I LOVE IT

Hello there!! I hope you're having a nice day as well

Sure! I'm very happy you like my art and as I also started as a traditional artist, I'm glad to entail some tips! :]

Base colors:

After finishing the lineart (can be sketch too), I use the Magic Wand tool and click it on outside of the lineart. This will give you a silhouette, but in the wrong space. Therefore, we have to go to 'Selection -> Inverse selection', after, you can proceed to use the fill tool on a separate new layer, beneath the lineart.

(Advanced tip: if you use Clip Studio Paint (CSP), there's an asset called 'Erase Along Edge'. Set your lineart layer to a reference layer (light house icon) and you can continue to erase and adjust the silhouette more easily with this eraser!)

Next, make a folder, clip it down to the silhouette, within this folder, add separate layers for each base color. This will help you manage your colors more effectively.

Shading:

This is extremely tricky and I cannot give a standardized process for this, but I'll attempt to do so. There are much better ways to do this I'm sure, the one I entail on forward is a bit time consuming (but it might only be a personal thing as I tend to over-render)

My method:

For a simplified method, skip all the purple colored parts of text.

We are going to continue working here:

I fill a separate layer with all black, and set the layer to color mode. This is to help us see the values better. Should we play around with contrast, brightness, focus points etc.

Then, with a layer, set to multiply mode, I begin shading shadows. Can be grey for now.

After I'm done, I use a layer to block out bright parts, with white. It makes it very dramatic, bless. (You can use different colors for this of course, I just keep this specifically very bright.)

Additionally, make a separate layer, use it for reflection lights with a lightish gray.

Adjust, add, tweak layers to ensure your overall image meets your expectations, including background. Most of the times, I even additionally paint a complete image by blocking out bigger shapes (messy and undefined) to see how the values should match in this stage.

Simplified demonstration:

We'll come back to these layers later.

Hide the previous black color layer. We now have colors again, but it's all so muddy.

Therefore, we alpha lock our previous layers of shading, and fill it over with colors. Unsatisfied by any colors? Use the Hue/Saturation/Brightness sliders or add a new correction layer. Important thing to note that you can use other colors than this purple/blue one in the image below for the multiply layer.

I use correction layers unapologetically. My favourite is Tone Curve + Gradient Map.

Naturally, I have a lot more layers than this in the demonstrated picture, such as Overlay layers to emphasize focus points or further darkening parts with multiply layers, etc. I do most of the hard work during rendering stage! Excuse me for the low effort rubber duck also hahah. Here's a closer example for what I usually do:

All we got left to do is Rendering (painting over mistakes) and Effects. I cannot give much advice on Rendering, it's pretty much the same as in traditional art.

Effects:

I sometimes leave little speckles/sparkles over my art to make it more detailed.

After, there can be correction layers, simply to adjust the final look.

I usually save the image as png or jpg (or in CSP case, merge all visible layers to a new layer) and add noise.

Sometimes, when I just want to post a sketch I add a 3d effect but in Photoshop. It helps a bit in faking extra details.

That's the end of my process! I hope this proved of help, and I wish you a smooth journey :D In the future, I can post timeline speed paints, if there is interest.

My other related threads are this (on my process) and this (on mindset and learning).

You can see me working in action through gifs here. (The gifs include extra planning stages (mentioned in the previous 'on my process' thread, but they follow the same principles I mentioned.)

----

Another note: it is possible to get a cracked version of CSP, which I won't entail because of account safety reasons, but if you research it, a pointer I can give is that the distributor's name starts with 'o'.

[deepdreamnights]

More video tinkering with Vidu 1.5

Vidu hit 1.5 this morning for testing, which I get access to as part of the artist's program. While making raw material for a "Big Professor" project-

(Shown here to establish a 1.0 baseline)

-I nuked most of my credits, I've still got enough to try out the new features and give you all a rundown of them.

First major change is resolution options. Fast, 720, or 1080. Shown here is my first attempt at a 1080 gen, using the same prompt as above. While most vids in this post will be gifs for ease of use, this one is an MP4 to provide full evaluation.

Ignore the odd playback speed, since that's something you'd fix in post. The gif at the start was one of my most stable renderings of Big Professor under v1. Got some minor wonk in the details, little distortion around the prof's claw and the kid in the first half second, but otherwise well above the average of the 1.0 versions I've been working with, especially the clarity on the button text.

The second one is a re-run of the same prompt, minus some detail issues with one shin, the level of consistency is promising.

720 can go up to 8 seconds, 1080 tops off at 4. At present, 1.5 does not have an upscale function. If you're not tinkering to test out prompts I'd generally recommend 1080, even for lower-res projects, for the purposes of being able to crop and/pan.

For most of these, assume I'm using either 720 or 1080 gens.

Multi-Subject Reference-to-Video

THIS is the big winner of the setup. Previously, ref-to-video only could handle a single referenced subject image. The current setup now allows you to reference up to three per generation.

Those can be characters, props, or settings, and it can be used for morphing effects. This is good, because first-frame-last-frame is more finnicky than reference-to-video. The obvious use is to create multi-character scenes, and it works well for that:

But it has other uses. For example, here I used:

And while this one was reversed and trimmed, it displays the potential for using the feature for transformation sequences. The backgrounds are especially helpful, since Vidu's internally-generated toon backgrounds are very modern and digital-painting-looking (the gif of Mrs. Nice turning back and forth into Mrs. Nautilus at the top of the section didn't use a background image reference) and as always, I like it retro.

To that point, using the more comic-booky Mrs. Nice control drawing didn't work near as well as the more period-accurate one:

And while I'll personally be cutting out frames to produce a more accurate 1980s TV animation look, the raw fluidity is bound to appeal to the majority of users, and minor issues like the color of Mrs. Nice's blouse changing mid-transformation are easy enough to fix manually (though if a flaw looks enough like a traditional animation screwup, I might just leave it in)

And another fun feature? Movement amplitude control.

In my last post about it, I said Vidu likes to move, and if you need a more subtle shot, like this one, setting the movement amplitude control to small is your move. (Funny how the robot interpreted the book binding as a mouth.) If something's too static you can up the movement as well, but I haven't had that problem much.

In terms of generation quality, 1.5 is a good but not huge leap up from 1.0. at least in terms of what I've made so far. Aesthetics are very similar, but issues of tearing, distortion, and wonky action are lessened.

And it's way better at understanding triceratops, so thumbs up there.

This is one of my wonk-tests, but man, check that walk cycle. This is why the movement controls are important, sometimes when set to auto a dialog scene becomes a weird chase.

Now, in terms of generation costs (and this can always change), 1.5 seems more expensive but in the end it works out more or less the same.

A 1.0 quality 8-second gen upscaled to max res would be 24 points (16 for the quality 8-seconds, 8 for the upscale), and an 8-second 720 render is also 24 points (as is a 4-second 1080).

Yeah, you don't want to use "Fast" in most cases. While both the 720 and fast versions here both have flaws (Bruce's disappearing popcorn bucket, etc), the 720 res version is substantially more on-model for both characters.

To close out, a bit of fun wonk. To try out the effect, I prompted using a "Specialist Matt Trakker" G.I.Joe/M.A.S.K. crossover figure as a character reference, to see if it could translate a character from toy to live action. And it can-

Though it is very, very literal.

The combination of live action-esq person and accurate G.I.Joe joints is harrowing, but there's potential there for some wild variants on the Toy Story/A Christmas Toy/'Wynona's Big Brown Beaver'-Music-Video-by-Primus concept.

[amerricanartwork]

Current digital art process!

Acting on @shkika 's request because making my redraw for this post actually ended up giving me more confidence in my digital art process! As such, I'm gonna use it as a reference. And if this walkthrough of sorts turns out nice, I might do it again as my process evolves!

I started off with a quick sketch of sorts, trying to focus both on movement and volume, and get the general idea of where each element is located. I edit the image dimensions and placement of things a lot in this phase, as my ideas often tend to change once I actually begin drawing them. In this case, as I got it down, I decided I wanted it to look like some cheesy animal motivational poster, so that influenced where the text was.

From there, I began to clean and sometimes edit the sketch, mainly by thickening the lines to make the shapes more definite, and erasing what wasn't necessary and interfered with other parts. Volume is one of my biggest focuses in my drawings, so I try my best to get the volume of each character at least hinted at with the lines. This is something that will probably remain in my process for a while, as I quite dislike doing separate lineart and like the messy, sketchy feel anyway.

I also wanna mention, in addition to having references and such in other windows, I've recently begun having a second mini window of my current drawing off to the side so I can see what it looks like overall more easily, regardless of how much I zoom in on and flip the main window. It's quite helpful!

For reference, this is what the final sketch looked like:

Then, I went on to add the flat colors. Another tip: I almost always set my sketch layer to "Lumi & Shade" because I think it makes the line colors a lot richer, but since it's based on what colors are underneath, it colors the lines a lot more individually than changing the sketch color as a whole. Here's some comparison to a version without the effect (left):

Then, I add some shading using a (really nice) marker brush. This is honestly one of my favorite parts of the process, just trying to carve out all the volumes, especially since I usually use a pretty blue color for shadows!

Sometimes, I honestly just leave drawings finished at this step, because I adore the sketchy look so much, and because I really don't like the tediousness of more realistic rendering in the painting process; from what I've seen/experienced, it often involves having to basically paint the entire image over again, which I've realized I find REALLY boring (and is also why I clean the sketch instead of making a new lineart layer). As such, one of my hopes is to reach a point where I could almost completely avoid having to clean up the image in a traditional painting method, instead being able to lay down lines and colors so well that they convey nearly all the volume necessary on their own, still have that sketchy appeal, yet also look finished and professional.

Alas, I did do a bit of clean up on this image, but I think it still turned out alright!

Here's the finished drawing! I'll have to practice with this process a bit more to truly solidify it as my digital go-to, but nonetheless, I think this came out adorable! Thanks again shkika for the ask, and thanks to @mintscampi for the sweet prompt! I hope you guys like it!

[salemssimblr]

Hello there! I'm Eden :D I LOVE your renders! I've been rendering for well over a year at this point, however I only stuck to the super basic stuff since it took me a year before that to even know how to do it at all. I've wanted to up my game and get to where you are now. I'm SO SORRY if this question was asked already (I haven't gotten too far in your posts yet), but;

How do you personally edit your renders? I understand you use photoshop, but how do you do it exactly? Your renders have that kind of digital art style, like you drew them yourself. Feel free to be as descriptive or brief as you'd like!

Hi Eden!!! Thank you so much! 🥹😍♥️

I've followed you back and glad we're moots! I'd love to see some of your work!

I'm not sure if I've answered this before but I'm happy to answer it again! Also I haven't advertised it in a while (and I really need to try to get up a new tut, maybe soon), but my alt account is a Render School where I post tutorials, with plans to post editing tutorials in the future!

But honestly as far as my editing, I really don't do much.

Actions are my secret weapon, and I have a few favorites/go-tos I'll link! A few are by simmers and a few are just action sets. I'm in a family of photographers, so I have access to a wealth of resources for my editing.

Sonder set by @intramoon

Cold Water set by @intramoon

Retro Prime photoshop actions

Indie camera photoshop actions

But my "secret weapon," as it were, and the set of actions that I think most helps me accomplish that digital art style is a set of actions that are sadly expensive and hard to find now.

My favorite set is by Totally Rad! and I think in recent years it's been folded in to this Pixel Sugar product on their website. I know that's a steep price point but it's possible you can find it around the corners of the Internet for less, or if you can't, you might be able to find "dupes" of the better ones, which imo are:

Technicolor dream world

Super Fun Happy

Bullet Tooth

Grandma's Tap Shoes

As for my method, I know a lot of simmers paint over their renders, and I've done that a few times but find I'm too impatient tbh. My goal is always to have to do only minor touchups over my renders and some color/vibe adjustments before the finished product. My "raw" files are always exactly what blender spits out for me, unaltered in any way except to resize them for Tumblr.

To get that digital art style, I'd recommend rendering with alpha details if you don't already. If your computer can't handle alpha cc in the game, DM me and I can give you some pointers (sneak peek info for a future tut lmao) on how to accomplish it without bogging down your game.

When I go into photoshop I adjust the brightness and contrast, as I tend to personally prefer high contrast pieces that contain dark subject matter but you can still see the details. Then I'll paint/blur/clone/adjust anything that needs it, then I'll "stack" and adjust a handful of actions before applying edge blur and vignette and any other color adjustments (levels, curves, etc).

That's a very oversimplified rundown of what I do, but really overall my editing process is simple. The bulk of my work happens in blender itself. I find that the more time I take to perfect the lighting and shadows and angles in blender, the less frustrating the editing process and the happier I am with the end result. So, that said, be sure you're spending a lot of time in blender getting the light and shadows to be exactly where you need/want them to be before running it.

I know this is a bit long I'm sorry! If any of it is super confusing or you'd like a more in-depth look at any of it please let me know! I do plan to do editing tutorials for my side blog, but the latter half of this year has kind of run over me like a train, and for now I'm just trying to get by day by day. But I'm happy to help if you have more specific questions!

& thank you again!! ♥️

[simplymisty]

SUPER MEGA PROTIP FROM ARTFIGHT VETERAN!!!!

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!

Okay, no, on a serious note: here's some things I would like to share with new people as a person who participates in Artfight since 2019:

you don't have to make fully rendered attacks. sketch is a category for a reason! "even" sketches are immensely appreciated

actually, you don't even have to *draw* for attacks! last year I did some minecraft skins for fun. saw someone make dice sets as attacks. as long as it's allowed and it's art created by you (and tagged accordingly) you can make whatever the heck you want!

you don't have to make your art digitally either. traditional attacks are epic. love em

having fancy character references is not a requirement! if art of ur oc shows their design (or at least most important aspects of it) and is decent quality, it's enough. a lil tip tho - don't add shaded/textured drawings for that matter, hard to color pick. if these are the only ones you have, make a basic color palette next to it!:) helps others make your character look accurate

pace yourself. yes, there are people who draw attacks everyday. yes, there are people who drop attacks with 100+ characters in it. doesn't mean you have to do same thing! it's all about having fun and, trust me, grinding until you are sick of drawing is not fun. been here, done that

revenges and friendly fire aren't a MUST. you want points? okay, if u wanna grind, then go ahead and attack opposite team! person who attacked you has characters that you can't/aren't comfortable with drawing? it's okay not to do revenge. Revenges are fun, I always try to do them, but it's not something you absolutely must do.

try to always read characters permissions and descriptions. sometimes there's key info in them and I feel like it's quite important to stay accurate to them. again, if you can't do something they ask you there - it's okay to choose different character or person to attack

don't attack someone expecting them to 100% attack you back. if you set your expectations to that, you might get disappointed and it takes away the fun from ya. attack because you want to draw the character, because it has cool story, cool design, the person is cool so you want to give em a lil gift, etc, etc. Same as you don't have to attack everyone back, they don't have to either

hitlists are optional. some people make em, some don't. same with those funky id cards, my lazy ass gave up on em this year and it's cool 👍

basically don't be an ass, have fun and remember to take breaks!

Also, if ya want, add my dumbass (~simplymisty_) on artfight, because I'm in jail of making refs at the last minute, so I try not to go on AF until im done with em. I do friendly fire, revenges, revenge chains and try to draw basically anything. Love that artfight grind. Hope you liked my autistic rant, it's 5 am and idk what I'm talking about anymore

[farer-dreamer]

Entry 5

Visdev

9/28/2024

Not a whole lot to talk about, mostly just been putting together my pitch presentation and finalizing the production schedule. Aside from that I've been chipping away at some visdev stuff as I've worked on that, have a look!

Concept art for Press 'N Hold!

…This thing took a stupid amount of time because I thought "oh if I just do it in my painting style this'll be quick". I was wrong <3 This is why we thumbnail!! A thing I love forgetting to do for whatever reason, you'd think I'd learn by now.

// Inital sketch and WIP. Spot the differences lol (more below the cut!)

Cloudskipper

Oh god this one, heeeey so remember that Chase level concept? Well itsssss this now! I decided to shift gears and focus on making it a short platforming level. Admittedly I am still on the fence about this level's aesthetic. Originally I was leaning towards some sort of dark factory/facility where you'd have to evade a monster that's constantly chasing you, but then thought no, aesthetically that might be too close to the Half Floor level. So right now I've landed on this sorta hazy surreal dream vibe. I feel like I could go further with this and add some more just basic geometric structures to add more to the surrealist vibe I want to go for in the actual level.

I wound up spending some extra time chipping away with painting this one, so the version that was in my presentation and the final version are a bit different. I don't have an accurate idea as to how long this took, but all things considered it was probably less time than the Press 'N Hold art since I y'know, actually thumbnailed and prepared for this one.

// Thumbnails and WIP, the third was the unpolished version I wound up showing in class because it was 2 AM when I was rendering and I was gonna have to be running on 4 hours of sleep doing my pitch so you can imagine how that went 👍

Lots of Doc doodles. I wanted to get a better grasp on their silhouette to better figure out their proportions, so I would start by blotting out their basic shape with am orange marker and then lining over that. They're messy, but they're supposed to be!! A big thing I struggle with is allowing myself to just, draw messy and loose and "crappily", and I found that this helped. Honestly even if they're crummy They have some charm to em.

Me and a friend kept shrinking them and making these like… "minimalist Docs" (seen mostly in the second picture) as I initially called em and eventually I landed on a design that I just. can not stop doodling. I'm calling them the Doclets.

Later down the line after doodling more of these beasts I had the galaxy brain idea of hey, I haven't designed a logo for this thing yet… what if a Doclet was one of the "R" letters in either Farer or Dreamer? So I started to sketch out what this could look like, it'll be a lot clearer and easier to edit once I try to digitalize things but its a start. Also, another friend of mine also pointed out that the R Doclet would make a great minimalist desktop icon for the game which they are SO right about that and I will probably wind up doing that.

I'm not too focused on the actual asset art right now, but I will probably chip away at logo ideas in my free time now that I've got this idea. Expect more Doclets.

[girlierest]

The long debate of what is it really that makes everything I draw so fucking fundamentally hideous that it appeals to zero people. And whatfuckingever, draw for yourself as if my concepts and driving force was never for myself, I'm still mad someone who literally only draws half naked men facing left said that to me, who actively went out of my way to challenge myself by doing something new every time I pick up my tablet pen. Like are you fucking serious there isn't a ton of repetition or even a hard pattern between my body of work. Even the colour palettes I try to mix up to cover my bases. I don't want a weak spot/a colour I can't work with.

I know it's the style. It's too western, ofc it doesn't fit Gnshn standards. I could, and have, illustrated whole scenes. Never gets as much traction as someone's 15 minute doodle. The style is so ugly and western. The colouring style isn't painterly, isn't cel shading, isn't clean enough. I'm working on the colouring, idk if I even want to change my style or if I'm even capable. It took forever to even get to a point to step away from anime eyes and weak necks.

It's also not realistic enough. Not painterly/perfectly rendered enough. It's too cartoony, not a flawless portrait.

Idk where I'm even going with this rant. I would love to be an artist, and yeah whatever if you draw that technically makes you one in some capacity, but unfortunately I love art. And I'll never be good at it evidently. And it's fucking frustrating that I still care enough about it to try. It's not even remotely innate. Never had a talent for a damn thing in my life so it's just been conscious practice, drills, mistakes, experimentation, and repeat. For years. Nearing a decade. That's so fucking pathetic.

Idk what exactly to do. Putting it down and stepping away means I will need to relearn everything again inevitably because it has always been an acquired skill with years of daily practice in to improve, still going. If I step away from digital I will literally forget the already shit skills I have now, which means I have to relearn everything again. Hell, getting a Surface Pro and using it regularly for one semester in college resulted in having to relearn drawing on a normal tablet on my other computer all over again.

The dissatisfaction of accomplishing nothing also stems from broken childhood dreams. I've always wanted to be an artist. Since circa 2016-2017, I found a viable way to actually be one and aspired to it. Should I just fucking stop? I've had to talk myself down and out of my stupid fucking delusions of grandeur that I might one day succeed at these seemingly impossible goals for me specifically, but easily attainable for literally anyone else. It's so fucking frustrating.

[connorumodeling]

DFX 452 Post 6:New Ideas, Storyboard, Ect.(Mar 1, 2024)

Hey, I am back. It has been a while, but I have been working and also go some new ideas. This post will include things like, new blog format, reformatting, storyboarding, edited the walls a little, Made the save point star (from Undertale), and new decisions.

New Blog Format:

I Have been thinking, and thanks to group critiques, and I found a format that I want to try for blog posts. I want to have some in-between blogs to help focus on, and capture, what I am currently working on the specific day I am working on it. For example, if I am working on lighting for the windows on Sunday, then I will make a mini blog post focusing on the lighting, on Sunday. I think this will heavily benefit me for time capsuling more of my work, while also going into more detail on what is currently being worked on.

Reformatting Outliner:

For some reason my Maya file for the Judgement Hall was messed up. There were extra models in the scene, and the organization of the outliner was messed up so I had to fix it, format it better, delete extra models, and more. Now it looks better, cleaner, and should be easier to work with for me, and any client that could use the model in the future.

Images of Cleaned up Maya File:

Storyboarding:

I have been busy thinking of how I want to storyboard my demo reel. I took some paper, watched different scenes, from different movies, demo reels showing off environment, and animations, to do research. I made a draft storyboard, on paper, of some of the main shots I want. This will be revised and tidied up once it gets closer to making the demo reel, but I am happy that I now have an idea of what important shots I want in it, even if the sketches are basic. There is a reason why I am a digital artist over a non-digital one... my drawing skills. I remake it when the time comes and either scan it or make it in Photoshop, but at this stage, it is good as it is.

Image of basic storyboarding draft:

Wall Edits:

I realized that the walls were too thin and It was affecting the overall appearance of the scene, when the windows were connected to them, so I extruded out the walls for the future window redesign.

Extruded Walls:

Save Star Model:

I also decided to add another item model to use in the scene. If anyone reading this has played Undertale then you know what this is. How can you keep resetting/coming back after death? well the save star of course! this is a pretty iconic thing in the game since it is how someone saves their game. Here is a reference of it's shape:

I decided to model a basic version of it to show off in my Judgement Hall scene. I started with a cylinder, got it to the size I wanted, the took a set of vertices. I then selected them and selected the next set of vertices every 2 sets, then I scaled them down to get the star shape. This is what I got.

After that I added surface shaders, and also made another version then took a render:

Now the star, in the 2D game, twinkles. I want to emulate that, if time allows, for the demo, by animating it(the model I choose) rotating continuously, or twinkling. I will fiddle with that later, but I just wanted to have the model done, and there are more pressing matters to deal with, like finishing the updates to past models, and finish the ceiling. If I do decide to have them moving in the demo, then I will make a post involving me messing with getting the animation right.

New Decisions:

After seeing what others are presenting, and taking feedback, I have decided that it might be a good Idea to start messing with Unreal Engine 5 for this project. This week, I am going to import what I have so far into Unreal and see how it looks. I will test out lighting, and the camera to see if I find it better than Maya's tools for delivering the renders I want. I will also see what textures would transfer and what ones would not, because i would have to remake textures that don't transfer, and depending on which ones, it might take to long for what time I currently have, and maya might be the better option. This will be a basic test to see which program would be the better option to work in for shots, lighting, and rendering.

Conclusion/TLDR:

I have taken a look at a new format for these blogs which involves possibly updating it more frequently. I have also made a basic draft of my storyboard for important shots for the demo reel in the future. I have extruded the walls so the scene looks less flat, made two different models for the Undertale save star, and will fiddle with Unreal Engine 5, later down the line, to see if it would be better for certain things, like camera movement and lighting, than Maya for the demo reel. I am on break, so I have way more time to focus on updating this project so expect more updates this coming week as I finish up remodeling some past models, make celling, and (if the week isn't over by then), take a crack at fixing my lighting, or testing the Unreal Engine 5 exporting.

[paragonrobits]

Humans as Space Elves - a few ideas

A while back, a friend asked me to give my thoughts on a potential approach to sci-fi that explored humans as fulfilling the space elves archetype (which is, well, the way some series or concepts make an alien race that acts similar to elves in fantasy: ancient, long-lived, incredibly powerful but likely have lost much of their influence and are largely a vestigial empire at best), and the first thing that comes to mind also strikes me as a solution to the Fermi Paradox, that troubling issue that we haven't found any evidence of sapient species besides our own despite the math strongly encouraging that we SHOULD have found something by now.

(Of course I would like to think that the primary reason we haven't seen any yet is that we haven't figured out a means to scan for the specific signals they're using. Like two people, trying to find each other with lighthouses, but one of them only sees in infrared and the other sees with sonar exclusively. But that's another topic!)

So my idea here is that humans are the oldest species in the setting; the earliest known existing beings (barring much older but bygone societies that have since left little sign of themselves behind), and the ones that probably forged the beginnings of what has become the intergalactic community. In a sense, they formed what would become the modern intergalactic/planetary (picking whichever one fits the scale one might have in mind), and at one pointed dominated it, but have since undergone a great deal of decline over the ages and no longer have the military nor diplomatic power they once did, but still possesses a great deal of influence.

So, in keeping with the space elf vibe, consider the idea that humanity long ago invested a great deal of time into refining medical processes towards improving lifespans, lowering the degree to which disease could impact their lives, and a bit of transhumanism/bodily improvement rendering them significantly stronger and long-lived than modern humans would be. As a result, compared to their neighbors, humans tend to live a VERY long period of time. With sufficient improvements in longevity treatments or procedures that revitalize someone and bring them back to the prime of their youth, it may seem that they're virtually immortal, or stay young for a VERY long time. They're not straight up immortal; they can die the same as anyone, though their resilience makes this pretty hard to do (though not to the same extremes as naturally tougher beings, or the ones that have modified themselves to be as tough as possible).

Another possibility that comes to mind is the idea of ego preservation; the recording of one's mind as an AI. The idea in my mind is that its more or less an interactive record of someone, and not that person themself in a digitized form, though it's certainly possible for that to be a thing if it fits the setting. If so, brain uploading would be the ultimate endgoal for humanity as a broad idea, to digitally render every person immortal if they so desire, and sleeved into a body that fits whatever they would like. They're not at this point yet, but in-universe, many outsiders see what seem to be digitized humans, or ones placed into otherwise organic bodies (whom serve a purpose as advisors or valued council; these are typically humans who were renowned for their wisdom and advice when they were alive, so remain as limited AI to give suggestions in response to changing circumstances); these outsiders see these advisors of humans supposedly dead long ago, and it's spread a belief that humans are straight up immortal, or at least their leaders are.

This can  further be combined with space vampires, as well as the fantasy idea of the drow; it's not hard to assume that you'd get human supremacists, in the past or as an active antagonistic force, and whom some believe that dwell underground, waiting to wage war upon alien civilizations living on the surface, keen to take those worlds from them in the belief that all belongs to humanity. Whether or not these actually exist, they DID at some point, and so some believe in immortal human overlords ruling from distant thrones of iron, feasting upon the life of others to keep themselves going. Perhaps in some places, human warefare has taught old and bitter beliefs that humans survive only by taking.

In a more positive light, humans as a modern society are much lessened from what they once were, having lost most of their holdings and territory, either claimed by younger species or ceded to them through conquest or, more commonly, more diplomatic means. Many such places had dwindling human populations living among alien communities, and as the latter grew more populous while the former kept fading away, gradually the leaders of those places were aliens, and so one gently passed to the younger.

Humanity as a whole isn't terribly bothered by this. Some are, of course, and fear that soon they will fade away entirely. Others believe that if that is what must be, then it must be accepted, and that it would be morally wrong to try to force their authority over a galaxy that is moving on past them; that is is their duty to see that things keep improving, even if they will soon be gone, or at least take on a form that would be unrecognizable to their ancestors.

They're certainly no slouches when it comes to force projection; they have a LOT of really powerful weird weaponry that would lean towards more fantastical depictions; if mechs are allowed, they probably lean more towards the agile, superhuman machines (think something between Pacific Rim and Titanfall) than walking tanks. Melee weapons are reasonably common, though its not very common for humans to take the battlefield in person, instead preferring to have a fighter controlling various drones through a mental interface, fighting by proxy. This can be mentally straining, especially as the pilot can suffer the sensation of death multiple times in short order should a battle go badly, but combat doctrine strongly leans against loss of life; partly for moral reasons, and ancient history stressing the value of all life, but humanity has most likely suffered severe problems in keeping population growth, even through artificial means. The precise how and why is situational (genetic sicknesses that haven't yet been treated, an ancient sterility weapon that still has left its effects on humans, or whatever else seems to fit), but every human that dies is a big loss, and human societies are loath to risk more even on important matters.

This has the secondary effect of making humans very reflective and thinking any kind of broader decision very, very carefully, in a way somewhat at odds with their more impulsive tendencies in the moment. This has taught much wisdom.

From an architectural and technological perspective, human-dominated regions tend towards aesthetics similar to solarpunk, afrofuturism, and a blend of many different cultural designs ultimately centering around principles of ecological harmony with the worlds they find themselves in. The humans of this time prize establishing an equilibrium with the natural systems around them; a flow of give and take, becoming part of the world, and having a sort of tranquility with it.

[arcadechan]

Hello, I'm absolutely in love with your work, and most especially your use of color!

Apologizing in advance if you've answered this sort of question already, but do you have any particular methods of choosing/applying color to your pieces? I've struggled with choosing interesting colors/palettes alot personally and would love to know if you have any tips or anything about it!

Hello, thank you so much for the question!

I've been sent a similar ask before, but I also don't mind talking about art so your ask is more than welcome. Plus you touch on an interesting point! The way you apply color can be just as effective as the color itself. FUN.

The ask I linked above talks about how I choose color palettes, so check that out if you're interested~. I'll expand a little bit more down below since you got me thinking about stuff

(One note though: I primarily work digitally, and I might on purpose or accidentally frame my tips around that mindset.)

It's time for a list because I love lists so much:

If something breaks the rules of reality but looks COOLER or fits your style or theme or you just LIKE it more....maybe do it anyway. Why not? At least see what it would look like! (Make a new layer if you're working digitally, sketch it out on some scratch paper if you're going traditional) (this is especially good with color. I KNOW not many shadows are that shade of teal but it just looks good jerry, sorry!) (Light sources are good for this too)

You are not locked into anything, ESPECIALLY if you're working digitally. If you don't like how something looks, try first to figure out what WOULD make it look better and then give it a shot (I say to think about it a little bit first to try and prevent the sketch-delete-sketch-delete cycle, but....sometimes you NEED that cycle too. Even deleted art still lives in the memory of your hands and experience. It’s just trouble to get stuck there.)

When struggling with colors, look to simplify. Maybe do more pieces with JUST flat colors, see if that doesn’t help your palettes. You will find your renders more appealing if you start with a base you like, and even if you don’t like your renders…you’ll have a base you like, and that’s good enough! Flat color art is COOL. Knowing when NOT to add detail is just as masterful as knowing when and where to

When it comes to something you're struggling with, look to other artists. That's part of why I'm very happy to answer asks like this - it's good to remember you don't have to come up with every answer yourself. Even if you can't ask directly, there's a lot to learn just from...looking at art. What inspires you? What looks cool, or appealing? What solves a problem you've been struggling with? 

For example, going back to color, you learn early in digital art that a purple/blue layer on multiply (or you know, other colors, but it's an example) can be a quick and easy way to do some shadows. and it is! I use it even today! But I never really liked it. So I started struggling with shadows. So I started looking to other art for inspiration. I've just always liked vibrant colors and watercolor as a medium, so...I started trying some things with that as my inspiration point.

I began applying shadows with watercolor brushes and wash brushes, I started using teal and aqua for shadows on top of a thicker magenta base. I started doing rim-lighting (boy oh boy rim-lighting). I started pushing and pulling colors, adding layers like with colored pencils. I started using more glow dodge layers, a separate layer for more opaque hard light and less opaque blooms; making pieces brighter instead of darker. I STARTED. Doing things I just LIKED more, and found out that hey…..some of it works. Some of it sticks. 

There’s a lot of advice out there on how to overcome artblock; and while I know that isn’t the exact nature of this question, from my own experience I’ve usually found I hit an artblock when there is a specific THING I am struggling with (for a long time it was feet. Right now it’s shoulders, necks, and noses. For you, perhaps it’s color). Whenever I hit this point there are a few easy things I try and lately it’s been working out.

I start by stopping drawing. I go out and get inspired again. Reading, watching animation, going out and seeing nice scenery in some good lighting, looking at other artists’ work…I take my mind of my own stuff and refill it with Good Juice for Creatives

I wait. I wait until my hands itch and I just gotta draw again. I wait until I have at least ONE thing I know I want to draw or try (like a new brush or challenge or IDEA)

When I start drawing again, I take it easy. Sketching in the sketchbook, drawing fanart or oc’s, not trying to come up with too much from scratch. The break we took earlier at least gives me enough energy and want-to-draw to power through the struggle of any remaining artblock

When you’re learning…there can be a frustrating SLOWNESS to it. And with art, well. It’s tricky. You’re training your eyes, hands, and mind on something…almost completely subjective. That’s why I keep coming back to studying things you like! Not only does that make for a more enjoyable experience…well. When I was in college, my art teacher told us to “trust your gesture”. 

When you are actively doing or studying art, you’re building a mental catalog. When you’re LIVING you’re doing this too! That’s where trust your gesture comes into play. You know colors you like when you see them. Trust the colors you like to be some of the colors you can use. Trust some of the things you like to be things you can learn from. A lot of art will come more naturally when you say “I know I can do it this way…but I WANT to do it this way”. 

And that’s why so much of my art is Like That.

[chuckbass-love]

Hi! I know you only just posted it but would it be possible to request 33&36 from the prompts with Ransom please?❤️

A/N: Thank you for your patience on this one, i really hope when you read it that it was worth the wait. Also thank you for requesting in the first place, it means a lot that people ask me to write fics for them.

Prompt #33: "Pushing back against my fingers already? How pathetic"

Prompt #36: "You'd better watch your fucking mouth"

Disclaimer: My work is not to be translated or to be posted anywhere else other than MY Tumblr, Wattpad and Ao3 without my permission. However, reblogs are welcome.

Pairing: Ransom Drysdale x Fem!Reader

Warning: Smut! Unprotected sex, vaginal fingering, swearing, daddy kink, implied alcohol consumption and use of the word slut/degradation. 18+ everyone....

Word Count: 2,191

GIF NOT MINE!!! Credit to @twerkforambrose go check them out 💕

Your Filthy Addiction

Five more minutes, you’re going to give that arrogant son of a bitch five more minutes before you toss the food you’d made earlier. You’ve spent all dam day slaving away in that kitchen of yours to make sure Ransom had a decent home cooked meal to come back to after a long day working with Harlan, and what does he do? He doesn’t even show up.

You might love him but if you didn’t get annoyed at least once a day with him then life wouldn’t be right. He’s always doing something to mess you around.

And today is testament to that, it’s testament to the fact that no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t help but let you down. Maybe now you’ve had enough of sitting idly by and letting him walk all over you.

So when he eventually stumbles into the house, his tipsy state as clear as day, your cage is well and truly rattled.

“Where the hell have you been?” you snap, standing in front of him with your hands placed firmly on your hips as you take in his flustered cheeks. He’s very drunk indeed, probably due to the bottomless Jameson supply at the bar across town.

You’ve tried your hardest for years ever since the night you first met Ransom to help him with his obvious drinking problem but to no avail. And now you see why your solutions to his problems never worked, it was because despite his constant complaining about said problems, he loves having just a tiny bit of conflict in his life. Mostly with his good for nothing family who only treat him like dirt. But he gives as good as he gets, always has and always will.

“I was just out with Harvey” the way his shoulders move up as he shrugs only seems to bother you all the more. His lack of care for his actions have always created issues for your relationship but this takes the cake.

To some, your pouty and bratty behaviour may seem pathetic and unnecessary, but to you it’s more than him missing dinner. It’s about the fact that he always seems to let you down, over and over.

“Oh so you prefer his company over mine then? Because i made us a lovely meal so that we could eat together after a week of not being able to and this is the thanks i get? For my so called boyfriend to be swanning off with the master of one night stands” your voice is low, your stare dark and angry, your stance even more so and he can definitely see how badly he’s fucked up.

However, if you know Ransom well enough, then you can certainly see his change in attitude coming a mile off.

“You’d better watch your fucking mouth” he barks, his finger pointed directly in your face as he stalks closer to you. You find yourself stepping back, intimidation controlling you.

“Or what? You gonna make me? Judging by the way you’ve been acting you don’t have a leg to stand on” you say matter of factly as you shake your head in disgust at his nerve. How dare he boss you around when he’s the one who’s been out of line all this time.

“Maybe i will” he pokes his chin out as he stands tall, hands by his sides. He looks awfully confident as he inches closer. His index finger slips underneath your chin as he forces you to look directly into his menacing eyes.

You feel your breath catch in this moment. The knowledge of him doing whatever he wants to do to you just because he can is causing your entire body to shiver with anticipation. Despite how he makes you feel sometimes, you’re a sucker for him and everything he does.

He says jump, you say how high.

“What?” you murmur, wanting him to use his words just like he always makes you do.

“I said, maybe i will make you. Bet you’d love that, slut” you wince at the horrid nickname. It’s moments like these when you always try your hardest to avoid thinking about how his degradation of you makes you feel, your mind is objecting but your body is giving him the green light.

How is that?

How does he always manage to do that?

Must be some kind of mind control as you absentmindedly follow him through to the kitchen, his hand barely holding onto your own.

Before you can even make sense of things, he pushes you over the kitchen counter forcefully.

His hands splay across your ass cheeks as he lifts your dress up, bunching it at your waist before yanking your ruined panties down your bare legs. Next thing you know his fingers are toying at your dripping wet hole.

“Would ya look at this...you can try all you like to act up sweetheart, but you and i both know why this cunt of yours is soaked”

There he goes again, spewing filth to get you to give up the jig. You know you have to remain strong and stable but it’s so hard to do that when he....wait! Is he inserting his fingers? Fuck, they are so thick inside of you and two already? He must be a mind reader to know how this makes you feel, he must know what gets you keening because now here you are pushing back on them like a needy little brat.

“Pushing back on my fingers already? How pathetic” he tuts, his tone mocking as he chuckles a little. Still, his fingers remain as they twist and turn inside of you, scissoring you open before he adds a third.

Fuck, this is delicious torture. The man you’re supposed to be mad at but you can’t bring yourself to be when he makes your body feel so good.

The undeniable and powerful pleasure that he provides is just too good to quit. You could never let him go even if you actively tried to which by the way, you’ve attempted it a hundred times at least.

But every time you try he just lures you back in with his sexual prowess, his high libido and those dashing good looks. His sweet talk isn’t too bad either.

When will you ever learn to strengthen yourself up and walk away? Because he’s never going to change but oh shit, the way he’s pumping his fingers in and out rapidly is enough to cause the coil in your stomach to tighten one last time.

You move to meet his fingers, hips gyrating in circular motions slowly as you reach your hand between your legs.

Of course he pushes you hand away, insisting on using his own. His thumb presses down on your pulsating clit and the breathy groans that are escaping him let you know that he can sense your impending orgasm.

“Come on, baby. Cum for daddy” he urges, rubbing firm circles on you clit as his fingers curl inside of you, pushing against that spongy spot deep within. The one that will have you seeing stars in, 3...2...1.

“FUCK RANSOM” you scream out, hands gripping the kitchen counter so hard that it turns your knuckles white, his fingers continue to drive into you over and over as he rides you through your intense high.

“That’s my girl, just like that. Let go, baby” you can hear the smirk in his voice, the smugness he feels knowing that yet again he’s prevented you from walking away.

He’s convinced you to stay just by pleasuring you with his filthy touch, his sinful thick digits.

You may be weak, but with a man this good, a man capable of making your pretty little pussy cum over and over, why would you want to be anything else?

As soon as you come down from the high, you stand up, straightening your posture as you turn around to face him. The proud look covering his face lets you know that it’s all a game to him.

You pull your dress back down so that it’s covering up your modesty before pulling your panties up.

“What’s wrong, sad eyes?” he pokes, his hands resting either side of the counter, caging you in.

“You know what. You can’t just keep using sex to keep me around, Ransom” you huff in defeat, bothered by your lack of strong will.

“Sure i can, and what’s more, you’re gonna enjoy it too” he raises his eyebrows as he spins you back around, keeping your back arched by yanking your head backwards.

Every inch of your skin turns to gooseflesh as he trails his finger down the curve of your back before reaching your tail bone and pushing your dress up. He undoes the belt around his slacks before popping open the button and slipping them down along with his boxers, freeing his erection from its tight confines.

He slips your arousal covered panties to the side before smothering his eager red tip in your mouth watering pussy juices. Once he catches on your entrance he slams inside of you, but before you can jerk forward he hooks his arm into both of yours as he holds them behind you firmly.

You can never leave him, even if you truly wanted to, you’re stuck in an ongoing loop of orgasms and rough sex.

A frantic whimper slips off your tongue as his pace now renders on animalistic, hard and fast, just the way you both like it.

Of course the real pleasure comes from the slow and hard thrusts, the ones where he gently pokes at your g spot as he lays on top of you. Your legs wrapped around him, his face in the crook of your neck. But now is not the time for gentle and slow, now is the time for rushed and needy.

He’s desperate to achieve that orgasm just as much as he is to provide one for you. To feel your legs shaking as your head lulls back to rest on his chest, eyes rolling to the back of your head, it’s something he can never and will never get enough of. The way your walls are clamping down on him right now should be illegal as he can feel his balls tighten with the impending release.

“Fuck. Keep tightening those walls baby, let yourself go. Just. One. Last. Time” his voice desperate as his breathing turns ragged, matching yours. Your chest starts to rise and fall before your head falls back to rest on his chest just like he loves. He can feel your entire body tremble in his hold as he loosens his grip and pushes you over the counter.

“Gonna fucking cum, deep inside of this pussy. Gonna fill you up with my cum, baby” he growls, his voice deeper than before. He’s so painfully close, as are you.

And as you flutter around him one last time, he spills his load inside of you, causing you to stand up onto your tip toes with your head pressed into the marble counter.

He paints your walls with thick white ropes before twitching as he slows down his thrusts, then he stills his hips.

All that can be heard in this kitchen is heavy panting before the sound of your pussy squelching as he pulls out distracts you. He pulls his slacks back up, making quick work of his zip, button and belt whilst you toss your panties into the hamper by the laundry room and pull your dress back down before heading up to your bedroom.

New panties are a must.

“Now do you get it?” he asks, leaning on the open doorway to your room and causing you to turn and face him once your fresh panties are on.

“Get what?”

“Your mine and you always will be, until i say otherwise” he states, shocking you.

“I’m not your property, Ransom”

“Oh but you are, those soaked panties in that hamper prove it. So get used to it, because you’re never leaving me, especially not now”

You’re well and truly fucked... held captive by his intoxicating smell, intimidating demeanour and his undeniable skills in the bedroom.

Guess you should have known from the day you first met Hugh Ransom Drysdale that you’d never make it out alive if you were to run.

But the real question is, do you even want to leave him? He’s everything you detest but still you stay and continue to crave more of him.

And the answer to that question would be no, no you wouldn't want to leave.

He may be a prick, an arrogant asshole and a cocky son of a bitch but he is an addiction...your filthy addiction, and you wouldn’t have it or him any other way.

-------------------------

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[ncitygirls]

pink - mark x gn reader

fluff, smut, cw: submissive!mark, 2k

The concept of colour is an intriguing one. Much like seeing, seeing itself is intriguing. Intriguing as well is the notion that seeing is believing when the blind trust so fiercely. They must trust the yellow of the sun resembles the middle of daisies, and runny yolk. They must trust the red of a ruby resembles that of flowing blood. They must trust that at any given time, the blue painting the skies can resemble that of bluebells, blueberries, and all blue things.

The concept of colour is not an admissible one. It is convoluted and complex. The pink of a rose, of a poked eye, of a healing wound, of a stained linen. They all contain a bounty of hues; some dimmer, paler, or truer than others. They all carry their own meaning, things we assign and ascribe to an item; be it clothing, furniture, text. The point to all this is, you do not think you will ever be able to truly explain how perfect the pink that colours Mark’s lips is. You try every morning you are fortunate to wake beside him - when you are first to wake that is. You peel open your eyes one by one, blinking away sleep and tears from the strobes scorching your corneas, falling victim to the allure of sunlight that lures you from your dreams, only to wake to another.

Pink. It is too simple a word to describe the creases in his lips that sit a couple shades darker, not enough to call magenta nor red. Every morning, you ache to run your fingers along the ridges, to rouse him from sleep, punish him like the rising sun did you. You never do. You lay there, watching as silent breaths cause the rise and fall of your lover’s chest, perturbed by the riddle that curses you every other morning.

How does one describe the indescribable?

It is your job no? To spread word of such wonder. A man who proves the existence of a higher power. A man whose face cannot be a product of the algorithms of colliding comets, nor of destiny. Hands of an omniscient being carved this face, moulded him into the wonder that you wake to every morning. That pink is not just pink. It is a perfect combination of the richest red and a waxen white. God needn’t have spent long, given his almightiness, but he did spend more time than on others. For that reason you think it selfish to waste this time, to roll out of bed and busy yourself with the trivial, menial tasks of readying for work. No, you must solve this riddle. You must find a way to proclaim what you have thought since the very first moment you laid eyes on Mark Lee.

“How are you real?”

One glance and he knew you hadn’t meant to ask it aloud. It is a regular action you do in regards to him; thanking God for the blessing that was Mark Lee’s creation. It occurs at all hours of the day, both verbal and non verbal, physical and non-physical alike. Whether it be the sudden airiness in your laughter, or twirling strands of his hair betwixt your fingers. Every time your eyes settle on his face, your senses heighten while your sense diminishes.

“Morning, angel,” he mumbles, tugging you from your angelic pose on his chest and pulling your lips to his. He offers you just a press, but should it be your last, it would still be enough. Mornings spent in his company always make for an easier start, one full of wistful goodbyes but wishful hellos. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes,” your lips fall to his toned pec, offering scattered pecks. “Did you?”

Mark hums groggily, head falling to his pillow, failing to follow your sudden flurry of kisses. He finds the energy to speak just as your lips closed around his hardened nipple, as you begin to suck ever so slightly. His hands find your hips, clinging onto your frame as you kiss a path down his chest, marking his skin on your descent. “It’s almost eight,” he regrets to inform you, wishing nothing more than to enjoy this extended dream. “Won’t you be late?”

You show no signs of stopping, journeying south at a most leisurely speed. He relinquishes his hold on you, instead finding purchase in the bed linens, his fingers clasping around the duck down feathers. When your lips suddenly leave him, Mark fears the worst, that his reminder had a delayed effect. That is reluctant warning, seemingly good deed is now working against him. He soon finds his concerns were in vain as your lips close around the clothed head of his cock, sucking long and hard on the darkened material. His hips rise toward your mouth, chasing the stimulation you offer up to the deity beneath you, the one you call Mark. The one you call yours.

Your fingers grip his waistband, slowly lowering the material to the tops of his calves. His hot length meets the cool air with a hiss, his jaw tightening as you offer a languid tug from his base to his tip. A strangled moan fills the air, coating either end of your name. As you slowly pump him within your closed fist, you admire how the morning light always caught the beautiful tone of his arms, the shadows casting over his chest. He is more firm beneath your palm, more concrete, more real. When he casts his gaze toward you finally, finding some room for restraint within your steady pace, he allows himself to admire the gentle knit of your brows, the smirk upturning your lips as his breathing changes when you tighten your fist. He gasps when your eyes fly back up to his, your fist stilled at the base of his abdomen, a silent question in your eyes, a small lick at your lips.

He nods, watching you lower your weight, resting on his tensed thighs. He is breathless, eyes stuck on the plumpness of your lips, your pink tongue sweeping over your bottom one, teeth catching the skin as you run your closed fist over his cock once more, gripping tighter as he mewls.

Words escape him as he offers up devout concentration to his breathing, praying he does not crumble under the warmth of your touch and sweetness in your eyes. His eyes squeeze shut when you thumb his slit, a hard shudder passing through his bones, his hips bucking in time with your closed fist. Mark whines beneath you, the patience he forces is admirable, his whitened knuckles gleam as they blend in with the cloud of sheets. And still you wait, feeling his skin burn as his precum gathers in your palm, squelching in the air.

“Minhyung,” you breathe suddenly, fearful you might shatter the moment. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,’ he chokes out in response. ‘I want you, please.’

You chortle at his sweet plea, capturing the skin of his thigh in a slow kiss as you pump him harder, puckering your lips along the skin at his base as his thrusts start to increase. “Slow down for me,” you whisper. Mark loves what you are doing, reducing him to the shell of himself as you lure his first orgasm of the day from him. He grips your hand then, ready to chase a release he knows you will not give him.

“Please,” he begs softly, skin a flaming pink, lined by the morning light and in a light dew.

Pressing a final, fleeting kiss to his tip he wishes to chase, you release him, drawing his brows together as you slow down before climbing off of his lap. He frowns as you kneel beside the bed before patting his shin, “come ‘ere.”

He bites his tongue, stuffing it in his cheek, “I know you’re teasing me.”

“No,” you laugh, “you’re just impatient,” you coo, watching as he follows your instruction anyway, shuffling to the edge of the bed. You tug his pants down to his ankles before you are hovering over his cock, admiring the gleam as the light reflects off his slick head. He sighs as you do, your breath cooling his angry tip, a twitch running through his cock as you just hover. He almost whines again when you pucker around his slit, the tip of your tongue passing over it ever so slightly.

His sweet moans fill the air, his breaths laboured as you tease him, lapping at his shaft as he toys with your hair, moving it aside so he can see you. He watches you take him, burying his lithe cock between the hot confines of your mouth before sucking around him, humming as he mewls beneath you. He assigns no time to keeping himself together, instead admiring how quickly you render him powerless. How you swirl your tongue around him, pump him as you suckle on his head, swallowing around him. He is completely at your mercy, his cum threatening to pour down your throat as you push on his abdomen, sending his back into the mattress. He huffs as he falls, sighing as his stolen release is remedied by your cool, slick coated finger prodding at his puckered hole.

His moans are unintelligible, garbled mumbles filling the air as you glide your finger into his ass, curling ever so slightly as you pump the digit. “I think I-,” he starts, unsure how, or just unable to finish.

“It’s okay, Mark,” you breathe on his cock, curling your finger harder with every suck you offer his leaking tip. “It’s okay, you can come.”

“Fuck- I’m-” his voice escapes him before he can help it, the mere thought of it forcing you to suck harder. His release tears through him like molten iron, encrusting his every nerve, setting him alight. His cum coats your throat as he bucks into your mouth, your name barely comprehensible as it pours from his lips. It is pleading, prayer like, something you repel. It was Mark who was God like. Mark who was heavenly.

He humps up into your mouth while grinding down on your finger, milking himself, using you, silently forbidding himself to succumb to the oversensitivity of his orgasm. He clings onto the nape of your neck, lodging his tip in the back of your throat while chasing the finger pressed beautifully to his prostate as his mind and body struggle to process the endless limits of his pleasure, though the two can agree it rests in your hands.

When he is somewhat present, Mark quickly recognises your figure lying by his side, your unsoiled hand massaging the expanse of his chest. He gazes up at you with fatigue in his eyes, and a sickly adoration. And something else he thinks he is ready to name.

“Y/N?” Mark calls, still a little breathless, failing to notice the way your eyes catch the time. “I think I-”

“Shit, it’s past nine! Mark, I have to go.”

You disappear down the hall, your presence made known only by a flurry of rushed sounds before you return in the peachy pink shirt you left behind last time. He can’t figure out how it looks better on you every time he sees it. Much like the pink of your lips when circling his cock or the more innocent pink lining your tired eyes. Even the pink hearts that fly around your head as he watches you rush around the room, glancing at him every so often, laughing to find him still watching you. Each time you do, he sees that nothing beats the colour of the red raw love he feels for you. Mark hopes to tell you this some other beautiful morning. For now, he smiles against your lips as you bids him farewell before letting him return to his slumber.

He dreams only of you.

[rsmrymnt-tea]

「 🐳 」 hello! i haven't forgotten about your response—i was unfortunately hit with a series of ✧˖˚ unfortunate events ˚˖✧ (yes... pun intended for the sake of lightheartedness <3) shortly after the response, and i needed time to recover. i've decided to join you along the ride for the obm asks!

1.) how did you first get into obey me? personally, i was playing swd games for quite some time before obey me was released in december of 2019, so once i saw an ad for it i told myself, “well! another silly otome game from them to pass the time”, ahh i was so wrong with just how much flavor it had in all of it's terrible, atrocious glory.

satan was the first one to cause me to go into a miserable spiral once i had a revelation of what his birth actually meant, and thus, began spewing my silly little analyses to the small fandom at the time. i no longer go on longer tangents about satan as much as i do solomon (and recently, mephistopheles due to how noble his values are and how little people seem to realize it), but if i dare see someone in favor of obsessive cat-lover satan i have no issues with bashing their head against a digital brick wall and arguing that he is the least likely of the brothers to be obsessive over anything that falls into that category.

16.) what is your intimacy level with each character? i've often gotten a lot of teasing remarks from friends for my levels, but,

lucifer — 25

mammon — 17

leviathan — 20

satan — 34

asmodeus — 18

beelzebub — 19

belphegor — 20

diavolo — 15

barbatos — 22 (slowly but surely making his way up there)

luke — 14 (i am so sorry you are below diavolo, dearest luke)

simeon — 40

solomon — 42, but nearly 43

“i wonder who their favorite is” gee guys thanks i do whatever i can for the sake of my mc's lore ♡ thank you very much /lh

as always, feel free to include dolasach for whatever reason you feel like if something i said reminded you of her hehe~

Whale nonnie!!! So good to see you!! I'm glad that you got to bounce back from whatever happened to you!! I hope it wasn't too bad and that you're fully okay now >w<

Oml the first question though

1. how did you first get into obey me?

THE WEDDING EVENT oough man I don't even recall how I ended up watching videos of the wedding event but I did and Satan's pulled me in so bad that I downloaded the game >.< flavor in the midst of atrocity is such a good way to describe the game dfhkdfg

Also??? Nonnie now I'm curious if I've ever seen your posts omg? I feel like you'd have such good posts on all three... I've got this feeling that I've probably seen a Satan post or that a Mephisto post of yours helped him rise up my ranks >.<

And I feel you so much on thinking he wouldn't really obsess over anything that simple, even more so to the point of it clouding his judgement and rendering him useless in important moments... Just so counter to the core of his character that aspires towards being well-rounded and useful? Anyway I'm trying to stay mostly positive here hdsdfg

16. what is your intimacy level with each character?

GOSH I had to check...

Lucifer - 24

Mammon - 11

Leviathan - 17

Satan - 33

Asmo - 16

Beel - 16

Belphie - 23

Diavolo - 18

Barbatos - 25

Solomon - 31 (only because it took forever to get a Solomon UR I liked the art of, otherwise he'd be the same as Satan lmao probably higher since you can actually get big hearts with him without gifts...)

Simeon - 23

Luke - 2 (dsfjkhsdf sorry I just never use any Luke cards and using him in Jobs feels weird bc ykno... child labor >.>;;)

Surprisingly representative of how much I enjoy their character...? Except that every brother + Simeon needs to be higher than the royals sdhfkjg Barb's bday UR is just too pretty to not use...

Nonnie I feel you with needing the levels for more lore... The calls!! I need the calls!! But it takes sooo fucking long to grind for intimacy

I feel like each time you drop by I get more and more shocked and curious about who you might be... I'm still listening a lot to the playlist you sent and each time I hear Bird Song I think about you suggesting it and what you said about Dola shdkfhdsfg insane really....

[clonewarsarchives]

Inside 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'

By: Gerri Miller  (original article link on howstuffworks)

Sources

George Lucas interviewed August 4, 2008

Dave Filoni interviewed September 11, 2008

The sci-fi phenomenon that began more than 30 years ago with a movie about a galaxy long ago and far, far away has expanded exponentially ever since with sequels, prequels, books, games and animated spinoffs. Although the animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" movie, released this summer, has to date grossed a less than stellar $34 million, it was an offshoot of creator George Lucas' mission to create a TV series, and it served its purpose as a promotional tool for the weekly "Clone Wars" episodes that premiere on Cartoon Network Oct. 3, 2008.

Focused on the conflict briefly referred to in the original "Star Wars," the galactic civil war takes place in the period between "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." The Clone Wars pit the Grand Army of the Republic led by the Jedi Knights against the Separatists and their Droid Army, led by Count Dooku, a Jedi turned Sith Lord aligned with the evil Darth Sidious. Many of the characters from the "Star Wars" universe are involved, including Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and young Anakin Skywalker, before he was tempted to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader.

"I was lamenting the fact that in 'Episode II,' I started the Clone Wars, and in 'Episode III,' I ended the Clone Wars, and I never actually got to do anything on the Clone Wars," says Lucas. "It's like skipping over World War II."

To remedy that omission, he tapped Dave Filoni, an animator (Nickelodeon's "Avatar: the Last Airbender" series) and passionate "Star Wars" fan, to bring "The Clone Wars" to TV.

Ensconced at Big Rock Ranch, near Lucas' Skywalker Ranch headquarters in Marin County, Cali., Filoni and his team of artists and computer animators are making 22 episodes in season one and have nearly two more seasons written.

"We're way ahead. We've been doing this ever since I finished 'Revenge of the Sith,'" says Lucas, who hopes to do at least 100 installments.

He and Filoni collaborate on everything from story to design to execution in translating the "Star Wars" universe for television. It's a daunting creative, technical and logistic task, as we'll explain in the following sections.

Building the Universe

How do you scale down an IMAX-size spectacle for television and still have it make an impact, especially on a small screen budget? That's just one of the problems Dave Filoni has to solve.

"'Star Wars' is very famous for the scale of it, and how convincing it looks. So when you're doing a weekly television series, you have to figure out how to do things on that level," he notes. "Sometimes it forces you to be creative and come up with solutions that are better than if you can shoot everything you want," he continues, preferring to consider budgetary constraints a creative incentive rather than a limitation. "The team here is challenged to come up with these giant battles. We haven't shied away from anything."

While he did some of the initial character design, subsequently, Filoni has spent most of his time supervising other artists and animators, who number around 70 in-house and another 80 or so at facilities in Singapore and Taipei.

"Everything is written here, and the story and design and editing are all done here. The animation and lighting are done overseas, and sometimes some modeling as well," he outlines.

­"I meet with George to talk about the episodes and he hands out a lot of the storylines and main ideas for the stories. I'll draw while he's talking and show him the sketch," Filoni continues. "That way we communicate right off the bat about what something might look like."

At any given time, the director notes, episodes are in various stages of completion, "from designing to working on a final cut, or adding sound and color-correction. I have four episodic directors to help me, who each have an episode they're managing."

Rather than use computer animation to duplicate the live-action films' characters or continue in the very stylized vein of the 2004-2005 "Clone Wars" micro-series, "We kind of shot for the middle," says Filoni, who endeavored to blend a 2-D esthetic with 3-D technology.

"The 3-D model makers and riggers who worked on the prequels dealt with the height of realism to create convincing digital characters. I knew that we weren't going to be able to do that for the series. And we wanted it to be different than a live-action feature, to get away from photo-realism. It was a choice to simplify something in the character models, the same way we would do things in a 2-D show."

So how did Filoni stay true to the "Star Wars" legacy in this newest installment? Read on to find out.

Clone Style

Taking some inspiration from the earlier cartoon series, Filoni

approached the characters as a 2-D animator would, "but stylized the face a little more. If you look at Anakin, he has certain edges and lines in his face. I would draw an edge or a line that might be unnaturally straight or curved, and that would play into the lighting of it. I tried to sculpt in 3-D the way I would draw or sculpt an image in 2-D, with shadow and light. I wanted it to look like a painting -- you see a textured, hand-painted style on every character. I have texture artists who literally paint every single character right down to their eyeball, because I wanted that human touch on everything."

Advances in computer animation have allowed Filoni to accomplish much more than he would have been able to in traditional 2-D. "For eight years I worked just with a pencil. I never touched a computer. But working with George, we try to look at computers as an incredibly advanced pencil. The technical side helps the creative, artistic side," he says.

Battles filled with huge numbers of soldiers can be rendered faster than ever before, but they still have to be created, along with every other prop and character in an enormous universe. "'Star Wars' is so complex in that you're building a whole galaxy. We go to many different planets," Filoni reminds. "So every rock, tree, blade of grass, native vehicle -- every asset -- needs design. We had to create a whole bunch of assets for each episode, and the budget goes up for each element you have. Once you build it, you have it, but we can't go to a different planet and have the same chair there," he laughs. "On a schedule where we need those things right away, it's difficult to get it all built."

Since "The Clone Wars" is chronologically sandwiched between "Clone Wars" and "Revenge of the Sith," it has been a mandate for the creators to stay consistent with the mythology. "That's probably one of the trickiest things," admits Filoni. "We always have to keep in mind what the characters are thinking and feeling at the beginning of this and at the end. You have a lot of room to play with when you're in the middle, but you have to remember what people say in the third movie. With characters like Obi-Wan or Anakin or Padme, I have to pay very careful attention that it will hook up. And then there's the expanded universe of "Star Wars" novels and video games. I try to be aware of it all and work it in, because fans really appreciate it."

Filoni hopes to attract existing fans and create new ones, especially among the younger generation, but admits doing the latter may be easier. "One thing we have that's different from any movie that came before is we're an animated series. But there's an instant reaction to the word animation that it's for kids. How you get around that is with the stories you tell. We'll have our snow battles and we'll also have our lighter 'Return of the Jedi' moments. Some episodes lean older, some younger. But in the end it has a broad appeal," he believes.

The recent "Clone Wars" movie (out on DVD Nov. 11 ) served as a stand-alone prequel to introduce the characters at this point in time. In contrast, "The series has its small arcs and shows you the war from across a broad spectrum of episodes. It's not just Anakin Skywalker's story," Filoni underlines. "We can go left or right of that plot and deal with characters we have never seen. There's a lot of material. It's a three-year period in the history of the 'Star Wars' Universe, and there are so many stories to tell. The longer it goes, the more chance we get to tell fascinating stories in that galaxy."

Character Study

"The Clone Wars" shows a different side of some of the film franchise's most iconic characters. "In a series, you can do a whole episode about a character and learn more about what they were like, which makes what happens to them a lot more poignant," explains Filoni. "We know Yoda is powerful, but how does that power develop? How does he use it? We get to go into more detail that you just couldn't do in the live action films, because they're mainly focused on Anakin."

While few of the actors from the live action movies agreed to reprise their roles in voice over for "The Clone Wars," Anthony Daniels, the original C-3PO, is the exception. "One of the special moments for me was hearing Anthony on the telephone, discussing C-3PO with me and his experiences. That really helps us round out the characters," says the director, who enjoyed similar input from Rob Coleman, the animation supervisor who worked on Yoda on the prequels.

Of the new characters not seen in the live action series, there's the alluring but venomous Asajj Ventress, a disciple of Count Dooku. "She is, of course, a villain, and fits into the structure of the Sith," Filoni elaborates. "Darth Sidious -- Senator Palpatine -- is the main bad guy, and his apprentice is Count Dooku. Dooku is training Ventress in the Dark Side. She's getting more powerful. I wanted to make her intelligent, deceptive and also kind of sexual. She's kind of a forbidden fruit -- Jedi are not supposed to get involved with the more lustful aspects of life. She adds another dynamic to the series."

On the other side of the good/evil coin is newcomer Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's teenage pad­awan, or apprentice. "She's Anakin's student and helps us see him as more of a hero," says Filoni. "Once he gets over his initial reaction, he takes pride in her. He's unpredictable and the Jedi know that, but he has compassion and that is used against him and it later brings him to the Dark Side."

Ahsoka was created, says Lucas, "Because I needed to mature Anakin. The best way to get somebody to become responsible and mature is to have them become a parent or a teacher. You have to think about what you're doing and set an example. You look at your behavior and the way you do things much differently. The idea was to use her to make Anakin become more mature. We've made her a more extreme version of what Anakin was- - a little out there, independent, vital and full of life, but even more so. He gets a little dose of his own medicine."

"She's been a really fun character to develop," adds Filoni, who likes Ahsoka but admits that his character tastes tend to run a bit more obscure -- his favorite is Plo Koon, "a bizarre Jedi Master. It's been fun to develop him and show his personality beyond the fact that he's bizarre looking and carries a lightsaber."

Fan Fare

Just three years ago, Filoni dressed up as Plo Koon to see an opening night showing of "Revenge of the Sith," so it's not surprising that the 34-year-old fan is still pinching himself that he has this job. "It's a very creative atmosphere," he says of Big Rock Ranch, where the lakeside setting is "meant to inspire us artistically and definitely does. A lot of the people I work with grew up with 'Star Wars,' so we have a great time. It's hard, intense work, but George is very engaged in what we're doing. What more could you ask for? I have the guy who created the 'Star Wars' universe excited and interested in what we're doing. We couldn't be happier about that."

Asked why he thinks "Star Wars" remains a fan favorite today, three decades later, Lucas says diversification is the key. "We were always able to deal with different aspects of the story in various forms and I think that keeps it alive. It is a lot of fun and it's a universe that has been created to inspire young people to exercise their imagination and inspire them to be creative, and I think that always works."

"The original 'Star Wars' had broad appeal to everybody, and it holds up so well," adds Filoni. "I think there's a timelessness to it, even though Luke looks like a kid from the '70s with that haircut. Luke is a farmer boy and Han is a cowboy. Jedi Knights are like the samurai of Japan or the knights of Europe. Those archetypes work the globe over. It's a world phenomenon that speaks to everyone. There will always be a character you can relate to."