#involving having photoshop do all of that in-program for me

[shirogane-oushirou]

i refuse to reinstall a Totally Legit (tm) copy of photoshop just for a few gifs every once in a blue moon. but also. doing this shit without my dozens of actions and the animation window Sucks So So Bad. but i will push through... For Him...

[tofupixel]

⭐ So you want to learn pixel art? ⭐

🔹 Part 1 of ??? - The Basics!

Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel artist. I have been supporting myself with freelance pixel art since 2020, when I was let go from my job during the pandemic.

My progress, from 2017 to 2024. IMO the only thing that really matters is time and effort, not some kind of natural talent for art.

This guide will not be comprehensive, as nobody should be expected to read allat. Instead I will lean heavily on my own experience, and share what worked for me, so take everything with a grain of salt. This is a guide, not a tutorial. Cheers!

🔹 Do I need money?

NO!!! Pixel art is one of the most accessible mediums out there.

I still use a mouse because I prefer it to a tablet! You won't be at any disadvantage here if you can't afford the best hardware or software.

Because our canvases are typically very small, you don't need a good PC to run a good brush engine or anything like that.

✨Did you know? One of the most skilled and beloved pixel artists uses MS PAINT! Wow!!

🔹 What software should I use?

Here are some of the most popular programs I see my friends and peers using. Stars show how much I recommend the software for beginners! ⭐

💰 Paid options:

⭐⭐⭐ Aseprite (for PC) - $19.99

This is what I and many other pixel artists use. You may find when applying to jobs that they require some knowledge of Aseprite. Since it has become so popular, companies like that you can swap raw files between artists.

Aseprite is amazingly customizable, with custom skins, scripts and extensions on Itch.io, both free and paid.

If you have ever used any art software before, it has most of the same features and should feel fairly familiar to use. It features a robust animation suite and a tilemap feature, which have saved me thousands of hours of labour in my work. The software is also being updated all the time, and the developers listen to the users. I really recommend Aseprite!

⭐ Photoshop (for PC) - Monthly $$

A decent option for those who already are used to the PS interface. Requires some setup to get it ready for pixel-perfect art, but there are plenty of tutorials for doing so.

Animation is also much more tedious on PS which you may want to consider before investing time!

⭐⭐ ProMotion NG (for PC) - $19.00

An advanced and powerful software which has many features Aseprite does not, including Colour Cycling and animated tiles.

⭐⭐⭐ Pixquare (for iOS) - $7.99 - $19.99 (30% off with code 'tofu'!!)

Probably the best app available for iPad users, in active development, with new features added all the time.

Look! My buddy Jon recommends it highly, and uses it often.

One cool thing about Pixquare is that it takes Aseprite raw files! Many of my friends use it to work on the same project, both in their office and on the go.

⭐ Procreate (for iOS) - $12.99

If you have access to Procreate already, it's a decent option to get used to doing pixel art. It does however require some setup. Artist Pixebo is famously using Procreate, and they have tutorials of their own if you want to learn.

⭐⭐ ReSprite iOS and Android. (free trial, but:) $19.99 premium or $$ monthly

ReSprite is VERY similar in terms of UI to Aseprite, so I can recommend it. They just launched their Android release!

🆓 Free options:

⭐⭐⭐ Libresprite (for PC)

Libresprite is an alternative to Aseprite. It is very, very similar, to the point where documentation for Aseprite will be helpful to Libresprite users.

⭐⭐ Pixilart (for PC and mobile)

A free in-browser app, and also a mobile app! It is tied to the website Pixilart, where artists upload and share their work. A good option for those also looking to get involved in a community.

⭐⭐ Dotpict (for mobile)

Dotpict is similar to Pixilart, with a mobile app tied to a website, but it's a Japanese service. Did you know that in Japanese, pixel art is called 'Dot Art'? Dotpict can be a great way to connect with a different community of pixel artists! They also have prompts and challenges often.

🔹 So I got my software, now what?

◽Nice! Now it's time for the basics of pixel art.

❗ WAIT ❗ Before this section, I want to add a little disclaimer. All of these rules/guidelines can be broken at will, and some 'no-nos' can look amazing when done intentionally.

The pixel-art fundamentals can be exceedingly helpful to new artists, who may feel lost or overwhelmed by choice. But if you feel they restrict you too harshly, don't force yourself! At the end of the day it's your art, and you shouldn't try to contort yourself into what people think a pixel artist 'should be'. What matters is your own artistic expression. 💕👍

◽Phew! With that out of the way...

🔸"The Rules"

There are few hard 'rules' of pixel art, mostly about scaling and exporting. Some of these things will frequently trip up newbies if they aren't aware, and are easy to overlook.

🔹Scaling method

There are a couple ways of scaling your art. The default in most art programs, and the entire internet, is Bi-linear scaling, which usually works out fine for most purposes. But as pixel artists, we need a different method.

Both are scaled up x10. See the difference?

On the left is scaled using Bilinear, and on the right is using Nearest-Neighbor. We love seeing those pixels stay crisp and clean, so we use nearest-neighbor. 

(Most pixel-art programs have nearest-neighbor enabled by default! So this may not apply to you, but it's important to know.)

🔹Mixels

Mixels are when there are different (mixed) pixel sizes in the same image.

Here I have scaled up my art- the left is 200%, and the right is 150%. Yuck!

As we can see, the "pixel" sizes end up different. We generally try to scale our work by multiples of 100 - 200%, 300% etc. rather than 150%. At larger scales however, the minute differences in pixel sizes are hardly noticeable!

Mixels are also sometimes seen when an artist scales up their work, then continues drawing on it with a 1 pixel brush.

Many would say that this is not great looking! This type of pixels can be indicative of a beginner artist. But there are plenty of creative pixel artists out there who mixels intentionally, making something modern and cool.

🔹Saving Your Files

We usually save our still images as .PNGs as they don’t create any JPEG artifacts or loss of quality. It's a little hard to see here, but there are some artifacts, and it looks a little blurry. It also makes the art very hard to work with if we are importing a JPEG.

For animations .GIF is good, but be careful of the 256 colour limit. Try to avoid using too many blending mode layers or gradients when working with animations. If you aren’t careful, your animation could flash afterwards, as the .GIF tries to reduce colours wherever it can. It doesn’t look great!

Here's an old piece from 2021 where I experienced .GIF lossiness, because I used gradients and transparency, resulting in way too many colours.

🔹Pixel Art Fundamentals - Techniques and Jargon

❗❗Confused about Jaggies? Anti-Aliasing? Banding? Dithering? THIS THREAD is for you❗❗ << it's a link, click it!!

As far as I'm concerned, this is THE tutorial of all time for understanding pixel art. These are techniques created and named by the community of people who actually put the list together, some of the best pixel artists alive currently. Please read it!!

🔸How To Learn

Okay, so you have your software, and you're all ready to start. But maybe you need some more guidance? Try these tutorials and resources! It can be helpful to work along with a tutorial until you build your confidence up.

⭐⭐ Pixel Logic (A Digital Book) - $10 A very comprehensive visual guide book by a very skilled and established artist in the industry. I own a copy myself.

⭐⭐⭐ StudioMiniBoss - free A collection of visual tutorials, by the artist that worked on Celeste! When starting out, if I got stuck, I would go and scour his tutorials and see how he did it.

⭐ Lospec Tutorials - free A very large collection of various tutorials from all over the internet. There is a lot to sift through here if you have the time.

⭐⭐⭐ Cyangmou's Tutorials - free (tipping optional) Cyangmou is one of the most respected and accomplished modern pixel artists, and he has amassed a HUGE collection of free and incredibly well-educated visual tutorials. He also hosts an educational stream every week on Twitch called 'pixelart for beginners'.

⭐⭐⭐ Youtube Tutorials - free There are hundreds, if not thousands of tutorials on YouTube, but it can be tricky to find the good ones. My personal recommendations are MortMort, Brandon, and AdamCYounis- these guys really know what they're talking about!

🔸 How to choose a canvas size

When looking at pixel art turorials, we may see people suggest things like 16x16, 32x32 and 64x64. These are standard sizes for pixel art games with tiles. However, if you're just making a drawing, you don't necessarily need to use a standard canvas size like that.

What I like to think about when choosing a canvas size for my illustrations is 'what features do I think it is important to represent?' And make my canvas as small as possible, while still leaving room for my most important elements.

Imagine I have characters in a scene like this:

I made my canvas as small as possible (232 x 314), but just big enough to represent the features and have them be recognizable (it's Good Omens fanart 😤)!! If I had made it any bigger, I would be working on it for ever, due to how much more foliage I would have to render.

If you want to do an illustration and you're not sure, just start at somewhere around 100x100 - 200x200 and go from there.

It's perfectly okay to crop your canvas, or scale it up, or crunch your art down at any point if you think you need a different size. I do it all the time! It only takes a bit of cleanup to get you back to where you were.

🔸Where To Post

Outside of just regular socials, Twitter, Tumblr, Deviantart, Instagram etc, there are a few places that lean more towards pixel art that you might not have heard of.

⭐ Lospec Lospec is a low-res focused art website. Some pieces get given a 'monthly masterpiece' award. Not incredibly active, but I believe there are more features being added often.

⭐⭐ Pixilart Pixilart is a very popular pixel art community, with an app tied to it. The community tends to lean on the young side, so this is a low-pressure place to post with an relaxed vibe.

⭐⭐ Pixeljoint Pixeljoint is one of the big, old-school pixel art websites. You can only upload your art unscaled (1x) because there is a built-in zoom viewer. It has a bit of a reputation for being elitist (back in the 00s it was), but in my experience it's not like that any more. This is a fine place for a pixel artist to post if they are really interested in learning, and the history. The Hall of Fame has some of the most famous / impressive pixel art pieces that paved the way for the work we are doing today.

⭐⭐⭐ Cafe Dot Cafe Dot is my art server so I'm a little biased here. 🍵 It was created during the recent social media turbulence. We wanted a place to post art with no algorithms, and no NFT or AI chuds. We have a heavy no-self-promotion rule, and are more interested in community than skill or exclusivity. The other thing is that we have some kind of verification system- you must apply to be a Creator before you can post in the Art feed, or use voice. This helps combat the people who just want to self-promo and dip, or cause trouble, as well as weed out AI/NFT people. Until then, you are still welcome to post in any of the threads or channels. There is a lot to do in Cafe Dot. I host events weekly, so check the threads!

⭐⭐/r/pixelart The pixel art subreddit is pretty active! I've also heard some of my friends found work through posting here, so it's worth a try if you're looking. However, it is still Reddit- so if you're sensitive to rude people, or criticism you didn't ask for, you may want to avoid this one. Lol

🔸 Where To Find Work

You need money? I got you! As someone who mostly gets scouted on social media, I can share a few tips with you:

Put your email / portfolio in your bio Recruiters don't have all that much time to find artists, make it as easy as possible for someone to find your important information!

Clean up your profile If your profile feed is all full of memes, most people will just tab out rather than sift through. Doesn't apply as much to Tumblr if you have an art tag people can look at.

Post regularly, and repost Activity beats everything in the social media game. It's like rolling the dice, and the more you post the more chances you have. You have to have no shame, it's all business baby

Outside of just posting regularly and hoping people reach out to you, it can be hard to know where to look. Here are a few places you can sign up to and post around on.

/r/INAT INAT (I Need A Team) is a subreddit for finding a team to work with. You can post your portfolio here, or browse for people who need artists.

/r/GameDevClassifieds Same as above, but specifically for game-related projects.

Remote Game Jobs / Work With Indies Like Indeed but for game jobs. Browse them often, or get email notifications.

VGen VGen is a website specifically for commissions. You need a code from another verified artist before you can upgrade your account and sell, so ask around on social media or ask your friends. Once your account is upgraded, you can make a 'menu' of services people can purchase, and they send you an offer which you are able to accept, decline, or counter.

The evil websites of doom: Fiverr and Upwork I don't recommend them!! They take a big cut of your profit, and the sites are teeming with NFT and AI people hoping to make a quick buck. The site is also extremely oversaturated and competitive, resulting in a race to the bottom (the cheapest, the fastest, doing the most for the least). Imagine the kind of clients who go to these websites, looking for the cheapest option. But if you're really desperate...

🔸 Community

I do really recommend getting involved in a community. Finding like-minded friends can help you stay motivated to keep drawing. One day, those friends you met when you were just starting out may become your peers in the industry. Making friends is a game changer!

Discord servers Nowadays, the forums of old are mostly abandoned, and people split off into many different servers. Cafe Dot, Pixel Art Discord (PAD), and if you can stomach scrolling past all the AI slop, you can browse Discord servers here.

Twitch Streams Twitch has kind of a bad reputation for being home to some of the more edgy gamers online, but the pixel art community is extremely welcoming and inclusive. Some of the people I met on Twitch are my friends to this day, and we've even worked together on different projects! Browse pixel art streams here, or follow some I recommend: NickWoz, JDZombi, CupOhJoe, GrayLure, LumpyTouch, FrankiePixelShow, MortMort, Sodor, NateyCakes, NyuraKim, ShinySeabass, I could go on for ever really... There are a lot of good eggs on Pixel Art Twitch.

🔸 Other Helpful Websites

Palettes Lospec has a huge collection of user-made palettes, for any artist who has trouble choosing their colours, or just wants to try something fun. Rejected Palettes is full of palettes that didn't quite make it onto Lospec, ran by people who believe there are no bad colours.

The Spriters Resource TSR is an incredible website where users can upload spritesheets and tilesets from games. You can browse for your favourite childhood game, and see how they made it! This website has helped me so much in understanding how game assets come together in a scene.

VGMaps Similar to the above, except there are entire maps laid out how they would be played. This is incredible if you have to do level design, or for mocking up a scene for fun.

Game UI Database Not pixel-art specific, but UI is a very challenging part of graphics, so this site can be a game-changer for finding good references!

Retronator A digital newspaper for pixel-art lovers! New game releases, tutorials, and artworks!

Itch.io A website where people can upload, games, assets, tools... An amazing hub for game devs and game fans alike. A few of my favourite tools: Tiled, PICO-8, Pixel Composer, Juice FX, Magic Pencil for Aseprite

🔸 The End?

This is just part 1 for now, so please drop me a follow to see any more guides I release in the future. I plan on doing some writeups on how I choose colours, how to practise, and more!

I'm not an expert by any means, but everything I did to get to where I am is outlined in this guide. Pixel art is my passion, my job and my hobby! I want pixel art to be recognized everywhere as an art-form, a medium of its own outside of game-art or computer graphics!

This guide took me a long time, and took a lot of research and experience. Consider following me or supporting me if you are feeling generous.

And good luck to all the fledgling pixel artists, I hope you'll continue and have fun. I hope my guide helped you, and don't hesitate to send me an ask if you have any questions! 💕

My other tutorials (so far): How to draw Simple Grass for a game Hue Shifting

[graphic--horde]

How do you make your stamps? :0

Disclaimer: this is an obscenely long explanation, with pictures. Efficiency is stupid

So, for the static ones, I make a 99x56 px file on ibis paint x. Other programs are probably available online but I don't use them.

After that, I either upload an image I want to make into a stamp, or I draw one.

Then, I find a frame I want to use. Ill upload them here but let it be known I stole all of these right from deviantart

Most of them are from Lil-Devil-Melii on deviantart. The rest i have no idea. They're not all 99x56px but you can crop the canvas it's fine

Make sure to erase the edges of the picture , so they're transparent. It's not as cute otherwise

Upload those frames over your image in whatever art program you're using and viola, stamp.

For moving ones, it's a lot harder. Mostly because I refuse to download Photoshop.

There are a couple ways to do this. Some are simple animations, like with flashing text and whatnot. For these, you download the individual animation frames from your art program. Make sure it's transparent.

Then, upload each frame to ezgif.com under the option "GIF maker." You can play around with how fast each frame goes and whatnot but in the end, it'll be a stamp with some rad text that moves. This is easy, and doesn't make me want to shit my pants and cry. If you're new, do this. This is fun. This is good. This does not kill me inside

I made that↓ stamp with this method :)

this next one is how we turn gifs into stamps. This one makes me sad. It involves math and sucks. But we gotta do it. For the vibe

First, grab your gif. I'm using this cow gif because it's awesome

Then, I resize it using ezgif. Literally everything for this will be using ezgif. I am a simple man

At this point you should decide what frame to use. I'm using this one because its the first one I clicked

Figured out what size the inside of the frame is. That's what I resize the gif to, so the edges can be transparent. The inside of this one is 93x50 px, so those are the dimensions I'm making the gif.

Figure it out by putting the frame into ibis paint and realizing the canvas to fit just the inside of the frame, then seeing what the dimensions are. But there could be easier ways

Woah it's so small now

Then, still on ezgif, I go to the "crop" option.

Make sureeee to upload the smaller gif

press the button that says "extend canvas size", and then put the "width" and "height" as the dimensions for your FRAME. This'll put a bit of a transparent border around the gif. For this frame, I did 99px and 56px.

The "left" and "top" boxes show how many pixels the cropping happens from the edges of the canvas. The formula for finding that is

(width of gif / 2) - (difference between gif width and frame width / 2) = left box

For me it's (93 / 2) - (6 / 2) = 43.5

Then you do the same.for the height, which for me ends up being 22 from the top

This is reallyyy touchy and annoying though

Here's my result , with no visible difference

Okay so THEN you go to the "overlay" option, under "effects." And upload your frame. If the cropping was done right, you shouldn't have to move the frame at all and can just download it

Here's my result:

if you don't care about transparency, you can resize your gif to be the same size as the frame, and then put the frame over it. But I'm a slut for transparency

Anyways. I'm sorry if anything was unclear, it's two am. And I hope this was helpful :) these really are fun to make once you get it down

also if anyone has an easier way to make stamps from gifs, please god tell me

[colleendoran]

Great Big Good Omens Graphic Novel Update

AKA A Visit From Bildad the Shuhite.

The past year or so has been one long visit from this guy, whereupon he smiteth my goats and burneth my crops, woe unto the woeful cartoonist.

Gaze upon the horror of Bildad the Shuhite.

You kind of have to be a Good Omens fan to get this joke, but trust me, it's hilarious.

Anyway, as a long time Good Omens novel fan, you may imagine how thrilled I was to get picked to adapt the graphic novel.

 Go me!  

This is quite a task, I have to say, especially since I was originally going to just draw (and color) it, but I ended up writing the adaptation as well. Tricky to fit a 400 page novel into a 160-ish page graphic novel, especially when so much of the humor is dependent on the language, and not necessarily on the visuals.

Not complainin', just sayin'.

Anyway, I started out the gate like a herd of turtles, because  right away I got COVID which knocked me on my butt. 

And COVID brain fog? That's a thing. I already struggle with brain fog due to autoimmune disease, and COVID made it worse.

Not complainin' just sayin'.

This set a few of the assignments on my plate back, which pushed starting Good Omens back. 

But hey, big fat lead time! No worries!

Then my computer crawled toward the grave.

My trusty MAC Pro Tower was nearly 15 years old when its sturdy heart ground to a near-halt with daily crashes. I finally got around to doing some diagnostics; some of its little brain actions were at 5% functionality. I had no reliable backups.

There are so many issues with getting a new computer when you haven't had a new computer or peripherals in nearly fifteen years and all of your software, including your Photoshop program is fifteen years old.

At the time, I was still on rural internet...which means dial-up speed.

Whatever you have for internet in the city, roll that clock back to about 2001.

That's what I had. I not only had to replace almost all of my hardware but I had to load and update all programs at dial-up speed.

Welcome to my gigabyte hell.

The entire process of replacing the equipment and programs took weeks and then I had to relearn all the software.

All of this was super expensive in terms of money and time cost.

But I was not daunted! Nosirree!

I still had a huge lead time! I can do anything! I have an iron will!

And boy, howdy, I was going to need it.

At about the same time, a big fatcat quadrillionaire client who had hired me years ago to develop a big, major transmedia project for which I was paid almost entirely in stock, went bankrupt leaving everyone holding the bag, and taking a huge chunk of my future retirement fund with it.

I wrote a very snarky almost hilarious Patreon post about it, but am not entirely in a position to speak freely because I don't want to get sued. Even though I had to go to court over it, (and I had to do that over Zoom at dial-up speed,) I'm pretty sure I'll never get anything out of this drama, and neither will anyone else involved, except millionaire dude and his buddies who all walked away with huge multi-million dollar bonuses weeks before they declared bankruptcy, all the while claiming they would not declare bankruptcy.

Even the accountant got $250,000 a month to shut down the business, while creators got nothing.

That in itself was enough drama for the year, but we were only at February by that point, and with all those months left, 2023 had a lot more to throw at me.

Fresh from my return from my Society of Illustrators show, and a lovely time at MOCCA, it was time to face practical medical issues, health updates, screening, and the like. I did my adult duty and then went back to work hoping for no news, but still had a weird feeling there would be news.

I know everyone says that, but I mean it. I had a bad feeling.

Then there was news.

I was called back for tests and more tests. This took weeks. The ubiquitous biopsy looked, even to me staring at the screen in real time, like bad news. 

It also hurt like a mofo after the anesthesia wore off. I wasn't expecting that.

Then I got the official bad news.

Cancer which runs in my family finally got me. Frankly, I was surprised I didn't get it sooner.

Stage 0, and treatment would likely be fast and complication-free. Face the peril, get it over with, and get back to work. 

I requested surgery months in the future so I could finish Good Omens first, but my doc convinced me the risk of waiting was too great. Get it done now.

"You're really healthy," my doc said. Despite an auto-immune issue which plagues me, I am way healthier than the average schmoe of late middle age. She informed me I would not even need any chemo or radiation if I took care of this now.

So I canceled my appearance at San Diego Comic Con. I did not inform the Good Omens team of my issues right away, thinking this would not interfere with my work schedule, but I did contact my agent to inform her of the issue. I also contacted a lawyer to rewrite my will and make sure the team had access to my digital files in case there were complications.

Then I got back to work, and hoped for the best.

Eff this guy.

Before I could even plant my carcass on the surgery table, I got a massive case of ocular shingles.

I didn't even know there was such a thing. 

There I was, minding my own business. I go to bed one night with a scratchy eye, and by 4 PM the next day, I was in the emergency room being told if I didn't get immediate specialist treatment, I was in big trouble.

I got transferred to another hospital and got all the scary details, with the extra horrid news that I could not possibly have cancer surgery until I was free of shingles, and if I did not follow a rather brutal treatment procedure - which meant super-painful  eye drops every half hour, twenty-four hours a day and daily hospital treatment - I could lose the eye entirely, or be blinded, or best case scenario, get permanent eye damage.

What was even funnier (yeah, hilarity) is the drops are so toxic if you don't use the medication just right, you can go blind anyway.

Hi Ho.

Ulcer is on the right. That big green blob.

I had just finished telling my cancer surgeon I did not even really care about getting cancer, was happy it was just stage zero, had no issues with scarring, wanted no reconstruction, all I cared about was my work. 

Just cut it out and get me back to work.

And now I wondered if I was going to lose my ability to work anyway.

Shingles often accompanies cancer because of the stress on the immune system, and yeah, it's not pretty. This is me looking like all heck after I started to get better.

The first couple of weeks were pretty demoralizing as I expected a straight trajectory to wellness. But it was up and down all the way. 

Some days I could not see out of either eye at all. The swelling was so bad that I had to reach around to my good eye to prop the lid open. Light sensitivity made seeing out of either eye almost impossible. Outdoors, even with sunglasses, I had to be led around by the hand.

I had an amazing doctor. I meticulously followed his instructions, and I think he was surprised I did. The treatment is really difficult, and if you don't do it just right no matter how painful it gets, you will be sorry. 

To my amazement, after about a month, my doctor informed me I had no vision loss in the eye at all. "This never happens," he said.

I'd spent a couple of weeks there trying to learn to draw in the near-dark with one eye, and in the end, I got all my sight back.

I could no longer wear contact lenses (I don't really wear them anyway, unless I'm going to the movies,) would need hard core sun protection for awhile, and the neuralgia and sun sensitivity were likely to linger. But I could get back to work.

I have never been more grateful in my life.

Neuralgia sucks, by the way, I'm still dealing with it months later.

Anyway, I decided to finally go ahead and tell the Good Omens team what was going on, especially since this was all happening around the time the Kickstarter was gearing up.

Now that I was sure I'd passed the eye peril, and my surgery for Stage 0 was going to be no big deal, I figured all was a go. I was still pretty uncomfortable and weak, and my ideal deadline was blown, but with the book not coming out for more than a year, all would be OK. I quit a bunch of jobs I had lined up to start after Good Omens, since the project was going to run far longer than I'd planned.

Everybody on the team was super-nice, and I was pretty optimistic at this time. But work was going pretty slow during, as you may imagine.

But again...lots of lead time still left, go me.

Then I finally got my surgery.

Which was not as happy an experience as I had been hoping for.

My family said the doc came out of the operating room looking like she'd been pulled backwards through a pipe, She informed them the tumor which looked tiny on the scan was "...huge and her insides are a mess."

Which was super not fun news.

Eff this guy.

The tumor was hiding behind some dense tissue and cysts. After more tests, it was determined I'd need another surgery and was going to have to get further treatments after all.

The biopsy had been really painful, but the discomfort was gone after about a week, so no biggee. The second surgery was, weirdly, not as painful as the biopsy, but the fatigue was big time.

By then, the Good Omens Kickstarter had about run its course, and the record-breaker was both gratifying and a source of immense social pressure.

I'd already turned most of my social media over to an assistant, and I'm glad I did.

But the next surgery was what really kicked me on my keister.

All in all, they took out an area the size of a baseball. It was  hard to move and wiped me out for weeks and weeks. I could not take care of myself. I'd begun losing hair by this time anyway, and finally just lopped it off since it was too heavy for me to care for myself. The cut hides the bald spots pretty well.

After about a month, I got the go-ahead to travel to my show at the San Diego Comic Con Museum (which is running until the first week of April, BTW). I was very happy I had enough energy to do it. But as soon as I got back, I had to return to treatment.

Since I live way out in the country, going into the city to various hospitals and pharmacies was a real challenge. I made more than 100 trips last year, and a drive to the compounding pharmacy which produced the specialist eye medicine I could not get anywhere else was six hours alone.

Naturally, I wasn't getting anything done during this time.

But at least my main hospital is super swank.

The oncology treatment went smoothly, until it didn't. The feels don't hit you until the end. By then I was flattened.

So flattened that I was too weak to control myself, fell over, and smashed my face into some equipment.

Nearly tore off my damn nostril.

Eff this guy.

Anyway, it was a bad year.

Here's what went right.

I have a good health insurance policy. The final tally on my health care costs ended up being about $150,000. I paid about 18% of that, including insurance. I had a high deductible and some experimental medicine insurance didn't cover. I had savings,  enough to cover the months I wasn't working, and my Patreon is also very supportive. So you didn't see me running a Gofundme or anything.

Thanks to everyone who ever bought one of my books.

No, none of that money was Good Omens Kickstarter money. I won't get most of my pay on that for months, which is just as well because it kept my taxes lower last year when I needed a break.

So, yay.

My nose is nearly healed. I opted out of plastic surgery, and it just sealed up by itself. I'll never be ready for my closeup, but who the hell cares.

I got to ring the bell.

I had a very, VERY hard time getting back to work, especially with regard to focus and concentration. My work hours dropped by over 2/3. I was so fractured and weak, time kept slipping away while I sat in the studio like a zombie. Most of the last six months were a wash.

I assumed focus issues were due (in part) to stress, so sought counseling. This seemed like a good idea at first, but when the counselor asked me to detail my issues with anxiety, I spent two weeks doing just that and getting way more anxious, which was not helpful.

After that I went EFF THIS NOISE, I want practical tools, not touchy feelies (no judgment on people who need touchy-feelies, I need a pragmatic solution and I need it now,) so tried using the body doubling focus group technique for concentration and deep work.

Within two weeks, I returned to normal work hours.

I got rural broadband, jumping me from dial up speed to 1 GB per second.

It's a miracle.

Massive doses of Vitamin D3 and K2. Yay.

The new computer works great.

The Kickstarter did so well, we got to expand the graphic novel to 200 pages. Double yay.

I'm running late, but everyone on the Good Omens team is super supportive. I don't know if I am going to make the book late or not, but if I do, well, it surely wasn't on purpose, and it won't be super late anyway. I still have months of lead time left.

I used to be something of a social media addict, but now I hardly ever even look at it, haven't been directly on some sites in over a year, and no longer miss it. It used to seem important and now doesn't.

More time for real life.

While I think the last year aged me about twenty years, I actually like me better with short hair. I'm keeping it.

OK. Rough year. 

Not complainin', just sayin'.

Back to work on The Book.

And only a day left to vote for Good Omens, Neil Gaiman, and Sandman in the Comicscene Awards. Thanks. 

[handweavers]

at what point does something stop being made by a person and start being made by a machine? is someone creating a photoshop action so the computer will run code to edit a photo they found online all that different from someone inputting words into a human made algorithm trained on human made images to generate a photo? if i use a knitting machine to make something does it count as human made or machine made or both? if i design a program that knits the object without me having to manually operate the machine does it still hold emotional value? what if i allow others to use that program to do the same thing and they input a sentence into the program articulating what they want made and the machine creates it? is 3d printing art? is technology itself capable of being art? if we define 'what gets to be art' by the % of machine involvement at what % does it stop being art? does this entire argument not feel a bit futile and arbitrary to you?

everyone will have a different answer just like how everyone has a different answer on 'what is art' and that's an argument we've been having for ages and will continue to have for the foreseeable future. i'm a weaver and an artist and my tendency is to lean toward the romantic, but in my efforts to be a materialist i ultimately find these questions largely unhelpful on the topic of 'should generative ai art be forbidden' because if we're only talking about how things make us feel and how we want the world to be and not the actual material impacts of things from a practical perspective we'll never get anything done. it's why i said that arguments against generative ai that take this stance are unconvincing and if you try to critique ai from an angle that isn't materialist you will run yourself in circles.

[anjanahalo]

Wayne Vs Fenton 3

start of the madness

pls note I'm putting these numbers in as "what I have written." They're not gonna necessarily be in order. I hope to make a full fic to put on AO3. In the interim, here's stuff I wrote in general as it strikes me in the moment. This bit is from Tim's perspective after Damian and Danny Are Friends become a known quantity in the Wayne household. ~*~

Damian making friends didn’t make sense. Everyone else felt complacent in simply accepting it. Tim wasn’t. Considering his upbringing, autonomous socializing wasn’t part of Damian’s personality. Nor was how calm and patient the former assassin child became with all of his siblings, Tim included. Damian himself insisted he and this “Danny” were friends. Hell, Damian even called the kid by a nickname. Not his last name, not “Daniel.” His actual, preferred nickname. Tim was suspicious and instantly began investigating. Daniel “Danny” Fenton, age 15, moved to Gotham two months ago from Amity Park, Illinois with his godfather and temporary guardian, Vlad Masters, former mayor of Amity Park, head of Vladco Industries, and heir to Wisconsin’s Self Proclaimed Dairy King’s fortune. Child of Jack and Madeline Fenton, doctors of something called ectobiology, former college classmates of Vlad Masters, and founders of FentonWorks, a cottage research facility that developed antighost (Ghosts? Really?) weaponry and equipment. Brother of Jasmine Fenton, currently a student of Yale in their psychology undergraduate program, and already a shoe-in for the Dean’s list. Honestly, of all the people related to him, Danny ended up being the least interesting. Middling grades that dropped in high school along with attendance. That was probably what led to his coming to Gotham. A set of brilliant - if evidentially weird - parents and a rich and involved godfather doing what they could to help their faltering son to succeed by sending him to one of the top schools on the east coast. There was evidence that Amity Park itself had some apparently minor meta vigilante protecting it, but searches for “Phantom” turned up nothing in the Justice League’s database, suggesting whomever this was might be an actual ghost like Deadman and, thus, restricted to access by those with JLD clearance. Tim put aside that issue for later. He could just ask B for privileges later. Besides, the only information he found on this vigilante was on a few amateur fansites and local papers. No major news sites or government listings. It couldn’t be anything major. His focus remained on Daniel Fenton. Except, even when looking into the kid’s socials, there wasn’t anything interesting. He had a couple friends back in Amity, the most interesting of the two was Samantha Mason of the Mason family, though Tim already knew of her from various socialite dinners she looked ready to burn to the ground, pink and lacey dress or not. Her social media was full of activism, conservation movements, and calls for both veganism and something called ultra recycle vegetarianism. Tucker came from an average family of upper middle class parents, nothing odd there, though his social media showed his love of technology and ancient Egypt. Nothing strange there. Danny’s social media, besides his friends, included links to Nasa, occasional rambles about high school life, and, for some reason, a dog photoshopped to look green. From the replies of his few followers, it was an inside joke since they all cooed over the dog and didn’t comment on the green. Again, nothing strange. Even the one time he managed to hack into Damian’s phone to see his messages yielded nothing. He and Danny would meet for what Danny called “playdates.” For some reason, Damian played along with a name Tim knew he’d scoff as childish and beneath him. Even that would be innocuous. One or the other would suggest meeting at various parks, arcades, even the observatory, negotiating dates and times, and that was it.

Danny was a normal kid. Damian was a born and bred assassin. Why in the actual fuck were these two friends? Nothing made sense. Everyone else was happy to ignore it because of the peace the irrationality before them instilled. Tim wouldn’t become complacent. Whatever Danny was hiding, he’d find it.

[lynxgriffin]

I would like to know what program you use to make your artwork

I don't have a digitizing board, so I do everything on my cell phone (or just draw in my notebook)

You know, I REALLY want to do a webcomic too, but I don't know where to start. Seeing you do this is really cool, and it seems like it's something you really enjoy.

I just wanted to say that you and a lot of people out there are great inspirations to me

So thank you, and keep up the good work, you're doing well!

I don't know if what I use is really helpful if you're a beginner! I use Photoshop (which usually involves a subscription payment) and a Wacom Cintiq since I primarily do art as a professional for my job. Those are expensive and a little intimidating if you don't have the resources for it yet! Otherwise, you can get Procreate for iPad/tablets for only $10, and it works pretty well...plus now there's an animation program for it, also cheap! There's also Sketchbook Pro, which has some great drawing tools and is now free!

Otherwise...honestly, there's absolutely nothing wrong with drawing your comics on paper and then scanning or photographing them if you want to share them. I spent years and years drawing comics on paper before I moved to doing everything digitally!

I know it can be intimidating, but if you want to start in on a webcomic, the best way to do so is just to start! A lot of comics is learning as you go...what things you're capable of and what you still need to learn. The nice thing about comics is that it forces you to try all sorts of aspects of art! If you're worried about starting, I would say try and pick a project that is small and self-contained instead of launching into your big epic first, and create a big backlog of pages before posting anything so that you don't feel overwhelmed with releasing things on time and can get a sense for how long schedule-wise it takes you to make one page.

Otherwise, thank you very much for the kind words, it means a lot to me!

[genericpuff]

Let me preface this: I'm an architecture major

I used to be a big LO fan but obviously fell out of love of it like a lot of us did, and I know LO uses SketchUp for backgrounds. That is not an issue I have with the comic or any comic, I want artists to have an easier time in any way they can. I was always under the impression Rachel imported the models into Photoshop and drew over them like you can see in the early episodes with the sketchy lines. Well, school just started recently for me and I now have access to SketchUp for my coursework, and I made a few discoveries: 1. Photoshop cannot read SketchUp files, and while you can import them into Clip Studio through some configuring, they can be finicky and will lose parts in the importing process, so they are best used into the original SketchUp program to export as PNGs. 2. Many of the models Rachel uses are incredibly easy to find, especially if you put "modern", "luxury", or "classy" before the main part of the search. Many of the houses and rooms for example are first page results. 3. The biggest discovery: You know how we all assumed Rachel was hand-drawing all the lines over the SketchUp models and how she gave up the longer LO went on? Well, it's actually worse. It turns out SketchUp has a thing called "Styles" in it, which means you can mess with the lines and look of the model, such as making it look more like a blueprint or playing with the colors. Well, they have a lot of styles on SketchUp known as "sketchy lines", which are the exact ones Rachel used early in the comic to fit with her style, and it takes a literal click of a button to do. All she would do is pose the model, click the sketchy line style, and export the PNG. That's it. So, yeah, Rachel is so checked out of the comic that she can't even bother to click a single button to make the models fit into the comic's style anymore. Use that information however you like.

Ouhhh sorry OP, I'm about to like, undo all the work you just put into that ask. We've already known about the 3D background problem for a long while now.

First off, it's more likely LO doesn't use SketchUp but actually Acon3D, which is a website that offers 3D models both for free and at cost, which are actually compatible with software like Clip Studio. As soon as you open it up you'll likely see a lot of very familiar backgrounds that are often used in romances, isekais, and period pieces. It's literally the go-to spot for Webtoon Originals creators. Like, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if Naver was partnered with them because of how many of their creators use it.

Second, there's plenty of up-to-date evidence to support the fact that Rachel doesn't exclusively stick to one software, sometimes she's drawing in Photoshop, sometimes she's drawing in Clip Studio Paint, sometimes she's drawing in Procreate. She's undoubtedly using Clip Studio for her paneling, speech bubbles, and backgrounds, as there are built in tools to utilize and convert 3D materials into lineart, among other features that are recognizable as coming from CSP because they're not available in PS or Procreate.

Third, yes, she just uses filters to turn her backgrounds into lineart, this has been apparent since S1. The only backgrounds she's ever 'hand drawn' were the ones involving lots of nature and even those are mostly just Photoshop brushes stamped on.

Like I realize I'm probably bursting your bubble here and I apologize for that lmao but these buildings were never hand-drawn, this is not new information (￣﹏￣；) I appreciate you mentioning your own experiences with it as you're learning it though, I find once you start to learn the process yourself you really start to notice what others are doing. Even I've gone through that over the past couple years as I started to use 3D models and more advanced tools specifically for drawing webtoons.

I will mention btw, there's nothing wrong with using 3D models for your character drawing and backgrounds. The only time it tends to get frustrating is when you're reading a comic that isn't making any attempts to blend the background in with the art style.

Like, The Kiss Bet probably uses 3D models to help with perspective and laying out scenes quickly without second-guessing, but you can tell they still hand-draw over the models because they look natural and like they belong to the comic's stylization. The characters don't look out of place sitting in a living room and the living room doesn't look distracting.

But then you get stuff like Lore Olympus, Let's Play, and Midnight Poppy Land, and it becomes a bit more obvious they're not giving a shit about backgrounds lmao

I get it, WT's deadlines are cutthroat as fuck, but if it's getting to the point that you have an entire team behind you and you're literally just copy pasting video game models from Phantom Hourglass, then it's probably time to re-focus your priorities a bit. There are comics with as few as 1-2 assistants (and even in some cases no assistants at all!!) pulling off backgrounds better than this, even when they're taking shortcuts.

(Nevermore and City of Blank)

But a lot of that does come down to how WT manages its expectations as well as support for their creators. The deadlines and requirements WT puts their creators under are insane and awful in the long-term, and they're not acting with the amount of professionalism they ought to be for a platform that's trying to breakout as a major publisher here in the West. I feel like it comes down to WT loosening the choke chain around their creators, but also creating a standardized level of quality to ensure it's not suffering for the sake of quantity. The traditional literature industry has real editors and stages of quality control for a reason, whereas WT is more interested in just throwing as many series at the wall and dumping all their stock into the ones that stick.

[iniziare]

Hi! I download your newest Photoshop 2024 two nights ago, and it's saying there is only a 5 day grace period before it uninstalls itself if I don't license it. I thought this was meant to be free, so did something happen when the file was created or did I misunderstand what is going on with this?

Hi there!! My apologies for posting this publicly, instead of answering you privately, but I just want to be able to make sure that if anyone else runs into this issue, that they easily have access to the fix. Now, this hasn't happened to me at present after numerous days of consistent use, nor have I heard of anyone else running into it, but I am aware that it can happen, but the fix is actually quite simple (I had to do this for a previous version). Okay, this involves a little bit of navigating and tinkering in Windows, but I'll run you through it, don't worry.

In essence what happened is that Photoshop was able to connect to the Adobe servers, where it verified itself through an automated process, and realized it wasn't quite activated yet. This is nothing concerning, and is something that us little pirates have had to deal with for years without any issue at the backhand. So the simple, very old, and private solution to this is to not let Photoshop connect to the internet at all (this will not limit it in any way), and accomplishing that is simple enough. Before you go through these steps however, please uninstall Photoshop, and reinstall it (ideally in a slightly different location, even if it's in a subfolder.) After that, here, let me run you through the steps!

Step 1. Do a search for 'Windows Defender', and click 'Windows Defender Firewall' when it pops up as a search result. When the window pops up, navigate to the left-hand side and select 'Advanced settings', like below:

Step 2. In the new window, click 'Outbound rules' to the left-hand side, and then 'New rule' on the right-hand side immediately after:

Step 3. Another window will pop up, and in the options given to you, select 'Program', and then, do you remember when you first installed Photoshop? Navigate to that folder, and you'll find the according application file called 'Photoshop' with its usual little icon on the left. To help you, the default path (where I have it installed) is as shown underneath, including the file you should select:

Step 4. Select the file, hit 'Open' in the bottom-right, hit 'Next', and make sure that you then select 'Block this connection'. On the next screen, it'll ask you when the rule should be applied and all options should be checked, if they are not, be sure to check them. You can name this rule however you want on the next screen, it won't matter! Hit 'Finish', and all should be fine from hereon out!

If you run into any problems with any of these steps, let me know, or leave me a little DM and I'll be happy to help!! I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. <3 Have a lovely night!!

[lilis-palace]

WORK-IN-PROGRESS : A Secretaire desk

Not really a guide, but can be interesting for those who would like to know how I create an object or a set. Originally I wrote this essay for a course at my uni but I translated and simplified it.

💡☝️ INSPO

The secretaire desk is an iconic piece of Biedermeier furniture. My fascination with the elegant yet straightforward style is beyond measure.

🧊🕸️ MODELLING

I used Blender for modelling. (I made it when I was still using the old 2.7 version.) The design process for the object consumed a significant amount of my time, spanning a total of three hours.

After I finish making the model, I need to do something called "unfolding." This means turning the 3D object into a 2D mesh. Once that's done, I "burn" the shadows onto it, which gives it the final look you see below.

🎨🖌️ TEXTURE

After that, I use the Sims 4 Studio program. This is where I make sure that the object looks right with its texture and I decide how it should act in the game.

To create the special intarsia effect, I use patterns that I've already prepared in Photoshop. I carefully rotate and arrange them until they fit just right. It takes a lot of time, but the final outcome is totally worth it.

🌐✨ NORMAL & SPECULAR MAP

The Normal map is really important for objects with low levels of detail. It determines how light behaves on different surfaces. With the Normal map, even a surface that looks completely smooth can actually appear uneven when light shines on it. This creates the illusion of more intricate details without slowing down the game's performance.

In the game, they use a simpler version of the Normal map called the Bump map. To make it, I use a plugin in Photoshop and save it in a specific format called .DDS. I have to tweak the channels and choose the right settings to get it just right.

When I apply the Bump map to my Biedermeier writing cabinet with shelves, it creates small shadows at the edges of the shelves when light hits the center. This makes the shelves stand out from the flat surface and adds depth to the object.

The shine of an object is controlled by the specular map. It determines how reflective the surface appears, whether it's a shiny metal, a glossy glass, or a completely matte material. By adjusting the color values, we can create different types of shine.

In this project, I want to achieve a specific type of shine that looks like wax or honey. Fortunately, I already have a template ready for this. I just need to find it and apply it to the object in the program.

📊📐SIMS 4 STUDIO SETTINGS

After that, I need to make a bunch of tweaks to make sure the object works properly in the game. It involves doing both small and big adjustments. For example, I add tags to make it easy to find in the catalog, figure out how the surface should look, find the right spots where other objects can connect to it, decide where chairs and writing surfaces should go, and more. The first picture shows how things are set up by default, while the second one shows the changes I've made.

Throughout this whole process, I have to carefully figure out the exact positions for different parts using a coordinate system. It can be a bit tiresome and take up a lot of time.

📈 💼 WORK IN PROGRESS

First, I made a work-in-progress picture. This is how I announce the new collection.

💃🎞️ GIF

In the post, there's a gif that demonstrates various color combinations. Creating this gif involves a careful and detailed process. I have to take individual photos of all 16 color combinations for each of the two cabinets. Afterward, I need to carefully match and merge these photos together. Finally, I use an online Gif maker site to edit and finalize the gif.

📷🖼️ PREVIEW PIC

I spent a good 2 hours setting up the scene, and it wasn't easy finding the right items and creating the perfect environment. Editing the image also took me another 2 hours, as I paid close attention to every little detail.

Out of the three images you see above, the first one is the default color scheme generated by the game itself. The second image, on the other hand, was created using a program called Reshade. It's an extra tool you have to install separately, and its main purpose is to change the lighting inside the game. It adds depth and creates a whole different atmosphere. As for the third image, that's what it looks like after I adjusted the colors in Photoshop. And finally, I added shadows and highlights to the image to give it a more three-dimensional and immersive feel.

I hope you enjoyed this post and see you soon. The release date of the set is tomorrow!

[disparition]

Whether you approach arts and media as a creator, a fan, a professional, or a hobbyist, you are probably very well aware of the rapid growth of AI in many areas of creative life and the conversation surrounding it. Whether we are talking about fiction or text of any kind, visual arts like painting and drawing, music composition and performance, sound design and audio editing - in all of these fields AI is something we now have to deal with, and there are many unanswered questions. How do we protect our livelihoods and practices as artists? What control can we have over our own work and its incorporation into machine learning tools and datasets? How do we as lovers of art and music determine if what we are reading, watching, or listening to is made by humans? Or how do we denote the particular degree of involvement of humans in a work of art?

It’s a complicated issue because it can be hard to say exactly where to draw the line. For example, well before the current conversation about AI, composers like Brian Eno were incorporating generative and algorithmic elements into their work. Does this mean such work is not “essentially human made”? Does it matter if the non-human components of a piece are created by randomness, or by natural elements gathered in e.g. a field recording, vs. being created by a computer program?

Those kinds of questions are more about the philosophical side of the issue. There are more pressing questions to do with how AI affects our ability to actually survive as artists. And, as the technology grows more powerful and the distinction between AI-generated or AI-enhanced material and human made material or basic documentation of reality itself, what methods do we use to signify that a given piece of media is or is not AI made, and what are the exact qualifications of that? Should the label “AI art” apply to work that is entirely generated by a computer, or should that label also be applied to any art that uses AI tools in any context - e.g. the new tools in Photoshop that make it easier to remove a specific object from an image and fill it in with background. What about the world of video games, where AI has been used for decades for things like pathfinding but is new and controversial when it comes to using it for story/dialog elements or certain visual assets?

We are, I think, still very much in the early days of all this, so it’s hard to come up with firm answers as the field changes so rapidly, but this is an essential conversation to be held now. I’ve been talking to a friend who put together a survey for an organization called Verified Human, who are looking specifically into the issue of how do we determine - going forward - whether a piece of art or media is “essentially human made”, and the question of how that should be communicated.

The idea of this survey is to gather as many points of view as possible for this conversation. I know a lot of the people that follow me here are artists and lovers of art, of all different kinds, and to me it is absolutely essential that creators of all kinds be involved in this conversation from early on. Please take a few minutes and fill out the survey via the link below, and if you are interested in helping out, please spread the word. And if you have any questions or would like to discuss, please feel free to contact me directly. Thank you.

https://forms.gle/BrSbGyq9wAyzwTa88

[vounoura]

I'm doing ittttt! I did look at Photopea and wow you were soooo right it hatteesss firefox. So I did the free trial of adobe photography and played around with it. I feel like the picture quality isn't as crisp as yours, but I'm taking recordings off my ps5. I'm running into the issue that my file sizes are too big, and the only thing I can think of is just making the picture size smaller. Is there another way to decrease file size without sacrificing picture clarity?

I've so so appreciated your time! <3

explanation under cut for length. a little image heavy.

note: I can't give specific advice for adobe photography, bc I've never worked with it. I'll give you what I know re: working w/ photopea and photoshop 2020 - I am by no means an expert at this, and you can probably find additional help from other posters who've been at this longer than me with better knowledge of photoshop. but I'll give you what I can!

for the first question: The quality of your gifs is first and foremost really dictated by the quality of your video - the better it is, the better your gifs can be, at the expense of your filesize. But the quality looks 100% fine from here.

The 'crisp' quality on my gifs is just sharpening - I'm not sure what it would be on that particular program, but on both photoshop/pea it's called 'smart sharpening' and it helps significantly.

On photopea:

Get your gif cropped and resized. See here for tumblr's gif size rules; these are really important and your gifs should always follow these. The reason is that if your gifs are too small / large for how they're being posted (one in the same line, two in the same line, 3+ in the same line, etc) they'll be automatically resized, which wrecks your quality. This is always the first step before anything else. Yours is 540px, so good to go.

Select all frames and go here:

and on photoshop, the process is a little more involved:

get your gif cropped and resized. Again, always the first step.

convert to video timeline

select all layers, convert to smart object

smart sharpen (can't sharpen without converting to a smart object)

convert frames > flatten frames into clips

delete smart layer

convert to frame animation

make frames from layers

do your colouring

export > save for web (legacy) for final results

you resize first before smart sharpening bc doing it the other way around destroys the effect of the sharpening.

I can't remember the exact number I used to do on photopea other than I would sharpen twice, on photoshop it's usually smart sharpen @ 355% and that's enough for most gifs, though some (a couple from the Lucanis romance set) took sharpening well enough to do another @ 110% (and some games like my ffxiv sets need lower sharpening); how much kind of depends on the exact game and your own preferences (some people like more, some like less). Sharpening will greatly improve the look of your gifs significantly (as in it's an unskippable step significantly) but is a big filesize hog; I think the lack of quality you're seeing is just bc it's unsharpened.

In terms of actually getting the filesize down without sacrificing quality you have a few options;

generally I don't worry about filesize until after I finish my colouring and sharpening, since those will have significant effects on it. Sometimes due to the way I tend to push shadows really dark a gif is actually larger before colouring than after. ofc if your gif is like 20mb to start you're going to have to trim, but.

The less frames your gif plays, the less its filesize is straight up. If you have extra frames to play with you can remove some off the front and/or back. If not, then:

Related to that, a trick I do with long gifs is to remove every other frame; works really well for video games, but probably not for things like tv shows or cartoons. This takes off half the frames without sacrificing the actual length of the gif or the movement, and the only adjustment I have to make is adjusting how fast it plays. This alone can take a gif from way over to way under and/or let me gif longer movements than I otherwise would; lots (most I think, actually) from the lucanis romance set used this to get them under 10mb. I also check for dead frames (sometimes w/ video games and their captures, you get an extra frame with no movement; this makes your gif choppy). you can take a 300 frame gif to 150 w/ this. I've only done this on photoshop, but it'd probably work with photopea too.

The less colour and movement your gif has to render in general, the lower the filesize. for example, compare these two:

The first was an absolute PITA to get under 10mb bc it's a lot of detail, colour, and movement. The second has significantly less colour and barely any movement, and took barely anything to get under the size limit (and can be way longer in total animation length than the first).

5. your filters and colouring can significantly affect your filesize; how much depends on the colouring, which is dependent on your preferences. I personally tend to have really bold colours combined with very striking shadows bc that's what I like; more colour means bigger files, but lots of black (or white) helps bring down the filesize. again, comes back to the idea that the less your gif has to render the smaller it is.

6. the smaller your length and width, the smaller your filesize is just straight up. a 268px gif will always be able to handle more movement and length than a 540px, and ditto w/ a 177px. You can't touch the width, but you can touch the height; you can remove some of this to take off a little bit if necessary, though unless you're removing large chunks generally the difference in filesize will be fairly minor. The only caveat to this is if you're working with 268/177px gifs, bc all of those in a line need to have the same vertical height or they'll be automatically resized. for single 540px ones tho it's an easy trick.

7. If necessary, you can sometimes add some black (or white, depending on the colour of the gif) gradient at varying strengths and layer opacities as a pseudo-vignette to take away some extra colour, which helps. If I do this it's only in the corners or sides. ex:

(bottom corners have black added in both)

you can also do this with strong colour vignettes. I usually add faint ones to a lot of gifs for extra colour and interest (ie. all of the ones in the lucanis romance set have a light red vignette added), but it can be as light or strong as your personal taste dictates. if it's strong enough to remove some detail, it may help; really faint ones like I do just to add extra colour add to it.

8. play with your dithering settings when you export; bc most of my stuff is video games, I almost never touch this but in an emergency you can consider it. See here for an in-depth explanation on what each option does.

too long, didn't read:

as a general rule, your filesize is going to be dictated by a couple major things; the number of frames you have, the size of your gif, the level of colour and detail, and the amount of movement. adjusting these will affect your size.

height/width, number of frames, and the level of detail are some of the biggest factors.

dark/black (or white) backgrounds, static backgrounds, black and white gifs / limited colour gifs, or gifs with a lot of deep black shadows are generally smaller or help to make them smaller. general rule: the less you have to animate (colour, detail, movement, etc), the smaller the gif.

[maareyas]

anyways here's a quick list of steps I had to do for Star Clock Silver both for those curious and also bc I Will Forget My Own Process due to having a bad memory lol. There's a reason why the thing took me like a month or 2 of work-

Thumbnailing and sketching

Layout Part 1 - The Clock

Painting the Clock

Layout Part 2 - Silver

Drawing Silver in literal pieces like a vtuber model

Drawing the background and other elements

Making a reference image

Rigging Silver (Agony Part 1)

Animating Silver (Agony Part 2)

Putting it all together in After Effects and experiencing 10 different problems (Agony 2.5 ReMix)

Compositing for real this time (Agony III Re:Mind Chain of Memories 358/30 Days)

Done ✨

Software I used:

Note: I am not paying for any subscription for any of these :^)

Adobe Illustrator - Completely optional. I only used it because it's easier to draw circles there. Used to draw the initial layout for the clock.

Clip Studio Paint - For everything that actually involved drawing or painting. Silver was drawn entirely in CSP, but I saved everything as a photoshop file because it's more compatible with the other programs I used.

Photoshop - I used it mostly for layout-ing also tbh.

DragonBones Pro - Opensource✨. For rigging + animating Silver. Tedious to use but it's free and gets the job done.

Adobe After Effects - For putting it all together + some extra effects. All the other parts of the Star Clock illustration--such as the clock itself, the gears, etc were all animated here. They didn't need fancy animation like Silver did; only basic rotations and opacity ones.

[roastedstix]

2024 (Part 3/3) - After Effects and Compositing

Something else I learned since 2018 is After Effects. I have a love/hate relationship with Adobe. Their products can be quite shit. Especially Adobe Animate. But that shit is very user friendly so it can be good shit and I use that shit every single day. After Effects is another program I recently fell in love/hate with. It's a very powerful animation software and you can do quite a lot of stuff with it. So this blog entry is dedicated to the things I've worked on using After Effects. I have less things to talk about here so this is just mostly show, no tell.

So I was contacted by Zach from the Long Gone Gulch pilot and invited me to do some compositing for the toon. I had donated to their Kickstarter campaign some time ago so of course I accepted the offer! Here are the pins and extra stuff I got from that Kickstarter:

It was fairly simple work, I just needed to put together the animation and the backgrounds along with some lighting effects. Sometimes there was some tricky masking needed and sometimes the layer count would go above 50 but it wasn't too bad. They also contacted me soon after to do compositing for another short film they worked on:

I've also been doing a LOT of compositing work for Smile Studios. I've worked with Alek for a long time now, probably one of the first jobs I ever did. I helped with animation for his lovely point and click game Tsioque some years ago. Anyway, I helped with a lot of projects, a lot of them for video games. They all go through similar processes so I'll just share them all here:

This one was extra tricky as I had to do some 3D work in Blender:

All these were more intense and involved working with very large Photoshop files and a lot of complex layers and effects. Which meant super long render times. Despite that, these were still super fun to work on and really pushed me to learn new things.

Anyway, that should be it. Like I said in part 1, I'll still be doing freelance work here and there, so expect to see more work like these and animations like the ones I did for Mashed. And definitely more stuff from myself.

Until next time.

[bizarrequazar]

GJ and ZZH Updates — January 15-21

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This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

01-15 → Kangshifu posted three photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a video collecting behind the scenes footage from his endorsements ads last year. Caption: “The southern new year is here, pack a small gift~ With boss @ Gong Jun Simon every moment is so delicious, get ready to welcome the arrival of the new year.” BGM (that I could find) is Beautiful Day by Mellow Mike, Cyan by Darius, and Follow Back by Felixs.

01-16 → 361° posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. They also later posted a video of him sending New Year’s greetings.

→ MARRSGREEN posted a video of Gong Jun sending New Year’s greetings.

→ Esquire posted a video of Gong Jun sending New Year’s greetings. (1129 kadian)

→ BEAST posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. (1129 kadian)

→ The Instagram posted eight photos of “Zhang Zhehan” in a recording studio that are so poorly photoshopped I actually laughed.

→ Muses posted that they will still be active (shocker.) and that they have dealt severely with the staff involved.

01-17 → Colgate posted a video of Gong Jun sending New Year’s greetings. They also later posted a photo ad featuring him.

→ BAZAAR posted a teaser image for their issue featuring Gong Jun that would release the next day. (1129 kadian) Caption: “Sincere, uplifting, vigorous... His keywords, his name, are waiting for you to reveal.” They also posted a teaser video half an hour later. Caption: “The story between him and another self will take you into a garden dream.”

→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ A Hong Kong news station aired a report about COVID restrictions for live performances being relaxed in greater China. During the report, they used footage from the Word of Honor concert which included Zhang Zhehan.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

01-18 → BAZAAR posted the cover of their issue featuring Gong Jun to announce it being on sale. Caption: “During the busy days of growing up, @ Gong Jun Simon always thanked himself for choosing this path. From the past to the present, he is cute, and he is sober. Childishness and maturity have achieved the perfection of opposites and unity in him, full of infinite vitality. Gong Jun said that for the future, there is only expectation and no fear. Let us embrace the spring together with hope.” Gong Jun’s studio reposted this with the added caption: “In an elegant environment, it is full of agility. Follow the footsteps of nature, walk into the art space of boss @ Gong Jun Simon, and feel the changes of all things.”

→ Gong Jun posted a promotional image for Dragon TV New Year’s program that he will be appearing in on 01-22. Caption: “Every year, the lights are lit up for good luck, praying for the new year, and being full of joy throughout the year. On January 22, at 19:30 on the first day of the Lunar New Year at #Dragon TV Spring Festival#, we will see you there!”

→ BAZAAR posted a short video teasing the photoshoot. Caption: “The bell of the Year of the Rabbit is about to ring, and @ Gong Jun Simon may have made his New Year’s resolution.”

→ BAZAAR posted twelve photos from their photoshoot with Gong Jun and a very tiny bunny. Caption: “Growing up makes our encounters with @ Gong Jun Simon different every time. In the space we build, the childish and mature him unfolds a conversation. The childish him is grateful for the gaze that once stopped, while the mature him says that if he can't advance, he will retreat. This is the truth of life. He has more than one side. And his story has just begun.”

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a video of behind the scenes footage from the BAZAAR photoshoot. Caption: “Boss @ Gong Jun Simon’s winter silhouette is being screened, listening to the sounds of nature, and sinking into the softness of your heart.” BGM is 横 by nacyan. 

→ Hogan posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. (1129 kadian) They later also posted a short commercial of him and another bunny.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted a douyin (flashing images cw) of more behind the scenes footage. Caption: “Boss @ Gong Jun Simon caught a little 🐰 on the set of the year of 🐰” BGM is Better Off Alone by Alice Deejay. Fan Observation: The song choice was likely because Gong Jun wrote “talk to me” on sticky note as part of the photoshoot, seen in the video immediately below. The song includes this as a repeating lyric, though not in the soundbite used in the douyin.

→ BAZAAR posted a video from their photoshoot with Gong Jun. Caption: “After the snow comes to the spring, the sun warms the earth, @ Gong Jun Simon reunites with his former ‘self’ when winter goes to spring, the original intention remains the same, and the future can be expected to be bright. Everything here is full of hope, as before, like a dream.”

→ Gong Jun posted six of the BAZZAR photos to his Weibo, caption: “Year of the Rabbit photos 📸 Thank you @小莉BAZAAR” as well as to his Xiao Hong Shu, caption: “Happy Year of the Rabbit!” and his Instagram, caption: “A whole free soul~” (a reference to Li Ronghao’s album Free Soul)

→ BAZAAR posted a video interview between Gong Jun and his younger self. [text translation] Caption: “‘If then...if in the future...’ If you can, New Year, you might as well have a sweet dream with @ Gong Jun Simon. In this issue of LET ME ASK, Gong Jun invited the ‘young man’ Gong Jun to cross the boundaries of time and space and talk about choices, longings, now and then.” 

→ Tiffany & Co. posted four of the BAZAAR photos highlighting their jewelry.

01-19 → Gong Jun’s studio posted a promotional video for Honor spoken by Gong Jun. This was reposted by Honor. Fan Observation: The way he’s holding his phone in this video has his hands in almost the same position as the person in the hoodie from his 12-17 photos, allowing fans to make a direct comparison between the thumbs.

→ BAZAAR posted a video of footage of Gong Jun from the photoshoot. Caption: “Winter goes to spring, and when we woke up from our dream, we found the figure of @ Gong Jun Simon in the garden.”

→ Colgate posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun.

→ BAZAAR posted two videos [here] and [here] of Gong Jun in partnership with Fresh. The first of these was reposted by Fresh.

→ Fresh posted a collection of WeChat stickers using gifs of Gong Jun. They also posted a photo ad featuring him shortly after.

→ BAZAAR posted another video of footage from the photoshoot. Caption: “When the dazzling light flickers on @ Gong Jun Simon’s wrist, the image of the dream also zooms and changes, locking in every beautiful moment close to Gong Jun.”

→ The Instagram posted another deepfake video of “Zhang Zhehan” playing guitar and biking. This was later also posted to YouTube.

→ Gong Xi Fa Cai, a song Gong Jun released last year for Lunar New Year’s, rose to #12 on QQMusic.

→ Hogan tweeted the earlier commercial featuring Gong Jun.

01-20 → Colgate posted a photo ad of Gong Jun overlayed with photos taken by fans, many of which include dolls of him. (As far as I can tell no hanbaos snuck in.)

→ Gong Jun posted a promotional photo for his appearance on Beijing TV’s New Year’s program on 01-22. Caption: “#Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala# will be locked at 19:30 on the first day of the new year on January 22, and I wish you all a happy new year ahead with ‘rabbits’ and everything goes smoothly!” Fan Observations: Both of the New Year’s programs will be airing at the same time, though he is only in segments of each.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ BAZAAR posted their interview with Gong Jun to their WeChat. [translation]

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Hu Xia, the artist who sang Wu Ti for Word of Honor, made a post promoting his performance of Gong Jun’s song 春意福盈 for CCTV’s New Year’s program. This was posted at 16:40. 

→ The Instagram posted three photos including “Zhang Zhehan”, Lexus, Danny, Billy, and Mark (aka the gym bros) among others.

→ TME posted a promotional video (flashing lights cw) for Dragon TV’s New Year’s program, including two brief shots of Gong Jun.

01-21 → Gong Jun’s studio posted four photos of him to celebrate the New Year. Caption: “Welcoming the New Year with joy, the New Year is in full swing! Boss @ Gong Jun Simon congratulates the Chinese New Year, and wishes everyone a great ‘rabbit’ in 2023!” They also later changed their Weibo header to a photo from this shoot.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ The Weibo for Rising with the Wind posted two new promotional stills featuring Gong Jun.

→ Kangshifu posted three photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

→ Beijing TV posted a video giving a sneak peek of Gong Jun’s performance. The song he’s performing is 赤伶 originally by the artist HITA, a CPF who on 01-08 (the day before this was filmed) commented on her QQ Music, “I will always be here ❤️💙”

→ The Instagram posted eight more white haired photos (because I guess they’re completely out of ideas by now), and two photos of fan made bath mats.

→ Gong Jun posted four photos of him cooking to his personal Weibo. Caption: “A must-have every year, ✌️ Happy New Year! 🐰🐰🐰” This was reposted by 361° and Kangshifu. He also posted all the photos to his Xiao Hong Shu, caption: “Happy new year! Annual ritual  Shallowly fried two dishes” and the two of him cooking and a different one of him sitting at the table to his Instagram, caption (originally in English): “Happy Chinese New Year! 🐰🐰🐰”  Fan Observations:  -  The Weibo post was made at 19:11 and the XHS at 19:16, 511 kadian in the minutes. My phone didn’t get the notification for the Instagram post, so I don’t know the exact timestamp for that... (If someone knows it please tell me, I pay way too much attention to these.)  -  There seem to be six place settings (11 bowls visible, 6 glasses.)  -  None of the dishes use coriander.  -  In the photo of him sitting that was posted to Instagram, a glass bottle is on the table, whereas in the photos posted to Weibo and XHS it has been moved to a chair. There’s a possible reflection of the photographer in the bottle. Addition 02-24: First 浅 of the year.

Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news → A JunZhe Lunar New Year’s event has just started on Twitter for any who would like to join.

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This post was last edited 2023-02-24.

[maestro04yayyy]

Antivillain au

((Post chloleka confession and reveal) Hypothetical situation that i wrote cause im bored.)

Tigress hurried along rooftops away from her girlfriend and toward the emergency meeting called by Rena Rouge (still dont know how to spell it). Usually they were called because a permanent hero would be absent for a few days to reduce worry and allow them to plan ahead. She knew this one was different because not only was she the last one there, everyone was sitting in a pre-planned semi circle. Even her brother was somehow there before her and she knew he was twice the distance to the rendezvous point. She sent a quick text to her brother that was just question marks and then one to her girlfriend saying she was there. They told her to sit opposite of the group as they all faced her, some with worry others confusion. Her brother had his unmistakable shit eating grin as he silently replied to her msg with 'they know'. Tigress tried to hide her her panic and reply with 'know what?'. Before Viperion could reply Rena stood up.

"So I'm assuming, we've all seen the LadyBlog?"

Tigress had not seen the Ladyblog, and became very worried when she shot a glance at her messages and the Hen rapidly replied: 'Sounds good!' 'holly shit' 'babe' 'check the ladyblog' 'fuckit' 'im omw' 'as hen' 'dont say anything'

"Um..." Someone was about to say they hadn't by was shot a glare by Rena.

"Tigress?" Rena switch from sour to sweet in an instant. "Have you seen the Ladyblog?"

"Uh," both Chat and Viperion were hiding laughs in their palms while Carapace holds Ladybug's shoulder to keep her from intervening. "I have not."

"Allow me to show you." Rena grabbed her flute and pulled up an image, glancing between the image and tigress like she was double checking something. She turned her flute around and there was an image of Tigress kissing the Hen in an alleyway. It was a split second occurrence in the middle of a chase, a literal peck as she remembered it. How did someone get a picture of the actual kiss? Yeah they stared at each other for multiple seconds before and after, but the actual kiss happened so fast she wasn't sure if they were still being chased. "Care to explain?"

"Ummmmm..." She looked around at her teamate and friends for assistance. Some shrugged, Viperion muffled even more laughter, and Chat looked like he was going through a crisis. "Photoshop?"

"See, I thought that too, so I ran it through some programs." Ladybug really looked like she wanted to intervene but Carapace held his grasp. "Its legit."

"Um, oops?"

"Yep, big oops" Rena returned the flute to its sheath. "Now, Ladybug thinks, maybe, possibly, even a tad bit likely that you are a liability."

"Oh." It was Chat's turn to hold back Ladybug as Carapace stopped Viperion from stepping in.

"Now, we've been working together for so long that I trust you to give an honest answer.-"

"I will."

"Okay, do you know the Hen's true identity?"

"No." She said with as much confidence as she could summon, y'know, like a liar.

"Does the Hen know your true identity?"

"No."

"Are you and the Hen romantically involved?"

Before she could answer multiple fireworks went up behind the group, distracting them enough for the Hen to run through and grab Tigress without conflict.

"I'd love to stay and chat,-" she spoke fast, glancing at the conflicted cat hero and smiling at her own pun. "-But I've got a crime to commit."

Quickly everyone looked around to see if this was planned. No one knew so they all chased after the villain. "I guess thats a yes." Carapace nodded to his girlfriend before following their teammates.

(The entire time the conversation happened, Chat is trying to figure something out. He starts off laughing because of the situation but then he remembers tigress is Juleka and Juleka is dating Chloe so holy crap, Juleka is cheating on chloe as tigress with the hen. And then he thinks about how smart and confident Chloe is so she had to know that Juleka was 'unfaithful'. So why were they still dating? He comes to the conclusion that chloe and Juleka were secretly in an open relationship and the hen was also dating juleka. And then a thought occurs, just as the blonde villain runs off, 'what if Chloe is the Hen?' (I typed juleka so many times not im not even sure if im spelling it right anymore))

Holy shit i love it!!!!!

Oh and I love a lot that chloe used fireworks.

By the way ladybug is very lucky she hadn't tried to retrive the miraculous from juleka while chloe qas able to see. That would have triggered her pretty badly.

Oh and honestly adrien is smart but he is goofy so I think he will belive the open relationship theory more(also he would probably be in denial too, since even if they play a lot, THE HEN is still his enemy)