#it was a fun challenge! highly reccommend

[claiborneart]

secret santa I did for RobinBlue!

[gummy-axolotl]

ive been seeing your smile for me posts and i cant help but ask what is it? i dont hear about much stuff as much because my phone broke so idk if this is popular rn lmao

I wish it was popular lol,, nah the fandom is very small and I'm like five years late to it 💔

It's an indie game by Yugo Limbo and Day Lane, where you have to go around and make people happy! It's like $13 on steam so if you have the chance to play it I highly reccommend it!! The art and character designs are so beautiful and the puzzles are challenging and fun!

I love all the characters, they're so unique and interesting and I just really like them alskdgdgsklj

uhhhh ye

:-)

[pizzaback]

my #1 rule for video games is that if i even have an inkling of not enjoying myself then i shut the game off. frustration, exhasperation, boredom, getting lost in the game world and i’m done with that one for the day. i would highly reccommend this to everyone. a game doesn’t have to be “fun” in a traditional sense (i like challenging games in both a skill and intellectual sense) but a game should at least be enjoyable and when it starts not being enjoyable then it’s not worth playing yknow

[justalittleraven]

Why is Misty Battlefront such a fun event?

Aside from the fact that I found the most hilarious team I have ever seen. Literally, on the plunge trial I could barely see what was going on in the final challenge because I had Sucrose, Albedo, Diona and Mona's bursts and skills all up and everything just died. I felt like an absolute god.

10/10, highly reccommend just spamming bursts, zooming around as Mona with the speed buff and using Albedo as main dps. Meta does not exist here.

[thedrawingduke]

If you don't mind me asking your art is a really big inspirationa dn the style is to DIE for! And I was wondering what you'd reccommend to learn more from the styles/artists you admire in terms of style, anatomy, colour use, etc so someone could apply it to their own art

Thanks for the compliment! Oh gosh, style...the Big One. I will try not to blather on about this too long! (Edit: I did blather, apologies)

It doesn't sound very revolutionary or exciting but copying and doing master studies are really key. I can't stress this enough!

I’ve always kept a sketchbook but it wasn't until college that I had to start doing consistent master studies by assignment or out of necessity to fill the weekly page quota haha (ex:   https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbs5vrfFhVS/)

I improved so much during college. I still have a long, long way to go--but doing these studies helped me make some significant breakthroughs with color, anatomy, and other misc. elements of style. This stuff would have taken me years to happen upon if I just kept throwing stuff at the wall until something stuck (as they say).

All being said, I do think that we can do master studies wrong. If you find yourself obsessively rendering every wrinkle in a Rembrandt selfie or beating yourself up for not adequately drawing just like --I’d say take a break, you're doing it wrong! I had done studies in the past but always felt intimidated and discouraged by comparing my attempts to the originals...clearly missing the point of the exercise. Don’t compete or compare (unless you want to, I guess). Pretend you’re Evelyn from The Mummy--deciphering hieroglyphs for the love of learning, not for treasure or eternal life or...whatever. 

Studies are studies, not theses. There should be little to no pressure, maximum fun. The only way you can “fail” a study is if you learn nothing from it (which is a very hard thing to do). Technically speaking: by paying attention to another artist’s knowledge, we are able to inform our own muscle memory as we “trace” their steps. This is an act of deconstruction--so if half your sketches are a mess, you're on the right track! Trust me, behind every artist you admire online there are years worth of wonky master studies and illegible sketch pages. 

I highly recommend having a variety of media to do studies with. Digital is great, and definitely a go to, but I find that there’s so much more pressure to create a replica masterpiece. My favorite sketching supplies are crayola markers, ball point pens, colored pencils, crayons, cheap watercolors, white-out, and acrylic paint. I do use charcoal and graphite etc--but using a neon marker to study a Leyendecker really helps me break the anxiety/replica mindset and focus purely on analyzing the art. My goal is to learn and inform my skills, not to be an Epson 6600. There’s not a lot of jobs out there for a human camea or a human copy machine--but there is a demand for informed, copious artists! 

And just to be clear, Master studies can come from anywhere. They don't have to be studies of da Vinci or Matisse--they can be redraws of your favorite manga page, a portrait of your grandma, a food ad from the 1970s, a toaster, your cat...whatever interests and challenges you! I personally love studying midcentury holiday cards, Annie Leibowitz photo shoots, and 1800s typography *shrugs*. 

[this-autumn-eve]

hey hey I need a new game to play. do you have any reccommendations?? preferrably something without much of a plot and a cool exploration kinda theme?? also not too pricey (under 15$ on steam??)

I’m honored you came to me for advice on video games! Almost all of the games non-plot heavy exploration games I know are $20, but when the Summer Steam Sale comes on about June 22, you should be able to get most of these titles for $15 and under easy in less than a month, just in time for summer! Or, if you don’t mind buying from Microsoft’s shop instead of Steam, you can also get Ori and the Bind Forest for $10 if you buy it fast (see below).

For now, try Fez ($10): A challenging exploration-heavy puzzle game, Fez is a game with a simple premise: the cube that holds reality together has broken into pieces, and you have to find them all to restore the world to working order. The game has a fantastic mechanic of switching between 2D planes, giving you four times the area to explore! Many of the game’s puzzles use environmental clues, but also require learning how to read several types of symbols and some platforming. A guide is highly recommended for this game (and all but required to 100%). If you don’t like puzzle games or collectathons, this isn’t for you.

Or if you have a PS3 or PS4, you can try out Journey ($15): This is personally my favorite game of all time, and I cannot recommend it enough. The premise is also incredibly simple here: you play as a cloaked figure whose job is to travel to a mountain. The story is told through the environment, but at the end of each level there are short but non-skippable cutscenes telling about the history of the fallen civilization you now tread on. This is probably the most linear game here, but it also encourages exploration within its environments. The defining gameplay feature here is that the game will randomly pair you up with another player (with or without PS Plus!) and you take the journey together. Showing each other hidden secrets, discovering new ones together, chirping back and forth (you can only communicate using this method), and eventually completing the game together is one of the most powerful experiences in all of gaming. This also makes the game incredibly replayable, making this game the most worth your money. The only downside here is that it is a Playstation exclusive, so if you don’t have a PS3/4 you’re out of luck. But if you do, this is THE title to get.

And now, here’s some more $20 titles to get during the Sale!

-ABZÛ ($20, free until June 1st with PS Plus on PS4): This is the least plot-heavy exploration title I know, mostly due to the fact that the story is overwhelmingly told through the environment and can easily be ignored if you want. You play as a scuba diver exploring and restoring life to the ocean while interacting with hundreds of species of fish and solving simple environmental puzzles. This game has perhaps the best swimming mechanics I’ve ever seen in a video game, and it’s a blast exploring the (beautiful!) environments this game has to offer. This is the PC title I recommend the most to you.

-Hyper Light Drifter ($20): I haven’t fully finished this one, but it’s a beauty. You play as an unnamed solider who has to activate four (power stations? Crystals? Both? I’m not sure yet) in four different areas. Similar to ABZÛ, this game uses environmental storytelling, but has occasional cutscenes that tie into the overarching narrative. They are very few and far between though, as the narrative takes the backburner to let you explore some beautiful, distinctive, and complex environments. To find each of the power things requires a keen eye and fast reflexes- finding these stations will take a lot of exploration and secret paths, and this game is very action-heavy. You’ll need to tackle many different monsters and learn their attack patterns to progress. And you’ll die. A lot. Not recommended if you don’t want an action heavy game, but if you don’t mind, you’ll greatly enjoy this title.

-Ori and the Blind Forest ($20, $10 on Microsoft’s store until June 29th or 30th): This is a platformer with little amounts of action, but most enemies are easily killable and the platforming only makes it more fun to explore your environments. This game has the most plot, with semi frequent cutscenes and some tidbits of narration here and there. However, this narrative does a great job of building the world and touching on good vs evil tropes, so I recommend tuning in- plus, the exploration makes it worth the ride. You play as an adorable light spirit named Ori who is tasked with restoring a dying forest from eternal decay. You have to travel to different areas and explore to find keys, life and energy cells, map stones, experience points (which you can use to unlock new abilities like double jumping and breathing underwater), and eventually the item you need or place you need to restore to continue. It’s very similar to Metroid in that sense, and I couldn’t appreciate it more for it. The feeling of finding and charting new areas is a ton of fun, especially with the platforming elements (again, similar to Metroid). Not to mention each place has its own theme and sometimes even gameplay elements, and each look beautiful due to every frame being hand-painted. However, the platforming can be brutal at times, and there are times where you have to race an oncoming threat. If you absolutely cannot stand plot or platforming, then this isn’t the game for you- but out of all of these games, it’s definitely the most fun exploring.

I am also just starting to play Axiom Verge, but I don’t know much about it as of now in terms of plot levels. It is known to be a spiritual successor to Super Metroid though, and if that’s any indication it should be a great exploration game, if action-heavy.

Here are some other games I have never played but you might like based on my limited knowledge:

-Owlboy ($25): You explore the skies as a owl/boy hybrid thing. I’ve heard it’s a great exploration platformer.-Firewatch ($20): This could be plot-heavy as you have frequent conversations with someone on a radio, but you explore a lush forest with lakes, caves, and more. And DANG is it gorgeous.

There are my suggestions! I hope these were helpful! And if anyone wants advice on some games to play, I’m happy to help! I’ve opened asks on my indie blog (tothemountain) so you can always ask me there! :D

[akusarireview]

Surf World Series

In Surf World Series, there are several activites that you can perform. First, there is the Surfing School, it's like a tutorial to the game and i highly reccommend you to take a look at it. Second, there are events. It gives you 3 challenges and you try to achieve them. Simple. Also, as a third option, you can just listen the beautiful musics from the game and surf freely. Moreover, there is an online mode. You can compete with others through performing tricks, etc. (15 players max.) All in all, i'm not a fan of sport games, and to be honest i don't really like them, but even i had fun playing this game.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/akusarireview#curation/app/462640/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/462640/Surf_World_Series/