#it’s so easy. i was locked up on show don’t tell and visualising everything as though i was watching a movie

[gardensofthemoon]

.

[your-high-lady]

Realisation

Summary: This story is about Feyre. She has a couple of small dreams she wants to achieve but turns out it isn’t as easy as she imagined it would. Trust me, the story is better than the summary. Modern AU. Feysand.

Chapter 1  Chapter 2   Chapter 3   Chapter 4  Chapter 5   Chapter 6 Chapter 7

Chapter 8  Chapter 9   Chapter 10   Chapter 11  Chapter 12  Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or anything. All credit goes to Sarah J Mass. I only own the plot.

Chapter 14: They Talk

The next morning, my alarm woke me up at 7 AM and I picked up my phone to find a text from Rhys: Okay. Where do wanna meet? What time? After yesterday's partying Rhys had decided to let everyone have a sleep in but with the warning that we had to be ready by 11 AM because we would need to leave by then if we wanted to get back to Stanford at a reasonable time.

Do you want to get breakfast now? At the cafe across the road?

The reply came almost instantly. Sure. Be there in fifteen.

I scrambled out of my bed and into the shower. I washed my hair twice and went over my body with soap twice, too. I tried curling my hair a little, but it took me only two minutes to give up on that. I could feel summer approaching. The nights were warmer, the mornings less chilly. Today, the sky looked nice and blue though it was still a little cold so I decided to wear some loose, light jeans paired with a button-down shirt with thick white and blue stripes, leaving the top two buttons open, and threw a light brown coat over it to ward of the slight chill in the air. It was conservative but sexy enough that there was a chance Rhys would like it. Because I did want him to like it. I wanted him to notice me. I couldn't deny that to myself anymore. I wanted him to look at me and think I was pretty.

Finally happy with my appearance, I left a small note for Mor, beside a glass of water and some Advil, and quietly left the room. The small cafe wasn't packed and it didn't take long for me to find Rhys. His back was to me and he was standing in front of a magazine stand, making me think he was reading one. I took in the opportunity to just look at him while he was distracted. He was wearing a light sweater, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. His pants were light brown. And then unintentionally, my gaze drifted down. To his ass. The jeans were tight, showing it off and no matter how much I wanted to take my eyes off him, I couldn't. My mouth watered at the sight of him and I had to take a deep breath in before I was finally able to blink my eyes, taking my gaze off his ass. Before I could do anything else stupid, I quickly went up to him and gave him a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around and smiled when he saw me. I gave him a small smile back as he said, "Good morning Feyre." I was glad he didn't make it awkward or anything. I don't know what I would've done if he had.

"Good morning Rhys," I replied to him, my smiling growing and becoming more confident.

He led me to one of the smaller tables, where the seats were single couches. Taking my coat off for me, he hooked it over the back of my chair and seated me down, like a true gentleman. He fetched a couple of menus before returning and giving one to me and taking his seat. "Did you want to order first, or talk? Assuming that's what you called me here to do?" His voice was so nice and smooth, and it made me feel like everything would be alright if we were together.

I smiled and said, "Breakfast first, please, if you don't mind." I was very hungry and needed the extra few minutes to get my thoughts in order. We quickly chose our meals before he placed the order. While we waited he let me take control of the conversation. I started with some easy stuff, just telling him how much I'd enjoyed the week and how much I appreciated all he'd done for me and stuff like that. Soon our food arrived. I watched as the waitress set down our coffees and seconds later brought our meals. I was surprised to feel a pang of jealousy when I noticed how her eyes hung on Rhys. She was obliviously stunned by his beauty but he looked oblivious. He gave her a polite thank you before turning back to me, expecting our conversation to go on. I stayed silent as the waitress left, disappointment clear on her face. Once she was out of my line of sight, I turned back to him. Rhys had already dug into his simple BLT and was sipping on his cappuccino, time to time, while I stared at my plate stacked with pancakes, lots of bacon, syrup and banana, and a pumpkin spice latte.

Dismissing all my thoughts related to the waitress, I, suddenly not feeling so hungry, moved the food around my plate. Rhys, of course, noticed and raised an eyebrow in question. "Not hungry."

I hesitated before replying, "Did you not notice?"

"Notice what?"

"You know what."

He smirked. "No, I don't."

I narrowed my eyes. "Yes, you do. You know she was looking at you. I know you do."

His smile grew. "Is our Feyre darling jealous?" I gulped, my heart pausing for a beat at his words. Feyre darling.

"Don't call me that." I snapped.

"Why not, Feyre darling?" I huffed in frustration and angrily took a couple of bites of my pancakes.

A few more beats of silence passed before I finally blurted out, "About yesterday." He opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted him, "No, let me finish." He nodded, putting down his cutlery and giving me his full attention. I made sure to hold his gaze as I said, "Did you like it? The kiss?" Straight to the point. He stared at me, sucking in a deep breath, perhaps deciding whether or not I could handle his answer, before nodding as he exhaled. I let out a sigh, realising I'd been holding my breath in anticipation of his answer. "I'm sorry. About what I did. I hadn't meant to flinch away and I promise it wasn't because of you." I paused. "Well, it kind of was you, but not you, if you know what I mean?" He gave me a sympathetic shake of the head, his expression telling me that he had no idea what I was talking about. I gulped. "It was what you did," I told him clearly. "Your hand came over my throat. It's a soft spot."

"Why?" I heard him ask softly, hesitantly.

I sighed, disappointed in myself. I wanted to tell him so badly, but I just couldn't get the words out. I could visualise it so clearly. I could see the words perfectly in my head as I spoke them to Rhys, but when it was time my voice refused to come out. My throat locked up, my muscles tensed.

I felt tears escape the corners of my eyes as I looked down, covering my face with my hands. I was broken. Dagdan and Tamlin had together shattered my spirit and I was exhausted of putting myself back together. I didn't want to do it anymore if it meant that I would always be haunted by the memories of that night. They were branded to back of my eyes; I couldn't rid myself of them.

And then I felt the warmth. I worked through the automatic flinch that I usually did when someone, especially a male, touched me. Once I was pretty sure I wouldn't flinch, I let myself think about other things.

Rhys was hugging me.

As if reading my thoughts, his arms dropped down from around me, his eyes becoming hooded, seemingly second-guessing his actions. He had moved to crouch next to me and as I stared at him, I thought about just how much I loved being in Rhys's arms. How warm and safe I felt.

I put a hand against his cheek, seeking the same warmth, and he leaned slightly into it, his eyes closing. I kept my hand there for a couple of seconds before dropping away. I sighed again, my head going back down. I could sense Rhys's gaze on me, desperately wanting my reply, so I took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry. I can't tell you. I want to but I just… can't." He nodded in understanding, giving me a little sad smile, "Some other time maybe."

"Some other time," I replied just as softly as him. He moved back to his seat and because of who he was, or maybe because he just wanted to get rid of the stale air that had surrounded us after all that, he adopted his usual snarky nature, and soon I was crying not from the pain in my stomach, but laughter instead. Around an hour or so later, we got up to leave. Lifting my coat off the back of my chair, I put it on and as I turned to look at Rhys, I found him inches away from me. I gasped, and he gave a smile, showing off his perfect white teeth, and said in his silky voice, "You're beautiful Feyre. Whether you believe or not, you are beautiful."

AN: Hey guys. I hope you like this chapter just as much as I enjoyed writing it. After the way, the last chapter ended I really needed them to fix things up between them and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. But enough about me. Did you like it? Do you have any feedback, feed-forward or advice for me? I appreciate all of that and love hearing from you, so don't be scared to get in touch with me in any way. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you again next time.

@everything-that-i-love

[anistarrose]

Stan and Ford Vs. The Future - Chapter 2

Summary: One fateful night soon after returning to Gravity Falls, Ford is unexpectedly confronted with memories from a lifetime ago.

Warnings: implied references to past child abuse

The Beginning

Thank you for the great response on Chapter 1! I started this fic completely on a whim, but once I saw how much people were enjoying it, I knew I was going to continue it! Hope this update doesn’t disappoint!

I guess I’ll also count this as a submission for @forduary!

Ford is ransacking all the basement’s shelves and drawers and nooks and crannies in a seemingly futile search for his old magnet guns — Stan told him they were down here somewhere, but apparently couldn’t be bothered to elaborate — when he finds the box. It’s old, the cardboard practically decaying, and he’s honestly surprised he’s able to get it out of the closet without the whole thing falling apart in his hands, but there’s also something about it that feels indescribably familiar. It takes him a moment to realize that it’s because of the scrawled cursive label — Stanley and Stanford, 1961-1963 — that’s written in his mother’s handwriting.

He rifles through the contents: two reels of film, four photo albums. A comic book so old and well-read that the images are beginning to fade away entirely. Sheets of piano music, showing the notes to a familiar song, simple enough to be played by beginners but complex enough to be catchy. Notebooks filled from margin to margin with doodles of strange and wondrous creatures, dragons and cryptids and dinosaurs and aliens.

Ford recognizes everything, but while he remembers bringing some of it first to college and then out to Gravity Falls himself, there are other things — three of the four photo albums, the comic books, the piano music — that he hasn’t seen since… well, since 1963.

Ford has always thought he was the overly sentimental one, but here Stan is, not just holding on to his collection of keepsakes but adding to it.

Stan only would have had a chance to go home and pick up all of this when he was pretending to be you, a resentful whisper in the back of Ford’s head reminds him, but it’s far from the loudest voice, far from the loudest emotion. He picks up one of the photo albums, one that he doesn’t remember ever seeing outside of Glass Shard Beach, and steps into the elevator.

He hopes Stan is still awake, because the two of them need to talk. He’s not quite sure about what, but… they really need to. His grip tightens on the old album as he rises towards the ground floor, and for neither the first nor the last time in his life, he finds himself wondering what other paths he could have taken away from Glass Shard Beach, where the other diverging roads might have led him —

Over the whirr of the elevator, he first hears Stan’s tour-giving voice, and then two other ones — young, but not Dipper and Mabel’s, and out-of-place, but not unfamiliar. He steps out from behind the vending machine and into the gift shop, and the album falls from his hands.

Its spine strikes the floor first, and it falls open to a page with just one picture: two twin boys caught in a candid photo, staring at the camera with identical looks of surprise and confusion. Just a few feet away, the exact same boys stand before Ford, eyes wide and mouths agape like the picture come to life.

Behind them, Stanley grimaces and raises his hands in a gesture that can’t quite make up its mind between apologetic and defensive. “Okay, I know things look weird, but I promise I can… I can kinda explain? So, I was just minding my own business when —”

“Get away from them!” Ford barks. “Now!”

“What?” both Stanleys ask in unison. The young Stanford doesn’t say a word — just stares at Ford’s fingers, as his own reflexively curl into trembling fists at his side. It’s so easy to visualise the wheels turning in his head, the wheels that are shaking and locking up, like the system has been presented with an input it’s not designed to handle.

Ford points at the young twins, and then jabs his finger towards the space behind the gift shop counter. “Kids! Get behind there!”

The boys stare at him, unmoving.

“Now!” Ford barks, and with that, both of them do as they’re told. But young Stanley’s eyes flash with a look of fear for a moment, and Ford’s stomach churns with guilt.

“Stanford, what the hell?” Stan yells, apparently abandoning any sort of secrecy he might have been maintaining on the kids’ behalf. “What are you doing?”

“They’re from a parallel timeline! If either of us touches our counterpart, our dimension will completely collapse in on itself and disintegrate, with us and billions of other lives inside!”

Ford can feel the pounding of his own heart, and he’s not sure whether it’s the adrenaline, or that other drug of the body’s own producing — the sentimentality. “You should have told me about this immediately! What were you doing up here with them, giving them a tour? You could have ended the entire —”

“E-excuse me,” a quiet voice begins, and Ford turns away from Stan to see a small, owl-like pair of eyes peering up from behind the cash register. “But, Stan and… uh, my Stan and your Stan high-fived a couple minutes ago, and nothing happened. The universe didn’t disintegrate.”

“Yeah, we did,” young Stanley adds. He seems reluctant to make eye contact with Ford, and his voice has a slight nervous tremor to it — but Stanley’s never been the type to stand back and leave his brother on his own. “When he said Ford would be the first to die in a horror movie. I thought it was funny, so we high-fived —”

He finally looks up, and stares at older Ford with a resigned guilt in his eyes — just like how he’d look at Filbrick whenever he’d gotten into so much trouble that he knew no apology would be enough to avoid being punished.

“I — I didn’t know he was me then,” young Stanley stammers. “I didn’t know about — about dimensions, or parallel anythings, or… or… I’m sorry, Ford! I wasn’t trying to destroy the world, I promise!” There are tears in his eyes now, and young Stanford has one arm reached out towards his brother, but he’s frozen in place, as if paralyzed by indecision. Older Stan, for his part, is making a point of looking in the complete opposite direction, but his trembling, clenched fists betray everything one needs to know about his feelings.

And older Ford… he does one of the dumbest things he’s ever done in his life. He steps towards the counter, towards the children that could easily destroy the world alongside him and his brother, and places a completely bare, exposed hand on young Stan’s shoulder.

“I know,” he whispers, and all his emotions from when he found the box of keepsakes come rushing back, channeling across time and space and dimensions and reaching one Stanley Pines, but not the Stanley he’d thought he might be reconciling with tonight.

“I’m not mad at you, Stan. I promise.” That’s not entirely true for the older Stan, though a part of Ford honestly wishes more than anything that it could be, but he’s not going to say as much to this poor child, not now. “I shouldn’t have yelled like that. I’m sorry.”

He steps away from the kids, and finally, finally thinks to put on a pair of gloves. He’s afraid to look behind him and see how the older Stan has responded, so he instead awkwardly begins to speak again after a pause.

“But, I… I’m still a bit confused about this whole situation. By all accounts, our dimension shouldn’t have survived that high-five.”

“Maybe we just… traveled through time normally, instead of to another dimension?” young Ford suggests. “And like, we haven’t messed up anything yet that would make us diverge from your timeline?”

“That would explain it,” Ford replies, “if Stan and I had memories of this incident. But while I can only speak for myself, I’m fairly certain I don’t remember anything like this…”

“Time travel, man,” young Stanley mutters, “why you gotta be so complicated…”

“Remember,” Ford repeats to himself. “Oh, of course! That’s it! We have the memory gun!”

“What?” both of the boys ask in unison, just as the older Stan whirls around.

“What the hell kind of idea is that, Sixer?! Are you seriously about to wipe our own minds?”

“I’m just trying to protect us all, you idiot! If we don’t wipe their minds and return them to their own time, they’ll cease being us and become just different enough to destroy the world, in all likelihood! I’ve been dealing with more than enough chances of apocalypse since you reactivated the portal, thank you very much!”

“Oh, and remind me who it was who built that portal in the first place?”

“I told you not to restart it! It was your foolishness, your recklessness, that only exacerbated it all!”

“My recklessness? That’s rich coming from you! I can’t believe I ever thought you would thank me for saving your damn life, when here you are, acting like I’m the —”

Ford has no doubt that Stan is about to unleash some particularly scathing and profanity laced rant without any regard for the children present, but before he can, he’s interrupted by a sudden clattering noise. It takes a moment for either of them to realize that it’s the sound of the gift shop door slamming shut.

“Oh no,” Stan whispers as Ford turns to look behind the counter, and finds the space completely empty.

“Kids?!” he yells. “Kids, come back! I didn’t mean —”

They both rush outside, Ford activating the flashlight on his watch and scanning the surrounding field, but the younger twins are nowhere to be seen.

***

“I’m so sorry,” young Ford tells his brother. “I don’t know what I… what older me was thinking! I’d never wipe your mind!”

The decision to leave had been unanimous and unspoken, and was made the second the older twins had begun to argue again, voices dripping with a lifetime’s worth of unfamiliar bitterness and frustration and hostility. A lot can change in fifty years, but…

But they hadn’t sounded like twins. They’d sounded like strangers, who didn’t understand what the other had become — who didn’t even want to understand, maybe. They hadn’t sounded like Stan and Ford.

“That wasn’t you,” Stan declares with a certainty Ford wishes he could share. “You don’t really think we’ll end up like them, do you? There isn’t anything in the world that could make us like — like that.”

They’re sitting on the forest floor now, backs up against trees. Ford holds the broken time tape in his hands, turning it over and over and over, like eventually it’ll somehow whisk them away again — off to some alternate future where two brothers travel the world together, just as they always thought they would, just as it should be.

“I don’t want to think that’s how we’ll end up,” Ford murmurs. “But how else do you explain everything we just saw?”

“Easy, we musta just messed up the timeline or something! That happens in your nerd stories all the time, doesn’t it?”

Ford sighs. “Even if this wasn’t supposed to happen… how do we fix it?”

Stan starts to reply, but he’s cut off by an older and gruffer voice calling out from deep within the woods: “Kids? Are you there? Look, I know Ford and I said some things we — some things I regret, but you’ve gotta come back!”

From the opposite direction of the older Stanley’s voice, Ford sees the beam of a flashlight hovering between the trees like a ghost.

“Please, kids… I know how I sounded, and I don’t blame you for running away, but I just want to keep you safe, I promise…”

Stan stays still, but his wide and worried eyes make contact with Ford’s, and even in the dying evening light the message is clear: What do we do now?

Ford doesn’t have an answer, but even if he did, he wouldn’t have a chance to share it, because it’s at that moment that it feels like all hell is breaking loose.

First it’s a flash of brilliant blue-white light in the quickly falling darkness that blinds him, and then it’s the sudden clap of an explosion in the eerily peaceful forest that deafens him. He feels a hand on his shoulder, and for a moment he’s afraid he’s somehow brought about the apocalypse that his older self warned of, but the voice that speaks from behind him as he’s lifted into the air is unfamiliar.

“Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadron! Nobody move!” it barks, and then in a slightly lower voice, it adds: “You four are in a heap of trouble.”

***

Wr ila wkhlu zurqjv, wzr wlphv pxvw fodvk Zkr zloo zlq, wkh ixwxuh ru sdvw?

Thanks for reading, reblogs/feedback are appreciated as always! I have a decent idea of where I want to take this, and barring anything unexpected it should wrap up in one or two more chapters.

[laetro]

Ritaban Das: Storyboarding for Effective Storytelling

Character designer, illustrator and storyboard artist, Ritaban Das, elaborates on the significance of storyboarding to effectively tell a story and thus also shares insights from his decade-long experience in animation.

Ritaban Das is a character designer, storyboard artist and illustrator working in the animation industry for the last decade. He’s worked on a wide range of national and international 2D and 3D animated projects for platforms like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Pogo. Recently, he shifted to Toronto, Canada for higher studies, looking to contribute his skills to the Canadian animation industry. He hopes to someday work on his own animated show.

ORDER A CUSTOM ILLUSTRATION

Q. How do you differentiate your approach between the roles of character designer, storyboard artist and illustrator?

Ritaban Das: At the end of the day it’s all interconnected; it all comes down to ‘story’. When I design a character, I start by thinking about what kind of personality the character has and their role in the story. I think about what I’m trying to communicate through the illustration. This helps me to figure out poses and expressions. As I’m drawing, I’m thinking about shapes, proportions and appeal. I also think about the composition of the illustration. When I make storyboards, I’m telling a story in motion by acting out the characters in them.

Q. What have been the greatest lessons you’ve learnt professionally and personally in your ten years of experience?

Ritaban Das: Draw what you like and the rest will fall into place. Only you know what motivates you.

Q. How did you find your calling to be an artist and, thereafter, how did you nurture your skills to hone your craft?

Ritaban Das: I’ve been drawing for as long as I remember and I’m always very passionate about it. To be very honest, I sucked at studies and my parents knew that very well. I remember spending most of my time with a box of chalk and slate gifted to me by my father. Like every other child, I also loved to sketch my favourite cartoons. I usually sketched these animated characters on the back pages of all my notebooks and also my classmates’ notebooks. It made me known amongst my seniors for my sketches.

That’s the only thing I was good at which I followed blindly. Honing my craft came from lots of practice. I draw almost every day. I also follow and study other artists’ work. Reading or watching their interviews, where they describe their work processes and the likes, helped me a lot to grow as an artist over the years. I try to open my eyes and ears to absorb everything.

Q. Could you take us through your process of how you envision a character and then execute it practically?

Ritaban Das: Being a Character Designer, most of my work is very much character-driven, blended with humour and very graphical too. I always try to convey some sort of story through every character or Illustration I make. I like to play with various shapes and silhouettes and usually keep things simple.

The character design process is, in a way, a combination of different things. I ask myself ‘Who am I drawing? What is his/her personality?’ I sometimes look at influential artists’ work to get some ideas or even start from a drawing I like and translate it into my style. Then, trying to forget those influences, I often start from scratch with a basic shape such as the face as it determines the rest of the character for me, then the body (this can be a circle, oval or even a pear shape – it all depends on the personality of the character I want to draw).

Q. Could you please elaborate on your current pursuit of higher studies and how you came to choose Canada for it?

Ritaban: I completed my studies at Humber College in 3D modelling & VFX and Graphic Design and got a job in an animation studio called House of Cool as a Story artist. I’m working on a very exciting project which will probably start airing next year.

I’ve always been well aware of the Canadian animation industry from the beginning and the kind of projects they do. I worked on a bunch of Canadian animation projects back in India.

We used to do a lot of outsourcing for studios here like Big Jump and Brown Bag Films. Canada’s animation industry always attracted me in terms of work culture, the kind of content they nurture, and the quality they produce, so I want to be a part of it.

“Whether you’re working on a commercial TV spot, web video or film, storyboards are an effective way to quickly tell a story. “

Q. What about the world of animation draws you towards it?

Ritaban: Animation is important because it enables us to tell stories and communicate emotions and ideas in a unique, easy-to-perceive way that both children and adults can understand. Animation has helped connect people throughout the world in a way that sometimes writing and live-action films cannot.

Today, anyone can pick up a drawing tablet and show their ideas to the world. Drawn figures can be funny, sad or serious. It can have a playful, less intimidating feel to it to make the viewer feel more comfortable. Often, it has simply served as a way to make a heart-warming story that makes you think.

Through live-action movies, people can form biases based on the appearance and real-life personality of an actor playing a character. But as an animated character, the character feels like their own being.

Q. What would you say are the most challenging aspects of working in the animation world and how do you tackle them?

Ritaban: Every project is challenging in different ways. The challenging ones are the projects where clients don’t have a clear understanding of their audience and outcome, goals or don’t have an investment or hierarchy for arriving at a consensus on feedback. The most challenging projects always boil down to size and scope and managing a team to produce the animation. Also, animating subject matter that I’m not interested in is challenging. But at the end of the day, we all survive because we all just love what we do.

Q. Could you take us through your process of creating a storyboard and highlight its most important aspects?

Ritaban: Whether you’re working on a commercial TV spot, web video, or film, storyboards are an effective way to quickly tell a story. A storyboard is a sequence of drawings that represent the shots planned for video production. It covers all of the major shots, angles and action of your film. The very first step is to read your script and visualise it as an audience would. As I go from scene to scene, I analyse the screenplay and decide how I want each scene to look.

A script breakdown tells you what storyboards you need to create. Then I start doing the rough thumbnails with all the necessary camera angles in Photoshop and chalk out the entire scene I’m planning to do. The important thing is to give anyone who looks at the storyboard a sense of space — where are the objects in relation to the space they’re standing in.

Once I finish locking the scene on thumbnail level, I pitch it to my art director or creative director and take their feedback. After passing the thumbnail phase, I start making the rough staging in Storyboard Pro and work on the required actions and move forward with the scene for the final animation. I might have to rework scenes over and over, combining different elements of the iterations until I finally have what the team is looking for.

Q. What ways do you apply to understand client needs better and thereby produce results that are in sync with them?

Ritaban Das : Whether I work in any studio or as a freelancer, I always listen to what clients need. Listening to your client will help you understand and retain the information you’re already receiving, even if it isn’t a formal meeting. You need to ask questions to identify needs and paraphrase what they say. It helps with clarification and to enhance your understanding of their needs.

Also, I bring new ideas to the table. I don’t hesitate to propose something other than what the client had in mind. You may have a better service in mind and, if nothing else, this again shows you’re listening and attempting to understand your client’s needs. Understanding client needs is one of the biggest challenges of any business but also one of the most important and rewarding tasks.

Q. Considering your range of work, could you please elaborate on significant projects and clients you’ve worked for?

Ritaban Das: Over the ten years of my career, I’ve worked on various national and international projects back in India for clients like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Pogo. I’ve been part of the projects like “Camp WWE”, “F is for Family,” “Kuu Kuu Harajuku,” “Evan the Epic,” “Penn Zero: Part-time Hero,” “DC Superhero Girls,” “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs” (series), “Rhythm Warriors” (series-in production) and other numerous animated TV shows.

Q. According to you, in what direction should animation be exploring and progressing now?

Ritaban Das: Animation is an incredibly versatile medium that is widely used in many different forms today. Animated films are big business nowadays. Companies such as Disney have had enormous success producing animated children’s films for many years. Animated characters such as The Simpsons and The Flintstones have long been familiar visitors to our television screens. The future of animation looks to be on an interesting journey as the quality of films is becoming higher and higher. Most people would now aim for a 4k film. Also, they’ve been experimenting and coming up with new techniques of animation.

One of the interesting ones is Mix Media, a technique that Disney has been experimenting with for a few years is mixing CGI and traditional 2D animation. The idea is to create an animated film using CGI and then to draw over each frame to give it a hand-drawn quality. The computer gaming industry is also pushing the boundaries of what is possible with animation, leading to the creation of some extremely realistic game footage. Computer game animation has certainly come a long way from the 2D graphics of early arcade games.

Now computer game animators can build environments and objects that react to the player’s actions. The animation looks set to continue delighting audiences for many years to come. With animated films continuing to rise in the blockbuster charts, capturing hearts and imaginations, there is no sign of this genre coming to an end.

[u-wll-rmmbr-me-fr-centuries]

It’s been a long and hectic month. Mostly me making productive plans and never following through as I’ve had no motivation. My body also decided to become ill and so I spent half of it on antibiotics. Anyway, here’s all the things that I have loved this month.

My Hair

Before this month I had a seriously damaged, dark and long mess of a hair. One evening my Grandad (under

 the influence of beer) promised he would pay for my hair to be fully transformed as long as it didn’t get cut to a super short length. With this I agreed and he was willing for my hair to be dyed as well. It took five hours sat in a chair sweating and the smell of chemicals stuck up my nose, but it was worth it. I featured this in one of my latest blog posts if you’re interested to catch up on my Mini Life update.

Love Island

This was also featured on my last months favourites. I’ve just been hooked to the show and even got my Mum involved. Cam and Jamie all the way! Seriously though, they melt my heart completely. (Amber and Kem won. Major sigh.) #NOTMYLOVEISLANDWINNERS! 

  Hunt for The Wilderpeople

Oh my god. This film. It’s on Netflix, so please just watch this. I don���t know how to describe how amazing it is, so instead here’s a haiku.

It’s majestical

I laughed so hard that I died

The skux life chose me

That’s my haiku. It’s called, Is Majestical. Honestly it’s just one of those stupidly funny films that everyone should watch.

24in48 Readathon

It was my fourth time participating in this readathon and I decided what better way than to create a blog post full of my updates? The goal of the readathon is to read 24 hours within a weekend (48 hours), and gives prizes every few hours randomly picked out of those who signed up. To see my blog post about it and to see how I got on, you can find that here.

BookTube-A-Thon Readathon

Yes, another readathon. I’ve been productive. Kind of – not really. I actually decided to do this near the end of the 24in48 Readathon, and so the TBR for this post was a quick spur of the moment thing. At the end of the week, I also posted my updates throughout the whole thing. If you’re interested in either post I’ll make sure to link them;

BookTube-A-Thon TBR /// Completed Week Post

The Last of Us

I adored this book. Although it was a little spooky and vivid in my head, it was honestly beautiful. Through reading it, all I could think was, this would make such a great Netflix series. As it is set on a remote Irish Island, the way that it could be portrayed would be stunning. It’s has this “illness” that’s killed off most of the island, but what’s different about this compared to others is that it takes a while for parts of the illness to be revealed, how it works and how quickly.

When a pandemic wipes out the entire population of a remote Scottish island, only a small group of children survive. How will they fend for themselves?

Since the last adult died, sensible Elizabeth has been the group leader, testing for a radio signal, playing teacher and keeping an eye on Alex, the littlest, whose insulin can only last so long.

–Goodreads

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them: Original Screenplay

One saying that anyone who hangs out with bookworms should take a shot of alcohol at is, I preferred the book to the movie. Okay – don’t take a shot. They’d get alcohol poisoning instantly. (Looking at you, Percy Jackson series.) But I honestly preferred the screenplay. The film, I found, kind of dragged – and I know it’s setting up the whole premise for the next five/four/however many films, but at some parts I got bored. Although it doesn’t stick to what a typical screenplay rules – ie talking about camera movements and panning – it was easy to visualise and a nice simple read.

Reading it also enabled me to put together the pieces of the shocking reveal at the end. I didn’t pick that up in the film. But reading it I realised how they built up to that moment and therefore that was justifiable. Basically, the whole time reading this I sat there like, How did I not notice this?! OF COURSE THIS HAPPENED! THAT SYMBOL THOUGH. 

When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt’s fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone…

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, author of the beloved and internationally bestselling Harry Potter books. Featuring a cast of remarkable characters, this is epic, adventure-packed storytelling at its very best.

–Goodreads

Replica – Lauren Oliver

Double sided book? Yes please. A book about weird science things? Yes please. An ending that you will never see coming? It has it all.

I’m not going to say too much, as there will be a review about it coming very soon. It’s a good book.

Lyra

From a distance, the Haven Institute, tucked away on a private island off the coast of Florida, looks serene and even beautiful. But up close the locked doors, military guards, and biohazard suits tell a different story. In truth, it is a clandestine research facility where thousands of replicas, or human models, are born, raised, and observed.

Gemma

Gemma has been in and out of hospitals her whole life. A sickly child, she has grown into a lonely adolescent whose life is circumscribed by home, school, and her best friend, April.

But after she is nearly abducted by a stranger claiming to know her, Gemma starts to investigate her family’s past and discovers her father’s mysterious connection to the secretive Haven research facility. Hungry for answers, she travels to Florida, only to stumble upon two human models, or replicas, 24 and 72—and a completely new set of questions. As Gemma tries to unravel the mysteries of Haven, she learnes terrible truths about herself and her family that will threaten to destroy everything she loves.

Two girls, two stories, one novel.

While the stories of Gemma and Lyra mirror each other, each contains revelations critically important to the other story. Their narratives can be read separately or in alternating chapters.

–Goodreads

    Here’s a few of my favourite pictures from this month! During August I will be away for 2 weeks, but I am going to try and schedule as many posts as possible in advance to cover that period. A USB for my fancy camera is in the post too, so I should hopefully be able to post some of my favourite photos from last years holiday depending how they look on a bigger screen.

  July Favourites It's been a long and hectic month. Mostly me making productive plans and never following through as I've had no motivation.