#make him do it on paper again

[pedripics]

the longer version of pedri struggling to draw barça’s crest for 2 mins straight 😂

[hinamie]

spiraling

[booart5]

Took me about 60 hours which is CRAZY,, I call this one The Quark Family when I’m talking about it (which seems apt) and I’ve literally crammed so many references and details and hours into this my life feels so empty without it. Tumblr is butchering the image quality but that’s just what it is ig,,, I’ve tried and I can’t seem to fix it

Progress shots and closeups under the cut (and a full list of the references and stuff I crammed in in the tags bc I have to know that they’re all noticed)

[short666bread]

nighttime routine in an au where the marauder’s map has pinch zoom

[tackykachowch]

How it feels to not like timebomb after s2

[xxplastic-cubexx]

charlies turn for the reference sheet beam

[snailfen]

just remembered that every day we inch closer to the evil paper arc and started sweating quite a bit. cartoon gulp sfx

[cosmocove]

all you ever need is to be nice and friendly

[tagetto]

he stinks of diesel fumes, solder flux & cigarette smoke which has caked itself over the years into the fan blades of a used prebuilt msi gaming PC bought from ebay dot com core 2 duo high performance rtx 2.5 tdi 1.6 litre engine top speed of 48.3mph.

[amazingdeadfish]

Do u think u could make an opera version of mayor? I've seen a few artists make diff opera wukong/Mac designs but I think a opera mayor design would look very cool :D

Not gonna lie, I was nervous to do this, but, I don't regret trying out this challenge.

RAMBLES + (literally only two) REFERANCES BELOW THE CUT:

The costume is based on the classic armor outfit in Chinese Peking Opera. Since, we all know that the Mayor doesn't actually have that many identifiable characteristics or, much of a role in the LMK show other than being LBD's foot soldier or, thrall. So, I had to reflect that in what's probably an incredibly basic interpretation for what their design could be (because if you actually see the insane level amount of detail in peking opera outfits, you'll understand that this drawing is heavily simplified and lacks detail).

The mask, is, also simple. I tried to look at numerous references and get my head around the insane amount of possibilities of patterns and designs and what they mean, as well as what the colours symbolize, but all that's important is that blue symbolizes stoicism, black for integrity, and white symbolizes evil (but of course these meanings for colours have leeway in between depending on what source you look at. There is no definitive answer).

The mask is also important because it creates the most visual distinction from Mayor being a Jing instead of a Sheng (male protagonist). And, even though it's a basic mask, I did create it to imply an almost 'skull' shape to it. But it's discrete and, you have to be looking for it to be there (which I suppose fits because, Mayor being LBD's thrall wasn't revealed straight away)

Now okay look, I'm- I'm not an expert on peking opera at all, I had to do a bit or research to do this in order to actually understand what I am doing when it comes to designing an outfit for Mayor. You might see a hint of his Chief costume in the chest plate I decided to keep, and all those skull motifs to show that he is a thrall of Lady Bone Demon. But in short, he is a warrior, a soldier, a chief of war, and he fights and works for Lady Bone Demon. He is to be a character with heavy, dramatic armor, and a mask to not only symbolize his role in whatever theatre show he lands himself in, but also for the shrouded identity he has and, well, not exactly being the most in-depth or open character in the show :))).

Anyways, here's a beta design back when I legitimately had no idea what I was doing and had done like zero research apart from looking at references I lied and, thinking Mayor would have a 'lighter (less heavy) and less decorative outfit (clearly I changed my mind later on):

I am, glad I did not follow through with this design. This is, not a peking opera outfit. Not a conventional one at least, that would reflect who the Mayor is (because this mf is conventional as hell, fitting in with modern times with his suit and all).

And here are the, uh, two references I used (obviously there's more but, these two were the ones I really picked apart and analyzed and, have clearly referenced):

And yes, I copied the pose on the right.

Design is welcome for critique (again, I am not an expert on peking opera (it's such a vast, complex, and wonderful artform that the more I found out the more I was intimidated by) and possibly subjected to be redesigned later on should I look back on this months-years later and cringe horrifically.

[mylove-thresher]

brah it looks a bijillion times better irl 💔

[what-even-is-sleep]

thinking about Bodkin again bc I mean,,, ALL THE SYMBOLISM OHHHHHGH. i NEED some tumblr film analysis hobbyists to watch this show and tell me all the themes n such

[clegfly]

“…where Marze gets into mortal peril and out of nowhere… a wooden hand pushes open a door, or holds a rope in place or moves a inconvenient roadblock- but he’s always gone before Marze has the chance to interact with him.”

@dannybobany this critter showed up in my head and refused to leave until I drew him so I did… here he is… he’s REAL!!!!!

[ebitenpura]

some of it is that I crafted Eight from my own experiences with solitude and depersonalization, but. there's a part of Eight that will always be lonely, in some way. he usually is, whether he's surrounded by people or none at all. he's alive in the few seconds when he's useful and all blood and steel, then in those quiet moments when not a soul is awake and he's waiting for a dead drop in the flickering lights of an abandoned office. these are the places where the living don't dare go, where only he lives. long sojourns of isolation. long, long periods of waiting next to a body bag. your only lifeline is a burner holo waiting to be disconnected, with one number that won't accept calls.

that was it. all liminal static and dead air.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

I actually love Ezri in “It’s Only a Paper Moon” - I think she handles the situation with Nog retreating into Vic’s hotel as best as she can, and is clearly trying to split the difference between giving Nog the time and space he needs and avoiding enabling a potentially destructive form of escapism. She asserts her authority with Vic (she does own herself, despite what Garak said before) but also is able to be strategic in her approach to him and convince him to get Nog out of there. Especially in this exchange:

I see. You’re going to get Sammy to convince him that it’s time to leave the holosuite. Oh, forget it. I should know better by now than to ask you to give away your secrets. You probably have the whole thing mapped out. I mean, what am I thinking? That this new casino is anything more than just a ploy? That you’d actually let him live out the rest of his life in a holosuite?

It’s odd to me that people interpret this face value, and assume that she’s truly and naively starstruck by Vic’s therapy skills. Because to me it seems very obviously designed to persuade Vic to go along with her belief that it’s time for Nog to leave. She’s trying to smooth things over with Vic after their prior argument, and does so by acknowledging the ways he’s genuinely been helping Nog, but she’s also strategically using those compliments to nudge him away from getting swept up in his adventures with Nog, and hint in the direction of “hey, remember we have an actual objective here that you’re possibly forgetting.” And her delivery of “that you’d actually let him live out the rest of his life in a holosuite” does contribute to that impression for me - it’s very pointed, and there’s a moment where her face slips and you can see her frustration coming through.

She is genuinely earnest and conciliatory in her dealings with people (and I don’t think she holds a grudge against Vic) but I think the seeming naivety on display is something she’s deliberately leaning into to smooth their interactions and avoid being too confrontational. And she shifts tack from demanding to talk to Nog to hinting to Vic that he needs to use his established dynamic with Nog to convince him, because she knows that’ll be more likely to get through to Nog.

(This is interesting to contemplate in relation to what we see of her family dynamic in the next episode, because so much of her mother’s controlling tendencies are expressed through these very pointed compliments that are used to project her wishes and expectations onto others. Obviously Ezri doesn’t have the same abusive tendencies, but it does seem possible that she picked up some of those interpersonal habits from her home life and uses them for more collaborative forms of persuasion.)

And Ezri is completely right! Because that conversation with Vic is the catalyst for him confronting Nog and forcing a reality check on him, which in turn prompts Nog to finally voice his feelings and acknowledge that he’s not okay. (And Vic echoes Ezri saying the new casino is just a ruse when he tells Nog that the casino is “just a fantasy”.) She handled the situation and anticipated what Nog needed entirely correctly.

I would have liked to see more direct interactions between Ezri and Nog, and would have much preferred if he’d been able to eventually open up to her instead. But within the episode we have, I think she's pretty competent.

[bythehearts]

not to bring tiktok drama on tumblr but like every time a ‘scandal’ comes out with one of these ‘production companies’ that make fan films i always hope we’re finally gonna discuss how they professionalize something that should be an hobbyist endeavor… and yet every single time i’m disappointed.