#my first attempt at like a bigger illustration for this

[mysteryanimator]

Here ye here ye, another breaking down processes post from yours truly!

For this animation, my plan was to make something I'm proud of AND also something to force me to take my time since with all previous animation works they were all rushed. I normally tend to speed through work as someone whose illustrations are painterly and I like to keep them rough. Also lets be totally honest my other plan for this animation was to animate Mizrox being so sickeningly sweet.

Fun fact, this animation was going to be longer. I had tried to plan out Olrox climbing on top of Mizrak during the kiss to lay on his chest. There was an attempt trying to rough that out and several ref videos It was scrapped because for the life of me I could not figure it out. Also hypothetically if I was going to keep it, I would cut to another angle (perhaps Mizrak's face close up) and then cut to another angle that would make it easier to see that climbing over the top. OR, consider Olrox already sleeping on his chest (im just rambling now but this is basically 'if you were able to do this again' section).

I wish I actually went through a more proper tie-down process because the jump from going from my rough straight to clean was rough (badum tsk) for the first few seconds. Defintely learnt my lesson ALSO Olrox is surprisingly really fun to draw from behind.

I challenged myself to see if I could get the idea of "bigger movements, less in-betweens, smaller/slower movements, more in-betweens." Though the effect of Olrox rubbing his face against his arm may be a little too jarring and I steered quite a bit away from my rough and self-reference video in hopes of making the face rubbing more apparent because I thought the character acting was too subtle and wanted a contrast to the other half of the scene. I reconfigured my CSP animation workspace for this too so it definitely made the process less tedious when cleaning up the animation.

(Which by the way I do record a lot of self-references depending on the section! For things I can't do/uncomfortable doing, I'll end up looking up videos. It's the easiest for me to catch subtle things in body language and also get a feels for the motion.)

Also I'm really satisfied with Olrox's anticipation before his smooch and the shoulder roll at the end even though technically the arc doesn't complete itself. MIZRAK THOUGH, when cleaning up I realised my rough wouldn't make sense because he's already looking at him so there's no need for a turn, and then the lack of a shoulder movement felt jarring, so all of that was done without any thought, wish I did think about it more though.

Now compositing was a monster in its own right and basically me jumping back and forth between turning on and off different layers, but here are all the new things I did; I duplicated and blurred the lines of the lineart, beveled the shadows so it was lighter on the inside, and added a rim of blur so the focus drew towards the couple. Also will absolutely admit that my fanboy ass went "... be crazy and try to mimic the show." The final did not go that route because I thought it was more important to emphasize the mood/atmosphere (Also Olrox is intentionally stylized differently because i wanted him to be softer here and I had to give him eye highlights for plot HELP). THOUGH to say I did not try to mimic the style, the #2 lighting test was my 'attempt' LOL 😭 I can never consume media normally.

Here are the lighting tests I went through. I definitely knew I wanted to go with a morning vibe, though I tested out a night ver for fun and did some edge lighting which led to mixing both version #2 and #3 to make #4.

Fun fact, I almost went with #2 due to fear of getting too heavy-handed with compositing and therefore losing the animation (even though I really liked #4 at the time). Thanks to a friend, they also shared the sentiment of liking #4, though pointed out it felt like midday and encouraged me to make the colours warmer and deepen the shadows. It is a really tough balance but I think for a softer scene like this, the more additional layers of comp worked out in the end.

The edge light was a last minute thing because someone told me to add sound and to have light stream in. Also at this point I deadass forgot that you know, Olrox, is a vampire, but hey rule of cute overrules. We can pretend its light not from the sun LOL

Also yay I got to show off my own style a tad, I love paintingggg. It's not as completely fully rendered coz I knew that it would get covered up but I still made sure it was quite clean regardless. I didn't realise how much of it would be covered up even though I did make sure they would fit/make sense for bg LOL

Now we are done!

If you've gotten this far thank you! There's gonna be less frequency of these animations due to the semester starting back up soon and I don't get many opportunities to actually 2D animate (despite it being an animation degree RAH). Also I remembering cringing and laughing a lot when I immediately started putting colour down going "oh i can see the end of the horizon, i have too much power as an artist, people will see this i cant let them see me be crazy"

[Here's some memes I drew over while my friend was reviewing my work]

[diodellet]

Jamil confession with prompt 10!

Context: Relationship started off antagonistic since the reader encouraged Kalim's independance (teaching him chores, cooking, etc) and eventually grew to a one sided rivalry (Jamil was the only one into it, reader was just having fun with his reactions). Reader spends months pining while Jamil is just in denial. At the end of conversation, Reader slips up while saying they don't need a response and Jamil goes through the five stages of grief in a span of 2 minutes.

Appearance: long straight brown hair and dark skin.

Personality: jolly like Kalim but in a much calmer manner, huge nerd for art (literature, music, movies, etc), rarely loses composure, when flustered they go red with a very wide goofy smile on their face (no shyness)

💌Jamil Viper + Prompt #10 (Talking with them for hours about anything and everything, not even feeling the time pass.) ++(edit: i put female!reader here by accident, it's gn!reader actually)

There was no bigger illustration of irony than the situation the both of you were in right now. From the winter break incident to…

“—these little gestures that the actors look for in the choreography, so they know when to start signing. Like there, when that guy lets go of the bed frame—”

…spending three hours watching musical bootlegs.

If there was anything that remained consistent, it was that you were irritating. The way you unabashedly inserted yourself into his and Kalim’s schedule. You seamlessly guided him away from most distractions, yet at the same time, sent Jamil’s blood pressure to new highs by leaving—trusting? Ha. As if anyone sensible would put—Kalim in front of any kind of electrical outlet or open flame. Who cared if you were occasionally successful? 

Never mind that Jamil was actually intrigued by the musical. In spite of its grainy footage, your little quips were accompanied with a little smile and excited glint in your irises.

(That you’re still willing to meet his eyes is another constant, but that rouses a different kind of unease.)

“Jamil, about the Potionology homework—”

“Yeah?”

Kalim glances at the shared laptop screen between you and Jamil. “...Oh, uh, never mind. I’ll figure it out! Sorry for disturbing you two!” And he traipses out of Scarabia’s common area.

“...I should also go over my work with Kalim,” Jamil says, wrenching himself away from this idle moment.

Your hand touches his wrist, withdraws when he jolts. “I think he’ll ask for help if he needs it.”

“It doesn’t hurt to be sure.”

“Maybe we could wait until the end of the first act? There’s one more ensemble number you’ve gotta see—or, oh.” A sheepish smile spreads across your features. 

“What?” A frown pulls at his lips when you shut the laptop.

Your cheeks flush red in embarrassment. “Um, I realized that this was probably…not the kinda musical to attempt a confession to.” A laugh, sweet and genuine, escapes you.

Confession? You liked him? It would explain your sudden closeness in spite of everything, but why? And for how long? Why him?

“I should return this to Ignihyde, but—this was a failure, so you don’t have to reject me yet, alright?”

Jamil can only nod mutely and watch you leave, that dopey smile splitting your cheeks imprinted on his mind.

Sevens, help him. He’s caught in between two whirlwinds.

a/n: oh man, i'm so sorry this took so long. i tried to incorporate as much of the request into the word limit i set for myself but in the end, i took some liberties with it 🙇‍♂️ i still hope this was an enjoyable fluffy read tho! 💕💕 happy holidays (? ouh man where did the time go)

[spockandawe]

I'm so close to catching up with my books! Here we have the triumph of time, again, as a vellucent binding, again. And this may not look super different to you from my last iteration of this project! The differences were VERY process-driven and hard to photograph, but I pinky swear that there are incremental but noticeable improvements, and i would never mix up editions irl.

First up, refresher, vellucent binding is when there's a protective layer of vellum floating over your cover illustration, protecting it. Or. If you're cheap. Paper vellum. My first time around, I realized as soon as I got the vellum paper wet that oh shit, this REALLY has a grain, and it is the opposite of what my books want. It's the first time I've ever been punished for ignoring grain, though, so I can't complain. I pressed on anyways, because what is even the point of fucking around if you aren't bold enough to find out? As a result, my vellum on the first set has noticeable wrinkles, despite only the turn-ins being glued down, and it all floats more than i wish. You have to smooth it with your fingers to really SEE the detail in the images.

So, naturally, my second time, I got bigger vellum paper, covered the whole thing in paste, plopped my covers onto there, and planned to smooth the wrinkles out. Yeahhhh, that... it was fairly forgiving in the one volume with a primarily white background, and was a goddamn nightmare on the three illustrations.

Lesson one: paper vellum is like a sandworm that wants to curl up and die at the first touch of moisture. Lesson two: it wants to hurt you. PUNISH you. Lesson three: no seriously it is so much more difficult and unforgiving than any other material I've sampled yet. The wallet cost of actual vellum may be outweighed by the emotional cost of this shit.

Naturally, I am bewitched and determined to science it into submission.

For the record: v1 (turn-ins glued, wrong grain) in the bottom left, v2 (paste everywhere, abandoned on the curb without text blocks to warp and writhe as they please) in the top center, and v3 (turn-ins glued, correct grain, more effort to pull tension on the vellum) in the bottom right. I'm not done experimenting by any means, but i need to stop for a minute until i nail the process, to save my poor toner cartridges

But the books themselves! Even though i still see ways to polish my own process, i am DELIGHTED with them. The pull of the paper vellum still wants to introduce slack and wrinkles to the cover as it dries, but there's much less! The moment you get adhesive on paper vellum you commit to a fight to the death, but I'm getting better at handling and anticipating it!

There's a level of polish in the assembly of this set that was lacking in my first and second attempts at the covers. Even if it isn't perfect yet, I'm learning so much, and have new ideas for how to troubleshoot. The idea of making this bookbinding style more accessible and affordable fills me with so much delight, I can't even articulate it. I'm still very much an amateur myself, there are lots of professional best practices I can only speak to in the abstract. Pinning down something this niche and luxurious would make me so happy. Future science will be done on single-volume sets, probably after I'm done moving, but it's at the top of my to do list!! And when it's perfected, I'm for SURE coming back to this series, it's one of my all-time faves, I want to give it the fanciest treatment my hands can devise.

[viewfromgumlog]

Blog 5 - TCM, Power Centers, and My Weight

”The weight [is] a side effect of the imbalance in [your] power centers, the real culprit behind [your] illness” (Ting and Jas 171).

Instead of looking at excess weight as the problem, Chinese medicine views it as an indication of an imbalance in your system. Your body is trying to talk to you, communicate its needs and its desire to reset your imbalance and return you to health, or homeostasis.

In 2001, I had a total hysterectomy because I had a 7 pound fibroid. Yes, you read that right! It was the size of a volleyball. In 2002, I had my thyroid removed because it was encased in scar tissue. Needless to say, this threw my whole body out of balance. I began to gain weight for the first time in my life. I have not lost it since then. My endocrine system is severely compromised.

Chinese medicine does not view the body in systems like allopathic medicine. Instead, it focuses on power centers. These power centers, identified by an organ, correspond to the five elements, to the five seasons, and to the five emotions.

Organ-->Element-->Season-->Emotion

Heart --> Fire-->Summer-->Joy

Spleen-->Earth-->Late Summer-->Worry

Lungs-->Metal-->Autumn-->Sadness

Kidney-->Water-->Winter-->Fear

Liver-->Wood-->Spring-->Anger

All of these are interconnected, influencing each other.

The five organs also correspond to five colors as illustrated above. Shen is spirit and can be interpreted as enthusiasm or yang energy.

Learning about Chinese medicine has proven to be challenging and interesting. Because of my spleen or pancreas-stomach deficiency, I have to cook everything. I still walk into the kitchen and wonder what I can eat. Grabbing something to eat quickly does not exist. Going out to eat offers an even bigger challenge, unless I go to a Japanese restaurant, order everything without sauce, and bring my own tamari. Chinese food is often cooked with soy sauce. (Soy sauce has wheat in it. I am gluten sensitive.) I am not sure how effective eating this way is for improving my health, but I have read where improving the pancreas-stomach deficiency can take time. When all attempts at control fail, the only thing left to do is to surrender to something greater than myself.

This photo of my great-grandson reminds me of a Beatles song: "When I find myself in times of trouble/ Mother Mary comes to me/ speaking words of wisdom/ Let it be." (I used to have such a crush on Paul McCartney when I was a kid.)

Works Cited

Ting, Esther and Marianne Jas. Total Health the Chinese Way: An Essential Guide to Easing Pain, Reducing Stress, Treating Illness, and Restoring the Body through. DaCapo Lifelong Books, 2009.

[spikezonebby]

Hello, can I request for your event? Mostly for the way you said angst was okay, can I request an angst one with "killing me softly" with Soundwave, pretty please?

Killing Me Softly - ES! Soundwave/GN!Human!Reader

Word count: 1,370

You adored music. Nothing carried your thoughts, your feelings, your raw and unique perspective on the human experience, quite like a song.

Imagine your surprise when one evening, on the graveyard janitor’s shift at G.H.O.S. T, your earbuds died but you were still hearing music. The Decepticon cell block was always eerily quiet, save for the low electrical hum of the energon force fields or the occasional snarl and snort. That night, you turned the corner down Block B, following the growing sound of music, and found the source:

A towering Decepticon warrior resting back against the far wall, painted in sleek grey, midnight blue, and striking cherry red. He sat with his legs bent, bobbing his helm with every beat that played from the speaker system embedded in his chassis. And even though he didn’t have a mouth or eyes to speak of, you could have sworn you saw something alight behind that visor.

A familiar kinship. A love of the rhythm and jive. 

Hypnotized, you pad closer to the humming pink field. Your broom and dustpan laid forgotten against the wall, job abandoned in favor of the entracing draw. The mech doesn’t move when you approach, and if anything, he grows more still. You could feel his gaze on you, warm and electric, investigating you.

You felt transparent, like your body was see-through and his attention was tracing the lines of your very bones. 

“Hey.” You try, reaching up and resting your weight against the smooth, cool metal side panel beside the controls. “Didn’t think you guys could get radio down here.”

The con says nothing, just cocks his helm at you. And then, with a click, the music stops and there’s dead silence. Perhaps you had offended him, you think. Perhaps you had stumbled across a prison break attempt and now the con before you was trying to make up a convincing lie.

There’s another click, and then a new song begins to play. You recognize it in an instant, same and same album. You listened to them routunely down here while you mopped the floors and dusted the vents.

“You… like hip hop, huh? Soul music?”

The con raises his head to get a better look at you, and finally, nods. Well, it was more like an ambivalent shrug. He sits up a little straighter, resting the back of his helm against the wall as the music plays, quietly tapping his pede to it.

“So you just have that whole album on shuffle?”

“It MUST be. That or he loves torturing my audials.” Another mech from the cellblock next door sneers.

“Affirmative.” It’s the first time you hear him speak, and his voice is deep but laid in static and synth. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant but you wondered if that was just a filter from his mask or if he really did sound like that. “Starscream: Not invited to conversation.”

“I’d hardly call it a conversation when you’re just staring at them, Soundwave.” Starscream huffs.

Soundwave… a fitting name, you think.

“If I knew you guys liked hip hop, I would have brought my mini speaker. My earbuds have been getting abused over these night shifts.”

To illustrate your point, you shake your little pack of buds with a notable tink-tink sound and then dump them out onto your palm. One of them was wholly broken and the other was clearly on its last legs, held together with a thin strip of clear tape. The con, Soundwave, perks up a bit. A light passes through his visor, like he’s scanning something.

“Soundwave: Requests device.”

“My earbuds? Uhhh…” 

Soundwave stands up from the far side of the cell, and it’s then that you realize how much wholly bigger than you he really was. He nearly has to get down on all fours just to be somewhat level with you, but settles for sitting on one knee beside the console panel. Your gaze shifts to the panel, and the little delivery slot below the keypad.

The cells weren’t built with any way to shut down only part of the grid, so delivery slots were installed in the consoles to deliver things like energon rations through. Like normal prison cells.

“Why do you want them?”

“You mentioned a mini speaker. Earbuds are composed of similar components required to build one.”

It was sound logic, and you figured as a giant alien robot he’d probably be somewhat equipped to know how to do something like that. But the bigger question lingered.

“Why? Why do you want to do that? That desperate for other tunes?”

You briefly see Starscream’s disgruntled face lean into view up over one of Soundwave’s shoulders, only to puff and duck away like a putout peacock. Soundwave is, of course, stoic and stalwart in his explanation. 

“Battle with Autobot Scum: Damaged recall banks. Soundwave: Cannot access most audio files.”

“‘Recall banks.’ So like, your memory?” You frown, you couldn’t imagine not being able to even remember some of your favorite songs.

“Affirmative.”

Mind made up, you pop the slot open and drop your damaged earbuds and case inside. As soon as you close it up, they dump out onto a flat tray on Soundwave’s side of the field for him to use. He picks the pieces up, scans them, examines them, and gets to work. He doesn’t seem to mind you watching him as he reassembles the pieces into new shape, twisting or tugging tiny tiny wires with tools that he has hidden away in his arms.

He plugs the very last wire in and pops together the two halves of the case. Once used to hold the earbuds, now it housed the speaker entirely. It was a little rough but it certainly looked like a speaker. Once it powers up, it hooks automatically to your phone and starts to play the last song you’d listened to, blasting it at impressive volume. Loud enough you actually flinch.

“That’s incredible! How did you…” You turn to look up at his face, stopping your question before it even fully forms, “Right, dumb question.”

This time Soundwave drops the speaker into the slot and closes it. You retrieve your little gift, enamored with this ultra powerful micro speaker already. You look it over, flick through your playlists, only briefly mourning your earbuds.

“Thank you, Soundwave.”

“You are welcome. Request: Play something besides hip hop.”

“FINALLY.” Starscream whines.

“Request change: Play hip hop louder.”

You can’t help but giggle a little, and you decided to compromise. “I’ll play a mix of stuff from now on. And if you remember anything you like, you can tell me and I’ll look it up next time. Ya know, to thank you.”

Soundwave stares at you a moment, helm cocking to the side before he gives you a minute nod. “Conditions: Acceptable.”

Content, you head back to work and put on a mixed playlist of various things. Back with Soundwave and Starscream though, the Seeker has more than a few questions. Questions, of course, filed down into barbs and wit rather than actual polite queries.

“Not happy with your little gaggle of minicons anymore? Felt the need to try and adopt a human into the fold?”

“Negative. Befriending human is simple strategy.” 

Soundwave leans back away from the front field, giving himself enough distance to open his cassette dock and let Ravage out. Immediately the Minicon cat curls up around his shoulders, carrying in her intake a ball of wires that she finds herself content to bat around and mangle.

“...They didn’t check to see if you used all the pieces.” Starscream remarks, icy blue optics widening in realization. “A small favor here breeds gratitude.”

“Gratitude breeds security. Security breeds sloppiness.”

“I was wondering why you lied about some so-called ‘recall banks.’ Thought yourself clever for that one, huh? Making up words to trick a stupid little organic that wouldn’t know better?”

“Soundwave: Does not think clever. Soundwave: Is clever.”

“Tch.” The seeker rolls his optics, turning his back on the other con with a puff and flourish. As if he had anywhere else to go in his cell besides pacing back and forth. “Very well. You have my permission to continue your insidious work.”

Soundwave simply stares at the back of the seeker’s helm. As if he needed permission.

[sunnywalnut]

Just a quick reminder to the people that doomed us all and our reproductive rights:

Reproductive rights includes anything having to do with reproductive organs.

This includes.

-birth

-stillbirth

-miscarriage(and also abortion where miscarried fetuses have to be removed in order to save the parent carrying.)

-abortion at any time, including within the first 6-8 weeks (when pregnancy shows almost no signs at all, and can even mimic mensuration, which is commonly a 4 week cycle. Bloating, cravings, nausea, swollen breasts, fatigue, etc. All of which are mensuration symptoms as well as pregnancy symptoms. It is also extremely common for a period to take a couple days, if not weeks to show up. Even in people with healthy reproductive organs and relatively regular cycles.)

-failing/painful organs(PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome, Endometriosis, dead uterus/ovaries, cancer, tumors, inhabitable uterus/ovaries that will kill the parent and fetus if a they are not removed, etc etc. And yes. This is a real thing. I have known people who have to live with dead organs inside them because of the government, insurance, and medical practitioner restrictions. Any doctor will tell you that living with a nonworking organ in your body is detrimental to your health. However, they are unable to step in under reproductive laws and restrictions to save lives.)

-inducing labor (including emergency inductions to save both parent and fetus, prevention of hemorrhaging, tearing, and death to parent due to an oversized fetus, or simply being overdue.)

-contraceptives and birth control. Including the pill and sterilization (which people also often use to regulate their cycles. Anyone with PCOS or anything similar who have to deal with full body, joint, and hip pain, extreme blood loss, anemia, iron deficiency, and much more will not have access to healthcare that could literally save them an ER visit or even their lives.)

-trans healthcare(HRT, top surgery, bottom surgery, reproductive organ removal/sterilization, birth control, and much more. Though I do realize that a lot of you who voted in favor of this don't really care about this aspect.)

-maternity care (hemorrhaging, tears, emergency C-sections, emergency labor inductions, epidurals, pain medications, death, etc)

And I am almost 98% sure that this isn't even all of it. Everyone who voted against reproductive rights voted against life.

Plain and simple.

If it were about the children, people would have stepped in to save the lives of those who were forced to carry inviable, unsafe, and deadly pregnancies to term, and to the grave. And in many cases, leaving both parent and fetus dead.

There was never people aborting children after birth. That is called murder and that is illegal for a reason. But they are absolutely not the same, no matter how much misinformation has been spread about the matter.

The lives that have been lost due to the lack of reproductive freedom in this country is large. It is far from finite. And in our society, where rapists can have proof stacked up against them, yet compete in the Olympics, run for president, and continue to make influential moves on the masses, there is no hope for exemption laws. Not even for children.

All of the well meaning people who have been fed lies, wanting to protect the children in need, have failed to hear us in our attempts to illustrate the bigger picture. Despite how much we've tried.

More people are going to die.

Maybe even people you know.

Maybe even you.

But the real question is, what are you going to do about it?

And as always, with large posts like this, my sources:

[bluegekk0]

I love the concept of Ghost knocking fpk out of hibernation and the first thing he does is revert back to his wilder state. Bro woke up from a long nap and was immediately like “holy f I’m hungry”. (Me too, fpk.)

On the topic of long nap, how much does fpk sleep? It’s been on my mind for some reason.

hahahah yeah. can't blame him though, he basically starved himself throughout his rule (grimm tried to get him to eat whenever he visited, but fpk's deep rooted trauma meant he kept reaching for soul again whenever grimm left, rendering grimm's attempts pointless) and then didn't eat for the 30ish years he spent hibernating (still not 100% decided how long it was, but 30 something years makes sense in the timeline). though, to be fair, all of his body processes stopped then so it doesn't technically count, though it illustrates just how long it was since he last ate a proper meal. i imagine it took him a while to readjust, his stomach wasn't used to receiving much food at all, so there was a lot of throwing up at the beginning. but the hunger was strong enough to get him to keep trying until he could eat consistently

he does sleep a lot, especially after a bigger meal. his stomach is strong and can fit quite a lot of food now, but the downside is that it takes a lot of energy to digest all of it, so he tends to sleep a lot more then (the upside being that he doesn't need to eat as often, sometimes one big meal is enough to keep him going for nearly a week). if he finds a quiet, comfortable place to nap, it's not uncommon for him to sleep throughout most of the day in one go. but his sleeping habits are very inconsistent, he'll either sleep all day, or skip a night to work on a new project. sometimes he takes short naps throughout the day, other times he passes out and wakes up 12 hours later. if he's sick, he can sleep for 20+ hours at a time, which can make others panic and check up on whether he's still breathing

but generally, he naps a lot. if he's comfortable in someone's presence, and the place is warm and cozy, he'll inevitably doze off purring (or snoring)

[littlesparklight]

Still (as always) thinking about slaves in Greek myth. Specifically, the different threads and attitudes made clear between the institution of slavery as such, represented by the "common"/"real" if you will, slave, and the unjustness of slavery, represented by enslaved, formerly free royalty.

As an illustration of the former:

Fr. 8 "Slaves who are fond of their masters' class arouse much hostility from their own kind."

Fr. 12: "You are indeed wise, Priam, but I am telling you: there is no bigger burden than a slave having a higher opinion of himself than he should, nor a possession more spiteful or worthless for a household."

Fr. 23: "I have put it to the test: so base is the class of slaves; mere bellies and they think of nothing further than that." (These fragments have been taken from Ioanna Karamanou's book on Euripides' Alexandros play, and I think she uses a slightly different numbering system to the fragments, just for knowledge's sake.)

And this is Eumaios in the Odyssey:

"since this is the lot of slaves, ever in fear when over them as lords their masters hold sway—young masters such as ours." (Book 14, the Odyssey)

He never comes any closer than this, aside from remarking on his general misfortune, to express any sense of his situation as a slave being unjust. In fact, he makes much of how "kind" of a master Odysseus has been. But, Eumaios isn't quite a common slave - he is, like so many others, enslaved royalty (though he's been enslaved since he was a child), and I don't know if it means anything, but Eumaios is the one who gets to express a hope of being given possessions and a house and a wife, if not quite hoping for freedom. Eurykleia voices nothing such, and she has no notable ancestry.

What makes these two "good" slaves is that they are hard-working and useful, as well as loyal to their owners. Loyal enough they will do things like sell out and help kill those slaves in the household who attempted to get something for themselves. (Refer to fragments 12 and 23 above.) Being loyal to those who "rightfully" owns them is all that matters. This makes them worthy of kindness and some generosity. But even Eurykleia isn't free from the threat of violence, since, no matter how loyal, she gets threatened with death if she should give Odysseus away before he's ready.

The same ideas of what a good and "useful" slave is is reflected throughout what we have of Euripides (and probably Sophocles') Alexandros play. There are fragments from it that, when Paris wins the funeral games, switches and flirts with the possibility that nobility and other such good traits are found in everyone, no matter their birth. The irony here, of course, is that the slave who has won is not "really" a slave, but of noble lineage, and this then, when the reveal happens, proves his worth and right to have won. Not because all people are equal, but, again, because those of noble blood are "better"; the order Hecuba and Deiphobos feared disturbed by the slave's victory has been restored instead.

And then we have the enslaved noble women of Troy, whose tragic and unjust situation does not come from slavery as such, but because they are better than and should thus, not, have to be enslaved:

"I whose father was lord [350] of all the Phrygians, my chiefest pride in life. Then I was nursed on fair hopes to be a bride for kings, the center of keen jealousy among suitors, to see whose home I would make my own; and over each lady of Ida I was queen; [355] ah me! admired among maidens, equal to a goddess, save for death alone, but now I am a slave! That name first makes me long for death, so strange it sounds; [...] while some slave, bought I know not where, will taint my bed, once deemed worthy of royalty." (Hecuba, Euripides)

Polyxena, though now, in theory, no different from a slave "bought I know not where", will still have her bed "tainted" by this common slave if he should sleep with her. And much like with Eumaios above, who expresses no complaints about slavery as such, this servant in the Andromache play still considers Andromache more than her, though they are both the same, now:

"Mistress, I do not shrink from calling you this name since it was the name I thought proper in your house when we lived in the land of Troy. I was well disposed toward you there and to your husband while he lived, [60]" (Andromache, Euripides)

What's the irony in all this - and I wonder whether it was an irony the Greek audience would have noted, or found amusing, or... well, something - is that even as these "barbarians" get to hold this view, for a moment embodying ideals and a nobility of tragedy, for the Greeks themselves, barbarians were "naturally" slaves. You see something of it both in the Andromache and the post-sack plays, where Andromache or Hecuba will make such comments as (paraphrased) "even we, as barbarians, find this outrageous, the way you Greeks are behaving". In the works of Classical Greece and forward, the Trojans do not get to embody the nobility of... well, free nobility, without noting that they were still other.

That they were still:

"[1400] And it is right, mother, that Hellenes should rule barbarians, but not barbarians Hellenes, those being slaves, while these are free." (Iphigenia in Aulis, Euripides)

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Curse Killing Chapter 3

There are a few details about Keiichi's attempt at cooking that make that scene even worse than it obviously is.

He washed the rice by hand inside the water it was going to be cooked in. If you're going to rinse your rice before cooking it, you want to do it in a strainer so the water can pour out.

That carrot was cut into large chunks. Those sizes aren't bad for stew, but they're far too big for soup.

He used salad oil which is not typically used for cooking.

I can't find if "egona" refers to a special type of oil or if it a brand (actual or knockoff name).

And let Keiichi's dilemma be an example about why it's a good idea to know how to cook. You don't need to be a 5-star chef, but if you at least know how to use a stove-top, you can make several dishes.

If you've never cooked before, you should follow the recipe as exactly as you can. Intuition only works when you've done something enough times that your body and brain have things memorized.

And there's no shame in using pre-prepared ingredients. Prep work is a long and tiring process. If I can just skip to the part where I put everything in my skillet, I will.

After cooking a few dishes, then you should try altering it a little. Try cooking it a little longer or shorter, try adding a bit more or less heat, and try adding a few herbs and spices.

Then you can become the iron chef Keiichi thought he was.

This is the only arc that Jiro Suzuki illustrates. Her art style is what I'd describe as fast and loose. It lets her get away with things like drawing Rika as a cat which wouldn't work in Suzuragi and Houjyou's style.

Satoko is probably borrowing Keiichi's mom's slippers. They are way too big for her. Also, I think this is the first time I've seen Satoko's lower legs in her non-school attire. The stripped socks caught me by surprise.

We've spent two arcs trying to figure out the truth behind the curse, while Rika and Satoko, who lost their families to it, were always set to the side.

We've gotten an answer to the bigger part of the mystery of Oyashiro-sama's curse, so we can focus more on the periphery. In particular, we can take time to learn how the series of deaths have actually affected the people closest to the victims.

In the last arc, Mion said Satoko's parents were cold and treated her like she's good for nothing and said Satoko's aunt was abusive. She also said Satoshi protected her.

Of all the deaths and disappearances, Satoshi's disappearance hits the main cast hardest because he was their friend. But he was also Satoko's brother. His disappearance would hurt her the most. Behind all her antics, she's a lonely child who misses the brother she relied on.

Keiichi has a bandaid on his cheek after they badmouthed curry in front of Chie.

NIPA BEAM!!!

back

[silkentine]

Have you ever wanted to draw something but you fought due to your skill level at the time you decide not to do it

Hmm, thank you for your question! I am often plagued by visions of illustrations and projects that seem outside of the reach of my ability; however, I approach them anyway!! Sometimes, something can be done in an easier way and then you can apply what you've learned to the bigger picture (like making thumbnail sketches or drawing in a sketchier or more simplistic style). In recent days, it takes me about three attempts before I am satisfied with the line art. Some days, I get it in one!

Also, I think the mindset of "Do it Scared" can push you further than you ever really thought possible. I can think all day long about something I want to draw, but it's not gonna get made until I sit down and do it, you know? Drawing is what I was made for, though. I wouldn't be myself, I wouldn't be human, if I didn't draw. So that's a big motivator for me too. Now, if only I could be so passionate about getting the laundry done. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But yeah! I think a big part of advancing your art skills is to stop thinking about art and creation as a job or a thing to suffer through to get what you want and instead have fun with it. We live in a society (joker voice) where we feel compelled to commodify ourselves and the stuff we make for the benefit of everyone around us. If you have the ability, make stuff for you (and for the people who are close to you) and make stupid cringe ugly first drafts and lame things that no one else will understand and come back to them. The biggest joy of creation is making something that only you could have. Be free!

[rinaririr]

I thought it would be kinda fun/ interesting to show a general process behind most paintings that i do as i work on the Tanabata-themed illustration 👁️👄👁️ so i present to you:

✨CONTENT✨

as i cry over my research and not drawing

Drafting out ideas and compositions.

When i settled on a certain theme, i’d first look through my watercolour paper stack and find a size with good ✨vibes✨

Thumbnail sketches are done within the general ratio of the paper size. Composition is something i struggle with, so i spend a lot of time thinking about spacings when i work with bigger and more detailed illustrations. This Tanabata one is meant to be simple and small (A5 paper size) so i settled on a composition pretty quickly.

I was almost ambitious enough to attempt a viewer-insert comic. I quickly gave up as i realized i’m going to need more than 1 page to have a decent flow 💀

Colour draft

Once a composition is figured out, i do a quick sketch on this watercolour sketch book to do some colour drafting. Here is where i swatch some colours, draft out a colour palette, and test out some techniques i might want to use.

This helps me get a sense of what my final piece might look like colour-wise, and it allows me to make notes and adjustments. For example, the bamboos and tanzaku on the upper left hand corner is too distracting, so i made a note to remind myself to blur it out. Ideally, i should have another draft that has all the adjustments needed, but i’m ✨lazy✨

and also my attention span is too short so i need to keep it moving or else this is going to sit in the WIP piles forever

And that’s how i prepare for a painting ✨ Thank you for reading this nonsense

[midqualitymochi]

in my multiple failed attempts at writing ive noticed that a particular flaw ive always had that ive never been able to fix is my lack of ability to have mystery; or rather, my lack of ability to distribute information in an interesting way.

almost always, whenever there's a thought, or a concept, or whatever, every singular detail that i can come up with about it must be described at that exact moment, and there's no room for a description to linger, or leave dark spots, or to even exist outside of that sphere of description. its always overexplain or completely gloss over.

though my thoughts came out structured better than i anticipated, theres still probably points where ive overexplained a point, or made sure to try to squash every caveat and corner of the point im trying to make.

and in a rambly thoughtvomit post like this, its probably fine, but its absolutely awful for narrative, and ive always wondered how i fix something like that.

i think probably a big point would be to start at actually planning whatever i write. i almost never do that and instead just type out complete garbage into a google doc at 2 am on a particularly unproductive tuesday, and the result is always dreadful. maybe its that i go in with a scene in mind, and instead of starting with a general idea or vibe of the scene and then work from there, i just try to get it right with the first attempt and fuck up and fall flat on my face and give up for the next 3-5 months.

though i think the bigger problem lies with the fact that the various stages of a story arent nearly as visually distinct from one another as, say, art.

with art, generally it can be broken down as: sketch, line art, flat color, shading, lighting, and rendering; and however many iterations of each stage one may go through. and more importantly, when you line up each stage next to one another, theyre visually distinct, but you can see what additions or logical choices were made to go from one stage to another.

with writing - and excuse my unexperienced assumption of how the writing process is - its: collecting the ideas, structuring the ideas, rough draft, final draft, editting.

the stages of collecting and structuring ideas can take many different forms: a bunch of bulletin points or maybe a fuck ton of notes haphazardly thrown about a board, and maybe a nicely illustrated and concise story bible that neatly packages the main aspects of a story.

unfortunately, all of this generally leads to the exact same "look": a book, a bunch of words, etc. there is very little to no *visual* progression, unlike art, which is to be expected. one cannot immediately see how an author goes from a google drive filled to the brim with images and notes and thoughts to a collection of leatherbound pages (or a 25 page long fanfic, etc etc). most of the time the structure between the stages is only barely kept, probably depending on the author (that is to say, a messy or loose planning stage wont necessarily lead to a messy and loose writing style).

though more than likely, the best conclusion i can get from all of this is that maybe im just impatient. i simply havent read and written enough to be able to see the "sketch" of a narrative and see how the vague forms of "lines" have lead into the "line art".

and just like a novice artist, i see no real distinction between my "sketch" and "render", because i attempt to do the coloring before ive placed the lines.

[ryanmillerprocess]

Cardboard/Paper Pack-age Design

February 5, 2024

This assignment tasks me with coming up with a sustainable package design that serves its intended purpose, as well as an additional purpose. The intended goal is to make us think of designing a better future that isn't full of pretty garbage.

I wanted to pursue a packaging design in something I would actually use. My first thought was video game cases. I play a lot of video games, and over the years I have amassed a collection of plastic cases that sit in a box in a storage unit. I thought of replacing the plastic case with a cardboard one that contains the disk on one side, and the other can unfold into either a game manual or a poster.

My second idea came from my families love of card games. Growing up, most card games I would play required you to discard the Jokers from the deck, but now that I'm older and can comprehend more complex rules, the Jokers are back in. So I thought, why not make the box out of the 2 most optional cards in the deck? The front and back of the box would tear off to become the Jokers while the rest of the box could fold into a holder for the remainder of the deck.

Following this line of thinking, I lead myself to music. For the last decade of my life, I have spent most of my days with a tune on my lips and an earbud in my ear. I have since adopted the over-ear headphone lifestyle, which has introduced a more engrossing and higher quality listening experience, however I often struggle with finding a place to leave them. I have been known to use the adjustable branch of a floor lamp, a banister, and the edge of my coffee table to store them. Although these alternatives work fine for a short time, it would be much easier to have a dedicated spot for easy access and safe storage. After a brief research session I have concluded that my proposed design is not only sustainable, multi-purpose, and incredibly clever, but it will also push the world of headphone packaging into a new-age.

My proposed design will allow for headphone users to take their brand new headphones fresh out of the box, and quickly fold said box into a stand so they can proudly display them for all to see.

February 7, 2024

I spent this class researching the top headphone brands, their products, and their sustainability practices. I found that Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser are striving for a sustainable future. Sony and Sennheiser have fully recyclable packaging, but I could not find the same for Bose.

February 12 + 14, 2024

After spending too much time staring at different boxes and researching headphone brands on the computer, I decided to finally try and make a box.

My first attempt at making a box was a successful experiment. I started with cheap paper and the memory of how a box might go together. I took the measurements from the headphones I currently own and then created a template at half the size to see if my vision was a viable option.

My first layout went surprisingly well, however there were obvious changes to be made. Most obviously, a door for the bottom section.

With those alterations in mind, it was time to make another template.

I was happy with how this test worked out so I made a few more adjustments and decided to go bigger.

February 19-23, 2024

Family week was productive for me! I put together the first full sized prototype, marked down the adjustments that needed to be made, and began making paper (more on that at the end).

The cardboard I used had a fold in it that I, unfortunately, could not avoid, so I had to improvise with two support struts on the outside of the box. a few of the fixes to be made were shorter lower supports so the muffs wouldn't touch the cardboard, as well as moving the lower door. I liked the idea of keeping that attached to the cover of the box, but it wasn't a functional choice.

February 26+28, 2024

After the deconstruction of prototype 1, it was time for the second.

After making a new template in Adobe Illustrator, I went back to the cardboard and knife.

Along with a new layout, I came up with the idea of using Velcro to increase the potential of reuse. This turned out horribly. I didn't consider the width of the Velcro in the template so the bottom of the box was entirely unstable and threw off the integrity of the stand. Although this box was already a failure, I pressed on to see what I could learn about the stand.

That too was a failure, but I was happy with where the muffs were compared to the lower supports. I ended up learning a lot from this prototype, and was excited to move on and implement the changes in the next one.

March 4+6, 2024

Prototype 3 was a whirlwind of emotion. I chose a new material to work with, Illustration board, because it is thinner, feels more solid, and is clean and white for that extra elegance factor.

Before I could get to cutting, I had to make a new template that included the changes that needed to be made.

This new template included a color coded system to help guide me in what needed to be done and where. Orange was box, green was the stand structure, blue is glue, red is Velcro. The changes were minor for this iteration, but they improved the design substantially. The black lines were indents for the stand to slot into, and the door for the bottom was moved to the bottom. I chose to make the front of the box fully detachable in hopes that it would increase the reusability of the box. (this kind of turned out to be pointless.)

When putting this box together, I cut too deep while scoring in some areas, so some parts ripped (which was a huge bummer). I got really disheartened at this point because the culmination of hours of work was a bunch of pieces of a box that wasn't supposed to be in pieces. After a brief moment of self-reflection I pushed through the disappointment and learned what I could.

I discovered that the small supports combined with the new indents was enough to keep the stand from shifting and allowed for the top to fold smoothly to hold the headphones.

Although the box originally fell apart, I wanted to know if the box would actually work so I recut, and put it back together. It worked, and I finally felt like I might have been in a place I was happy with.

I then thought of a completely different design that could potentially allow for complete reusability of the box. The wonderful thing about this design is that I could reuse my old template to create the new one.

[metamoonshots]

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times which have raised considerations about entry to well being care,” the report mentioned. You can even purchase your self extra time by making capital enhancements. Should you spend $50,000 renovating your private home — including a veranda, for example — you possibly can deduct that expense from the capital features. However not all renovations and repairs are eligible. In New York, for instance, the enhancements should “considerably” add to the worth of the property or appreciably lengthen the helpful lifetime of the property, and should be “completely affixed” so the removing would trigger materials injury to the property itself. They should be, in essence, a “everlasting set up.”  Keep in mind: In case your property goes up in worth to $1.5 million, you'll solely be paying capital features tax on that $300,000, not together with gross sales charges. It’s free cash — after taxes, anyway. No matter you resolve, don’t let Uncle Sam spoil your view.  You may e-mail The Moneyist with any monetary and moral questions at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and comply with Quentin Fottrell on X, the platform previously often called Twitter. Take a look at the Moneyist private Facebook group, the place we search for solutions to life’s thorniest cash points. Publish your questions, inform me what you wish to know extra about, or weigh in on the most recent Moneyist columns. The Moneyist regrets he can not reply to questions individually. Earlier columns by Quentin Fottrell: ‘I’m tired of feeling like I am in hell’: My boss tears into me almost daily. He says I’m worthless. What can I do? ‘I do not trust many people due to unfortunate life experiences’: I’m leaving all my estate to charity. Should I make a will or a trust? I earn $210,000 and I’m 59. My wife and I want to move to Hawaii. Is it too late to get a mortgage? [ad_2]

[aliaharomero]

2D Curated Portfolio (6 Artworks)

Start of the Semester Artwork.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

As I look back at my assignments, I really enjoyed how some of my pieces had their own form of uniformity. I would say that some of these artworks showcased not only my growth as an artist but also my understand of the principles of art. My first piece demonstrates my attempt to make the lines interact with each other which in turn demonstrates two principles of art, variety despite having a lot of repetition. I think it also shows my initial take on balance at the beginning of the semester.

The second artwork encompasses the concept of chaos and I think I accurately did so while also implementing balance. The same goes for the third artwork as I was trying to create shapes in-between the black shapes. In my second artwork I also tried to experiment with implied lines making the shape of a square. During the time I worked on my third artwork, I was struggling with the idea of having filled shapes and how they take so much space. I wanted to counteract that with cutting into these bigger pieces to make them balanced.

My forth artwork is where I believe I was most successful with color and maintaining interest. I attempted to make the cool colors lead to the blue square and the warm colors circle around it to create the illusion of leading up. Similarly, The fifth artwork shows this as well as the cool blue is a stark contrast to the orange. I think it also demonstrates my progress with balance as I tried to include smaller shapes instead of letting the bigger shapes take over or solely relying on them.

The sixth artwork is more of an objective piece but I think it also demonstrated my creative talent as I was trying to express the world tree in a more modern sense. It looks like any regular tree we see today and thats just what it is, we sometimes forget we are living on the same planet that our ancestors lived on. I aimed to illustrate the timeless presence and its versatility to any place in the world.

I believe these artworks show my growth and creative exploration upon taking a Two-dimensional art class. As I continue my path as an artist, I hope to apply these ideas and principles in future works.

[krxnapriya]

NM3217 Assignment 3: Infographic

Thought process and my take on the brief:

Infographics aim to disseminate information most efficiently by combining what we have learned from the past two assignments - abstraction and storytelling. With abstraction, we aim to simplify the subject at hand to its most stripped-down, but equally legible version. With storytelling, the visual aesthetics and elements aim to intentionally promote the information and narrative at hand. Combining these two concepts form the backbone of designing an infographic. 

I decided to opt for an informational infographic with light elements of comparison to be able to differentiate the different kinds of products I had, which was tea. I chose to design an infographic on the different types of tea as I felt that the simplicity of a product used on a daily and yet the complexity of a beverage that has an extremely rich history that spans thousands of years ago would prove to aim for abstraction and storytelling at the same time. I also really like drinking tea..(if it wasn’t obvious enough).

Self-Reflection and Rationale:

My learning points while working on this assignment mostly revolved around figuring out how to simplify and effectively visually communicate whole sets of information. Another thing I struggled with was striving to rely almost entirely on design and not words - visually communicating predominantly through illustrations was a harder task than I thought it would be. 

I chose Felix Titling as the font for my heading as it came across as classic and timeless, which is what tea also connotates. As it is also a titling font, it looked clean with a bigger font size. For my color scheme, I decided to stick with pastels, and shades of beige and brown.  I also used the pathfinder option to merge my two shapes to create a temperature icon.

This is also the assignment where I got to play the most with color and experiment with background colors and the primary colors used for the illustrations. I used the pen tool, curved pen tool, and direct selection tool a lot while designing.

While designing the infographic, some critique I’d give myself is that I focused too much on simplicity and lost out on the visual appeal and storytelling aspect of it. There wasn’t a specific visual hook and my hierarchy of information could’ve been much clearer, which was also subsequently brought up during the critique. I also needed to standardize a lot of elements in the infographic and had issues aligning these elements and making the layout clearer. Another suggestion I got was to change my warping text on the teacup or try out other effects because it made the text difficult to read. Additionally, the section where I added the flavor profile of tea was looking less aesthetic and more awkward. My color palette also needed a lot more work, because the yellow I used while illustrating yellow tea looked more fluorescent and less pastel…which was not a good look. I realized after that it didn’t look as terrible on the monitor as it did on the projector, but nevertheless, it did need some tweaking to fit the overall color scheme better.

Improvement post critique

Out of the three assignments so far, I think there has been the most change post-critique for this assignment. First and foremost, I added a visual hook (or attempted to) with text design, whereby I combined the teacup and the word tea. I changed the warping percentage to make it appear more natural and less awkward. I also standardized the font and font size on the teacup, which in my opinion was a better aesthetic choice. Additionally, I added the time and temperature icon to the tea bag so as to cut down on unnecessary words. I tried to cut down further on the words and hence removed ‘flavor profile’ and just left the flavors as I felt it could be inferred based on the title and overall illustrations. Furthermore, I warped the title of each tea, which was something I always intended to do from my first sketch. Finally, I standardized everything and cleaned up the layout more, to make it appear more visually pleasing. 

Overall, it was a great learning journey on learning how to represent different elements intentionally, effectively, and aesthetically, which are concepts that keep being reinforced with each design assignment!