#save me from my artstyle inconsistency

[tullecake]

he's so kewl ^^

made this for a fake album cover of my AU's Manic's band

an alt version under the cut with cool colors and effects :D

I made a version with a logo/text, but I feel like it could look better so I'll refrain lol - but overall, I like this one :D

[unityrain24]

Saw your tags about Star Wars, it seems Star Wars stans and modern MCU stans are two peas in a pod. :/

im not entirely sure which tags you were referring to, because i have reblogged several starwars posts with Tags, but honestly, the mcu and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And im honestly surprised there isnt more comradery/comparing between the fandoms

both started out as, while definitely not "high art" or anything, legitimately good enjoyable films, with relatable characters the audience could feel empathy and compassion for, exciting new powers and places, fun and adventurous stories, and more, which instantly became beloved classic that people thought about with nostalgia and pleasantness. And they were and by people who cared and the people who watched them were compelled to care and create communities.

But then both franchises saw a shift, from making films from a passionate and moneymaking point of view, to purely making films from a moneymaking point of view. While star wars saw this happen with the franchise being picked up a few years after to make sequels, the mcu's shift happened more gradually, since there was no time in-between making movies.

now, while i would not consider myself a StarWars Fan, my sister and cousins most definitely were, so i had to watch basically everything in order to keep a conversation with them (not that i didnt enjoy it, i quite liked it and all the lore, it just didnt hold the special place in my heart that thing i consider myself a Fan of do). I've watched the movies, the clone wars series, rebels, the mandalorian, etc all the way through. It's been a while since i was keeping up with everything, so forgive me for not having quite a comprehensive understanding and opions of it as i did say, 3-4 years ago lol.

But the starwars sequels are a lot like the latest phases of the mcu. While i cant remember if they explicitly go against any prestablished canon like the later mcu phases do, they definitely go against the spirit and point/purpose of the original (and even prequel) films.From what i remember, the sequels also had went through several different directers and had direction and script changes and was a whole mess, so even the three films were sort of inconsistent or at the very leat felt oddly-thrown together (<-i may be wrong on the specifics of that its been a while. but it was something along those lines). Also like the later phases of the mcu, they relied a lot on the "nostalgia factor" with not only easter eggs but bringing back old ideas, concepts, plots, even characters, since it "worked so well the first time," when really what the "first time" did was think of new things, present old things in new ways, and tell make art from a place of passion, community, and connection, rather than a "whats the least i can do to make the most money" mindset formula (a point brought up a lot by @therese-lokidottir on many of their recent mcu critiques).

Starwars, unlike the mc, did have a brief period of "redemption" where it looked like the franchise would be saved and given back to the hands of people passionate about starwars, stoytelling, and film, with stuff like the final season of clonewars, the mandalorian, and a few other things. That was a great time to be a starwars fan. I wasn't even a fan, and it was kind of magical for me. But now it seems like they are back of the capitalist art-destroying path, hard. They have been pumping out series after series after series (once again going for the "nostalgia" thing, bringing back the clonewars artstyle, several beloved characters, and more), but it all feels so hollow. The stories feel more like they are just putting in a whole bunch of "wow, thats so shocking" and sewing them together with "hey i loved that character!". The costuming and makeup is absolute trash. The worst by far is hera (an alien character from the animated Rebels series, showing up live-action in Ahsoka). It is hideous. I have seen cosplays of her better than what the actual multi-bullion-dollar corpoation disney with all the best resources put on that screen. The costume looked like it was from spirit halloween, the makeup looked patchy and strange, they left out simple details of her design, and all the colours were Off. Examples:

Hera in Rebels:

Hera Cosplayers (x and x):

Hera in the Ahsoka Series: (it is like. seriously disconcerting to me)

and again, the costuming was not the most pressing point. Its actually relatively low on the list of points of everything bad with current starwars. But its good for a visual example. My sister and my cousins loved starwars. Passionate. Ahsoka was one of my sister's favourite characters. She couldnt even get though a full episode of ashoka. I havent heard anything new of starwars from our cousins, either. And we see eachother relatively often. I havent watched a new starwars thing in like... forever now. And it seems like neither have they. And not because they got sick of starwas, i can tell you that. They got sick of the new starwars being pumped out and shoved down their throats where the only things that resembled what they had loved were twisted into something else. Which, at least in my experience, is far, far worse than if they just ended things ubruptly and unfairly. At least mutilated corpse can rest.

The mcu's decline was, again, more gradual, like boiling a frog. Thor ragnarok is where i would probably pinpoint the beginnings though. I didn't like it at first, because it was out of character, sort of reversed elements of the character's well-developing character arcs , narratively picked on some characters more than others, etc. But, it was still a well-beloved film by many, in-universe explanations for why the characters, arcs, and plots were so different could be plausibly thought up, it was fun and unique, and i could make myself ignore the bad parts and focus on the good and enjoy it for a while. But by the time the loki series came out? There wasnt even any of that anymore. No passion. No community. No love of art. No respect for the previous artists and their art, that the new makers were supposed to honour and continue. While ragnarok's morals of the story could be a little iffy at times (attempting to critique colonialism/imperialism, but falling flat because mocking loki for dismantling it; making jokes at points of the film where it was a little inappropriate), the loki series was straight up horrifying. Perhaps most noteably, fucking. GLORIFYING AND EXCUSING/SYMPATHIZING FASCISM??? and labeling genocide as a "necessary evil?" (though, once again, that was not the only immoral "moral" the series preached). Disgusting. And the MCU is pumping out way more films than starwars, and seem far deeper in the money-lust trenches too.

either way, both are suffering and both are bought by disney (and oddly, both keep giving more and more screentime to the fascist characters. but at least starwars isnt romanticizing it like the mcu is...)

and it hurts so much when something important to you is taken from you, and twisted, and ruined, and its mutilated corpse is hung up on string and paraded around as a puppet before your eyes, and burned into your mind even when you finally tear yourself away. And then swarms of people thinking your ridiculous for caring so much about something so unimportant, and others defending the very monstrosity that did this.

But its not ridiculous or silly or inferior to be attatched to a fictional character or fictional world or fictional story or whatever. They can provide comfort, and ways to explore and understand and even come to terms with yourself (or even others!) (and can be especially important coping mechanism for mentally ill people!). And art is a such an innately human thing, for us to express ourselves, and communal art (like film!) is a tradition across humanity and time!

And with the whole thing with people these days defending/denying what capitalism is doing to art, and denying the notion that art has any influence or effect on "real life"... why are these such absurd concept to you, that you liken to some crazy conspiracy theory? Are you really so blind as to not see it happening before you? Is the blindfold over your eyes really so soft it feels like nothing there? They say a bird who doesnt know its in a cage thinks its free. These people seem to think that drastic, unfair, unjust, immoral, inequal changes and systems are only things of the past. And often, the past doesnt feel real. Dinosaurs and the roman empire and some genocide in some faraway land in some faraway time can at times seem just as unreal as mythical creatures and stories. And even if such terrible things were to happen now, surely theyd be able to see it coming. But things like this dont change in an instant. They are gradual. Like boiling a frog. You dont notice. And even if things arent the worst they can be, and never become the worst they can be, they are still bad. Things arent required to be certified the worst of worst in order for change to be allowed to happen. The worst of the worst isnt even a thing.

Our art is being taken from us. We are being overworked and underpayed. Our whole lives are dictated by how "valuable" we are. Our environments are being polluted and decimated and our planet is becoming more and more inhospitable. Racism and queerphobia and ableism and more are taking lives. And none of those things are at the very worst they can be. They could all be much, much, much worse. But we shouldnt just sit around and be grateful its not worse and do nothing more, nor should we deny anything is wrong at all. If you had cancer youd want to do what you could to get better. If you If broke your leg youd do what you could to make it better. Even if you just accidentally cut your hand or finger while chopping vegetables, youd bandages it up. We always should try to make things better.

We deserve to have our art continue to be art. Just as we deserve all the much more pressing areas of our lives to be better too

Anyways, marvel and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And that pod is with other pods, and the plant those pods share is film. Or perhaps even art as a whole. The mcu and starwars are just really good examples of whats happening right now, because not only does it feel like perhaps its hitting them the most, but also because since they are such large franchises, you can really see and document the progression of whats happening with each instalment.

two peas in a pod :( <3

[shoddilydrawnmeulin]

33333 OMGOMGOMGOMGOMOG

W3LCOME!

I TOT3S CANNOT BELI3V333 YOU GUYS! YOU GOT GRUMBLR ACCOUNTS AND DIDNT 3V333NN T3LL M3333! IM SO HAPPY THOUGH (=TェT= ) I LOV3333 GRUMBLR SOOOO MUCH! AND NOW YOU GUYS AR3 ON H3R3 TOOOOOO! (=｀ω’= )

IT F33LS R333AAALY W3IRD TO FINALLY B3 MAKING A PROP3R PINN3D POST FOR THIS ACCOUNT, CONSID3RING HOW LONG I'V3 HAD GRUMBLR AND ALL! BUT NOW THAT I D3L3T3D ALL OF MY OLD POSTS OUT OF PANIC I THINK I HAV3 TO...ヽ (^‥^=ゞ)

AND I H3ARD ABOUT A WRIGGL3R OUTBR3AK... WHATS THAT ALL ABOUT...? I'M G3TTING ID3AS FOR MY N3XT FANFIC...(=^ω^= )

(OOC FROM HERE ON OUT UNDER THE CUT.)

Hey gang welcome to meulin's ask blog :3c Below are rules, disclaimers, and context!

My non-roleplay account is @meulins-mama . it's not my main, but it is an account js for modding this. my timezone is MST!

all OOC posts will be tagged as " Not Meowin' Around "

Rules

1. I will not be participating in heavily NSFW OR SUGGESTIVE content. While passing mentions or comedic bits having to do with Meulin's fanfics are going to happen one way or another this blog is not going to be nsfw.

2. If there is an ask I do not want to answer I simply will not answer it. I will answer literally every ask I get unless for some odd reason I don't want to, such as it being heavily NSFW or just plain uncomfortable.

3. Do not pull serious disrespect with me or anyone else, nothing of that sort will be tolerated! I will block you. I will not talk to you, but if you get blocked, you know exactly why.

Disclaimers

I am not an active artist, I do not draw daily often. I am also not a fountain of creativity & motivation, there will be days where I don't respond to asks within 5 or so hours.

I try to respond as soon as I can but if I do not assume 1. I am asleep 2. It's one of those days.

There will be moments where Meulin seems ooc! I don't roleplay as her often, I'm learning as I go.

There will be inconsistent artstyles lol, I cannot keep one to save my life, even back to back drawings.

Context!

In the context of Meulin's perspective this was her old fandom space account that she's had for ages. Once she found out about the others getting "Grumblr" she had panicked and deleted them all, hence the type of things she had on her page and her canon activities of shipping her friends & writing about them.

In reality this account is new, having been made just this year.

Boundaries

No heavy NSFW or suggestive content

Do not demand me outside of rp, I am in fact a person behind the screen.

I am okay with interacting with other Meulins! I'd love to, actually.

I am okay with shipping Meulin with others, however the relationships will not be "canon" to whatever I'm doing here. They can be little side stories, but again they will not be canon to this blog.

And, finally, true to my word, she is shoddily drawn. She may have a wonky hand or a weird face, but that's part of the charm of the account. Being shoddily drawn!

Long shpeel over, go have fun!

[klayfruit]

ouh.... i had never heard of goblet grotto but i googled it, & the artstyle looks so charming. would love to hear u talk abt it sometime, when u get the chance or feel like it ^_^

THANK U OH MY GOD nows my chance …. idk if u wanted me to explain it in ur dms or anything so im just gonna infodump here!!!

goblet grotto is a game made by thecatamites (who still actively posts games, just mostly under the name garmentdistrict) in 2012. the main Thing abt the game is that you play as a little swamp toad knight (probably) named swampy, who ventures into the grotto for their search for goblets. the game itself though is absolutely giant, branching paths at nearly every corner and the “story” becoming more bizarre as time goes on. goblets become less of a collectable, and more of an item of worship

the moment youre thrown into the game and it begins, there are already several noises screaming into your ears. first thing you notice is the glyphs popping up at the top of the screen, each one appearing accompanied with a Horribly Loud “BWAH”. you take in the side menu, looking at swampy’s little avatar and noticing how one of the options is just “pray”, and seeing how theres a Whole Ass Paragraph describing your surroundings right now. halfway through reading the paragraph, you are killed by wolves. you have eaten 0 meats and collected 0 goblets. the game is absolutely ruthless to the player, sometimes it will just throw an unkillable enemy at you, force you to crawl around slowly without an explanation, completely destroy your save file, etc. theres also just moments where the games like Oop You Fucked Up! like if you pray too many times it completely destroys the side-text into becoming incomprehensible screaming nonsense, along with just randomly spawning pyramids that make a horrible buzzing noise that you cant turn off. also theres an npc where if you interact with them it makes all your side-text start saying weird shit.

how ruthless the game is is what makes it so enjoyable to me, its so just unabashedly itself. youre thrown into this world screaming and bleeding, and you have to figure out how everything works to even manage to survive. the glyphs mentioned earlier are a whole ass language, the translation of each and every single glyph being in the guide book that comes with the game. you need to manage to memorize a good amount of them to realize that they have An Actual Meaning and Mechanic in the game. whenever swampy collapses and starts crawling, its not for no reason, its because theyre hungry/havent collected goblets recently and theyre screaming this at you through the glyphs. also would like to mention that praying too much also leads the glyphs to become more panicked and almost trivial, eventually them turning into symbols that Arent even seen in the guide book and i had to ask thecatamites directly what the glyphs meant.

theres so So much damn story in this game, and at the same time theres little to none. the moment you see something that seems like it could be a reoccurring theme, its instantly thrown out the window. its extremely rare for something to be consistent through a small section of the game, nevertheless the whole ass game. the only example i can think of is the game’s depiction of god, who speaks in funny little typing quirks and says shit like “UP AND ATEMCOWBOY!!!!!! WORLD IS HYOU OYSTER ;^)”. its heavily implied that, once you pray too much and the side text becomes all fucked up, its god speaking to you in their fucked up little way of speaking, screaming at you to keep on moving and collect goblets and have horrible dreams and Replace all files in your computer with a list of Swears (direct quote from god). there are also altars in several areas through the game, purple hooded people surrounding each altar. if you pray at it, god just straight up appears and gives you goblets. what’s special though about the inconsistency is that, at the very “end” of the game, seemingly all the vaguely important characters that you only see once in the whole game appear once again. it just like makes it special and really sends it home. god, along with the purple hooded people appear in this area, i just thought that was fun.

also want to mention the sound design and music is so unique and honestly fantastic. i am specifically talking about the glyph’s “BWAH”s, and also how everytime you collect meat, swing your axe, and collect goblets, you hear a man say in your ear “MEAT.” “KILL.” “GOBLETS.” aside from the sfx though the music is genuinely so fucking good im not even joking. its got such an amazing vibe to it, my personal favorite is world end because of how melancholic it feels compared to every other song in the ost

theres honestly so much i could say about this game, but i have autism and cant properly put my thoughts into words, so all i can say is just Pleaaaaase check out goblet grotto, even just for a moment. the gameplay sucks complete ass if youre not familiar with it, but the newest vers of the game DOES have an immortal mode (press L at the start screen and it brings you to Secrets Menu). if you dont wanna play it i recommend vinny’s small vid of him playing it, it gets the main thing abt it across pretty well! ALSO i made a whole ass website of me just talking about everything i know about goblet grotto, its like a sort of guide for the game as theres no other good guides of it online due to how obscure the game is.

anyway thank you so much for listening to me. autism be damned i can write essays about mediocre game

[fangirlsovertoomanythings]

Bluestar

Alrighty!

Favorite thing about them: She's a fairly well-written character, despite the inconsistencies in personality she has, especially after she died and became a StarClan cat. She enjoys being a good mentor, tries to be a good leader, but at the end of the day she thinks too highly of herself to realize when she's wrong or has gone astray. I also find her religious crisis a bit too relatable, but I won't get into it haha

Least favorite thing about them: Other than the personality inconsistencies after she died, there is also the fact that, when she was alive, the writers never knew what they wanted her to be. A good, selfless leader? A harsh, egocentrical leader? A caring mother, or a hardened warrior who has lost too much? It got so bad that I don't know anymore what exactly I remember her as. The woman ignored Fireheart's warnings, then instead of resigning when she felt she could no longer lead, she was irresponsible and kept her position, worsened Brightpaw's PTSD, left Fireheart practically alone, and almost went to war with WindClan for no damn reason? What the fuck Richard

Favorite line: I don't remember the exact quote, but the moment where she regains a bit of her awareness a little before she dies and screams at the dogs before attacking them and falling to the river. Not really a line, but this moment was an entire vibe

brOTP: I don't think she had anyone as close as a sibling other than actual siblings, so no

OTP: As much as Oakheart and Bluestar is canon, I prefer Bluestar and Yellowfang. They are two mothers who had given up on motherhood and watched their children grow up away from them, not to mention the fact that they are two very motherly figures to Fireheart throughout his journey. When Yellowfang shows up at the camp, if I remember correctly Bluestar starts treating her less like a prisioner and more like a guest once she discovers her identity as ShadowClan's doctor (of course, that includes political reasons aswell, but she respects her). They are also seen a lot around each other after their deaths, and their spirits often banter about prophecies and all of that. They're a couple to me, man

nOTP: I don't have any, unless someone ships her with Fireheart, in which case: NO. NO. NOOOOO

Random headcanon: I'm not sure if it's canon or not, but she's the sort of mentor that doesn't take it easy even if it'd boost your self-esteem. Even in your first fighting challenge, she's already giving her all even if you barely know any fight moves. She thinks it's fairer this way, because her apprentices will face far more experienced warriors in battle; and when her apprentices are able to immobilize her or even accidentaly hurt her during training, her praise is earned and the apprentice feels that because the woman was NOT faking her loss.

Unpopular opinion: I don't know if she deserved to go to StarClan all that much, honestly. Though I understand her reasons, her later years as leader were awful to the point where her irresponsibility forced Fireheart to break the Warrior Code to protect the clan at least on one occasion. Her irresponsibility also indirectly caused the death of Swiftpaw and the permanent injury of Brightpaw, and nothing is going to erase that fact. As much of an asshole that is Thistleclaw, he wasn't a bad mate to Snowfur and as far as Bluestar's Prophecy lore went his biggest crime was being unecessaringly violent, and that was the only POV we had until Spottedleaf's Heart came out. I don't know, man, I just don't think this woman deserved StarClan at all. If Frecklewish can go to the Dark Forest for "not grieving the right way", how the hell is this cat in Kitty Paradise?

Song I associate with them: Stand in the Rain - Superchick. The first animation/edit I saw of hers had this song, and now it's permanentely printed in my brain.

Favorite picture of them: I can't SAVE IT, but it's one in the older artstyle where she's in attack position in the middle of a bush, her big ol' eyes looking at the audience. Creechur

[curestardust]

Dust Watched: So I'm a Spider, So What?

Genres: Isekai // 24 episodes

Ah, another shitty isekai? How surprising!

✧  story  ✧

The difference in “Kumo” is that... well exactly that. An entire class gets reincarnated inside an isekai world but our titular character is Kumoko who gets reincarnated as a spider monster while the majority of her classmates are humans. Not knowing what just happened, being stuck in a dark and seemingly endless labyrinth as what’s considered one of the weakest base monsters in video games, Kumoko has her survival on the line literally from the second she is reborn. The majority of the first half of the anime just follows Kumoko’s progression in the labyrinth, fighting monsters, leveling up, gaining skills, talking to herself repeat ad infinitum. The other plotline follows Kumoko’s other classmates or rather just the ones who got reincarnated as “tropes” aka the bland as fuck Hero and his friends. Their storylines are insanely boring. I cannot stress just how much. Worse is that their storylines start to take up more and more screentime as the anime drags on and IT’S SO BORING OH MY GOD.

The show does introduce some admittedly interesting twits and a double timeline but everything feels so drawn out that the excitement of those quickly fades back into boredom.

✧  characters  ✧

Kumoko’s character is really a balancing act between being funny and being inseffurable. This is mostly because she. is. constantly. talking. Kumoko never shuts up and I actually got a headache after certain episodes (coupled with the art, which I’ll be talking about in a second.) She is sort of an anti-hero though which is what sets her apart from the others. While her classmates grew up as humans, with human ideals, she was born a monster and had no interaction with intelligent creatures thus she treats lives as she would treat them in a video game. Still, she has basically no personality besides being quirky and her morals and goals aren’t quite clear. But at least, she is fun to watch. Everyone else is literally just a trope, on the “good” side anyway. We meet some characters whose lives lead to them being on the “bad” side and their personalities and interactions looked more interesting in the 5 minutes I saw them than the fews hours of suffering I was subjected to while having to watch the “good” characters. The Hero, Shun, is especially an idiot. He makes me wanna tear my hair out, I’m not joking. The classmates thing is also constantly brought up but it’s a completely superficial thread that’s used to connect these characters. But the fact is, we don’t know them before they reincarnated nor do most of them seem to care about each other.

✧  art  ✧

Ironically, what we all thought was going to be the worst part of the artstyle, actually ended up being the better alternative. As evident from the OP, Kumoko and all other monsters are 3D models and they’re UGLY as all hell. But the sections where we watch the human reincarnations are drawn 2D...after they’re not. Now, listen, it’s been a long ass time since I’ve seen an anime so catastrophically incompetent as this one. The 2D scenes are constantly getting worse and worse, with constant goofy faces, incomprehensible fight scenes where you have no idea what’s going on, inconsistent scene transitions, and just... oh god it’s so bad. While Kumoko and the monster 3D models ARE ugly, at least you can see what the hell is happening and you don’t need to worry about the art taking a nose dive. The human scenes transition to character models randomly switching between 3D models and 2D drawings but the framerate was abysmall. Why? How? I don’t know but the artstyle of this anime is near nauseating.

✧  sound ✧

Probably the only good thing here. The OPs and EDs are some great rock songs and Kumoko’s VA is Yuuki Aoi (you probably know her from PMMM as Madoka). She is also the vocalist in both EDs and while maybe even her performance couldn’t save Kumoko’s constant rambling from being headache inducing, her performance is basically what gives life to Kumoko’s personality. 

✧  overview ✧

The biggest problem with isekai’s is that they cannot be small scale. They always try to introduce groundbreaking plotlines and twists and turns. IMO this anime would’ve worked better if it was shorter and only focused on Kumoko. Alas, this is just another one to the “isekai is cancer” collection.

My Rating: 3/10

[faerielleart]

hello my easter bunny! tysm once again for the wonderful art and all the effort that you've put into it! and i hope you indulge me in asking you this question, but how would you explain your drawing style? do you have any artistic influences or so? i just noticed that you tend to make use of pop culture references or literary quotes, but i'm not sure if that's something you deliberately intend to do in all of your works. much love <3

hello dearest! :D

thank you for the nice words aaa ;w; i am genuinely so happy you enjoyed your present ✨

these are very interesting questions 🧐 i’ll answer in order:

how would you explain your drawing style?

this is probably the hardest question for me to answer because i tend to switch it up a lot shdjskdkd it kinda depends of what i’m trying to convey, if i want to make something cartoonish or something more realistic, but i’d like to say it’s generally semi-realistic with a heeeavy emphasis on the “semi” hhhh i guess i am also kinda inspired by old school anime that i used to watch as a kid like sailor moon, the rose of versailles and others. i tend to do my best to get realistic proportions for the characters i draw and don’t really do heavily stylized work with exaggerated features, i try to imitate real people but i’m also incredibly stubborn and like to suffer so i always avoid using references unless i really need one (ex: muscles, hands, feet, dynamic poses) because i want to build a better visual memory for how a human is supposed to look like. when i first started posting my art i tended to do black and white only, then i got progressively more comfortable with colors. i’d say my signature thing would be the lighting :D and the lil dots of atmospheric dust, but yeah i have a tendency to do a lot of backlighting or random streaks of light, i think it looks pretty 🥺 also i like drawing hurt/comfort which is why i do a lot of black and white art, i think it looks nicer bc it reminds me of old photographs and it’s just a ~vibe~ i enjoy hehe but when i use color it’s super vibrant and saturated kinda like a punch in the eyeball. so yeah my artstyle in really brief words: inconsistent but shiny as hell with an extra colorful punch in the face when i feel like b&w doesn’t do the job :’D

do you have any artistic influences or so?

quite a lot! when it comes to backgrounds, i take inspiration from studio ghibli and makoto shinkai movies for scenery, kyoani for indoor settings. i freaking love yusuke murata and takehiko inoue’s artstyles and i love hirohiko araki’s use of color. as far as the technicalities go, my art never looks “smooth” bc i can’t figure out how to draw with airbrush tools to save my life, and i am very very veeery influenced by impressionism, which is why i paint in broad strokes that look messy and you can also kinda see all the lines hhh and i guess the focus on the lighting comes from my obsession with caravaggio when i was in school :’) oh also i absolutely have to mention the two italian comic artists whom i’ve been following since i was a first year middle schooler just getting started with digital art, mirka andolfo and angela vianello; they’re probably my biggest influences and lil fangirl moment i met mirka at a comicon a few years ago and she drew me hiyori from noragami as she was in charge of drawing the alternate cover for the first volume release and she was so nice and kind and encouraged me to keep making art and excuse me i’m gonna cry- angela vianello is also an absolute legend and her work is absolutely breathtaking, she’s probably *the one* who helped me shape my artstyle the most through the years. haven’t met her yet unfortunately ;;;;

about the pop culture references and literary quotes

BINGO i am a literature student and an anthropology student which comes with an extra art history, theatre history and philology+mythology on the side which means that basically 99% of everything i’ve ever posted stems from either a song i was listening to or a book i was reading or anything i was studying for my lectures bc i’m a huge nerd and i love making art of things i love inspired by other things i love (cue me recalling the obscene amount of AUs and wips i have in my gallery). my fav levihan stuff i’ve ever drawn were inspired by jane austen, victor hugo and anne carson quotes :D also a ton of musical theatre songs! i am a giant les misérables stan (book and show) and i have quite a few things inspired by it. yeah i basically have no originality and my brain needs to go “OH THIS QUOTE IS RAW AS FUCK” and “OHHH PRETTY SONG LYRIC” for me to start producing things hhhh

thank you for the questions 🐰💜💜💜

[bluriginals]

Blu Blogs: First Thoughts on OK K.O.!: Let's Be Heroes

So after a long day of highs and lows, I arrive home at around 5:40 pm with little expectation for anything big. I'd already heard about the teaser picture of Metal's leg and how Smash is totally, maybe (stay-tuned-for-more-news-because-this-is-how-Nintendo-rolls), coming to Switch . At best I was expecting the highlight for the new content to be some cute new thing related to NEO-KOSMOS (even though we just got a new update the day prior). But no. We got something big, something unexpected. We got...

STEVEN UNIVERSE: SAVE THE LIGHT (A SEQUEL TO THE 2015 APP ATTACK THE LIGHT) WHICH IS A FULL FLEDGED CONSOLE RPG WITH PAPER MARIO GAMEPLAY, 4 PLAYABLE PARTY MEMEBERS BEYOND THE 4 MAIN CRYSTAL GEMS AND A NEW STORY WRITTEN BY REBECCA SUGAR YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

But that isn't what we're here for today. Today we're here to talk about the long-awaited show 3+ years in the making: Lakewood Plaza Turb--

Oh.

So I log onto tumblr and the first thing I see is this:

So my eye is immediately drawn to the girl because girls are cute she's in the foreground, and I just don't recognize her. I look at the other characters and think "wait is that rad and k.o. what the HELL is going on". So logically, that means the girl is enid, ergo something is going on relating to Lakewood Plaza Turbo. I read the comment below that said "woooo OK KO! theshow i’ve been boarding on for over a year is finally announced!!!!"

I immediately have SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. Is the series getting another app? More shorts? A game? What's going on?! And as I scroll down the truth comes alll the more clear:

Lakewood Plaza Turbo is finally becoming a show.

REDEMPTIOOON SOOOOOOOONG

But not without some changes (ala Steven U). The artstyle, name of the show, and theme were all changed and just like Steven U my kneejerk reaction was "what the fuuuuck IIIIIIIIIIIIIIS this shit?". And also like Steven U it quickly grew on me and I accepted that this was the righteous path. Well, the artstyle and theme anyway, I'm still a bit iffy on the name. But enough context, let's talk about the show!

ok i lied, more context. so part of what contributed to my kneejerk reaction was the fact that Lakewood Plaza Turbo was in development purgatory for 3 years and in that time we got the app/shorts, but also in that time shows that had been in circulation for less time like We Bare Bears and Magiswords had gotten onto CN without seemingly as much struggle. I'd just given up hope for the series becoming a show and on top of that I'd even begun to lose my liking for the pilot, but then again Early Installment Weirdness is my Achilles heel of Tropes so make of what what you will. So when I saw the show come back in such a different form I was instantly turned off. Just from how it looked I was getting Teen Titans Go! & PPG16 vibes: a loss of the show's soul.

The artstyle looked so rudimentary and basic and the theme/intro wasn't doing it any favors, with its lyrics being very non-infortmative to the premise of the show: all fluff no substances. I had come to really like Lakewood Plaza Turbo's theme because its lyrics just felt as though they encompassed the tone and subject matter of the show: stupid(in a good way)ly-awesome with a video game/anime flare). But this was just....a non-event. And once again, the simplistic artstyle is so lame! Until I began to think of it another way...

Lakewood Plaza Turbo/OK K.O.! are clearly rooted deeply in gaming/anime culture and in some ways the new theme, title, and artstyle reflect this. Starting with the new theme, check out the opening shot of it panning from space all the way down to the plaza and the shot of K.O. staring down Lord Box Man with the opposing sides behind them.

Not only is this shot really badass, but it just REEKS of anime influence! And that extends to the theme! The simplistic subject matter and referenec to being friends/heroes feels very reminiscent of 90's anime with Engrish lyrics that have a very simple, positive vibe. It fits! The subtitle "Let's Be Heroes" also reflects it but I'm not as fond of it. You know it's going to be akin to "Adventure Time with Finn and Jake", "The Amazing World of Gumball, "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" and "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius": extra parts of the title that'll all be abandoned in advertising and common discussion in a year. Regardless, the title/opening grew on me. And the artstyle? Awesome! While initially reluctant I came to realize that Lakewood's artstyle wasn't all that impressive. I never really liked K.O. and Enid's noses so the cute little square Elmo/Stan Pines gumdrop is cute.

Precious.

And in general, Lakewood sort've had a generic 2010s base artstyle. It definitely had defining features such as the eyes, aforementioned noses, and character designs but the colors used along with the thin lines didn't do much to set it apart. The new proportions, radically unique way of drawing things, and scraggly crayon-like lines should help. I initially thought the style was too squishy and inconsistent but not in the good, Ren and Stimpy/Steven Universe way. But after I got addicted to the visuals in the opening, I began to really enjoy the style and see the merits of it. Especially in this shot.

It looks SO cool.

I have no idea what this artstyle resembles but the closest I can attribute it too is Sonic CD/Mega Drive and Mega Man which I LOVE.

Also forgot one thing! Both Mega Drive and OK K.O.! have scraggy outlines

It does wonders for K.O., Carol, Lord Box Man (especially Lord Box Man, the way his mouth is drawn all muppet like gives him a real sense of dimension and it's great),

Perfection.

and the other tertiary/background characters but Enid, Rad, and Mr. Gar...

Umm....

Yeaaaaah. Now granted, that opening shot of them isn't doing many favors since admittedly they look REALLY bad (mostly Enid), but even without it they still look a bit. The simple geometrics really makes Gar and Rad's muscles look not very good due to how, well, simple they are. Enid on the other hand suffers an almost opposite issue—her legs are  sometimes drawn with definition/shape (like with the black and white photo storyboarder's picture from the beginning of the Blog) which makes sense considering she's probably based on Chun-Li. Other times, like the picture just above this paragraph, and this one:

Her legs are basically parallel lines that bend. Even worse is that shot above seems to be from an actual episode, meaning Enid will likely look like that a lot. In general, I think I don't think I'm happy with the new design choices for Enid. Not only is there the leg thing, but her ponytail and bandaged torso from Lakewood were a lot more appealing.

Even so it's not impossible to make any of these design choices look great. Just check out the official poster and you'll see all of them, especially the 3 we've been talking about for the past while look great.

One last thing to note on Rad/Gar/Enid's proportions: The strange Garnet-esque chest proportions on Enid and Rad's shirts despite their lower torsos indicating that there's nothing under said shirts.

Enid is a bit more understandable, as nothing about her lower torso indicates that something should be up there but this man Rad is /shredded/. You should definitely be able to see his biceps leading into the shirt, as made evident by Mr. Gar. These don't necessarily detract from the excitement of the show, but they're worth note and could become problematic if made out to be very obnoxious out of proportion in show.

Two more design changes to note before we wrap up: K.O. has a darker skin tone (which I like) and now has buttface.

Buttface, along with flat simplistic colors and thin lines will go down as the defining aesthetic traits of the 2010s.

And also Rad's antenna have gone from being on the front of his forehead to in the middle of the top of his head, which looks a lot less awkward tbh. Overall good choice.

Despite the many issues it has, the artstyle still looks pretty different from everything else we have atm, and the simple way the characters are drawn should be beneficial as with said simple characters action scenes will be a lot easier to make and thus we'll be able to get higher quality, well-animated fight scenes. Despite the bad initial reaction, I have high hopes for OK K.O. Long as they keep the tone and spirit of Lakewood Plaza Turbo alive we could be looking at the next big show. Oh, and great on Ian for percerviering and becoming the second African American to create a CN original. Can't wait to see the young K.O. rise up to greatness just like his creator.

p.s. for being the defensive teammate, steven's hp sure is garbage in that screenshot of attack the light