#scratch that everything is this illustration is goals!

[whisperofthewildflowers]

close to you

relationship blurbs!

tyler hernandez x reader

headcanons ahead!

he's so doting, sometimes to a fault. in the real world? he's balanced, constantly finding ways to be helpful without being overbearing. but in the phantom realm? the line between him being protective and controlling is constantly blurred. he needs to be close to at all times, following you around like a lost dog. after the tree incident, he became so anxious that he feels sick when you are out of his sight.

his focus on college is admirable. he knows that he's good enough at baseball to receive a scholarship, but his fear of being a financial burden to his mom pushes him further. he's definitely a high achiever, feeling crushed whenever he doesn't reach his goals. if you struggle in school he would tutor you, claiming that you were helping him by reviewing. if you do well in school, expect study dates. all the time. no matter how drained you guys are from the phantoms, he will always find time to prioritize you guys' studies.

taylor would be a friend to you, but you guys wouldn't be very close. you guys would get closer the longer you and tyler dated, but initially tyler would want to have something to himself. the twins share everything, even a fashion sense. but you? you were his.

he wouldn't be the biggest supporter of pda, often cringing at handsy couples in the hallways. he would find ways to subtly be close to you. with a hand on your waist while talking or resting his foot against yours under the table. but in private? he's no better than those couples.

he. is. a. cuddler. he works so hard for his family, and laying down with you makes him forget about the worries of the day. he would usually be the big spoon, but on a bad day he just wants to be coddled and cared for.

poor boy is so anxious, as illustrated in the bullets above. however, throughout your relationship you have picked up on a few things that he loves. the feeling of your fingers in his hair, whether it be scratching his scalp or just petting, has his mind blank. if you like to sing, humming would get him to fall asleep instantly. he definitely has a white noise app and a fan in his room, the extra sounds drown out his worries.

overall? he's a great boyfriend, just with a few flaws (but hey, no one is perfect).

let me know if you'd like me to make a part two to this, or write something for a different character! my requests page is always open!! :)

also sorry for the all lowercase... i fear that i can't bring myself to write with capitals.

song of the day: linger by the cranberries!

[sprintingowl]

Writing Your First TTRPG

So you want to write your first TTRPG system.

A short thread.

First, you should know that you don't have to make your TTRPG from scratch.

You can always use Mork Borg or Fate or PbtA or Trophy or any other system that supports third party content.

Systems like Caltrop Core even come with tutorial material for how to write your game.

But let's say you don't want any guardrails. You want to make the whole thing yourself. Here's how to do that.

To start, zero in on what your system's about.

Don't worry about genre or style, just find something you think would be fun to tell stories about. Dinosaur bikers. Astronauts in a lover's tiff. Spiders selling hats. Anything.

Now that you've got your subject, the next step is crucial.

Dive right in.

I'm serious. Open up a document and start writing the part of the game that is most interesting to you.

It might be character Classes, or monsters, or even just a basic idea of how you want your game to handle some part of gameplay.

"Food is important! There's rules for hunting!" is a fine place to start.

From there, build outward.

If you've written "Gremlin Class: +1 to Sneak, +1 to Airship Repair", that tells you two things about how your system works.

It tells you that both sneaking and airships matter in your game, and that you should write rules for them.

When writing rules, here are some things not to worry about just yet:

-Are the rules realistic?

-Do the rules work?

Just get some mechanics down. Give people a way to interact with your game.

"Roll a d6. High is good and low is bad" is a fine place to start, but you can get weirder.

Do you want people to roll a lot of dice? Or use dice that get neglected?

Do you want to test something other than dice rolling, like playing cards or flicking a paper football?

Do you want players to have some degree of control over the dice? Can they spend a resource for rerolls, or to simply succeed?

You might end up finding that your dice system works a bit like another game, and this is completely fine. There are thousands of TTRPG systems that have elements that overlap with each other. Nobody has a patent on target numbers.

Once you've got some mechanics, take a look at how they interact with the other thing you built---the thing you care about. This will inspire you to design further.

Add new Classes, new monsters, new subsystems.

Keep designing until you feel like you've written down everything you want to, and then get some sleep.

Yes, really. Put the project down, go to bed, wake up the next day, and edit it.

Your game is going to look incoherent at first, and that's fine. The goal of this editing pass isn't to get it perfect. It's to get your game to the point where someone can read it and make a character.

Once your game is in that state, get some friends to build PCs. Play a session. See what breaks. Go back and adjust your game to fix the things that broke. Then play a bit more. See what else breaks.

If you wrote a really big system, this will all take longer, but eventually you'll find that your system isn't breaking all the time.

At this point, you can keep it for yourself and your friends, or you can distribute it.

Platforms like itchio are great for posting new TTRPGs. Depending on your skillset, you might illustrate your game and put it through layout, or you might just export it as a PDF and post it. Both approaches are fine.

If you decide you want to make your project into a commercial undertaking, you can go to kickstarter or gamefound, or print zines and sell them yourself. Or you can just sit back and enjoy the thing you've made.

--

Coda: This is absolutely not the only way to design TTRPGs, and I'm sure a lot of designers have completely different processes. If this approach isn't working for you, or if there's something you hate about it, go with your instinct and do things different.

[lilac-set]

Theres nothing good that could come of me reblogging and adding onto the post i just saw so im gonna make a post about it

I think the problem is that this was a vent post that people were taking a discourse post, but OP’s goal wasnt nuanced discussion, it was to vent, so they took it as a threat and lashed out at any replies trying to have a discussion

The post was basically saying that it isnt fair that the rest of the world is under the authority of another government they dont even get to elect (the usa), which is absolutely true

A couple usamericans tried to say what im saying now but got about as misinterpreted as possible, i think. Because, again, responses were not welcome on this post. They werent trying to make everything about themselves, but were trying to defend themselves on a post attacking them personally. The post was already about usamerians, they didnt derail. They weren’t defending their government on a post attacking their government, they were defending themselves on a post attacking themselves

Because for some reason OP made this about american people rather than the american government

They (the americans) said “whos forcing you to care?”, that wasnt taken well, they ARE being forced to care, by the government. But i think what they were trying to say, what im trying to say, is that this is an institutional problem, not a personal problem. They werent whining about how much life in america is so much harder than it is in all the places that our government destroyed, they were trying to illustrate that we as people are doing everything we can to fix our government, for our own and the rest of the world’s sakes, not that we’re too busy with our own stupid american problems to care about all the genocides america is committing elsewhere, but that we know that us simply “caring” about whats going on isnt going to change it, what will change their situation is changing our own government, but just because we’re all doing as much as we can to make that happen doesnt mean we can just simply rebuild our country from scratch because we want to, it isnt that easy

What they were trying to say was that we’re in a similar boat of being oppressed by our government, youre punching laterally at us, not up. Not trying to make it about themselves, not trying to absolve their government, but just not being sure why this is being aimed at them as, ya know, not the government

It’d be like if during ww2 instead of saying “nazis are evil and deserve to die” or “hitler is evil and deserves to die”, you said “all german citizens are evil and deserve to die” - its understandable as a vent, but it just isnt true. And then you get a bunch of germans on your post like “actually we hate what’s going on and we’re really trying hard to change it” and you respond like “im gonna kill a german just because you said that, you really cant stop making it all about yourselves, huh? This is why i hate germans”

I just dont think its helpful to make sweeping generalizations that everyone of a certain nationality is evil, one because thats just a shitty thing to do in general (not as shitty as everything our government is doing, obviously, but again, at us people youre punching laterally. We could play the oppression olympics and make a detailed ranking of exactly which types of people in which countries have it the worst, and yeah probably no american is gonna be at the very bottom of that list, but i dont think that list *matters*, youre dead whether you drown in an inch of water or 10 feet, whether you were simply unsheltered or a nuclear bomb dropped on your town. We need to be on the same team), but also… how do i explain this… its disheartening, as americans, who have at least a little more power to change our own government than people elsewhere do, to be told youre evil no matter what. Theres no point in voting, theres no point in calling reps, theres no point in signing petitions, theres no point going to protests, even running for office, etc, those things have no effect on the fact that youre evil and youre part of the problem. Theres no such thing as a good action, there isnt even a neutral action, everything you can do is evil, because youre an american, so quit trying, by trying youre just making it even more about yourselves. And god forbid you participate in any sort of mutual aid to keep another american from dying, those resources could be used to keep someone good from dying

This is bad, yeah?

[psychewritesbs]

Hola capaa~~ argentina y entusiasta de Clamp, JJK y Sonny Boy sos todo❣️❣️

I absolutely love all your psych analysis!! I was wondering if you’d like to write a little about Gojo’s relationship with Megumi, like what he views him as. I know there’s a lot of discourse about whether megumi views him as a father/brother/uncle/mentor/guardián but I’d like to read about Gojo’s probable view.

Saludos de CABA❤️

Hola hola! Mucho gusto ♥!

Dear CABAnon... I just need you to know that your ask is an amazing question that required so much fun and multilayered brainrot.

So thank you for the ask and thank you so much for your kind comments. I will write in English in case anyone else wants to read this word vomit but will say hello in Español at the end of this post.

I'm also so glad you're a CLAMP enthusiast too because I'm going to drop clamptastic moments to illustrate points. My heart rejoices in knowing you'll get it.

So without further ado...

Gojo + Megumi. Let's brainrot...

Also... I may or may not have written a whole analysis post only to realize that I wasn't necessarily answering your question so I ended up deleting most of what I had written.

Hence the delay...

Ok procrastination, attention deficit disorder, and my overall slow temperament might have had something to do with it too. So thank you as well for your patience! 😂

ANY-WAYS!

I've written about my thoughts on this relationship from Megumi's perspective in the past, but I feel like my thoughts could use some more nuance given everything we've seen of this dynamic as of late.

What I'll start by saying is that Gojo isn't a character I spend a lot of time brain rotting about, so I may only scratch the surface of my interpretation of him, or perhaps even mischaracterize him a bit *gasp*.

That to say that in order to answer your question, we kind of have to peel back the layers of this dynamic.

So let's start by taking an in-depth look at Gojo:

Gojo Satoru is human af

Ok so... names have meaning in JJK, right?

So given how popular he is in the JJK-fandom, I am assuming it is common knowledge that his name, and the kanji in his name, alludes to an enlightened being.

In other words, Gojo is a bodhisattva--an enlightened being who is able to enter Nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion for others and their suffering.

But here's the thing...

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Carl Jung

What is interesting about Gojo is that, despite his exalted spiritual status as the personification of a bodhisattva, he is actually VERY human.

For one, in relational dynamic to others he keeps others at a safe distance. Like that's literally part of how his Cursed Technique manifests, which is a beautiful example of how Cursed Technique can be a metaphor for the sense of self.

Second, Gojo CARES SO MUCH AND SO DEEPLY, it is actually shown how his emotional entanglements are one of his main weaknesses.

Now, for context, consider that emotional entanglements are a form of self-related attachment and that, in very simple terms, the goal of enlightenment is to transcend attachments that might hold the sense of self back from Nirvana.

Third, Gojo is a direct product of the society he is a part of since he does carry the burden of The Strongest / The Chosen One.

It's almost like Gojo's clown externalized persona is an attempt to add some much needed comic relief to the self-definition others have given him. An attempt to lessen the heavy burden of what it means for others to think of him and define him as The Strongest.

Now, what does strength/power mean in JJK? Overwhelming sense of self which is the byproduct of self-knowledge.

So I headcanon that it is precisely because he knows he is The Strongest, that, true to his character archetype as a bodhisattva, Gojo seeks to alleviate the suffering of others. Thus, his actions in an attempt to alleviate suffering are the result of his nature.

And here's the fun twist: Gojo seeks to do so through "power".

Now let's add Megumi to the mix.

Issai shujo to tomo ni

To answer your question, in addition to understanding Gojo's nature as a compassionate being driven by his attachment to others, we have to consider his actions and motivations.

Gojo bringing Megumi under his wing is an interesting rabbit hole for many reasons.

So let's start with the idea behind the theme issai shujo to tomo ni (“together with all sentient beings”—regardless of what hell one might fall into).

Consider that "it’s not enough for a bodhisattva of the Mahayana to just uphold the precepts. There are times when you have to break them, too. It’s just that when you do, you have to do so with the resolve of also being willing to accept whatever consequences might follow" (source).

To put it in JJK-words, how is Gojo abusing his position of power to further his own agenda?

Basically, it's a major red flag in terms of how Gojo might initially see Megumi as a means to pushing his own agenda for seeking power in order to fulfill his function as bodhisattva.

It's just that Gojo, as the adult in the dynamic, consciously and willingly manipulated Megumi into something that was beneficial for the both of them.

In other words, this is a red flag because Gojo, the adult, acted like a child and gave Megumi, the child, an adult choice.

This might loosely remind you of this fantastic meme and the context behind it:

(Source: noa-ciharu's fantastic talent for shitposting).

I just wanted to use the meme because it's about someone taking advantage of someone else's lack of psychological maturity.

As a side note, this also made me realize just how much JJK is exploring the idea that people's vulnerabilities get exploited by those who are in positions of power.

The thing is that Gojo could have just as easily ignored Megumi or reported him to the authorities. But he didn't do that, did he?

Instead he took Megumi under his wing and groomed him to become a tool that could help him change the Jujutsu-scheme of things. You could look at this and think "that's awful!" and you can also look at this and think "yes, it's shady, AND Gojo was also looking to help Megumi maximize his highest destiny and potential." More on this in a bit.

This is relevant because it says a lot about Gojo's "humanity" and the lengths he will go to for the sake of his goal and desire to alleviate the suffering of others.

Again, Gojo gave Megumi a choice Megumi should not have had to make. I have a 9 year old nephew, so I'm all for giving children choices so that they can develop their own sense of self. But the choices have to be age appropriate.

In other words, the adult in the room, Gojo, anticipated and used Megumi's innocence and love for Tsumiki as leverage to manipulate a specific response from Megumi that would benefit the both of them.

Which brings us to the next layer...

Noblesse Oblige

I think that because I come from a last name De los Reyes, I LOVE and deeply resonate with this term.

It's so...

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Voltaire

This is where the rabbit hole gets fun because, were it not for Toji's last words to Gojo, Megumi and Gojo might have never crossed paths.

And is there anything more clamptastic than the idea that inevitable emotional entanglements are the result of fate bringing people together?

The question this brings up for me is... even though Toji gave Gojo the choice (here we have choice as a theme again) to do as he pleased, can we consider this to be a curse that Toji put on Gojo seeing as these were his last words to him?

So the fact that Gojo chose to follow through with Toji's last words is the stuff of tragedy given we've already seen that Gojo's weakness are his emotional entanglement to others. And now that Sukuna has taken over Megumi's body... well... should we brace for tragedy?

But I digress...

The point of this layer is to introduce the idea that perhaps Gojo is someone who fosters strength / power in others through self-knowledge, both for the sake of his own agenda, and also because of the idea behind noblesse oblige--with great power comes great responsibility.

In other words, consider Megumi's theme in the sense that it would have been a complete waste of the talent he was born with, the prized family jewel worthy of one chosen by fate, to be squandered away in a lifetime spent fighting bullies.

Did Gojo see Megumi's worth only in terms of his family's name and his Cursed Technique? I think initially that might have been the case.

There's definitively something to be said about how Jujutsu society as a whole is a microcosm for the toxic Capitalist zeitgeist that permeates our world where our worth is measured against what we can do rather than for the mere fact that we are alive.

But... that's the thing, even if Gojo, as a product of his environment who is ironically seeking to upturn the very system that gave him the power that he has... Gojo is still Gojo, and Gojo is human af.

And for someone who is as enlightened as he is...

To blind himself to this truth about himself, to keep others at a safe distance in an attempt to lessen those emotional entanglements... well, it is kind of tragic, isn't it?

My precious student

I could have literally written this section only and called it a day but like... where's the fun in not word vomitting?

I have to say that I am loving how Gege is starting to tie loose ends. Promises he made early on in the manga are starting to unfold before our eyes.

For Gojo, the Hidden Inventory arc sets the stage for seeing just how much Gojo cares and the lengths that he will go through to alleviate the suffering of others because of how deeply compassionate he is.

So there is no doubt in my mind that Gojo CARES for Megumi deeply and holds Megumi in high regard both intellectually and emotionally.

Like... even if the way he recruited Megumi can be considered shady, I personally think it's in Gojo's nature to care deeply.

As a result I personally like the idea that Gojo came to care for, know and understand Megumi deeply. I should probably open a thesaurus to find a synonym for deeply, I've used that word like 5 times already.

I also think that Gojo sees in Megumi a mirror of himself given their fate has been somewhat defined by their respective Cursed Techniques. There's actually a lot of parallels in their behavior if you look closely.

Now, one of the biggest questions in fandom has been what life was like growing up in the Fushiguro household and what it was like to grow up under Gojo's tutelage.

So I love that Gege has finally given us a sneak peek at that dynamic because it sheds light into the answer to your question.

To me the panels above might show how Gojo approached fostering Megumi's talent. I could be wrong, but I get major "let's go for a walk so I can teach you something" vibes.

And like... I can't imagine how Gojo could have possibly avoided getting attached to Megumi if he basically saw him grow up. Whether he was around every day or came and went is the stuff of head canons.

But I definitively think there's a lot of love between these two characters and that Gojo sees Megumi not just as a student whose power he needs to foster through self-knowledge, but also as a protégé that was entrusted to him.

Now... given emotional entanglement is one of Gojo's major weaknesses, it makes me wonder what Gege is going to do once he lets Gojo out of the prison realm.

It makes me wonder what lengths Gojo will go through to alleviate Megumi's suffering.

Spanglish alert!

Merci a ma chérie (@justafrenchlondoner) for being a sounding board to help me answer this loaded question. We both loved the brainrot that ensued because of it.

Finalmente...

EAAAAA! Mucho gusto CABAnon!

Así es! Soy entusiasta de clamp, JJK, y Sonny Boy! Me encanta q t gusten a ti tb! The trifecta of perfection if you ask me. Lo único differente es q soy Mexicana pero al fin de cuenta, esa diferencia importa poco :)

Espero halla podido contestar tu pregunta... jeje... con eso d q me fui por una tangente q ni al caso me tardé un poco mas de lo esperado pero la vdd disfruté mucho contestando tu pregunta.

Espero escuchar de ti y tus pensamientos al respecto d nuevo!

Saludos desde mi pedacito en el Desierto de Chihuahua, victoria la psicoloca.

[another-whump-sideblog]

Lessons on conditioning with Jane

Jane looks excited. This is one topic that she almost always enjoys talking about. Among her victims, bringing up topics like this is known to give them a short break as Jane lists out everything she knows.

“You want to learn more about conditioning? Well, you’ve asked the right person. I’m a conditioning expert!

“There are two kinds of conditioning, classical and operant. We’ll talk about classical conditioning first. Classical conditioning is typically what you’ll think of when someone mentions conditioning. It’s the Pavlov’s dogs thing.

“In classical conditioning, the goal is to associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned response. So, if your goal is to make dogs salivate at the sound of a bell, the bell is the neutral stimulus and salivating is the unconditioned response. If your goal is to make someone go limp at a certain phrase, the phrase is the neutral stimulus and going limp is the unconditioned response.

“In order to do this, you need to associate the neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus is what triggers unconditioned response. Food is the unconditioned stimulus that triggers salivation. And you can use drugs as an unconditioned stimulus to trigger paralysis.

“To associate the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus, you just need to do them at the same time. You ring a bell at the same time as you feed the dogs. You say the phrase at the same time as you drug your pet. This is the acquisition phase.

“You do that for a while, and then: tada! The dogs will start to salivate at just the sound of the bell. Your pet will go limp at the sound of your phrase. Now, your neutral stimulus is a conditioned stimulus and your unconditioned response is a conditioned response. Congrats!

“Unfortunately, this doesn’t last forever. If you just keep ringing the bell or saying the phrase, the conditioned response starts to wear off. This is called extinction. You need to keep associating the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus if you want to maintain the same results.

“If extinction does occur, the conditioned response can come back (weaker) after a period of time. This is called spontaneous recovery. Spontaneous recovery doesn’t last very long, though.

“It’s also easier to recreate the conditioned response after extinction than it is to create a conditioned response from scratch, so don’t lose hope if you find extinction has occurred. The work you put in wasn’t pointless.

“There’s also generalization and discrimination. Generalization in this context is when stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus triggers the conditioned response. Sounds similar to bells triggering salivation, similar phrases triggering paralysis, etc.

“Discrimination, in this context, is the opposite of that. The organism learning to only have the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus is discrimination. In this context.

“And really, that’s just the basics! I’d love to talk about various studies that illustrated different things about classical conditioning. And we haven’t gotten to operant conditioning. But I’ve been talking for too long, haven’t I? We should get back to your punishment.”

[archaicbones]

Arthur/Art/Arty

About Me:

Artist/Crafter/Science Enthusiast

Queer-Nonbinary

18+ only

I make stuff and sell it sometimes.

I am training to be a tattoo artist.

I mostly draw creatures and women.

I have a cat, a tarantula, and three ferrets

I currently sell original illustrations and paintings.

Buckle up buttercup

Here You Will Find:

Paintings

Illustrations

Sewing

Paper crafts

Pet pictures

Heavily edited photography

Character designs

Anthropomorphic animals

Bones

Taxidermy

Science stuff

Occasional selfies

Me just talking about shit

Disclaimers:

I have characters but I don't draw them often. The best one is Ruth. She's my little gremlin.

I have a wide range of subjects, from cute to creepy to psychedelic and everything in between.

I very occasionally post artwork of light gore and violent acts towards animals. It's nothing particularly graphic. I do not condone intentionally harming any animal unless the goal is to kill and eat. I love animals, and I would never harm one. I have always been acquainted with the darkness. It is sometimes depicted in my art. That is all it is. Art.

I post drawings that involve nudity. The human body is beautiful and should not be stigmatized. I don't care how you feel about it. Don't complain if you see it. I don't care.

Do not ask me about my sexuality, love life, family, or mental health. These topics are completely off-limits. I will block you if you ask about them. Full stop.

I will occasionally post pictures of myself. Do not make negative or sexual comments about my body. Normal stuff and complements or whatever are fine, but if you have a negative opinion, keep it to yourself.

I enjoy sharing my thoughts and opinions and having calm and thoughtful conversations with people. I am a very friendly person and I like to socialize.

I don't do commissions, I only sell original pieces. I reserve the right to use my artwork in whatever way I please, even if you purchase an original. Every original piece is scanned, so I can use it at a later date for prints or various other art related things.

If you want a piece tattooed, I would appreciate it if you would save up to get it tattooed by me when I complete my apprenticeship. If that is not in any way possible, it is $20 for permission to get my art tattooed per piece. I reserve the right to tattoo it on someone at a later date.

If you need me to tag something, let me know, and I'll try to keep up with it.

Tags:

#my art (for the compete collection)

#tattoo design (for my designs)

#paleoart (for my dinosaurs and prehistoric humans)

#creature (for animals)

#humanoid (for anything with a human-like body plan)

#anthro (for my furry art)

#my ocs (for my personal characters)

#character design (for random people I've drawn)

#sale (original paintings and illustrations for sale)

#psychedelic (for the fun stuff)

#acid art (for original art made during trips)

#the self (for pictures of me)

#anti piss revolution (for my fake album covers)

Characters:

#scratchings (for just me talking about stuff)

#my pets (for the ferrets and kitty)

Ruth

Vivian

Margo

Kody

Chris

James

Luke

Jack

Andie

Jeremiah

Poppy

Weaver

Morgan

MUST READ!!!!

If you are in any way opposed to transgender people, queer people, honestly, if you're prejudiced against anyone for the way they were born, I don't want you here. At all. I don't care about your shitty opinions. If you follow me and I see any of the above, I will block you.

Otherwise please enjoy. I'm just a really chill guy who likes making pictures and crafts. I appreciate you taking the time to read. I might seem harsh in some spots, but I am setting firm boundaries in order to create a space where I feel safe to share what I make. Thank you for checking out my blog!

Love and Peace!

[filstersetiawan]

Tube Mastery and Monetization by Matt Par

*Introduction:** In the digital age, the power of video content cannot be underestimated. YouTube, with its staggering user base and diverse content, has become a platform where dreams can come true. Whether you’re an aspiring content creator or a business looking to expand your reach, YouTube offers incredible opportunities. But with great potential comes great competition. To navigate the YouTube landscape successfully, you need the right guidance, and that’s where **Tube Mastery and Monetization by Matt Par** comes into play.

**Chapter 1: Who is Matt Par?** Before diving into the course itself, let’s get to know the man behind it. Matt Par is a prominent figure in the YouTube space, known for his expertise in creating and monetizing YouTube channels. With his impressive track record, he’s the perfect mentor to guide you through your YouTube journey.

**Chapter 2: Inside Tube Mastery and Monetization** Tube Mastery and Monetization is a comprehensive online course designed to help you master YouTube, whether you’re a beginner or looking to take your channel to the next level. Here’s what you can expect from this course:

**2.1 In-Depth Content:** Matt Par leaves no stone unturned. The course covers everything from niche selection, video creation, channel optimization, and growth strategies. You’ll learn how to build a channel that stands out.

**2.2 Monetization Strategies:** Earning money on YouTube is a goal for many, and Matt Par provides insights into various monetization techniques, including ad revenue, affiliate marketing, and product sales.

**2.3 Case Studies:** The course includes real-world case studies that illustrate how Matt Par has successfully implemented the strategies he teaches. These examples provide invaluable insights into what works and what doesn’t on YouTube.

**Chapter 3: Why Choose Tube Mastery and Monetization?** There are countless YouTube courses available, but what sets Tube Mastery and Monetization apart?

**3.1 Proven Success:** Matt Par has built multiple successful YouTube channels, and he shares his personal experiences and strategies in this course. You’re learning from someone who’s walked the walk.

**3.2 Comprehensive Guidance:** This course is suitable for both beginners and experienced YouTubers. Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to revitalize an existing channel, you’ll find valuable information.

**3.3 Ongoing Updates:** YouTube’s algorithms and trends change over time. Matt Par ensures that the course content is regularly updated to keep you ahead of the curve.

**Chapter 4: Student Success Stories** To inspire and motivate, Tube Mastery and Monetization showcases success stories from students who’ve benefited from the course. These testimonials serve as a testament to the effectiveness of the strategies taught.

**Chapter 5: Is Tube Mastery and Monetization Right for You?** Before investing in this course, consider your goals, commitment, and passion for YouTube. If you’re serious about building a successful channel and are willing to put in the effort, this course is a valuable resource.

**Conclusion:** YouTube is a platform filled with potential, but realizing that potential requires knowledge and guidance. Tube Mastery and Monetization by Matt Par offers a comprehensive, proven roadmap to YouTube success. Whether you’re looking to create a new channel or optimize an existing one, this course equips you with the skills and strategies needed to thrive in the world of YouTube content creation.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn from one of YouTube’s best. Unlock your YouTube success with Tube Mastery and Monetization today.

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[unfoldingmoments]

How to Survive the Fall

Step One: “Stay Loose”

THE TRICK TO FALLING in a choreographed fight sequence is to “stay loose.” Tense up, and injury is much more likely on impact. The same is true in life. When falling, she said, “The safest thing one can do is remain calm, even curious about the shifting world around you.”

“My journey from Malaysia to the Academy Award stage began with my first stop, which was not acting.” From a young age, Yeoh was determined to become a professional ballet dancer, finding “freedom in discipline and focus” and training her “mind to be still, to silence whispers of self-doubt.” However, while training in England, she suffered a spinal cord injury: “Just like that, I lost everything, vanished into thin air.” Her school principal encouraged her to “stay loose” and open to what life might bring. “With this awareness came the freedom to make choices I might not have otherwise been able to.” An unexpected door opened and she took an acting opportunity in a commercial which then led to a career in films in Hong Kong.

Step Two: “Know Your Limits”

WHILE ACTING IN HONG KONG, Yeoh discovered, “Understanding what you can do is essential, understanding what you can’t do is pretty important too.” This understanding must be internally and externally focused. “Internally, knowing your limits keeps you humble, motivated, and focused on a goal to point your finger toward. Externally, knowing the limits that are set to you by others gives you a place to point a different finger,” she said. “And yes, I am talking about the middle one.”

Those external limitations are boundaries to break through, she told the soon-to-be graduates. At the beginning of her career, Yeoh was offered one stereotypical demure Asian female role after another. However, she knew her dance training would allow her to ace the fight choreography she saw her male costars handing off to stunt doubles. “When the chance finally came, I knew it was make or break. I had one shot to prove my bankability as an action star, and if I failed, I would not get that opportunity again.” Fortunately, it turned out audiences were more than ready to see a female star in action comedies and her starring role in Yes, Madam was a box office success. “I knew I had made it when soon after, I joined Jet Li and Jackie Chan as the three people who Hong Kong insurance refused to cover.”

“Before I knew it, I was regularly running on rooftops, riding motorcycles onto moving trains, and rolling vans into oncoming traffic,” she said. “With every nick and scratch and bruise and fractured vertebrae, I came back better.” And to law graduates (who she advised not to try those stunts at home), she added, “Learning how to fall teaches you how to land. And learning how to land gives you the courage to jump high.”

For her, that next jump came when she starred in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Comes as fierce Chinese agent Wai Lin. That role is now regarded as instrumental in modernizing the Bond franchise and its portrayals of women, but afterward, Yeoh found herself again fielding pitches for stereotypical roles. “I knew I would not be happy unless I continued to seek out roles that allowed me and like-minded creatives to dig deeper and reflect three-dimensional humanity on stage.” Finally, she found her next major role in the celebrated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

“These examples illustrate the importance of limitations because our limitations become our challenges. There is nothing like a challenge to keep you working, striving, and pushing,” she said. “For every demeaning role I was offered, every rejection I was handed, every time someone underestimated me, I found energy and renewed motivation.”

Step Three: “Find Your People”

“FOR EVERY WINNER, there doesn’t have to be a loser,” she reminded the soon-to-be graduates. “In fact, most success stories are less about competition and more about collaboration.” Yeoh pointed out that she and everyone else in the audience stands on the shoulders of those who came before them and should be energized and inspired by those who come after them. For her, this sense of community requires representation, particularly in entertainment: “When we shine a light on the rich and varied world around us, we empower the whole of our humanity. I can see no better reason to wake up in the morning and get to work.”

Beyond her film career, Yeoh is known as a fierce advocate for human rights and environmental causes, both as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme and as the vice-president of the board of the Suu Foundation (which promotes education and health in Myanmar). She’s been recognized as a humanitarian as much as an actress: she was named a Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (carrying the title Tan Sri) and in 2017, was awarded France’s Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honor (the highest honor given to non-citizens) by former French president François Hollande. In her humanitarian roles, Yeoh said, “I have witnessed the deep inequalities that continue to plague societies around the world, and I have seen up close how women and girls are often the last to get essential services.” Guided by her focus on community, she said, “I have committed myself to walking in lockstep with destiny with them.”

“The prerequisite to change is empathy,” she said. Empathy “activates our compassion, which becomes the driving force for real-world demonstrable action.” To truly fall beautifully, to truly stay loose, Yeoh said, everyone needs a safety net. And that net is reciprocal: “When you are leaping without a safety net, people become your safety net. And you become theirs.” Yeoh’s final words of advice for graduates: “Stay loose, be smart, and go with love… and then leap. And then leap again. And then leap again.” Ref: How to Survive the Fall in 3 Easy Steps by Michelle Yeoh, Harvard Law School Speech 2023 https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2023/05/commencement-harvard-law-school-michelle-yeoh https://hls.harvard.edu/today/michelle-yeoh-addresses-the-harvard-law-school-class-of-2023/

[wsitho123]

Web Design & Development Firm Toronto

Everything from person experience, file dimension, and performance could be optimized. Usually, it’s the designer’s job to organize photographs, capture any essential photos, and design icons from scratch. This means designers are solely answerable web design and development website for delivering the visible assets that builders eventually code into the format. This is why it’s important to understand retina sizes and to move retina-supported property to the builders together with the final mockup(s).

This will allow you to decide the feasibility of particular design and development choices. Additionally, it could allow you to avoid overspending on unnecessary options or providers website development design. By consulting with the company’s administration staff, you can develop a realistic plan that meets their needs whereas staying inside your price range.

It’s slightly like the relationship between an architect and a builder. Only instead of the builder utilizing hammers and nails and tools, the online developer uses code. Web design and web development are two terms that always get used interchangeably, however imply very various things. Here’s a quick web site design and development guide so you understand what’s what when you’re planning your digital foray. You are not the same as your competition, so why should your website appear to be your competition? With a custom website from Websolution.ca you'll attract new potential customers.

Flocksy builders can set your site up from scratch and work with several choices for your WordPress websites. I’ve been utilizing Flocksy for a few months now and have put through an incredible amount of initiatives so far! After making the transfer over from another similar service, I can actually say that Flocksy is a a lot web development design more great tool. I have used their website development tools, copywriting instruments and design work for graphics and custom illustration. From the front page to checkout, your website wants to provide a seamless online experience for every buyer.

A software development firm may help you to search out and integrate varied advertising, gross sales, and operations instruments and software into their website. This can include instruments for analytics, e mail marketing, buyer relationship management, and more. By integrating these instruments web designing and development, the enterprise can enhance its operations and efficiency. This is the initial phase the place the software development firm and the shopper will focus on the general goals and aims of the web site and gather necessities for the project.

With over 120+ projects efficiently delivered throughout a variety of industries, we leverage that experience to make sure we're bringing the most effective and most innovative approaches from every sector. Well-conceived and deliberate website designs are an integral a half of each organization's communication wants. Offering a beautiful, intuitive interface with a logical and easy-to-use navigation format will make the difference between a happy visitor (and potential client) and a pissed off web surfer at your website. The First Qualified/First Admitted (FQFA) course of is used for the majority of Saskatchewan Polytechnic programs. When we decide that you simply meet this system's admission requirements, you'll be supplied admission based mostly on the date you totally qualify for the program. The earlier you provide the appropriate paperwork and information that qualify you for admission to the subsequent consumption, the earlier you may start your studies.

[dotcreative]

How to Choose the Right Graphic Design Software for Your Project

Graphic design is a rapidly growing field and an essential aspect of many businesses. With numerous graphic design software options available in the market, it can be challenging to determine which one is the best fit for your project. To help you make an informed decision, we've put together a guide that covers everything you need to know about choosing the right graphic design software.

What is Graphic Design Software?

Graphic design software is an application that is specifically designed for the creation of graphic content such as logos, graphics, and website designs. These software programs offer a range of features and tools to assist designers in the creation of professional-looking designs.

Consider Your Skills and Goals

The first step in choosing the right graphic design software is to consider your skills and goals. Do you have a background in graphic design, or are you starting from scratch? Do you plan on using the software for personal projects or for a business? These factors will help determine which software is best suited to your needs.

Types of Graphic Design Software

There are several types of graphic design software, including vector-based software, raster-based software, and 3D design software. Vector-based software is best suited for the creation of illustrations, logos, and icons. Raster-based software is better for image editing and the creation of pixel-based designs. 3D design software is ideal for creating 3D models and animations.

Features and Tools

When choosing graphic design software, it is essential to consider the features and tools that each software offers. Some of the most common features include design templates, custom brushes, layer management, and the ability to create and edit vector graphics.

Cost

Another important factor to consider when choosing graphic design software is cost. Some software is free, while others come with a monthly or yearly subscription fee. Consider your budget and what you are willing to spend on software before making a decision.

User Reviews and Feedback

Before making a final decision on graphic design software, it is crucial to read user reviews and feedback. This will give you a good idea of the software's strengths and weaknesses and help you determine if it is the right fit for your needs.

Take a Test Drive

Once you've narrowed down your options, it is a good idea to take a test drive of each software program. This will give you a chance to see how each program operates and determine if it is user-friendly.

Get Trained at Maac Animation

If you are looking to develop your graphic design skills, consider enrolling in graphic design courses at Maac Animation, a leading graphic design institute. Our courses are designed to help you develop your skills and provide you with hands-on experience in the latest graphic design software.

Conclusion

In conclusion, choosing the right graphic design software is an important decision that should not be taken lightly. By considering your skills and goals, researching the various types of software, and taking a test drive, you can find the best software for your project and achieve the results you desire.

[tgtgdubai]

Is hiring a branding agency in Dubai worth it?

Branding is the story you tell your audience about your business. It helps in clarifying your business’ vision, mission, and offers to your target market. With the right brand image and brand identity, it’s easier to attract and retain customers. And, as long as you serve your customers by providing beneficial products and value through your brand, you will win.

Building a brand in a place like Dubai is not a piece of cake. The brand has to be localized to the native languages to be able to gain the trust of your target audiences.

Building an internal team in Dubai to help with business branding will not only cost you  $200,000/year but also the results aren’t guaranteed. Hiring a branding agency in Dubai will cost you anywhere between $20,000 – $200,000 per year with experienced professionals working on your branding with proven frameworks.

In this article we will discuss the following:

1. How branding agencies work

2. 4 Examples of successful branding

3. Why is branding crucial to any business

4. Is hiring a branding agency in Dubai worth it?

How branding agencies work

A branding agency is a firm that specializes in creating your brand’s face based on consumer psychology, designing and communicating the positive aspects of your business. The ultimate goal of a branding agency is to increase brand awareness and business reputation while helping you achieve your sales goals.

Gone are the days when branding was just logos and color palettes. Branding today is the face value of your business. Branding starts from logos and goes all the way up to building an emotional connection with your target audience.

Businesses with strong branding have higher customer acquisition and retention rates. And branding agencies can help in building your brand from the ground up and running. They provide a range of services depending upon the client’s needs, varying from brand strategy to brand management.

Here are the various services branding agencies offer:

1. Build a brand from scratch

2. Design business logos

3. Rebrand an established brand/business

4. Create a brand strategy

5. Develop brand positioning and messaging

6. Prepare brand guidelines for style, design, and tone of voice

7. Create a social media strategy that aligns with the brand identity

8. Write copy that reflects the brand’s tone of voice

A brand isn’t built overnight. It takes research, strategy, project management, and a hell lot of creativity for a brand to be up and running. It’s no wonder that branding seems like a daunting task. To make it easier to implement and comprehend, branding is divided into thorough processes.

Here are the 5 stages a branding process includes:

Conducting research: A thorough research helps you identify the brand’s current positioning and determine which direction the brand should head towards. It includes

asking questions to the businesses to understand their mission, vision, and values to build an overview of the brand.

asking questions to the customers to understand their expectations to create a brand strategy.

conducting a thorough brand audit to understand what works and what needs to be improved.

conducting competitor analysis to learn the audience’s perception of the brand and gather the data to perform better than them

Crafting a strategy: A brand strategy guides the next steps of a business to grow. Crafting a brand strategy takes logic and creativity for it to work for a business internally and externally for the audience. Oftentimes, it isn’t required to create a fresh brand strategy and usually requires tweaking certain areas. A good brand strategy clarifies vision, target audience, benefits, brand values, and positioning.

Designing brand identity: Designers study the brand strategy and carefully curate the visual representation of the brand. The design process starts by designing a logo graphically representing the brand. Everything from the color palette, fonts, shapes, and icons is the illustration of the brand. The overall brand identity is designed to give a look and feel to the brand.

Creating customer touchpoints: After creating the brand identity, it is included in various customer touchpoints to analyze if it works. A touchpoint is the point of contact between businesses and consumers like websites, leaflets, brochures, advertisements, uniforms, business cards, product design, packaging, etc. In a way, it is to create a consistent look and feel for the brand both online and offline, targeting potential customers.

Brand management: If the brand identity and touchpoint have yielded successful results, then comes brand management. Managing a brand takes long-term consistent efforts. It is essential to create brand guidelines for the employees to know the ins and outs of the brand before launching it to the audience and assigning the roles to the individuals to manage different aspects of the brand.

If everything works out together well, then a successful brand is established. If you need help with any of the 5 stages of branding then talk to us, today.

[kimi-no-na-ha]

How Laboratory Design Software Can Improve Your Working Conditions

Introduction

Laboratory design software is a powerful tool that can improve your working conditions. It allows you to easily create, preview, and tweak your experiments in a controlled environment. This saves you time and money, as you can avoid costly errors and unnecessary duplication of work. In this blog post, we’ll explore the benefits of using laboratory design software and how you can take advantage of its features to improve your working conditions.

What is Laboratory Design Software?

Laboratory design software is a valuable tool that can improve your working conditions. The software can help you create better designs, and it can also help you manage your workflows more efficiently.

How Laboratory Design Software Can Help

Design software can improve your working conditions by helping to organize and keep track of experiments, as well as keeping track of data and results. This software can also help you to create graphs and charts that can be used to analyze your data.

The software can help you better organize your data, improve your working conditions, and increase efficiency. By using the software, you can:

Better Organize Your Data: Laboratory design software can help you better organize your data by creating charts and graphs. This can make it easier for you to understand your results and find trends.

Improve Your Working Conditions: Laboratory design software can help you improve your working conditions by automating certain tasks. This can save you time and energy. Additionally, the software may be able to suggest improvements to your lab layout or equipment.

Increase Efficiency: Laboratory design software can help you increase efficiency by providing a centralized location for all of your lab data. Additionally, the software may provide recommendations on how to improve your workflow.

If you are looking for software that can help you to improve your laboratory design skills, then laboratory design software may be the perfect solution for you.

Types of Laboratory Design Software

The types of laboratory design software vary in their features and capabilities, but all have one common goal: to make the lab work more efficiently. Some popular software packages include LabVIEW, ChemDraw, and PTC Creo.

LabVIEW is a versatile visual programming language that can be used to create everything from simple experiments to complex 3D models. It integrates easily with other software programs, making it a powerful tool for data management and analysis.

ChemDraw is a user-friendly drawing program that allows chemists to create accurate diagrams and illustrations of chemical structures. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to understand and use, even for beginners.

PTC Creo is a powerful 2D and 3D CAD software package that allows chemists to design products from scratch or modify existing designs. It offers plenty of customization options, so you can get exactly the look and functionality you need for your lab.

Benefits of Using Laboratory Design Software

This software can save you time and energy, which can then be put into more productive pursuits.

Some of the benefits of using laboratory design software include:

Increased Accuracy: Automated tools help ensure that experiments are conducted accurately and consistently. This means that your data is reliable and accurate, which enhances your research output significantly.

Reduced Time spent on Tasks: Because automated tools take care of many of the tedious details involved in conducting an experiment, you can spend more time focusing on the more important aspects of your research. This reduces errors and allows you to produce better results faster.

Efficient Use of Resources: Automated lab design software helps conserve resources by automating common tasks. This frees up your time for more important initiatives, which leads to improved Laboratory productivity overall.

Improved Working Conditions: Laboratory design software can improve your working conditions by automating many of the tasks involved in conducting experiments. This reduces the amount of time you spend on these tasks, which frees up more time for more productive pursuits.

If you are looking for a tool that can help improve your Laboratory workflow, laboratory design software is an excellent option.

Features to Look for in a Laboratory Design Software

When it comes to lab design software, there are a few features that you should consider.

One of the most important features is the ability to import designs from other programs. This can speed up the process of creating new designs, as well as improve old designs. Other features to look for include:

An easy-to-use interface

The ability to customize designs

The ability to share designs with others

The ability to track data and results

The ability to create reports

Other factors you may want to consider when selecting a lab design software program include its price and how frequently updates are released.

Conclusion

Laboratory design software can help you to improve your working conditions and make your job easier. By using a tool like this, you can easily create 3D models of equipment and devices, as well as simulate their performance under various conditions. This will allow you to optimize designs for better performance and accuracy, which in turn will save you time and money.

[grad604and602reniermanalili]

Final Reflection

What a second year its been for comms design, but here we are... finished. I will be reflecting on two parts of this String Brand Project: Group Work: To sum up group work I would say that I challenged myself with being the project manager again. Its not like I didnt want to design as we can see in the individual part rather, I wanted to push my soft skills and how I work with managing a number of people. To get everyone on the same path, same destination and the same goal of producing work we were proud of. From setting up deadlines, being everyones main source for communication and touching base with everyone making sure work was getting done, there isnt anything else i couldve done in attempting to get this group part of the project running smoothly. Teams became my second main source of communication for that part of the project. Like I explained in my earlier update post, my satisfaction with my fellow group members engagement and output could be improved. It seems like we never ironed out the wrinkles from the first group project.  I wasnt perfect during this run of being group manager but I have learnt a lot in having to deal with people of different backgrounds and how they react to how I do things. I will continue to work on these soft skills moving on. Rather than compromising and going with the idea suggest like the project before, I was able to engage much better with our conceptual take on attaching a brand to something as simple as string.  Individual Work: Moving on to the individual part of this project. One stressful section of this project I tell you, having to essentially redesign and realign the entire brand that my group built upon we got there in the end. In this half, I used illustrator more which i normally dont and learnt a bunch of new things. Re learning how to screen print, learning how to think in a 3D space and create packaging from scratch, work with an aesthetic im not so familiar with, learning how to laser cut at the 3D labs and engage with the lovely people at the 3D labs and lastly learning how to emboss/deboss through Luca over in level 7. I dont think i have ever pushed a project so much than this project. All I can say is i have grown attached to this project and the processes and skills it has taught me has well prepared me heading into 3rd year comfortably. Despite the countless issues faced leading up the finish line, my favourite part of this project was watching everything come together in such a short time. In a year full of projects, it has literally made time fly. The amount of development I poured into this second half of the project is something that will push me further in my final year of study.  To end this reflection, I just want to say a huge thank you to Paul Shadbolt, Aakifa Chida and Becky Ford for teaching me this second half of the year and essentially preparing us as we move into my final year. The time spent with you guys is something i will cherish forever. Especially to Paul for guiding my thinking towards design creatively and towards the design industry. Your work ethic and words of wisdom have fueled my graphic design knowledge astronomically and that right there is something I will take on board into next year. Despite this year being void of lockdowns, i feel like i was robbed of more time this year than last year.  Heres to more design work and better tumblrs headed into 2023

[myonmukyuu]

Art Summary: 2021

It’s time for my yearly art review! This makes my 8th year of recording year-long summaries. They’re really piling up now. 😊

I feel like this summary isn't really indicative of my improvement? It's more like what I got up to over the year.

...I really did draw stpm for an entire year 🤣

Previous: 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020

Let’s see... what did I get up to this year?

My worklife shifted to primarily working from home, so I ended up getting more time to draw. Though on the flipside I’ve been quite busy with my life, especially because I’ve been trying to organise building a house with my family.  Either way, my comic output has been quite constant.

It may have taken me 2-4 months to do ch8 in my series, but I wasn’t spending that time sitting around y’know. I feel like I’m becoming a lot more confident with making comics like this! I usually feel a lot of grief about how I’m “not fast enough” and things like that. But looking back, I really should cut myself some slack 😅. I did 138 pages worth of comic this year. On average that makes about 11 pages a month. Of course this doesn’t take into account whether those pages were coloured or not, not does it take into account the breaks I’ve taken to do standalone illustrations or other things but I still think it’s pretty consistent work if you ask me! And I’m happy I could keep it up. Comics are the kind of thing you get better at by just doing, after all.

As a side-note, I’m also happy that some of my work was accepted onto Dynasty Scans this year. People have different opinions about rehosting, but for my comics specifically, I feel comfort in knowing that they’re archived somewhere outside of my art accounts. Especially somewhere that people visit specifically to read comics.

Overall... I’m pretty darn satisfied with the content I’ve output this year! My series has always been really fun to do (even though it can be stressful) because it really lets me try to flex all of my muscles, y’know? Painting skills, writing skills, doing weird backgrounds, doing weirder angles... Stuff like that. Just trying new things. Even if it’s hard to do, I have a lot of fun trying to push things further! Of course I’m not a machine and that’s not something I can constantly do, so weaving in black/white one-shots is also very satisfying. I think above everything, I want to be able to tell a good story, so being able to do comics quickly in b/w really helps me quickly pump out an idea!

I wonder if there’s anyone out there thinking “when will she get tired of drawing Setsuna/Ayumu” and honestly that’s a really good question. If you’ve been a long time follower of mine, you probably wouldn’t be asking such a question though, You’d know that I’m that kind of person who draws a single thing and nothing else for years at a time 😂. I’m just very focused okay!! I’m a depth-first kind of person when it comes to things and I still feel like there’s so much to explore between these two. I’m sorry if there’s anyone out there who wants me to draw other ships 😂.  It’s just that I really adore these characters, so I wanna continue to explore and develop them! Both as characters and as a relationship dynamic. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface honestly... so I have my work cut out for me. (I definitely have no shortage of ideas).

I think that’s it for my general overview? Well it’s what I can think of at the moment. I’m gonna move into where I am and where I wanna go in terms of art.

Like I said before, I’m pretty satisfied with what I’ve been getting up to. Of course, technical-skills-wise I definitely have a long way to go. My lines are still so... tight, I have difficulty drawing in perspective (which really puts a wrench in lining up dramatic panels) and I barely know what 3D-shape is to name a few things. But let’s talk about what I’ve been doing!

Last year I wrote the following goals in my art summary. Let’s address them individually:

“I want to finish my comic series”

Hahhahahahahahah I’m so sorry 2020 me. This comic was a lot bigger than you initially imagine 😂. I’m not going to make any excuses or anything. But I can say for a fact that I will most definitely finish this comic in 2022! I promise!

“I want to continue to play to my strengths and enhance them”

This is a vague-sounding goal, but it still rings true. I know that my skills mainly lie in being able to create atmosphere/tone to best communicate a feeling. At least that’s what I think. But I believe I have been enhancing them! Over the course of my comics this year I’ve been trying lots of new things when it comes to lighting and colour! For my main series comics I actually do quite a bit of research and experimentation. Like in Ch 7 the rainy day scenes took some playing around with. And in ch8 the entire chapter had me trying ~4 different approaches and strategies. I think it’s really important to try to do new things and push out of your comfort-zone so I think this has been valuable to my learning. I feel like I could’ve better explained this bit but... well I’m writing this mainly for myself and I know what I mean sadaskdadklsf

“I also want to continue to try things that are outside of my comfort zone. I want to see myself try things like different angles/perspectives and more complex backgrounds.”

Speaking of comfort zones, I also shared the desires to push from them last year too. I don’t think I really pushed too far, but, I think a little goes a long way y’know? Hmmmm, while I did do more interesting angles and perspectives over the year, I don’t think I pushed as hard as I could. The same with backgrounds. While there is definitely improvement in this areas compared to last year, I think I could do a lot better. But! I will give myself credit where credit is due. It’s actually this year - a few months ago where I started using 3D tools and various other resources to help me draw. I used to be very stubborn against using such things, but now I’m much more open to it. Specifically I’ve started using 3D-models in Clip Studio Paint! This has really helped me visualise different angles and even implement foreshortening where I otherwise would’ve struggled. I feel it has helped with my improvement this year for sure. I’m hoping to better gain and understanding of 3D-space by continuing to use tools to assist me because I seriously have bad intuition for it asdasdasd.

Okay! Moving forward! What do I wanna learn in 2022? Well I have a couple of loose goals:

I want to do more illustrations/quick drawings on top of my comic work.

One thing that I always sulk about is how long my comics take to produce. And at times, it really can’t be helped. Especially if the comic is fully coloured. And like...how do I explain this... I want to upload work as often as any other fan artist, y’know? Whenever I post my big comics I feel the tension of months of work releasing from me, and like, it’s a lot lighter on my mental to be able to work on smaller things and actually finish them.  So one thing I’d like to implement is some way to work in smaller works. Whether that’d be little mini comics, or doodles or whatever while I’m working on my bigger comics. How I’ll do this? We’ll see what works, but at the moment I’m thinking of allowing 2-4 hours a week for me to work on whatever I wish outside of the main comic. Like 2 hours twice a week? Or 2 hours a week? Or- well you get the idea, I’ll figure it out! Just some time set for little things so I can get more of my ideas out.

I want to learn to paint.

This isn’t really a compulsory goal, but it’s somethign that would be nice to explore, even if it’s just a bit. For those who aren’t too familiar with making art, I’m referring to a dramatic change in my process. Usually I draw a sketch, ink the lines, and then colour beneath the lines and on top of the sketch.  Now when i say “paint” I mean it in terms of process. This would be sketching, plopping base paints on top of the sketch, then colouring as usual, painting in lines as I need them on top (much like traditional painting!). I find the style rather appealing, but it’s a bit hard for me to get used to hahahahah. But if I can figure it out well, it might help contribute to my next goal.

I want to learn to draw faster.

Above everything, I would like to be able to tell the stories that I want to tell. So it’d be helpful if I could output stories at a faster rate. I think my lining is really slow... well I think I’m quite slow in general. Even my drafting is quite slow. There are a two angles I can approach this gripe of mine from.

Faster lines.

Faster/more clever drafting.

As I’ve mentioned my lines are quite tight. If I could learn to be more loose and flowy, then perhaps I’d be able to draw faster.

As I mentioned before, I wanted to dedicate some time each week to do other things. Perhaps one of those things could be speed drawing/doodling. It’s a possibility that just allowing myself to do doodles would passively boost this skill though.

This dips into a flaw that I have that has been bubbling for awhile now. I think I’m horribly inefficient when it comes to panels and pacing when compared to professional mangaka.

...though in general I’m extremely lacking compared to a pro so what am I saying 😂

Either way, the way my comics have been becoming longer and longer is likely related to this. I’m too afraid to compress my comics and end up spacing them out unecessarily. I’m uncertain how to approach this issue as it’s very ingrained in the way I write... Regardless, I believe it to be an issue that directly affects how long I spend working a comic. I mean, if my comic panelling were more efficient, I’d have less to draw!

Again, it’s a toughie to really fix this. I think I’ll just have to do more research and keep it in mind moving forward.

I want to utilise resources that I have available to me and take more active learning.

At work I realised that my office was paying for heaps of learning resources and courses. I figured, if it’s available to me might as well use it? So maybe to help address the other problems I might take paid online lectures about them. Like gesture drawing! Or backgrounding and perspective! Stuff like that has loads of resources online so maybe putting some time into it would be valuable.

I want to print my comic.

This is a bit less of a skill-related thing. But I really want to print my setsuayu comic! I cannot promise I’ll be selling it for cheap, but if anyone buys it, I’d feel really happy! But even if people don’t, just having a physical copy of what I poured my soul into for the past 1.5 years would make me really happy. I do have my work cut out for me though. Gotta finish the comic and then reformat it to fit being printed! I believe in me!!

I also hope I can sell it in an artist alley in the coming year. I feel like people wouldn’t really be interested but.. yeah! I still wanna anyways! I’ll do my best.

General improvement.

I feel like this is a given, but I do hope to continue to improve in the various ways that I can. Like proportions, anatomy, colouring etcetc etc. Since I don’t put too much focus to it, I’m not asking for much. But, if I could be better at the end of next year than I am now, I think I’d be happy with that.

Anyways, I think that’s all from me for now? Maybe? Wait how much did I typ- oh wow 2k words asjkldaskldklas. If anyone takes the time to read this, thank you!! This is mainly written for myself, so that I can keep drawing and then look back and ask myself “did I do what I wanted to do last year?”, reflect and then do it again. For anyone looking to improve a skill, I find it really valuable to do and recommend it!

Happy New Year! Let’s see what 2022 has in store for us. 💖

[myhoneststudyblr]

I often get asked for tips on various aspects of creating a studyblr and then how to grow it! It can be really daunting before you start if you don’t know how to go about it or what to post - I remember really wanting to create one for months before I actually built up the courage to make one.

This post is hopefully going to make this easier for you and give you the tips you need to get the best out of your blog!

Disclaimer: this is quite long! i wanted to make it as detailed as possible and it kinda got away from me XD

What is a studyblr?

study + tumblr = studyblr

A studyblr is a tumblr blog that posts anything associated with studying.

These blogs are part of the ‘studyblr community’, which is an online community of students who share their love for studying, stationery and their current lessons and study tips.

Why should you create a studyblr?

There are honestly so many reasons why i think that studyblrs are an amazing thing and why i can’t see myself leaving this community any time soon! here are some of my personal experiences:

1. i want to study! i have always been a very conscientious student and i have always worked very hard but i’m going to be completely honest with you and say that a lot of the time, particularly as i’ve been getting older, it has been a real struggle to get the motivation to do work. since i’ve started my studyblr, i’ve noticed a real increase in my desire to work because i want to have new things to post and talk about. it acts as a sort of outside external motivator!

2. my studying has got more interesting! when i say this, i don't mean the content. i’ve learnt so many new techniques and ways to organise my work that each set of notes that i do is different and i don’t feel like i’m doing the same thing every day!

3. my notes and handwriting have got neater! if you follow me, you might have seen a post from me a while back where i talked about my insecurity about my handwriting because i was *always* the person with the messy handwriting™. unfortunately, i am a perfectionist and i really wanted to have neat handwriting and notes. so my studyblr - because i wanted my posts to look good - made me spend more time focusing on the appearance of my notes and forcing me to slow down (this had been my main problem). now i can see a huge difference and i’ve reached a place where, even though my handwriting will never be the perfect font-like handwriting, it is noticeably neater and more consistent and i now love my pretty and unique handwriting

4. incredible advice about everything studying related! no matter where you are from, or what you study, it is possible to find advice about something that is relevant to you! people in studyblr are going through or have gone through everything you have and they give incredible advice on some many different things, from college applications and how to study a certain subject, to book recommendations and notetaking tips. but there are also plenty of tips on lifestyle and self-care, which are invaluable. even if you can’t find a post that helps you, you can always send someone an ask or a message and they’ll always try to help you out!

5. my mental health has got better and the community has helped me through so tough times! being a student today is hard and keeping your mental health in a good place can seem even harder. but i personally have found the studyblr community really helpful with this because i don’t feel so i alone. i know that there are so many mutuals and blogs that i follow that are going through similar things and i know i could always reach out to them for anything. i’ve also become less hard on myself and give myself significantly less impossible goals since i started studyblr

6. you will meet some incredible people. this was something that i wasn’t really expecting because when i started my blog i thought i would get 100 followers *max*. instead, i have been completely embraced by the community and have had some amazing conversations with people i know genuinely consider to be my friends. it is so easy to meet like-minded people who just want to support each other!

these are just the most important benefits that I've experienced with my own studyblr journey and there are so many more!!!

The 5 Basic First Steps

1. create a blog

if you are seeing this post i assume that you already have a blog! maybe you don't but luckily for you its very easy to create one. the main think you need to think about is whether you want to create a primary or secondary blog! you can find the differences between these here!

2. choose a URL/blog name

your username can be pretty much anything and can be a good way to show your personality, your likes or dislikes, or your goal for your studyblr! you can get really creative with your username and though most are, it doesn't have to be study/studyblr related.

here’s are some ideas that you could use when coming up with a username:

Your name or nickname

Favourite subject or your degree

Your dream job

Role models or fictional characters

Stationery

Brand names

Study utilities

Your favourite study snacks

COFFEE (this is very popular with many studyblrs... i wonder why?)

Your favourite animal

Basically, it can be anything! and don’t worry, if you decide later that you don’t like the name or you come up with soemthing better, you can always change it

3. choose a theme

this can seem like a very daunting task if you are completely new to tumblr but don’t worry! there are plenty of options and you can play around with this until you get what you want!

mobile theme: this is usually just changing the colours to fit with what you like and the mood of your blog

desktop theme: this is where it gets interesting! your desktop blog usually looks much more unique compared to mobile and you can add various different pages and really get it to look professional. there are so many different incredible themes that you can find that are free to use and can be customised slightly to fit your blog (there are also paid themes). you can also make your own theme (but i know nothing about this so i can’t really offer advice for that!)

4. find an avatar/icon

i personally think icons are really important because they can often be how people begin to recognise your blog when they see it on their dashboard and it can be a glimpse into what people expect

you can just use a normal picture for this: for example of your notes or something that relates to your URL or blog (eg a coffee cup)

however, you can also make your own from scratch! you can create your own icon using applications like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Canva or Word/Pages. i personally used canva to make my icon (as well as all my banners for posts) and it is really easy to use and best of all is free! there are also people who have made icons for you to use (as long as you give credit) or will make them for you (sometimes for a small fee)

5. find some studyblrs to follow

this is probably the easiest step! if you know about studyblr, you probably already know a few blogs! just go through their blogs and see who they reblog or you can search through the #studyblr tag. i am also always happy to give recommendations of my favourites blogs (of which there are too many to count) or can try to recommend blogs that i know who study the same thing as you/are at the same level of study or are from the same country

Introduction Posts

i am a big believer in studyblr introduction posts! i think they are the best way to meet people when you are just starting and are the way that you get people to notice and interact with your blog.

what should you put in a studyblr introduction post?

your name or a nickname so people know what to call you

your pronouns

where you are from

your age

what you study

what level of study are you at (high school, uni etc.)

your hobbies and passions

why you made your studyblrs

what your goals are

tag some of your studyblr inspirations! (this is quite important because they will probably reblog the post and more people can discover your blog

these are just some suggestions and you don't have to include all of them if you are comfortable with sharing certain things!

if you want some examples of these posts, have a look through the #studyblr introduction tag! on my blog you can find that here!

What to Post

the beauty of studyblr is that you can pretty much post whatever you want and you will find a place in the community!

i love reblogging posts that come on my dashboard that i love or stuff from my mutuals! however, it is also really important to post your own original content because this allows people to get to know you and is probably the best way to grow your blog!

here are some ideas for what to post:

pictures of your notes

pictures of your current book

pictures of your annotations

pictures of your desk/study space

pictures of your food/ study snack

pictures of your drink/coffee

pictures of your favourite cafe

pictures of nature

pictures of your handwriting

text posts about something funny that happened in school/class/uni/your life

text posts about what is going on in your life

text posts about what is on your mind

texts posts where you share your journey completing a particular goal

text posts where you share your plan for the day

study guides

advice posts

self-care and lifestyle tips

essentially, it is whatever you want and whatever works for you!

When to Post

you should post whenever works for you! i know for a lot of people (myself included) most of the time you do not have time to post every day because that is a big commitment and that is absolutely ok!

when i first started, i thought that i had to post every day and it was a lot fo pressure! it was basically impossible to keep up because not only was it taking up a decent amount of my evening editing and posting my notes but also i didn't actually have enough material available to post! a studyblr should never get in the way of your schoolwork so try to fit it around this! post when you have time!

if you do want to have a more consistent posting schedule, there is a feature that allows you to schedule posts! so, say you have a bunch of free time on the weekend, you could schedule all the posts for the week ahead of time!

i would also recommend building up a queue for reblogs because this means that you again have some consistency in posts and you have new stuff quite regularly! (i personally always have a huge queue)

How to Grow Your Studyblr

the main thing i want to stay is that you should not be too worried about how many followers you have or how many notes your posts get because it really is unpredictable! i’ve had posts that have got crazy amounts of notes and i literally expected them to get hardly any and vice versa! i have no idea how the tumblr algorithm works so you just have to try and post for yourself!

that said, i know that it is really nice to have people interact and appreciate your posts so here are 3 quick tips:

use popular studyblr tags. these include #studyblr, #notes, #studyspo. you could also tag the stationery that you used, what subject it is and what level you at are (eg #high school or #uni)

tag other studyblrs. many studyblrs track certain tags and if you want them to see what you've posted and they will often reblog your post! i personally track the tag #myhoneststudyblr. you can find a post i made a while ago with some studyblr’s and their tags here! (note: this may be slightly out of date)

try and have a relatively consistent ‘look’ to your posts. you don’t have to follow a specific aesthetic but having some consistency in your posts can help people recognise your stuff. i personally keep my pictures of my notes very clutter-free (often just the notes and the pen i used) and bright. however, you can definitely switch things up if you want!

How to Get Involved in the Community

There are so many different ways that you can do this! Here are some of the best ways in my opinion!

send asks and messages to people!

i highly recommend sending asks to people, for example, if they reblog an ask game post or even just asking for some advice because they will start to recognise you as someone who is engaged with their blog and you could also learn something new about one of your favourite studyblrs!

messages are also a great, slightly more personal, way to interact with people. it can be as simple as messaging people to tell them you love their blog, or again asking them for some advice. if they do a post about a test or exam that they have coming up, you could even message them good luck or ask how it went. i have had some amazing conversations with people through messages and it is a great way to meet new people

just a reminder: always be respectful and polite in messages and asks to ensure that the community remains positive

reblog posts with a comment on their posts!

(or just add a comment, although this could be confusing if your studyblr is a side blog so just be warned)

this is a really nice way to let people know you’ve seen their post and it is always nice to give feedback. a comment can be as simple as: i love your handwriting! or good luck in that test! but that simple message reaching out it so nice to get! also, reblogging is really helpful to blogs because it means more people see the post

join a challenge!

ok, so i’ve had this blog for about a year and a half now and i had a pretty decent amount of followers (which i seriously do not understand XD) but i never got the same amount of interaction and involvement in the studyblr community until i created my #2020 quarantine challenge (click here if you wanna find out about this). i would get reblogs and likes on posts but i don’t think that i used to get nearly as much interaction with my posts with people leaving comments and stuff. furthermore, although i had blogs where we were technically mutuals, i didn’t really have mutuals like i do know where we actively keep in touch and check out each other’s posts all the time and stuff and that is honestly the nicest thing

challenges mean that you are most likely posting every day (or at the very least pretty regularly if you cannot manage every day) and this is good because you post lots of new content for people to discover. another great thing is that there is usually a tag that you can search for and scroll through and find others who are doing the challenge alongside you. the person who created the challenge also probably checks the tag out every few days and reblogs the posts

for these reasons, i cannot highlight how amazing challenges are for interaction and getting involved in the community!

The Golden Rule of Studyblr

🚨 ALWAYS BE POLITE AND FRIENDLY 🚨

probably my favourite thing about the studyblr community - and i know many others share this opinion - is that is such a friendly and welcoming place. it of course has its problems but this is a place whose ultimate aim is to support each other through our studying journeys! we are all here because we wanted to find likeminded people who we can make friends with and share our lives! therefore it is really important that we always try and lift each other up because you never know what someone is going through

Summary

there are lots of benefits to starting a studyblr so you definitely should!

it’s good to make your blog look nice and clean!

studyblr introductions are very important to start your blog off!

post what you like when you like!

tagging can be a great way to grow your blog!

don't focus too much on the number of notes you get or how many followers you have!

send asks and messaging, reblogging and commenting on other people’s posts and joining challenges are all great ways to get involved in the community!

we are all here to support one another so always be polite and friendly!

Other Resources

From Me

here is an answer to an ask i received about starting a studyblr (here is another one)

here is an answer to an ask i received about editing photos

From others

A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Studyblr by @eintsein​

12 Step Guide to Starting and Running a Studyblr by @emmastudies​

How to Start a Studyblr by @caffeineandcoding​

Advice for New Studyblrs by @studyquill​

Starting a Studygram by @studyrellablr​ (many of the tips are the same for studyblr)

I hope this was helpful to any new studyblrs and even existing ones! As always i am always happy to answer asks and messages about and give any advice! If anyone else has any tips or tricks, please add them below!!!

[kitkatopinions]

(Rabbithole Anon) Y'know, I was going to send in an ask about just they could have made a compelling way to show how some people may have become hunters through pressure rather than an age excuse if they wanted to say some people weren't ready (joining to protect a friend who wanted to be one, wanting to travel for a variety of reasons, it being a general expectation but the person being hesitant) but it led to me wondering wait, would certain careers require a hunting lisence?

Okay, I love this rabbit hole. XD It illustrates a couple of RWBY problems here and it's the fact that they often are lacking in the character development/character journey department, and that they're often lacking in the world building department.

We actually have plenty of characters that can serve as examples for people who maybe should've thought twice about entering the Academy (when they did.) There are people who entered the Academy for the wrong reasons/not noble reasons, people who entered the Academy during a time they might not have been ready, and people who would be full on dangerous with a Hunter badge, and most of our mains fall under one of these categories (though mostly the first two.)

Ruby - Two years below the standard age of her class. Whether or not she was at the skill level of a first year (she was,) and whether or not she'd received special training from Qrow (she had,) Ruby was still essentially a kid, and her mind and body both hadn't developed completely. Ruby should have been traumatized after the Fall of Beacon and been allowed to show that more as a character, she should've had straight up PTSD, she should've been allowed to have emotion in Volume 4 than Jaune's sidekick who makes sad eyes when she sees him grieving. Weiss - Her main motivation for joining Beacon was to reclaim her family legacy. Yes, her desire was to reclaim it and use it for good, but it was still arguably more about personal and familial glory. On top of that, Weiss has been blatantly anti Faunus and has never so much as addressed that. Weiss's character journey should have reflected more personal growth, and either her unlearning much of her Faunus racism and clearly changing priorities from her name and family legacy and onto the actual people in need, or her flaws should've led her into being more of a morally gray character who displays her selfishness and pride (in a way that's actually addressed and treated like a flaw.) Yang - She expresses admiration for people like Ruby who want to help people and be kind, but her main point in becoming a Huntress was getting thrills and going where the wind takes her. She didn't join Beacon for any sort of serious purpose, and even when she rejoined Team RWBY in volume five, it was to be with her sister and not because of her own morals (not that I think she's lacking in morals, just that her main motive was different.) This could lead to her having to figure out a lot of what she actually wants, being unsatisfied with being a Huntress in Atlas, being in over her head when things get serious, being more mentally exhausted than the others after long days, etc. Jaune - Wasn't ready to enter Beacon. Idk if he just wasn't allowed to go to a lesser combat school like Signal or if he flunked out, but he wasn't up to scratch to get into Beacon and cheated his way in. On top of that, he lacked in the emotional maturity department as well when he entered. Jaune was a little more invested in his own appearance than Ruby was, but still seemed to have similar good reasons for wanting to be a Hunter. And he did grow a lot. But he was much less prepared, skilled, or equipped to deal with the training or the career and it's a miracle he didn't die in the initiation. Granted, Jaune was handled arguably better than anyone else, since a lot of this was addressed, but these days it feels like it isn't actually playing a part in his character anymore that he's way below the people around him, and I feel like it should still be impacting him. Penny: Honestly, Penny seemed very newly born during the Beacon Arc. She might have been combat ready, but she also started spilling secrets to the first person who was a little bit nice to her, and was clearly naïve and childlike. Imagine if it had been Emerald that had befriended Penny instead of Ruby. Penny dying and then getting resurrected should've been deeply traumatizing for her and it should've made her undergo some major changes and been treated with importance in the show. Qrow: Literally wanted to be a Hunter in the first place to try and learn how to murder Huntsmen. He might have changed later and it’s not exactly relevant, but he arguably shouldn't have joined when he did either. Meanwhile, Nora's just one big mystery, because we don't know why she joined, and Ren likely joined for good reasons, but neither of them have ever actually talked about their motivations. The only character we can safely say joined for noble reasons and who was up to scratch and ready when she entered is Blake, who also had good reason to not fully trust the system she was working with, so there could've been complications and character interest there as well.

Please don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I don't think the others should've been in school, I love that they were! I just think the writers should've explored the various ways they might've been not fully ready, not completely well suited to the job they took. The characters are allowed to be flawed and to flounder and it'd make them more full, nuanced characters imo.

On top of that, we have other Hunters to look to as well, outside of our main cast. Cardin, for example, was a terrible person, still in school and already abusing what little power he had to target a member of an oppressed minority group and blackmail other kids into doing his bidding, while plotting revenge on someone for correcting him on his anti-Faunus answer to a question. People like him should not be Hunters, and he was arguably our first sign (of many signs) that the position of Hunter can and will be taken advantage of and misused by bad people. And although the After the Fall/Before the Dawn books aren't canon, while reading BTD (I haven't finished it yet,) Coco and all her team members but Velvet also struck me as people I wouldn't want to be Hunters and wouldn't want to wield any sort of power. Coco is proudly described by one of her friends as sadistic, lets her unfounded opinions of people cloud her judgement, shows respect and admiration towards criminals, and enjoys her classmates being afraid of her. Fox is self-described as sadistic as well and is a bully who tried to use a classmate's phobia against them in a brute-like interrogation. And Yatsuhashi is leagues above the two of them, but also bullied Neptune despite saying the words 'I don't want to be a bully' and threatened him.

There are so many ways the writers could've explored people who went to Beacon too soon, weren't ready, or entered for the wrong reasons. Instead, outside of one conversation in season two about the girls’ motivations and Ren exploding that Jaune cheated his way into Beacon all the way in season eight, it seems like the only take away we're supposed to get is 'all these kids are officially the thing they wanted to be in the beginning and they're all amazing at it, woo!' No acknowledgement of the fact that they could use higher education still, that some of them are still immature or naïve, that some of them are still below the combat level they should be in, that some of them kinda haven't done super well since they left Beacon (cough Ruby cough.) It's all just... Flat, lackluster. And meanwhile, characters like Cardin were written out of the show easily. We've had plenty of examples of corruption in the Hunter business, but the show hasn't paid any attention to that and still is treating being a Hunter like the only true noble goal and the only good and non-corruptible way to defend people, despite the fact that it clearly isn’t. Being a Huntress is not better or safer or more noble in-universe than being an Atlas soldier/Ace Op/Atlas hunter. I’m not saying that all of this needed to be featured, but exploring the differences in motivation and how the Hunter lifestyle affected the various mains could really flesh out their characters. Instead, by the time everyone is heading to Atlas in volume six, they all pretty much have the same reactions to everything and the same motivations and the same beliefs. The rare deviation - like Ren in volume seven and eight - is treated as bad and a mistake that must be rectified, rather than... A natural consequence of the group being full of different people with different upbringings and different motivations that result in different opinions. That sort of thing is only ever explored as a problem that makes someone lacking, and it’s really weird and it makes the show feel... Juvenile, and lacking in nuance or depth when it comes to the characters, which is a really big shame, since the characters have a huge amount of potential and exploring the differences between them and their reactions to being in way over their heads would be - I think - the natural place to take their characters? Especially because so far their storyline has been... Not the highlight of the show.

But, as for how semblances and Hunters should impact the world building, there’s a lot to say about that! They don’t explore a lot in RWBY outside of what’s relevant to the mains, leaving the world building feeling flat and like the world itself doesn’t matter much. RWBY often feels more like a video game world than anything else, which I believe @why-i-hate-rwby-now has pointed out, so credit to them for helping me realize it. There’s one large location per continent and a couple small villages where they only really talk to a town leader and village blacksmith, or encounter a fight, relevant NPCs and characters only going to certain locations that can further the plot, characters only mattering through the ways they interact with the protagonists and seemingly getting benched with nothing to do if they aren’t currently plot relevant, health bars that can be monitored over scrolls, every weapon and semblance has a name even if that name isn’t ever mentioned in show or might not really make a lot of sense, frequently encountered enemies of various threat levels who the characters can plow down without remorse because they’re not sentient or don’t have souls... The list goes on. But one of the ways that it feels very video gamey is that the magical powers actually don’t seem to impact the world.

We know people can have auras even if they don’t have semblances (Mercury, Torchwick, Watts,) and we know lots of even grown people don’t have auras (the citizens of Mantle in danger of dying of cold while our aura having mains aren’t,) but also that auras can be unlocked, by well trained seventeen year olds (Pyrrha,) and we also know that semblances can be unlocked from a very young age due to trauma (Ren, Neptune in EU) but some people are born with their semblances (Qrow and notably Blake use language suggesting they were born with their semblances,) and some semblances are passed down or hereditary (the Schnees.) Semblances can be passive (Qrow, Clover, Ironwood in word of author,) and uncontrollable, or active (almost everyone else,) and some semblances have carried personal negative effects like in the case of Qrow who was even named for being bad luck and Robyn who said people were on edge with her because she can sus out the truth via skin contact when she wants to. Also Mercury’s father was able to somehow take away his semblance.

That’s... Pretty much the extent of our knowledge and it doesn’t tell us much. What RWBY does is give each character abilities that make them iconic and different from each other as fighters, with a shield function that wears down slowly to explain how they can take certain hits and keep going while also allowing them to eventually suffer higher damage when that shield wears down. They had a character get this shield ability unlocked to explain the existence and function of it, and featured some characters who didn’t have the super powered abilities like Roman, an early enemy meant to herald in new, harder enemies who are more plot relevant, and Mercury, who makes up for it by having higher speed and functions exclusive to him through his prosthetics. And then they seemingly built a regular world unaffected by these powers. It sounds like a video game. Civilians just don’t have this power or the shield because they act as non-playable characters. In a way, it almost makes sense to me in conception, because when RWBY was originally created, it was high on visual appeal, fight choreography, and character design. The plot elements were small and the character stories seemed to be pretty simple, the only real complication to this being the White Fang plot, which has always been a major blight in RWBY. But one of the reasons why this video-game feel kinda worked at the start of RWBY was because the story and characters weren’t meant to be the focus of the story, so although the world building at the start was definitely lacking, the audience knew that things like auras and semblances were meant to hype up and add interest to the main highlights of the show: Design and fight choreography. At least that’s what I assume. But in volume three, they started to lay the groundwork for more, bigger plots, more focus on the story, the characters journeying to the outside world, undergoing personal arcs, and that’s what V4 and onward started focusing on.

To be clear, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I started really liking RWBY for its potential and concepts after getting through the first couple episodes of V1, but I actually really enjoyed quite a bit of V4 and V5 even though the design drastically changed and the fighting had gone way down in quality because I found some of the new focus on characters and the plot to be compelling, interesting, or to also have a lot of potential (though I was let down over and over in regards to pay off later.) However, with the new focus on the characters and storyline rather than design and fight choreography, they really needed to do some legwork on fixing the aura and semblance systems and paying attention to world building and making sure the world felt well put together, nuanced, and real. And I don’t feel like they ever did that.

Why is Pyrrha able to unlock auras? Well, because the writers wanted to explain the concept of auras and used Jaune - the unprepared - to do it. But now, auras are actually an important part of the story - for example, the people of Mantle don’t have unlocked auras, so will die of cold, but it doesn’t affect our heroes because they do have unlocked auras. So who can unlock auras? Is it a learned skill or is it hereditary? If it’s a learned skill, why isn’t everyone eager to learn it especially in places where it’s life or death if they don’t like in Atlas? If it’s a hereditary skill, why aren’t the people who have that skill put on a pedestal and being pressured into using that skill to save civilians in places where having an aura is the difference between life and death? In either case, why aren’t there people who professionally unlock auras? Why aren’t they on the pay roll in Atlas and Mantle? If it’s a skill that all powerful hunters have, why aren’t our heroes (who we’re supposed to think are now more powerful than Atlas’s best) unlocking auras for dying children in Mantle? Why don’t specialists and longtime fighters with Qrow, Winter, Robyn, Maria, or James have this ability if it comes with skill, time, or talent?

Why are semblances unlocking or morphing in times of trauma so rare? Why didn’t the Fall of Beacon unlock loads of new semblances and new semblance abilities? Why didn’t Ruby get a new semblance upgrade when she saw Weiss getting stabbed? Why didn’t Weiss unlock a new semblance ability when her plane was crashing? Why didn’t Pilot Boi unlock his semblance during the same occasion? Why is it that Jaune didn’t get a semblance upgrade when the light bridges were disappearing? Why didn’t Blake get a semblance upgrade when Yang fell into the void? Why did Ren get a semblance upgrade because he was upset while with the Ace Ops after Oscar got captured, but Nora doesn’t get an upgrade while she’s electrocuting herself? If semblances sometimes unlock in times of truama, why is it that some characters like Oscar and Torchwick and Jaune pre-V5 who we know have encountered lots of trauma just still don’t get semblances? If you can train your semblance into upgrading, why is it that we don’t see long time hunters and fighters unlock more semblance abilities, like Qrow, Winter, Robyn, Maria, or James? It just doesn’t make any sense! And I get that stories always have things happening just because the writers want it, but in RWBY, the hand of the creator is so obvious that it’s ridiculous.

And then there are other questions. Do people avoid bad labor practices out of fear of causing a semblance awakening? Well, from what we see of the SDC, the answer is no. So why not? Why weren’t they worried about an uprising? Work rights becomes a lot trickier when you have to add in tons of qualifiers. Maybe it’s illegal to use a semblance at work, but the SDC also has a history of child workers like Adam who can’t always control it (like Neptune couldn’t control his,) so are there laws protecting child laborers? Perhaps not, since you know, they were already child laborers, so were already suffering unchecked. Are there laws forbidding the use of semblances in government buildings, non-combat driven schools, or parks and libraries? And meanwhile, how would any of this apply to people with a passive semblance? How do you figure out that someone has a passive semblance? How do people know if they’re born with a semblance? Are there people that spend their whole lives having semblances that never get discovered? Do people have semblance detection... Semblances, that they get paid to use or do so out of charity? Did the Schnees rise to power due to their powerful and hereditary semblance, perhaps? Are people discriminated against if they don’t have semblances or pressured to become Hunters if they discover they do have semblances? Shouldn’t civilians in Mantle and Atlas be joining combat schools in droves in the hopes of unlocking an aura so they can better survive? And shouldn’t there be discrimination against people with certain semblances? Outside of Robyn saying she’s personally experienced mistrust, and Qrow’s self-hatred, we don’t see any real prejudice against certain semblance types, or for that matter, any praise or extra significance pointed to certain other semblance types. It would go a long ways towards world building if there were things like people having to divulge their semblance or lack thereof before entering Beacon, or for people to have to register a semblance evolution, or for Emerald to have lied about her semblance because “everyone knows illusion semblances automatically draw suspicion,” or for Qrow to comment that he’d never seen Clover in a Vytal Tournament, only for Clover to say his semblance was deemed ‘cheating’ back when he was in school so he hadn’t qualified. And on the flip side, you could have things like semblances being judged as better and more powerful based on how useful it might be, Pyrrha keeping her semblance on the DL because it’ll just bring more unwanted admiration on her, Sun keeping his own semblance on the DL too because it always make people put a lot of expectations on him, while Neptune’s semblance leaks and he deals with people treating him like he’s selfish and cruel for not wanting to use his own “gift of a semblance.” And people like Jaune could be bullied extra because he doesn’t have his semblance yet, and people in the stands at the Vytal Tournament could be chatting about “when are they gonna pull out their semblances?” and get annoyed and pouty when people don’t. To be fair, we do get things like Mercury’s father having declared his semblance a crutch, but... Still. why isn’t there more of this?

And we see the need for Hunter protection in villages like Kuroyuri and the village that Team RNJR stops to help on the way to Mistral. Small villages outside of the four kingdoms fall to Grimm, or are in danger of falling to Grimm. Ships get attacked by large and dangerous Grimm, we see (corrupt) Hunters on the train to Argus, accompanying for safety, and we see that with a rise of Grimm activity in Mantle, Hunters are dispatched to help kids travel to school. In a world like RWBY, fighting is essential for survival outside of the Kingdoms, and became very essential in the kingdoms as well once schools started going down. You’d assume there should be Hunters accompanying everyone traveling outside of the Kingdoms, resident Hunters living in villages outside the Kingdoms as their on-hand protectors (and more than one Hunters seems to be needed.) Hunters also could be extra protection for anything that’s definitely going to increase negativity, like hiring Hunters to bodyguard funerals seems like something that could be normal in the world of Remnant, and for visiting graveyards (we see Ruby get attacked by tons of Grimm when she visited Summer’s grave in the red trailer.) On top of that, celebrities and rich people hiring Hunters seems like it’d become pretty common. But all that we see outside of Dee and Dudley are traveling Hunters stopping to help people out of the goodness of their heart while they go place to place, and Kingdom Hunters who are assigned to things like border control, clearing out Grimm near or in the Kingdoms, and things like that. What we see is a Kingdom-centered morality complex our protagonists are one hundred percent invested in, Hunters are Kingdom driven and anything outside of that is a kindness, a job they can take or leave in passing. And on top of that, it seems like there aren’t a lot of people in the Hunter profession, and I feel like there should definitely be more. There are people like Jaune who didn’t make the cut but accepted that, we can only assume that there are drop outs too, so like... How many kids are there actually in a year at Beacon? I mean, look at where the Relics were found in the forest during initiation at Beacon.

This gives us a rough idea of how many people are in each year at Beacon. Assuming everyone graduates school and there’s no drop outs and no deaths, that’s a graduating class of twenty. That’s a very small number, comparatively. The job of a Hunter is dangerous. We know of Hunters that died (Summer, Pyrrha, Amber.) We know a lot of Hunters that have other jobs that take a lot of their time (Glynda, Ozpin, Robyn,) and lots of people who quit being Hunters too (Maria, Tai, Raven,) and Hunters who aren’t always on the field like Qrow who was a teacher for a stretch and acted as Ozpin’s spy, the Ace Ops who became part of Ironwood’s inner circle and therefore had a bigger picture, and even all of Team RWBYJNR, who got their Hunter licenses but are also more concerned with bigger picture stuff (if you don’t believe me just look at volume eight where JRY stopped defending Mantle to go rescue Oscar, and Team RWBN + Penny, who were involved in big picture stuff like launching Amity and then saving Penny the Maiden/their friend.) So out of a class of twenty, how many of them are even staying on the field? For a show pushing the narrative that Hunters are the ultimate saviors who are the only true good defense for the world, that condemns even the notion of an army... Like they villainized sending Team FNKI onto the battlefield while also treating it like proof of Ironwood’s evil when he didn’t want to stay and fight when Team RWBY said to, and also made Ironwood’s desire to move into having a robotic army to get soldiers off of the battlefield part of his... Over reliance on machinery, which is full on suspicious considering their ableism towards Ironwood and the fact that he literally has to rely on machinery, but that’s a topic for a different post and this one is already so long. But yeah, my point is that we’re meant to see the army as bad. So if we’re meant to see Hunters as the only true and pure form of defense (which is already off because we know it’s corrupted,) there ought to be way more people in the Hunter field.

As for the schools, we only know of a couple of schools that exist outside of RWBY as combat schools that seem to act as basic training before people go to Beacon. We know of Signal, the school Ruby and Yang went to that Qrow was a teacher at for awhile (I have lots of teacher Qrow headcanons, but sadly Qrow being a teacher wasn’t very well explored,) and we also know of Sanctum in Mistral and (in the EU) Oscuro in Vacuo, presumably one of these existing in Atlas as well. I personally headcanon that there are a lot of these smaller combat schools littering the whole of Remnant (but then again, I also headcanon that the Kingdoms of Remnant are bigger than just one very large city, lol) and that a lot of people attend these schools even if they don’t go on to join one of the Hunter Academies, but this isn’t necessarily supported by canon, I think. But as for other schools...I think it’s fair to assume that there are at least elementary schools, since everyone can read, write, and presumably do basic math, and what we do know is that Ilia went to a prep school in Atlas (which was info dropped in Blake’s pre-V5 trailer, not even stated in the show proper,) so we can probably safely say that people who don’t go to the Huntsman academies go to some form of high school, but you’re right that we don’t see this actually in action. I personally always headcanon that Whitley had a tutor, since Jacques wanted to avoid too much outside influence.

I am so sorry that this response got so away from me and I myself got into so many rabbit holes as well. XD I just have a lot to say about the world building in RWBY (or sometimes lack thereof.) Although I admit that I’m not as into or as good at analyzing as blogs like why-i-hate-rwby-now, but yeah, this is... A very long post. Sorry!