#secondly there's shape and silhouette

[earlyspringtranscendence]

obsessed. OBsessed. finally some good fucking food

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[allykatsart]

Secretive Moth

Usually, Hazbin redesigns aren't my cup of tea. I feel it's a bit much for me to claim I know how to make a design 'better'? I do, however, feel like Vaggie's design could have used another pass.

Gonna talk more about it under the cut but essentially, Vaggie doesn't have a bad design! This is just my design for the Fallen Emily AU! I needed a reference for poses/design so I didn't forget anything.

Fallen Emily AU

Commission Me!

Ok so! I am a huge art nerd and am gonna be art nerding here for a bit! I'll talk about my issues with Vaggie's cannon design and then go into my reasoning for the changes I made.

My Issues

This list won't be long, don't worry, and I understand there's nuance and room for interpretation (and that mine isn't perfect either).

I dislike her hair as is. It does evoke the shape and feel of moth wings, but it swallows her silhouette & makes the bow on her hair look like an afterthought.

I also dislike the thigh highs. Yes I know they're sexy, yes I know they go with the arm sleeve things. However they make the arms and legs a bit busy for my taste, especially with the hair coming down to her legs. (I also just prefer her without sleeves but that's a minor thing)

However, I like most other elements! Her hair stripe is a cool detail, her skin color is really pretty/compliments her, and her skirt fits her better than pants do! She looks a little out of place among the cast but that seems intentional. Her design also hints to what she truly is, especially with the x over her eye!

My Changes

The biggest thing you'll notice is that I gave her a coat. This had two reasons to it. Firstly, for story reasons, I wanted to give her something like a blanket to comfort her. Secondly, I wanted to keep the moth wing silhouette, but reduce it from the original. The coat is kind of like a pair of fake wings.

Color wise, I brought the blue/white from her thigh highs to the coat and I made the red a bit cooler. This is so she can stand a bit in contrast with Charlie, who's a warmer red/yellow. It's also to imply she's covering up some of her impulsiveness and passion with logic and a cool head. (Also cause blue gay x red gay)

Her hair, I tied back (Like in the finale) and made it more curved. Kinda to imply a softer personality despite the harsh edges. In shape language terms, I tried to include all three, with the coat being more square, the body being more sharp, and the hair being more curved.

Speaking of body, I also changed her body type. Not much but enough to where I'd consider her chubby. I really like the redesigns that do this and I feel it'd help bring some variety to the lineup of twinks lol

[threadtalk]

Speaking of sheer fabric, let's hang out in 1830 today. The 1830s are one of my favorite decades for the absolute bonkers direction things went in. Skirt hems went up, waistlines dropped, crinolines puffed, sleeves swelled, and hair went miles high with every kind of adornment you could imagine. For a truly exciting experience, search for hairstyles of the period and you'll see that the whimsical designs in Bridgerton weren't far off from the truth (just in the wrong decade).

This delightful dress employs aerophane in the construction of the flowers. Aerophane is unusual sheer, made of silk, and was only used until around the 1870s--but it had a lot of ideal qualities for the time. First, it had a beautiful shimmer, which caught the light of ballrooms for lovely effect. Secondly, it was ideal for embroidering and shaping, as it had an elasticity other sheers and nets did not have. Lastly, it held shapes, pleats, twists, and rosettes very well, so you could achieve remarkably artistic whimsy in borders and embellishments.

Here, the silhouette is absolutely darling. The pleats at the top of the bodice and that swooping neck hearken to the next two decades of peak Young Victoria.

From FIDM.

[qwertyprophecy]

Update on The Dark Queen of Mortholme!

Phase one is now essentially completed for art, code and dialogue. Onwards to phase two; because every good boss fight needs that part where the boss gets unhinged and gains a whole new set of attacks.

I too have chosen to be unhinged and made a design for the Queen's final form that gobbles up animation work hours like nothing I've done before with pixel art.

Concept sketches under the cut:

Initially I didn't have any ideas beyond doing a more monstrous design that amps up the Queen's features and takes cues from the shapes and colours of her original spell animations. However after writing the dialogue leading up to the transformation I immediately landed on a specific concept.

The transformation is an outburst. It's a manifestation of the Queen's terror and defiance towards her approaching death. She's unraveling, and in doing so she's channeling more of her innate violent power that she doesn't usually let out. She's essentially been having a long argument with the Hero about who they believe they are. Thus far she's gotten by being all smug and detached, but now she's losing and forced to reveal more of her true self to continue.

So her final form's design should convey 1. an outburst, and 2. the unraveling of a false front. Her base design's spikes, hair and skirt all erupt out into the wilder shape language of her shadowy spell-tendrils. They can handily be used to draw the eye from all directions towards the center of her chest, where I wanted to have this cracking pattern, like something hidden inside her is coming out. It's bright as if blindingly powerful, yet the cracks make her seem more damaged and vulnerable than her base form.

Continuing with the theme of an inner self showing through, the skirt's interior is also more visible than before. The flared jellyfish-esque shape connects with the deep sea vibe of the tentacles and contributes to the drama of a nonhuman silhouette.

A big thing for the silhouette is of course the massive hands. What's the thematic explanation for those? Absolutely nothing, I just think they look cool and dangerous.

Finally, lot of asymmetry was also introduced, both to increase the visual interest of such a large sprite, and to make her look like she's really losing it.

---

A note on animating this monstrosity: I've been trying to come up with a whole lot of cheats to keep a complex sprite like this as animated as possible without spending the rest of my life making this game. Early on I decided she should float, just so her idle animation can also be a moving one.

Secondly, the sprite is cut up to pieces so that I can keep reusing the loop of the writhing tentacles while moving her hands, for example. This is not something I like doing because in believable animation, motion in one part of the body always affects the other parts of the body. Treating a character as one entire whole when animating will make them feel more tangible, but alas, it's a compromise to avoid spending a hundred years in pixel-pushing jail. Like, I would love to see those tendrils flutter around behind her as she swoops across the room for her attacks, but... it'll be a lot more reasonable to move her as little as possible and instead add oomph to her attacks with some effects animations.

Anyways thank you for reading about monstrosity, she might be a pain in the butt to move but she brings me joy

[joylinda-hawks]

August 12, 2021. ZZH's last official photos and last public appearance during a livestream for the One Of Leaf brand. Due to the color scheme associated with the brand, ZZH was partially dressed in clothes that were green. Green in some shades and tones is a difficult color, many people look bad in it. Here, for the purposes of this session and livestream, ZZH wore a dark green shaded jacket with light brown inserts. The suit had a classic cut, but due to this interesting color scheme, it drew attention. Even more interesting was the shirt, which had a longer part on one side with pleats in the front. Generally, looking at this styling, you can say that there is too much here, but looking at this styling from a distance, you have to say that it looks great on ZZH. Firstly, it does not overwhelm his figure, secondly, that ZZH's beauty matches this color scheme of clothing. Yes, ZZH's beauty means that there are few colors in which he looks unattractive. This dark green color combined with his dark brown hair and dark brown eye frames and his hazel eyes gave a fantastic effect. If I hadn't seen it, I would never have guessed that ZZH looks so good in this shade of green. This color is dark and can dominate everything and overwhelm the model. This is not the case here. ZZH clearly shines in this styling. From the many photos from the photoshoot, I chose this one. The one that shows how much light there is in ZZH. ZZH is standing here on the stairs, facing the photographer. The distribution of light causes this light to focus mainly on ZZH's face. There are only some reflections of light on ZZH's silhouette. This treatment causes the viewer's attention to focus on ZZH's face, a part of which is clearly illuminated. We see ZZH's huge dark eyes, thick eyebrows, straight, graceful nose and shapely, slightly parted lips. He must admire his thick, elegantly styled hair and charming dark green earring resembling a pearl. There is a trace of sadness in ZZH's eyes, he looks at us as if he is aware that this is his last look towards the light, because when he turns around, he will see darkness that is drawing him in. It seems to me that this photo is a kind of symbol, his farewell and a silent request that viewers remember him exactly as he is in this photo, before the darkness swallows him. Or maybe it is just my interpretation.

[scriptorsapiens]

Classicstober Day 4: Lycaon (𐀬𐀏𐀃)

Lycaon was an Arcadian king who tried to get one over on Zeus by feeding the god the flesh of one of his own sons. Zeus was enraged by the attempt and the kinslaying and turned Lycaon into a wolf who would eventually devour all of his living sons.

Lycaon is often called 'the first werewolf' but I reject that label for a few reasons. Firstly is because the concept of 'werewolf' as we think of it today (ie full moon and silver bullets) is a very modern concept so by definition Lycaon is not one. Secondly Lycaon never turns back into a human; for his deeds he is turned into a slavering animal and he never comes back. There are ancient greek werewolf-adjacent stories, but I don't think Lycaon should qualify.

For a little behind the scenes stuff, I always struggle with how to depict the divine, but in this case a silhouette with lightning both allowed me to set the tone and keep the mystery.

A fun thing about the linear B is that, while most of the time it is my best guess at how the Classical Greek would have been rendered (eg RU-KA-O instead of Lycaon) we actually do have Zeus' Linear B name preserved: 𐀇𐀺 (DI-WO) (PIE Sky Father represent).

The shattering wood columns are actually a fun thing I know about the Minoans; they would build inverted columns out of wood and paint them. I'm not sure if the Arcadians would have been so up to the fashions of the richer Mycenaeans/Minoans, but I needed to add something to make Lycaon's surroundings look kingly. I also don't know if the Mycenaeans wore crowns or diadems, but I decided to add one anyway. The pot is based on the shapes and patterns of Mycenaean ceramics.

Last but not least is Lycaon himself. When I was doing research for this piece I found some pictures of Lycaon half-turned, but they all felt to controlled and elegant (maybe just as an artifact of the time they were made). Here, since it is a punishment, I wanted to make it look horrifying, energetic, and painful. The hand-to-paw on the left was purely an accident that I decided to keep. I'm not sure if Lycaon partook of the horrific meal he meant to serve Zeus, but I don't think he would have objected, all things considered. That's why I gave him a bloody mouth in addition to the blood-covered hand. You can also see that his hair is turning from a dark, human color on his scalp to a lighter more lupine coat further down on his body, but the effect is a bit hard to spot considering the lighting.

[omgthatdress]

Felicity’s travel dress is pretty indicative of the sort of changes Mattel was making after purchasing Pleasant Company in 1998. Per American Girl Wiki:

“Felicity's Traveling Gown was introduced as a Short Story outfit and part of Felicity's Collection in 1999 to complement the short story Felicity's New Sister; it later became Felicity's second meet outfit in 2005.″ 

First of all, the seam between the bodice and skirt is no longer pointed. The point was a pretty important part of the 18th century silhouette, because it created an illusion of a narrower waist and created the conical bust shape that was fashionable at the time.

Secondly, purple was a very very very rare color prior to the invention of aniline dyes. Unlike other colors that could be reproduced with a number of natural dyes, purple dye that was both vibrant and color-fast could only be made from the secretions of the murex sea snails of the Mediterranean. Each individual snail only made a few drops of color, so thousands would have to be used to make commercial quantities of dye. On top of that, the process was long, labor-intensive, and smelly as hell. The end result was a distinctive shade called Tyrian purple:

All that being said, purple dresses weren’t *entirely* unheard of. The purple just had more of a tangy red hue instead of that soft blue-tinted lavender.

[aphrd1tes0]

SEBASTIAN STAN! - family

pairing: sebastian stan x gn!reader

warnings: dogs!!! | fluffy | short drabble (my first!) | use of google translate ( sorry if incorrect! )

summary: you got a little lonely whilst seb was away, filming. so you decided to get a little something to keep you company.

written: 28 / 05 / 23

currently, sebastian is away for filming. even though you call him everyday, you somehow seem to miss him even more as the days go by.

as your watching tv, since you have nothing else to do, a thought pops into your head. what about getting a dog? it may take a bit of time to convince seb, but surely he’ll be happy with a dog, right?

so, with that, you unlock your phone and open safari. happily you search dog adoption centres near me and instinctively click on the first link. it takes you to a colourful bright screen with silhouettes of dogs, all different shapes and sizes. you search and search and search for the perfect dog, looking carefully at each of them. until one in particular catches your eye.

NAME: Bucky!

BREED: Golden Retriever!

PERSONALITY: Cuddly, energetic, loyal!

COST: $100

huh, bucky? what a coincidence. you thought. he was perfect. and that very same day, you drove down to the pet adoption centre and adopted him. as soon as you saw him, you knew he was the one. seb was going to love him.

that was a month ago. today is the day seb comes home and, of course, you forgot. you forgot he was coming home, you forgot to tell him about the puppy, it’s like the dog took his place. you were laying on the couch with bucky asleep on your stomach when you heard a car pulling up in the driveway. confused and a bit startled you abruptly sat up, waking up bucking in the process.

“sorry pup,” you said to bucky, stroking his head softly. and that’s when you remembered, sebastian. how could you forget he was coming home? you looked around to see if there was any mess, fortunately, there wasn’t. but then you looked down. bucky. you never told him about bucky. now panic mode had set in, and you instantly went through all the negatives.

what if he doesn’t let you keep the dog? too bad.

what if he hates bucky? how could he?

what if he hates you? oh no.

just then the door had open wide and in steps the one and only sebastian. with a huge grin he exclaims, “dragâ, i’m home! where are you?”. still panicked you did the first thing that came to mind; hide bucky under your, well sebs’, shirt. not the smartest of ideas. “uh, in here seb!” you call back. he pokes his head around the living room door frame and smiles at you. “there you are. mi-a fost dor de tine.” he walks over and gives you a kiss. unsurprisingly he notices your his shirt.

“first of all,” he begins with a confused look, “is that my shirt? secondly, what is under it?” there is a moment of silence between the two of you until you speak up. “um well, yes. and there’s nothing und-“. you get cut off by a gentle nudge from bucky, signalling to let him go. “i kinda got a puppy whilst you were filming.” you say lifting up the shirt to reveal bucky.

with the most wholesome eyes, bucky looks up at seb and wags his tail. seb kneels down to give the golden puppy a few scratches. “oh, dragâ! i love him! what’s his name?”. he happily says, like a kid in a candy store. “his name’s bucky. you like him?” you are hesitant to ask, only praying that he doesn’t hate you. in fact, he laughs at the coincidence. “of course i like him, he’s beautiful! we have a little family now!”

you get a little teary-eyed at that. “you don’t hate me for not telling you?” he looks at you shocked, dumbfounded even. he pulls your face into his hand and says softly, “i would never hate you. now, scooch over. i need some family cuddles.”

a little family, indeed.

ALERT!

hello! thank you for reading my very first drabble / oneshot..? i’m not sure. but, i hope you enjoyed this! please do not take credit for my work, please do not translate or rewrite this either! all likes, comments, reposts, follows are all very much appreciated! feel free to send in a request. make sure you have eaten, drank some water and had enough rest, and i love you all so so much! 🫶

mi-a fost dor de tine = i missed you

[sammys-magical-au]

Ok so somehow I’m only just now seeing the “male light fury” design and holy shit I love it

I know sexual dimorphism isn’t something commonly shown with dragons in httyd but I like the idea of this slightly pointier looking light fury being a male of the species - firstly bc it lets me Think about designs and I love that and secondly bc it gives additional cute points since it means the light fury (aka Toothless’ mate, who I personally nicknamed ��Ivory”, and will probably refer to her as such throughout the rest of this post just to avoid confusion between her & the rest of her species) specifically chose Toothless over males of her own species - as it’s shown in httyd 3 that there’s more light furies than just Ivory, she’s not the last of her kind like Toothless supposedly is and didn’t need to mate with him for the sake of saving both their species from extinction, she specifically CHOSE him.

Anyway the main point of this post was actually to talk about my theory that night furies (and any other fury species) have a similar kind of distinction between males and females - with males having a kind of “sharper” look with their fins and wings while females have “softer” features like the heart-shaped tail fins on female light furies (like the pair seen in the hidden world before the appearance of the supposed male light fury - both seem to have heart-shaped tail fins like Ivory which makes me think they’re both female, perhaps a mother and daughter since one is significantly smaller than the other and could be an adolescent). Also the “male light fury” seems to have longer ear nubs than Ivory and the other possible females so I think this is also a part of their dimorphism, and female night furies also have shorter nubs than males.

Also for anyone who has no clue what I’m talking about: this is the “male light fury” (left), compared to Ivory/a female light fury (right) - as you can see there are quite a few notable differences

And the other two light furies seen earlier in the same scene as the male, who I suspect are both female (or at least the bigger of the two is)

And just for reference: here’s Toothless’ silhouette (aka a male night fury)

So I’m thinking a female night fury would likely have similar features to Ivory, while still clearly being a distinctly different species from her.

Anyways this post is my long and rambly way of saying I’m probably gonna draw a speculation of what a female night fury might look like based on this theory

[annebrontesrequiem]

Currently reading Napoleon and the Empire of Fashion: 1795 - 1815 and it's just so so bad. The pictures are beautiful, but only 30 pages in an all the alarm bells are ringing for bullshit claims about fashion history.

Take this:

In addition the shape of a women [sic] of 200 years ago is very different to those of today. These women had been brought up in the world of corsets; even if these were cast aside, the changes to their body shape was permanent. The ribcage of a lady in this period was both smaller and more rounded and their shoulders were drawn back, partly by the corsets and partly by the rules of deportment.

There's a lot to unpack here. Firstly, oh my God the writing in this book, the sentences. So many typos, so many sentences without predicates. But I digress. Women were wearing stays in the late 18th/early 19th century you absolute idiots!! Yes, it's true that women at the highest, highest level of fashion went at times with stays (not corsets, btw). But like, we're talking about the elitest of the elite when it comes to fashion.

And I get that this collection is about the trendsetters of the Napoleonic Era. But you have to put this stuff in its historical context. OR else people will think that everyone was just walking around with no bust support in circa 1795, and like, that's not true. I'm not out here wearing my 1790s reproduction dress without stays. That'd be stupid.

Also corsets did not change your body!!!! Oh my God, we're still having this stupid stupid debate!!! I mean, firstly, this was the era of stays, or right on the cusp between stays and corsets. So the undergarments that these women (again, elite women) 'discarded' were stays. Stays continued to be used - pretty obviously I feel - throughout the Napoleonic Era. They were less heavily boned, but they existed. Also tight-lacing will not be a thing for literal decades, and even then tight-lacing is always exaggerated but c'mon guys!!

Have you guys collecting these incredibly fashionable dresses not considered that there is survivor bias? Why don't these fit the mannequins!! Well firstly, that rounded silhouette is like, literally undergarments at work but you've decided they don't exist now. And secondly, whose dresses are surviving? The ones that were worn the least. And these dresses are thus probably going to distort the way we look at the average body.

Also the shoulders back thing is not just stays, but is the result of how the shoulders themselves were attached to the dress - being set farther back than the way we set ours now. Like, I'm new in this fashion history circle, I have so much to learn. But you cannot be out here collecting antique dresses and acting like such asses about where they come from.

You say you love this period prove it!! Don't perpetuate myths for the sake of whatever you're getting out of it!!

Rant over

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form: Follow up Re: Gender Neutral World

This is a follow up to a previous ask.

I asked you previous about building a gender neutral society.

Things like clothing, developed speech patterns, and body language - that's very much going to be gender neutral. (But still, there's genetic differences for clothing - if someone grows breasts there needs accomodation, if someone's hips are wider than their waist, they can't wear trousers that fit their waist but be too tight on hips)

It's the hormones that I'm mostly concerned about which is why people keep mentioning their need to be no differences physically.

If only part of the population produces sperm and the other part produces eggs, then there is inherently going to have different cultural thoughts to them. Will one become suprerior than the other? Society will eventually start separating things. Maybe people will try to be gender neutral but it's a difference that will have some people thinking it isn't the same. Not to mention there is always going to be people who do not like their part. You're saying that there are cultures that don't adhere to gender binary, that does not matter. It didn't stay that way. Society has changed because there are parts of the society that obviously didn't agree. I am not trying to build an individual society in one part of my world - it needs to be widespread on the entire planet. These changes and other ideas should not really exist on my planet at all.

As for hormones. That very obviously makes differences. If part of the population have a lot more testosterone than the other half and if it makes those people grow muscles easier,  grow taller, have more body hair, have deeper voices, etc then those people are going to different than the other half. Sure, if some of other half somehow have extra testosterone and are one of the ones that work out, they're going to close the gap somewhere, but it would always be a difference when it all averages out. No matter what, such differences is going to make culture different. If you grow muscles easier, a society is going to see this advantage and make of them be warriors and that would make a difference. So you're saying that anyone can train strength - yes of course anyone can and I'm sure there's always going to be weaker people with more testosterone and stronger people with less testosterone... but on average, if there is an inherent capability, then it's not going to be the same. You mentioned throwing spears. Well, in order to be actually gender neutral, any Olympic javelin throwing competition is going to mix all genders and be completely fair and among top competitors there should be no correlation between gender/hormones. Voices, body hair, etc... just like reproduction - there are going to be differences and ideals and people who prefer it the other way. Again, to be gender neutral - there needs no correlation to whatever hormones you have that make these differences.

Tex: I’m gonna go through this and pick out some lines to respond to, because this is very much A Lot ™.

But still, there's genetic differences for clothing - if someone grows breasts there needs accomodation, if someone's hips are wider than their waist, they can't wear trousers that fit their waist but be too tight on hips

Clothing has zero to do with genetics and everything to do with resource management. Baggy clothes - or at least what comes across as such to 2023-era eyes - are typically made with the least amount of stitching, cutting, or weaving. Ergo, you’re going to see a lot of rectangles, and humans are not rectangle-shaped, so clothes are not always going to have that silicon-dipped silhouette that’s been mostly popular from about the 1960s to today.

Secondly, “form-fitting” clothing in the Western perspective and pre-1960s (ish) has been greatly influenced by the wearing of bodice, corsets, and related undergarments that pre-date the modern bra. Accordingly, clothing has been tailored for that era of undergarments to better distribute the weight of the garments, as synthetic textiles like polyester either weren’t invented yet or in common use for clothes-making and natural fibers for outer garments are heavier on average.

It's the hormones that I'm mostly concerned about which is why people keep mentioning their need to be no differences physically.

If you are referring to sex hormones, those are steroids that are produced by the body in more places than just the gonads (Wikipedia). Hormones, more generally speaking, are cell signalling molecules that perform a variety of functions in order to maintain homeostasis, and can be found in animals, plants, and fungi (Wikipedia).

If only part of the population produces sperm and the other part produces eggs, then there is inherently going to have different cultural thoughts to them.

Is that a part of your worldbuilding that you’re already firmly decided on? What are these inherent cultural thoughts? From what cultures, if any, are you sourcing these ideas? Have you looked into why these source cultures believe what they do?

Will one become suprerior than the other?

Are they supposed to?

Society will eventually start separating things.

Did they not already? How so? What would push them to separate what was apparently unified beforehand?

Maybe people will try to be gender neutral but it's a difference that will have some people thinking it isn't the same.

“Try” to be gender neutral, or “is” gender neutral? The former is performative, the latter is not. Does the internal consistency of your worldbuilding hold up when you replace the words “gender neutral” to “woman”, “man”, or another gender?

 Not to mention there is always going to be people who do not like their part.

How do you mean, with “their part”? Is this aspect of your world something you’ve built to be compulsory, rather than voluntary? Why is that?

You're saying that there are cultures that don't adhere to gender binary, that does not matter. It didn't stay that way.

Why does that not matter to you? What observations have you made as to why it didn’t “stay” that way? Cultural erosion due to outside influences is a widely-known phenomenon - is that what you’re referring to, or something else?

Society has changed because there are parts of the society that obviously didn't agree.

Society is always changing. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t have houses, internet, or taxes. People have also always disagreed with each other - who, in your world, were the ones with a disagreeing opinion, and how much influence did you build for them to have in order to shape this society to such a large degree?

 I am not trying to build an individual society in one part of my world - it needs to be widespread on the entire planet. These changes and other ideas should not really exist on my planet at all.

Logistically speaking, this is nearly impossible due to the lack of constant communication between groups of people over long distances (even more difficult to accomplish without technology like the internet). I very much blame big names like Star Wars and Star Trek for this, though they did do their best with the budgets they had and the amount of time allocated for each installment - homogenization in popular literatures has created a cascading effect on individual writers in that they believe they need to have a single, unified culture for the sake of worldbuilding. (You need not.) (Nor does it make sense in-universe upon inspection past a reader’s suspension of disbelief.)

As for hormones.

Please see the beginning of my response for more information.

Addy: I don't have much to add on to Tex's reply, but there are two fictional cultures that immediately spring to mind: Discworld dwarves and Star Wars Mandalorians.

Star Wars Mandalorians and Discworld dwarves both stand out as societies that don't really have gender roles. In Discworld, that's actually part of why dwarves have a pretty low reproductive rate - the biology of your partner is generally unknown until you're already deep in the relationship. Asking a dwarf what genitals they have would be like asking a human how much hair they had down there. It's just not really something you talk about.

So there's a 50/50 chance that you and your partner will even be capable of having kids together.

For Mandalorians, they're all in armor all the time anyways. They have cool weapons. They don't really care what species you are, much less your biology. They have technological characteristics, yes, but they place an emphasis on the character of the person over their physical characteristics. Mando'a, the Mandalorian language, also has no gender markers or gendered words. For example, "son" and "daughter" and "child" are all the same word. Languages reflects values.

The real question to ask is if the values of your societies would cause someone to rise or fall in social status for bearing a child (whether that be laying eggs, getting pregnant, or otherwise), or if bearing a child would have no impact on social status. Same for siring a child. Gender roles and expectations vary wildly across cultures, and that's with humans. You can make this world whatever you want. What you look for will determine what you make. If you look for reasons for sexism, you'll find them. If you look for reasons to not have sexism, you'll find them. It's your call.

Wootzel: I think we’re all having a bit of bafflement at each other (you the asker, and we on the blog alike) because there are just so many ideas here and there’s no one right approach, and you seem to be asking for a firm ruling on what is ultimately your choice.

I suppose that, in prehistory, at a time when your species are still heavily struggling for survival all the time, there’s a reason to believe that sexual dimorphism would inherently result in different sexes having different roles. As soon as the society or societies gets beyond the point of struggling for survival all the time… well, they have a choice, don’t they? 

Not all species and not all societies need to be as obstinate and individualistic as the modern west. If you want your whole world to just ignore sex, have no such thing as gender roles, and that’s your cup of tea? Shia LaBeouf up and JUST DO IT. 

This is one of those things in worldbuilding where insisting on treating gender a certain way… tends to alienate some people. It tends to alienate those who do not fit on one side or the other of a gender binary. It tends to alienate people from cultures where the gender binary doesn’t exist, or is not a binary, or just does “binary” along different lines than whatever the writer is thinking of.

The reason you’re getting pushback from us and from others on the idea that gender binaries are necessary and inevitable is… this alienation is towards groups that get marginalized already. That kind of thinking legitimately does help prop up real-world oppressive systems that disadvantage people who don’t fit in with the ideas of discrete gender roles. It might just be fiction, but fiction explores and reinforces real-world ideas.

There’s nothing wrong with having gender roles in your stories, mind. There is something wrong with acting like it must necessarily always be this way. Gender roles are an interesting concept, and they’re also one you can discard at will. 

Why does your society have no gender? Because the people in it decided long ago to do away with that kind of thing? That’s honestly all the reason you need right there. 

Mod Note: A reader of the blog also submitted this comment as an ask after we posted the response to the previous ask:

To the person who wanted to create the gender-equal/neutral society:

If you still want them to retain sexes and not be hermaphroditic then in my opinion the only way you can actually have both sexes be on equal footing is if the females don't get pregnant. Pregnancy and caring for very young children is the core reason for most biological, social and cultural differences between human males and females.

If the females lay eggs or have some equivalent way of growing children outside of their own bodies, and if newly hatched/born children aren't reliant on milk (or equivalent), it is more feasible for the males and females of a species to be very similar both biologically and socially.

[window-view-orion]

Allow me to unveil an unpopular opinion, if you will.

I absolutely despise mermaid dolls. From the depths of my soul, I do not comprehend why people gush over them so much. I have never seen a mermaid doll that fully makes up for the inherent downsides it has by virtue of being a mermaid.

First off: the tails. Plastic, fabric, silicone, they are always in one way or another frustrating to display, pose, or style with the rest of the doll. They remove half of the potential the doll has by eliminating any other kind of fashion creativity with the whole bottom half. If you’re lucky you’ll get a tail with an intense theme or style that can make up for that, the Monster High Scarrier Reef dolls are actually good examples of this. But usually you have the same few fin shapes and shiny colors with little variation. And the articulation joints on tails? I’m not one to find articulated joints ugly in general, but they never look good on tails. They’re bulky and break up the silhouette, and they barely do anything anyway.

Secondly: the top half. The basic mermaid shell bra/top can die a burning death in a deep sea lava vent. They are so boring it brings me to tears. Slight variations on one theme that’s played out for far too long.

Secondly part two: even when a mermaid doll gets an actual piece of clothing for the top half, it barely ever makes sense. Mermaze attempted strong theming with the tails, even if it was weird as hell at times, but winter coats? Slumber party?? Color changing car??? (That ones not clothes but it’s just so much) What even are these themes for a line of fish girls????

Third: the very concept of a mermaid fashion doll is working against itself from the start. Dolls are intended for kids, who want to play and have fun and may get a little rough with them. Mermaids inherently imply underwater adventure and play. Fashion dolls have a focus on removable and swappable clothing pieces and styling of hair. Water play + fabric clothes = damage, potential mold. Elaborate stylized fins may be more prone to breaking if they have smaller/thinner pieces (see again Scarrier Reef). This is the reason Barbie dreamtopia mermaids still exist despite being a blight on creativity. They’re cheap, cheerful, and all plastic. And again even when individual pieces or whole dolls are cute, they are as boring as day old toast.

Even when mermaid dolls are not intended for kids, and are explicitly collector dolls, you still have the design working against itself. Less fashion, more bulk plastic with limited choices for articulation depending on the type of tail you go for, harder posing and display, and even full blown collector dolls rarely go as crazy creative as they could with all their potential.

And that’s the worst part, at last: I love sea creatures. Sea monsters, crazy and beautiful fish, deep sea abominations, coral and eels and sharks and whales and all kinds of insane stuff is there for the taking of inspiration. And nine times out of ten all of that is left off the table to instead make way for the same silhouettes, the same themes, and the same type of mermaid that’s been overdone since the Little Mermaid released.

In summary, a mermaid doll murdered my dog and stole my credit cards, sometimes you just have to pick a thing to be irrationally angry about to let it all come out, and personally I don’t vibe with mermaid dolls. More on the shelves for all the rest of you!

[princess-hope-selfships]

Tbh, I could *eat* your art and I was wondering how the frick did you manage to make anything not dummy thin look good in the Hazbin style. Like, I love my twigs but when you're not thin yourself and need roundness, I have *no clue* how to translate that as well as you did. Any tips? I'm in Spain without the S rn trying to figure it out.

HELLO DARLING oh my gosh first of all thank you so much oh my gosh I could cry 🥺

Secondly, YEAH...Hazbin has so many amazing characters and fun designs for them but all of them are as wide as a pencil and it's hard to imagine a fat character in the style.

My main reference that I used in designing Dazzler was this absolutely beautiful bitch!!!

Seriously when I first started designing Dazzler... gosh thinking on it takes me back actually, she used to be named Doris and was totally different (I was going the fallen angel route) but still a fat woman! There's early art of Viv's that I referenced heavily, of Mimzy's design early on and it helped me a lot in visualizing a fat character. I think she was intended to be a bigger character, pre-pilot, because there's a LOT of old art of her!

I still take some liberties because I know how I prefer to draw fat women, I always have fat self inserts because I'm fat irl, and I have fat OCs, so I just. Have my methods I guess.

A few key things I took away from studying Mimzy's design as The One Fat Character in Hazbin (that I know of and can remember) is that she has big round cheeks, her legs and arms have shapely silhouettes that still end in points to match the pointy and angular style, and, in the show, sometimes, the complete lack of a neck weirdly lmao Mimzies below as examples!

Though I do give Dazzler a visible neck sometimes, but often I draw her head sitting very close to her shoulders. I actually just took a second to draw Dazzler in a very rough and quick sketch, as a representation of my points here, so hopefully it's a good visual to go along with my explanations!

I feel like there should be more fat characters in Hazbin, Mimzy's such a good representation of fat women imo (she's literally so fucking cute and funny and has a spicy personality as opposed to Typical Fat Girl who is either shy and reserved or obsessed with food) and I'd love to see more, but I know the style is tailored more for tall skinny boiz lmao so I won't hold my breath.

I hope this made sense and like is actually helpful LMAO this is maybe the second time in my life anyone's ever asked me for art advice so I really sincerely hope it reads well and helps you out!!!

[samasmith23]

Evangelion: You Can (Not) Marathon — (Part 7)

Neon Genesis Evangelion, “Episode 7: That Which is Manmade/A HUMAN WORK”

Continuing my Evangelion re-watch marathon with NGE, "Episode 7: That Which is Manmade/A HUMAN WORK"! For my thoughts on the previous episode, click the link to the post below:

I’ve gotta be honest... I always remembered this being my personal least favorite episode in the entire series. While it’s NOT a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination, since it still contains a lot of incredibly entertaining action and character beats, it always felt the most filler-y due to now detached the plot feels from the overarching Angel attacks and NERV versus SEELE storylines. Honestly, this episode left less of a lasting impression on me than even Episode 14, (of which the first half is a literal clip show) or the fan-maligned Episode 10 (I actually really love that episode and feel the amount of hate it gets is heavily unwarranted).

With all of that out of the way however, let's dig in!

Something interesting to note about Gendo’s office in this opening scene. The Sefirot, or “Tree of Life” pattern (which is an important religious symbol within Kabbalhaism, or Jewish mysticism) present on both the floor and ceiling here was completely absent in the previous episode when Misato received approval for Operation Yashima. I initially would have guessed that the absence of the Sefirot pattern was simply because of the scene in Episode 6 taking place at daytime instead of night like the current scene is, but in a later episode the Sefirot pattern is present during the daytime lighting as well. So it seems like a legitimate animation goof there! Whoops!

Secondly, many other fans have pointed out that the shadow formed by the silhouette formed by Gendo sitting at his desk heavily resembles that of a Star of David, leading to many fans pondering exactly what meaning this usage of religious symbolism is meant to convey, especially since Anno and other members of EVA’s staff have publicly denied there being any real depth behind all the religious iconography lifted from Christian, Judaic, Kabbalist, Buddhist Hindu & Shintoistic folklore outside of aesthetic purposes to distinguish the series from other mecha-anime at the time.

Except, I personally do feel that there is legitimate meaning to be derived from the symbols utilized in scenes like this one.

For instance, the silhouette of Gendo’s desk is placed directly above the Sephirah on the Tree of Life known as “Keter,” which within the context of the Kabbalah specifically refers to Hebrew term for “crown.” Additionally, the hexagram shape of the Star of David is meant to represent divine creation through the unification of both the contrasting elements of fire & water as well as the masculine & feminine powers. This imagery is supported by Margaret Starbird in her article “The Archetypal Mandala of the Star of David” for the blog The Book of Threes, wherein the author states: “The mandala of the hexagram, also known as the ‘Star of David’ is much older than Judaism, older even than history! As an archetypal symbol for the sacred union of the opposite energies, it is the ‘yin-yang’ of western civilization. Formed by the intertwining of the ‘fire’ and ‘water’ triangles (the male ‘blade’ and the female ‘chalice’) this symbiol represents the masculine and feminine principles in perfect union, the ‘sacred marriage’ or ‘hieros gamous’ of the ancient world. [And] in India the symbol represents the ‘cosmic dance’ of Shiva and Shakti, and the Jewish Kaballah suggests that the Ark of the Covenant contains, in addition to the tables of the Ten Commandments, ‘a regular hexagram representing a man and woman in intimate embrace.’”

The gendered symbolism of the hexagram becomes significantly more evident as the show progresses, particualrly in-relation to the both the logo of Gendo's employeers, SEELE, as well as the mask worn by humanity's progenitor Lilith. Both share the exact same single inverted-triangle design, signifying the feminine without the presence of the masculine.

This not only serves to convey humanity's state of incompleteness as percieved by both SEELE and the Angels (who are the descendants of Lilith's male counterpart Adam), but it is also reflective of both the patriarchal gender roles that are deeply interwoven into the Kabbalistic creation (i.e. Eve being born from Adam's rib instead of the same soil that God constructed both Adam & his first wife Lilith from, as well as Lilith being banished from the Garden of Eden and forever cursed to live as the "Mother of All Demons" after she refused to be sexually submissive to Adam).

Therefore, an individual can interpret the hexagram-shape of the silhouette of Gendo’s desk in-conjunction with its placement towards the "Keter" sephriah on Tree of Life diagram symbolizing a "complete" unification with God through the elevation humanity to Adam Kadmon, a Kabbalhistic figure that according to Medium writer James William Hollibush, refers to, "the 'primordial man' or the 'celestial man.' Adam Kadmon is said to be the first emanation of God, and he is the archetype of all humanity."

In large measure, these theological symbols are indicative of both SEELE's overarching plan of evolving both Lilith and humanity as a whole to a similar plane of god-like existence comparable to that of Adam and the Angels, as well as Gendo’s personal god-complex and selfish desire to initiate his own version of Human Instrumentality that is separate from SEELE's vision in order to reunite with the soul of his dead wife Yui.

Plus, the hexagramic dichotomy between the masculine and feminine is heavily reflective of Shinji’s struggles and failures to connect with and respect the women in his life as part of his psychosexual Oedipus complex. As the series progresses, both Shinji & his father Gendo will function as avatars for the "original sin" in the EVA universe. That "original sin" being misogyny, or man's distrust & mistreatment of women that originated with the conflict between Adam & Lilith (which again parallels Kabbalistic folklore).

Lol! While I stated earlier that this episode was the least memorable for me, I’ve never forgotten the image of Shinji & Pen Pen respectively simultaneously eating their toast and fish for breakfast while arching their heads backward! It’s such an iconic image in my head!

Sigh… Misato here is totally me when first waking up in the morning… well… with the exception of drinking beer for breakfast since I personally don’t drink at all (alcohol just tastes terrible IMO)! Also, in the ADV dub Misato called her beverage “sake” when that’s clearly a Yebisu Beer can… lol!

The contrast between how Shinji perceives Misato and how his classmates Toji & Kensuke perceive her is incredibly interesting. While Shinji views Misato as a lazy slob due to him living under her roof and witnessing just how messy and unprofessional her home life is, Toji & Kensuke instead view Misato as this smoking hot babe who acts like a composed government agent. This dichotomy is likely an intentional act on Misato’s part, as she presents herself the exact opposite way in her professional life and in public than how she actually lives in her own private quarters.

It’s this element of Misato’s character which makes her relatable to many fans despite her flaws, since she heavily reflects a kind of realistic contrast between how people behave and present themselves in public and private settings. Just how much of our true selves do we feel comfortable sharing with the rest of the world? How much are we willing to open the walls of our hearts and souls to others? Which parts of ourselves to we express in public are genuinely reflective of who we truly are as a person, or just a facade to shield our own private insecurities from the rest of the world?

Oh boy! Some important info drops in this scene where Shinji’s testing EVA Unit-01’s cooling systems! In addition to remembering Unit-01’s creepy v*gina-eyeball from Episode 2 and questioning just what exactly is an Evangelion, Shinji comments on how the LCL liquid in the Entry-Plug smells like blood but is comforting, which is reflective of the Freudian symbolism of returning to the mother’s womb that’s fully on display with the EVAs. Also, Ritsuko briefly mentions the shipment of EVA Unit-02 from Germany, as well as NERV HQ receiving severe defense budget cuts, foreshadowing both the appearance of a certain red-haired pilot in the very next episode, as well as SEELE and the JSSFD’s invasion of NERV in The End of Evangelion!

Even more important info drops! Geez… I guess this episode isn’t as much of a filler episode as I originally remembered it to be now that I think of it…

So in addition to Gendo discussing the Human Instrumentality Committee’s plans to construct Evangelion Units-06 & 08 overseas (foreshadowing the Mass-Production Evangelions we later see in The End of Evangelion), Ritsuko partially reveals to Shinji the truth behind Second Impact 15-years earlier. Namely that contrary to publicly available information, the Second Impact was caused not by a meteorite colliding with Antarctica, but rather by a research expedition team uncovering the frozen remains of the 1st Angel, only for said-Angel reawaken and cause a near-apocalyptic explosion that obliterated the entire southern continent and wiped out half of the Earth’s population. Additionally, Ritsuko elaborates that the purpose of the Evangelions is to prevent a potential Third Impact which would fully eradicate humanity, now that the Angels have returned.

Nice bit of visual contrast to the first breakfast scene with Misato now presenting herself in a much more serious and professional manner in her own apartment as she prepares to attend an important conference meeting being held at the ruins of “old” Tokyo!

Now this is very interesting! A private Japanese industrial corporation has actually developed its own version of the Evangelion known as “Jet Alone,” which overcompensates for the EVA Units limited battery supply without an umbilical cable by retrofitting a literal nuclear reactor onto its back!

What I find so fascinating about this scene at the conference is the back-and-forth exchange between Ritsuko and the company’s executive as both of them raise equally valid arguments: while Ritsuko points out the very obvious safety risk of attaching a nuclear reactor to a giant robot designed to engage in hand-to-hand combat, the executive points out how NERV’s budgetary spending on the previous EVA vs. Angel fights has resulted in the depletion o financial and food resources of entire nations (plus the machines being operated by fallible human pilots).

However, the executive can’t help but undermine his position by making misogynistic remarks by comparing EVA Unit-01’s berserker rampage back in Episode 2 to a “hysterical woman.” Yeesh! While this does serve as an unintentional double entendre considering that Unit-01 possesses the soul of Shinji’s dead mother Yui Ikari, that executive’s sexism was completely uncalled for and I can’t help but share Ritsuko’s frustration and offense to the executive’s remarks here (especially given her own tragic background with her late mother).

Lol! Misato’s such a hypocrite! As much as she previously criticized Ritsuko and the executive’s back-&-forth arguments as being “childish,” Misato’s acting pretty dang childish herself by kicking a locker in frustration while cursing up a storm about how much she wants to kick said-executive’s ass! Also, I can’t help but agree with Ritsuko’s takeaway that the executive is, “Just a show-off begging for praise and adulation, petty and not worthy of attention,” given how he resorted to juvenile sexism in order dismiss NERV’s efficiency, severely undermining any reasonable arguments he might have had. Also also, her burning the Jet Alone plans is simultaneously a nice touch whilst also highlighting her own juvenile hypocrisy! She and Misato truly are alike despite being so different, Lol!

And of course something goes horribly wrong during Jet Alone’s activation test, as the mecha refuses to accept any computer commands and begins walking aimlessly as it’s nuclear rods and cooling vents begin to overhear, transforming this robot into a literal walking nuclear meltdown!

Also, while I can’t help but laugh at Misato’s snarky jab of, “It looks like this robot is as badly behaved as the idiot who built it,” since it does serve the sexist executive right, I simultaneously feel dirty for laughing since said-sexist executive’s failure is at risk of causing a nuclear fallout, which isn’t a laughing matter at all…

Also also, Ritsuko seems strangely unmoved by the seriousness of this situation. Suspicious?

Misato’s response to the statement that it would take, "An act of God," to stop Jet Alone’s forward momentum before it inevitably melts down is very intriguing: “Acts of men are better than acts of God.”

While this line serves as a lead-in to Misato planning to utilize the Evangelions to stop Jet Alone, Allison Keith delivers said-line with such strong conviction that I can’t help but wonder if this is also meant to further foreshadow Misato’s traumatic past with the Angels during Second Impact, just like the uncomfortable look she gives in the earlier scene when Ritsuko is explaining the events of Second Impact to Shinji?

Also, nice bit of extra detail there with the dirt on Misato’s dress, face, and hair there! Kudos to the animator’s over at Gainax!

Lol! Not only is the company President golfing during a time of serious crisis, but his voice acting in the ADV dub makes him sound suspiciously like George W. Bush. So the president of the company which produced Jet Alone is essentially two infamously terrible U.S. Republican presidents merged together (i.e. Trump and Bush Jr.)!

Yet again Ritsuko seems to be taking the Jet Alone crisis unusually calmly… definitely suspicious…

Also, I’m curious as to what the significance behind the shut-down password to Jet Alone’s nuclear reactor being “Hope” is.

Also also, dang does Misato look great in that futuristic radiation suit!

Aww… while Shinji might not pilot the EVA for selfless altruistic reasons, and while he might berate Misato for her lazy and unhygienic lifestyle at home, he does legitimately care for her safety when she announces her intention to deactivate Jet Alone’s reactor from the inside!

And Misato gives a more sincere peace-sign to Shinji here than the one she previously gave to his class during the parent-teacher day scene earlier!

This entire chase sequence between Unit-01 and Jet Alone is FREAKING epic, although I can’t help but chuckle at how funny Jet Alone’s arms look when they move as Shinji struggles to prevent it from walking towards a populated area!

Lol! Misato pulls a George Lucas by stating, “I have a bad feeling about this,” when she opens the reactor! And Shinji also adds some humor to the scene with Spike Spencer’s line delivery of, “Stop running you bastard!” Double lol!

Dang! The sequence of Misato desperately struggling to manually push the control rods back into place upon realizing that the fail-safe password and program was deliberately sabatoged, along with a Shinji struggling to contain the increasing radiation heat leaks as Jet Alone is about to enter nuclear meltdown before suddenly shutting down operations was absolutely intense! And yeah it’s obvious that Ritsuko was involved with the sabatoge given her earlier suspicious reactions to the crisis as well as her thinking to herself that Misato was a “crazy fool” to try and play the hero and stop Jet Alone on her own. This is explicitly confirmed when Ristuko is later meeting with Gendo in his office to inform him that aside from Misato’s intervention, that their plan worked.

This goes to show that NERV is not exactly the benevolent peacekeeping organization that Shinji and even Misato believe it to be, as Gendo & Ritsuko we’re willing to risk a literal nuclear meltdown (presumably they would have stopped the meltdown at the last minute even if Misato hadn’t interfered, but still!) simply as a means of reinforcing NERV’s position of power by sabotaging any and all competition from foreign parties in their defense of humanity against the Angels. These events, combined with the covering up of the true events of the Second Impact to the general public, as well as the seedy mass production of future EVA units, definitely indicates that there is something incredibly shady occurring beneath the surface with NERV. That there’s far more to this organization’s agenda than simply defeating the Angels…

Huh… Kensuke just provided a level of meaningful insight to Shinji that I never would have expected to have heard from him. Even though Shinji expresses continued annoyance and embarrassment at Misato’s messy home-life (the exact same behavior she previously demonstrated at the start of the episode), Kensuke states that it simply means that Misato considers Shinji a part of her family because she’s willing to show him a side of her life that she’s unwilling to show anyone else.

That’s actually a really profound observation on Kensuke’s part! It harkens back to my previous analysis about Misato hiding specific characteristics of her personality in public and in the workplace, only expressing her true feelings in private and in the presence of those she legitimately cares for. In this regard, Misato truly does view herself as a surrogate mother figure to Shinji despite her shortcomings, and this only serves to strengthen the bond she and Shinji share as a found family, further providing meaning to both of their existences.

What a neat note to end the episode on!

So that was NGE, "Episode 7: That Which is Manmade/A HUMAN WORK," and overall it was actually a lot better than I remember it being! While still probably not one of my personal favorites from the series, this episode was incredibly important in regards to further fleshing out Shinji & Misato’s relationship as well as beginning to expose the shady corruption underlying NERV as an organization, as well as providing some important information and foreshadowing concerning Second Impact, EVA Unit-02 and its ginger-haired pilot, and the Mass-Production Evangelions! So definitely NOT a filler episode like I previously wrote it off as!

Next time will be Episode 8, meaning that it’s finally time to meet the Second Child... Asuka Langley Soryu!

[cheesy-cryptid]

First of all, I still wanna thank you for following me even though I kinda fallen out of the encanto fandom. It’s always nice to know that a great artist as yourself is following me. Idk how you still sticked around but yeah thanks.

Secondly, do you have any advice to give anyone who wants to creat an oc? Any tips on how to do so that you personally use? Thirdly, how do you feel about others sharing you their art and asking for critiques from you? Hopefully you have a good day/night.

💗Awww hey this message really made my morning and im so glad we still kept in touch and bond over art even if i dont post much about encanto anymore right now. 💗

When creating an oc sometimes i figure out first whats the purpose of the character. Like if this character would be used more in writings or in art. Since i tend to make more ocs for art, I follow keep in mind and study concepts such as color theory, shape language, visual symbolism, silhouette studies and other design principles/techniques that all contribute to a nuanced visual narrative within the space of a single design to produce meaningful stories/messages depending on what i intend to do with the character. Creating an oc is like a process of a character that is moldable to the many ideas you want to execute. Even if an OC isnt fully fleshed out, thats okay! Its good to practice creating ocs to challenge yourself with unique takes that you can use with OCs through several aspects of their character such as design/story/personality etc etc. What I’d usually do when I create an OC is to center the character around a specific concept or purpose (or you can just design ocs for fun and go hamball haha) 🥳

If you want a more detailed explanation and also would like to hear the thoughts of my other friends about OC making, you can listen to the podcast episode from The Fanfic Maverick on Encanto OCs 💕:

Referring to your third question, Yeah i dont mind at all! I love it when people share their art and I would be happy to offer any critique or advice if they want me to. Though Im still a student and not a professional, hopefully what I can provide is helpful because I love turning critique into a discussion that opens up a learning experience for both the viewer and the artist too 💗

Have a good day/night to you too! ✨💗✨