#such a fun zine concept and lost of fun to work on <3

[queenlypirate]

"don't let go."

[sukinapan]

honestly would be pretty interested in hearing about all of them, if thats alright

it's no problem o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o i like talking about this

for context, apart from making personal art i'm also an artist and character designer at Smarto Club, so I don't know if these count as OCs but i have posted art of them here: Haco from >Bubblegum Galaxy and Teacup from >Teacup.

you can check the steam pages on those games for more info if u like. i love all my characters but i don't usually make personal art of these two since i already do it as my job.

my newest Smarto Club character is a bit different since she's more in the style of what i'm doing personally so i want to make more art of her soon. her name is Abigail:

she's a kid who likes reading about bugs and catching them but she never hurts them : ) this is a short game in early development but it's about catching creatures called angels. it's got horrorish vibes but i don't think the end result will be full-out horror, since it's also kinda silly...

then there's Peklo, it's a game for which i created the whole concept and story but the plan is to develop it as a studio at Smarto Club. i wrote more context for it on this post, but for the characters, they're my favorites to make art about at the moment. the main ones are Kiku (the cat) and Mi (the bunny):

i recently created these human forms of them for fun but i'm not sure whether i'll establish them as canon or not... they're trapped in limbo/hell so there's space for them to have a past human form. they don't remember their lives but Kiku feels a deep sense of regret about things unkown to her and wants to break out of Peklo. Mi feels trapped in an eternal sadness, she longs to see the ocean, she can always hear it but has never been able to reach it.

the antagonist in Peklo is a frog entity called Guppy but i haven't really shown him outside of his froggy logo

i also have OCs from my smaller games. there's Hlina that i created specifically for >this game that was commissioned to me for a zine. i don't have any plans to use her again for now but i might make more art of her in the future for fun. she's part of a strange dream realm and is hostile to the player:

there's iro from the >game with the same name who's my oldest game OC. i created that bitsy game for her story but she existed previously in my art degree final project, it was a version of the same story but just a section of it. it's a dream of mine to create a full-fledged 3D game for her some day.

she's a bit of a defective space exploration robot, sent to explore planetoid Iridium-3 in search of human contact. it's set in a future where humanity has dispersed among the whole galaxy so lots of groups have lost contact with each other.

my latest game OC is Michtat, a wizard cat that i created just for this silly zine.

lasty, there’s the characters from my comic that I’m working on, called The most distant planet. the main characters are Victor and Mitya, two 9 year olds whose families end up living together.

i'd say these are the dearest characters to me of all. i don't post as much of them because they're mostly in the shape of comic pages and it doesn't spark as much interest as my games. i love drawing them though.

they’re both little weirdos who isolate themselves and don’t fit in much with other children, so the friendship they develop is very special to them. they have almost opposite personalities where Victor (darker hair) is very shy and dorky but also very sweet to everyone, while Mitya mostly gives 0 fucks about what anyone thinks or says, he blurts out whatever he’s thinking and just wants to run around wild.

the story is mostly slice of life-ish but there’s also a science fiction element ^-^ Victor is obsessed with things like ghosts, aliens, etc but Mitya thinks it’s all just dumb tales.

another important character is Alyosha, Mitya’s 17-18yo brother. he doesn’t know how to talk or relate to his little brother and is kinda weirded out by him. they where very close when they were younger, but when Mitya was 2 he had an accident that Alyosha feels guilty about, and has been somehow different ever since.

he still worries about his little brother and how isolated he is, though. at the beginning of the story the two of them live alone with their grandma who does love them but has kind of a cold and distant personality. 

Alyosha was the type of kid to be considered “gifted” but now feels completely burnt out and had to repeat a grade at school. he felt so humiliated by this he eventually stopped going entirely, so he now works part time and just studies at home. he cut contact with his old classmates but he still has 2 best friends from the last few months he spent at school in the grade below, Manon and Min Na. they’re the kind of friends who just show up unannounced at his house and job, and are very involved with his family’s life.

i’ve also included Min Jie in some art, she’s Min Na’s younger cousin and comes into the story later:

i should have like character sheets and stuff for all of these OCs but i’m the kind to just jump head first into drawing/modeling lol, that's why i included all these finished illustrations.

i really wanna publish this comic, i’ve been working on it for a long time and i’m currently waiting for the results of a public funding application here in my country to decide what i'll do next.

hope this could be of interest (^人^) thanks for the ask!

[kinda-daily-warriorcat]

☆ Zine WIP Art Dump ☆

Hello everybody! So I'm currently participating in Harriertail's Warrior Cats Cover Zine as the artist for Leafpool's Wish (I got sooo lucky since she's my favorite character) and I just wanted to upload my unused concepts now that I've finally decided on the one that I want to use

Design —

The face is a bit wonky so please ignore that </3 but these were my concepts for Leafpool's design since she's the main focus for this piece!

The first one is just my current design for her. The second one though is based off of my oldest Leafpool drawing that I still have. Most of my old digital art is lost due to data corruption or just deleting posts and videos on the offchance I did post art online, but this is one of the few drawings that survived. It's from a MAP part in a MAP that was actually completed but was deleted sometime in 2016. The third design is me trying to combine what I liked about the old and new designs together

I couldn't see her face and there's this white glare that's meant to be moonlight that I airbrushed in on Paint Shop Pro 7 so I couldn't directly colorpick, but I tried my best for the second one. I'm also probably going to make her eyes a cooler shade of a green since I'm not sure how I feel about the more olive green color

Unfortunately, the concept I went with isn't even going to show her tail so it doesn't really matter which one I use outside of the exact shade of light brown she's going to be, so I'll probably go with the current design. But had that not been the case, I would've gone for either the old design or the combined design since I thought it would be fun to nod to my old art of her since she's been my favorite character for so so long

Cover Concepts —

These concepts were all very rough since I was just trying to scribble them out as fast as possible since I am a slow artist, but as a consequence the cats do not look good at all. My focus here was the scenery and general placement and colors

Before my book reread

After my book reread

The first one is similar to my old concept before my reread. I was mostly just trying to fix the composition here more than anything. The second one though is based off of a dream that Leafpool had at the moonpool where she and Crowfeather were climbing a tree together (and then both were blown off the branch because of a storm... there were so many storms in Leafpool's Wish for some reason). Had this been the one I went with, I would've centered Leafpool more and pushed Crowfeather more into the shadow

The one that I ended up going with (which isn't featured here) is pretty simple all things considered but it was the one that people generally liked the most when I asked around but it still will have it's fair share of little details I'll try to add. I am very very excited to work on it and be a part of this project :)

[finalityzine]

Final Shapes Zine: Official FAQ & Rules Post

When are applications open?

Applications will be open August 27, 2023 8:00 AM EST until September 3, 2023 11:59 PM EST.

I missed the application window. May I still apply to be an artist/writer?

Potentially. You can email the admin at finalityzine@gmail.com for this process!

When are submissions due?

The zine is projected to wrap up in December. If accepted, you will have from early September, or about 3 months, to complete your work(s).

Is traditional media accepted?

Traditional media is allowed, but must be properly displayed and photographed/scanned. General suggestions for this are a high resolution camera and good lighting with some digital touch ups. The admin is happy to assist with this process if needed.

Where is the application form?

Lost that tab you opened? Yeah, me too. Here is the application form!

Who can I contact with more questions?

Email the admins at finalityzine@gmail.com and we will respond to you as promptly as possible!

Rules:

Use of AI is strictly forbidden in this project. Additionally, please openly communicate your chosen inspirations and references as they may help others!

The zine only accepts static images or text. No gifs, sounds, videos, or scenes can be contributed. Writing is accepted. 

For the reasons laid in point 2, the zine cannot accept 3D works. 3D assets may be used as reference for other work, but not stolen. This is also crucial to keeping a cohesive presentation and theme.

New artwork only – unused personal assets and concepts may be revived, but the final artwork must be unique. 

Please keep artwork rated for the Destiny Universe - T, or acceptable for teens under 18. You may push some elements of horror given the nature of the dark (and light), but heavy gore such as obscene amounts of blood, entrails, or anything with explicit or emphasized genitalia, is not allowed. If you are uncertain of anything you have in progress, you may contact a mod at any time through the above email or discord for approval.

Interpersonal drama is not supported in this zine community. Please take any issues to a mod who will hear your case and decide what action is needed. You are free to interact within the server at your own leisure, but please be open to communication with all mods and admins.

Do not post your work outside of the event server or submissions until the posting date! Teasers may be approved after the halfway point.

Get inspired and have fun!

[fansofvow]

Interview with Eve Golden Woods!

Many of you know who is Eve is. She's a writer and artist, a part of Dreamfeel studios whose beautiful game If Found won Best LGBTQ Narrative and Best LGBTQ Indie game at the first ever Gayming Awards presented by EA games. I am really excited I had the chance to ask Eve some questions about herself, her time at Lovestruck and her creative process.

Congratulations on the two Gayming Awards (Best LGBTQ Narrative, Best LGBTQ Indie Game) for "If Found" from your game studio, Dreamfeel. What was the inspiration behind making the game?

If Found... was a game that emerged out of a collaboration between Llaura McGee, the founder of Dreamfeel, and artist Liadh Young. Liadh's background is as a comic artist, and so when they started working together Llaura had the idea of showing off Liadh's art by making a diary game, and using an erasing mechanic she had previously developed to let the player move through the diary in a fun way. By the time I came on board at the start of 2019, the game had already been in development for a while, so in some ways my work on that game was similar to the work I did for Voltage, because it was taking existing characters and concepts and writing a lot of scripts for them. Unlike Voltage, though, my work for Dreamfeel was a lot more collaborative and I had a lot more creative input. I really enjoy taking something and helping to make it the best version of itself that it can possibly be, but I was also really happy that I got to reflect a lot of my own experiences in If Found. Llaura and I both grew up on the west coast of Ireland, and although If Found... isn't autobiographical for either of us, it was definitely really meaningful to be able to tell a story that reflected our own experiences of growing up as queer teens in a similar kind of environment. Since the game came out we've had fans reach out to us and tell us that they also connected to the experiences of the main characters, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes me feel like I achieved everything I wanted to.

You are a writer and a visual artist. Does one come easier to you than the other?

I used to think of art and writing as talents, and I always felt like my art was at a very mediocre level (that's probably still true, lol). So when I was younger I focused a lot more on writing. It was only later that I started genuinely trying to improve as an artist, but when I did, I think I had a much healthier mindset, and approached it as a skill I could learn with patience and effort. Because of that, even though I still have a lot more confidence in my writing, I find art more fun and relaxing, and I don't stress about it as much.

Did you always know you would follow a creative path?

Kind of? Both my parents are artists, and I grew up surrounded by artists and writers, so it was something that was always very familiar and accessible to me. On the other hand, I didn't exactly have a clear idea of how to make it into a career, or what kind of work would be involved. But there's never been a point in my life where I wasn't doing something creative, even if it was only writing fanfiction.

What did your path to working professionally as a writer/artist look like?

I did a creative writing masters in college, but after that I spent years teaching English as a second language. That was really fun and I got to live abroad, but it was so busy and tiring that I didn't have time to do any writing outside of the occasional fanfic. I only started to take art seriously again when I became interested in games and comics as ways of telling stories. I did some critical writing, which led me to speak at a few local events and get involved in zine fairs. That was how I met Llaura, the director and lead of the Dreamfeel studio, and it's also what gave me the confidence to start applying for actual writing jobs.

Is there any work of art, visual or written, that you look to for inspiration?

So many! I try to read and watch as widely as I can, although there are touchstones I always return to, like the works of Ursula Le Guin and Terry Pratchett. Right now I feel very passionate about the actual play podcast Friends at the Table, which manages to combine really thoughtful worldbuilding and storytelling with cool, fun characters and great action scenes. I'm also reading a book called The Memory Police by Youko Ogawa, which has extremely beautiful prose.

Do you have a favorite piece of your own art, whether it is something you’ve drawn, a screenshot of something you’ve written or something else?

My favourite piece of art is usually whatever I finished most recently (I think that's true for a lot of people). Especially with visual art, once a bit of time has gone by you look back on it and start to notice all your mistakes, which is very annoying. But actually I do still really like the first piece of Fiona fanart I did last year. I managed to use some effects to give it a kind of nineties anime quality that I find really fun, and I think it conveys an emotion pretty effectively. That's always one of the hardest things to predict with visual art, whether the different parts will come together to create the exact mood you're looking for.

I also really like the compass I did for Bycatch. Krissy (@xekstrin) was the one who suggested filling it with fingernails, which was such a good, gross idea! As soon as I heard that I knew it was perfect and that I had to try and draw it.

Many people who read this blog know you as a writer for Lovestruck. When you look back on your time there, what stands out in your mind?

Lovestruck was very important to me when I first started because it was my first ongoing, regular, paid writing work. It gave me a lot of confidence and helped me to get into the habit of writing consistently and rapidly, which is a really useful skill to have. I know I was right to leave when I did, though, because I am just brimming with energy to work on my own projects, and channeling that power into something that you can't control will always end up disappointing you. Also, I made a ton of incredible friends, through Lovestruck itself but then even more so through VOW (@vowtogether), and that is more than worth all the difficult parts.

Is there any character that you would have liked a crack at writing?

Oh gosh, what a fun question! There are so many, but one I do sometimes think about is Axia, just because I know there are a bunch of fans who want her route, and because I had fun writing her as a villain in Zain's route. I can see in my head the shadow of a storyline that takes place after Zain's route is over, where she's in prison and trying to understand how she lost the battle with Zain and MC. I think there's, like, a gap there, where you could see her downfall forcing her to reconsider her assumptions about power, and that could build into a very interesting redemption story. But maybe it's for the best I never got to do that, because I would have wanted full creative control over it, and also I think the story in my head is very different to the sexy, in control, menacing version of Axia that her fans enjoy.

Do you have any upcoming projects you can talk about?

Most of my current work is under NDA, but I will say that I'm doing something very exciting with other VOW members that we should be able to talk about soon(ish). Maybe I can even give a little teaser... It's not a game, but it is something you can read, and my part involves cakes, swamps, and a museum.

Do you have a favorite quote or song lyric?

It's a big long, but there's a section from The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guin that has stayed with me ever since I read it:

"For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think."

It's such a profoundly radical way of imagining the world, so different to everything I was raised with, but whenever I think about it I feel like I can see something very beautiful and powerful that I hope to come closer to understanding some day.

And of course, "Solidarity forever, the union makes us strong."

I was a big fan of the show Inside the Actor’s Studio. Host James Lipton asked every single guest the same 10 concluding questions. I’ve picked 3 of them:

-What is your favorite word?

My favourite word: for sound, I like words you can really roll around on your tongue. Chthonic, alabaster, insinuation. For meaning, I think simple words that encapsulate big concepts have a kind of power to them. We use them so often we forget how big they are, how much weight they really have, but they give us the space to imagine new possibilities. Love. Freedom. Revolution.

-What is your least favorite word?

I've heard that "moist" is a lot of people's least favourite word but it doesn't actually bother me. My least favourite word is probably one where I feel like the sound doesn't match the meaning. One of the Irish words for rain is báisteach, which I feel has a much weightier and more onomatopoeic sound than rain. Rain is just very flat and uninteresting.

-What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Oh, so many! I love history, and I think being a historian/archaeologist would be fascinating. Or something that had a physical component to it, like being a potter or a carpenter. I don't think I'd be any good, but I'd love to take the time to learn.

What would be your advice to anyone who wants to pursue a creative career?

All the work you do matters. Even the failed experiments, the things you hate when they're finished. It all helps to make you better. Also, creative career paths are often really unexpected, so chase any opportunity that seems remotely interesting. Don't work for free for anyone who can afford to pay, but work for yourself and put it somewhere. On a blog, twitter, whatever. You'd be amazed how many people get noticed and get offered opportunities because of something they made in their spare time. You'll probably have to work another job for a long time, so don't be hard on yourself if you're too tired to devote much energy to creative work. Try to make art consistently, but don't feel like that has to mean every day. Don't chase after celebrities. Make friends with your peers.

[love-takes-work]

The Art of Steven Universe the Movie: Outline & Review

The Art of Steven Universe The Movie was released March 3, 2020. It's a wonderful journey through the concept art, character development, and experience of fashioning these ideas into the movie we all love.

Nuts and bolts: The book is published by Dark Horse, and it was designed by Ryan Sands (a zine specialist), with commentary by Takafumi Hori, Kat Morris, and Rebecca Sugar. It includes art by Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Takafumi Hori, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Angie Wang, Ashley Fisher, Becky Dreistadt, Chromosphere, Danny Cragg, Elle Michalka, Hilary Florido, Ian Jones-Quartey, Jasmin Lai, Jeff Liu, Joe Johnston, Julian De Perio, Katie Mitroff, Leonard Hung, Miki Brewster, Patrick Bryson, and Paul Villeco.

Full review below with low-quality images.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

An introduction explains the same origin story that Rebecca Sugar told us in the movie DVD's commentary: that she accidentally restored her phone to factory settings and lost years of important stuff, and she ended up applying that devastating premise to her movie. That combined with the concept of "breaking" the main premise of a TV show to make a movie was how she got started developing the story. The opening of the movie styled like a storybook is blocked out with some great drawings and breakdowns of which narration would go to what storybook pages. This is combined with some partial sheet music for "The Tale of Steven." Rebecca writes about how she felt having to wrap pre-production on Season 5 only to take on this even bigger movie challenge. The biggest challenge was writing all these songs in such a short time--six weeks--and having to deal with the stress, being crushed under all that pressure while still wanting to do this story so badly, and it was humbling to still have to work so hard to sell the idea. The feeling of relief to finally be done that Steven expresses in "Happily Ever After" is very similar to what Rebecca went through feeling like she wanted to be finally done but still knowing what she had to do to climb an even bigger mountain. Some very cute Steven-at-age-16 and Connie in Space Camp clothes follow. Notes indicate that Steven and Connie are the same height now, but his poofy hair is just slightly higher than her head.

Notes from 2017 also give us the "Neckstravaganza": design notes on Steven's new form, with a neck and a jacket. It's very cool.

Some beautiful Joe Johnston boards follow, with sequences from the "Happily Ever After" song. We also get Angie Wang's final design (with Ashley Fisher's color) of the injector, including some sketchy concept art for it from Rebecca Sugar and Hilary Florido. In the rough concept notes, they call this the "Mega Injector," with notes for Takafumi Hori to use for scale. It looks beyond huge in a Leonard Hung drawing.

Spinel concepts are next. Some notes explain that aivi & surasshu (the usual composers) were involved very early since it was a musical, and Rebecca included them when pitching the story to the Crew so they could organically develop the sound. The heart shape was central to Spinel from the beginning, and early versions of her had an entire heart shape to her head.

(There's a doodle of what looks like a cartoon dog in the pile of drawings shown in this section. It's not clear what that was.)

Spinel was given the heart imagery partly because Rebecca had learned early on about the importance of symbols, and when it came time to assign one to Steven, the star was chosen because it's so positive and is read as gender-neutral. Rebecca still hadn't used hearts for anything, so it was time. They also incorporated really old, dated character design ideas to make Spinel feel like an outdated cartoon from the rubber hose era.

The aspect of her design with the running mascara versus cute eyelashes predated the rotation of her Gem. Rebecca likes to start with more realistic sketches when she's figuring out a character, and then she'll move to making it more cartoony. A quote from Miki Brewster is shared: "Spinel can do anything, as long as it's entertaining!" Her "best friend" form is described as "a doll for friendship fun & games! Of a different era--hokey, charming, weird...super gullible and trusting. Incredibly loyal, constant entertainment machine!"

When it comes to developing her "worst enemy" form, Rebecca explains a bit that she has a really complicated relationship with old cartoons because nostalgia is not compelling to her--the animation from the 1930s is so neat, but considering the social limits and the way the industry was at the time, Rebecca doesn't think she could have participated. Especially considering nowadays she even had to struggle to be allowed to tell the stories she needed to tell and it would have been impossible five years ago. The norms of the time aren't entirely extricable from the art itself.

Takafumi Hori weighs in with commentary on how fun it was to animate a scary but fun character on top of Miki Brewster's boards for the "Other Friends" fight sequence.

Next, moving on from the central new character, they also spend some time discussing Steg. Rebecca first explains "Steg Multiverse" as a character so uplifting he can make you fly, combining Greg's unending support and Steven's positive power. She makes reference to the early "stegosaurus" concepts they had for his look, but they didn't want to lose the opportunity to have his hair flow. Rebecca confirms that the pompadour idea was established in "Steven and the Stevens" so they wanted to give it to Steg, and she credits Paul Villeco for really finalizing his design and bringing him to life.

And of course the poofy hair from Steven and the double-necked guitar was essential for Steg.

Next, the book gives us a whole page of handwritten notes about "Drift Away." Kat Morris explains the intentional duality of the scene--how Spinel should be shown seeing her own past with new perspective, being embarrassed, blending together who she was with who she is. The partial lyrics to the song and some sketchy boards are offered.

Rebecca shares her personal connection with the subject matter--how she once left a stuffed animal in her garden and the side facing the sun faded. It really made a mark on her as a child that things changed without her, because of her actions, and that she'd left this treasured toy alone without thinking about it all that time, letting it be affected by the elements without her interference. She wrote "Everything Stays" for Adventure Time based on that plushie, and realized that she was writing about it again for the Steven Universe movie.

Many beautiful miniature boards are shown in this section.

Partial sheet music for "Drift Away" is also offered here. It's credited to Rebecca Sugar and Aimee Mann. The music sheet is followed by some lovely images of the garden by Julian De Perio, Patrick Bryson, and Leonard Hung.

Takafumi Hori returns for a discussion of the final fight sequence during "Change," which he animated from Jeff Liu's boards. He discusses trying to keep the fight feeling dramatic and serious even though Spinel's fighting style is funny. He wanted to keep her tension. Hori-san throws in a word of thanks for being allowed to work on his favorite show again, praises Jeff and Miki, and compliments Rebecca Sugar's demos. He hoped we'd get a soundtrack album. (Of course, we did.)

Some final boards by Rebecca Sugar and Becky Dreistadt of the characters in their show gear descending the steps close out the book. There are also some cute little doodles at the end on the credits page, like a head of lettuce with caption "lettuce adore you" and Spinel in a drifting go-kart laughing, captioned "drift away."

The back cover pictures Steven with his arm around a heartbroken Spinel, comforting her.

Overall, the book is wonderful--the accompanying information is generally not new to anyone who watched the DVD's documentary and commentary, and many of the sketches have been released one way or another directly by the artists through Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr blogs. There was still plenty of wonderful new concept art that wasn't already out there, and looking at some of the iterations Spinel and Steg went through was particularly captivating. There was no new insight into the development of the plot beyond the premise and the Spinel-related conflict, though; nothing about how they decided to focus the Garnet storyline, the Pearl storyline, and the Amethyst storyline for how they would each get their memories back, and there was no spotlight on their movie versions--modern Cotton Candy Garnet, copycat baby Amethyst, and factory settings uncustomized Pearl. I was hoping especially for some Amethyst stuff because the movie was the first place we got to see her with the simple default outfit and segmented limbs. It was primarily an art book with commentary on some of the most definitive movie aspects--it didn't reach the depth that Art and Origins gave us. It has a start-to-finish feeling in a sense, but it's mostly just splashes of information that are fun to know. It's a great companion and definitely should not be missed by any fan of the movie. I recommend it heartily!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

[classicrosie]

My Top 10 Posts Ever

I’m @gemshine​​ and I’ve been posting art on Tumblr for five years. Over those five years, I’ve had ten posts gain over 100 notes. Here I will talk about each one of them, their story, and how I think they got popular. If you like any of them you can click the link to take you to the original post, I really appreciate likes and reblogs. If you want to see more of my art please follow @gemshine​​.

1). How to Make a Comic Infographic - 237 notes - Mar 27 2020

This is my most popular post. It is a how-to infographic I did for class and I am really proud of it. Comics are really hard to complete, there are so many steps that without organization it is easy to get lost and give up. So, I thought letting others into my thought process would help. 

I haven't made that many comics, but I do love making them. I love storytelling and character development so much, so as a visual artist comics are an amazingly creative medium for me to play around with and tell my story. Here is my short story about an elf lawyer named Cherry Elliott I made in 2018 for another class, that made me fall in love with comic making. I dream of writing and illustrating a graphic novel one day.

This was my first time doing the equivalent of a colour palette challenge, I think it turned out pretty well, I love the colour combo of pink, purple, and yellow/orange. The comic I used as the example was a comic made specifically for this infographic, featuring my original character, Mystic. I’m the person in the bottom right, illustrating a comic about “Some Elf Thing”, aka my original story passion project @mysticsrealm​​​. My Mystic’s Realm stuff has not gained much traction yet, so it’s pretty wild that a post with an illustration of myself and my oc has gotten 237 notes and been reblogged 68 times.

Most people finding this post are going through some sort of “comic reference” related tag and I’m glad my experience is actually helping people start making comics. The majority of people tag it with “comic tutorial” or “reference”.

TLDR; this post is helpful for people looking to start making comics and it’s very aesthetic

2). Dad Hank Comic From Detroit Become Human - 205 notes - Aug 21 2018

At the time this post felt like it was blowing up by my standards. It is still my number two post. It gained traction because I posted it in a big fandom at the right time (#connorarmy). If I posted it now it would have maybe 20 notes. A lot of getting notes is posting at the right time of a fandom, but I don’t really know the science.

This post is nice and simple, I like the purple wash. I like Hank’s expression. These two and their dog are a really sweet little family and I cashed in on that angst, like I am one to do. At least it was kinda wholesome angst, I guess. We love found family. 

3). Ladynoir!Opal Comic From Miraculous Ladybug and Steven Universe - 188 notes - Feb 26 2019

I was and still am really proud of this one. I was inspired to try lineless by @sneakysscribs​​‘ lineless art. Lineless art is a pain, but so pretty. This piece was made by having lines, but then colouring them in. I love how I was pushing the comic format, making the two gems flying in the beginning and Ladynoir!opal really pop out of the page. I also love that I actually made backgrounds for once in my life, they’re SU inspired and very aesthetic.

I call this AU Miraculous Universe, and it has been in my head a long time, starring Ladybug!Pearl and Chat Noir!Amethyst. It is not very fleshed out, but it is very fun. It also makes no sense. This concept is so oddly specific it’s hilarious. But I’m also rewarded in my uniqueness in that there’s nothing else like it and I got to work both the SU and ML tags. 

4). Adrinino Dancing Comic From Miraculous Ladybug - 177 notes - Aug 15 2019

I just noticed my top 4 all had to do with comics. Hopefully, that’s a good omen for my future in graphic novel. 

This piece was for the first and only (so far) zine I’ve been in, @theninozine​​. That is where the majority of people found this post. It was nice to create something knowing that people were going to see it. It was also nice to have my work displayed among so many talented and passionate artists. Drawing ships for ml is funny because to have to tag the same exact ship four times to account for their love square. Anyways this piece is very sweet and gay. 

5). Viperinoire From Miraculous Ladybug - 166 notes - May 7 2020

This is my most recent post above 100 notes. And it was posted during the ML offseason. I’m not that big of a fan of the show, but I love the fan content a lot. We lot just kinda take elements from canon and do whatever we want with them. This Viperinoire post is a great example steering far from canon.

This post succeeded despite the last episode of Miraculous aired having been in Dec 2019 because of the active Lukanette fanbase. I have a theory that the reason ML is still so popular on the internet, despite a large crowd being disappointed with the show, is because the fan content gets a ton of interaction, encouraging creators to keep making more, keeping the fandom alive.

6). Christine Canigula From Be More Chill - 141 notes - Feb 4 2018

This was my second post to gain over 100 notes. I posted when the Be More Chill fandom was very popular. People were really nice in the notes, they really love ChristiiIIIIIIiine. In this post I was practicing posing and using a glowy tutorial I found for the stage lights. This is the scene during More Than Survive where she is lifted up and signs the sign-up sheet for the after school play. When I look at this piece I can see the progress I made to get that point, and how I’ve grown since. 

7). Heather Chandler From Heathers The Musical - 120 notes - Feb 19 2017

This was my first post ever to get over 100 notes. I still think it’s pretty good actually, I really like the hair. This post was copied directly from a photo, which I think is pretty good practice for shading. During this time, I didn’t have a drawing tablet so I was posting traditional drawings. This post blew up over all the ones before it because it was at a good time in the Heather fandom and it looks pretty great tbh.

8). Green Diamond From Steven Universe - 108 notes - Aug 15 2018

Someone asked me to imagine two diamonds fused so I did. I think I did a pretty good job combining the aesthetics of Blue and Yellow to create a new gem with their own identity. This post got popular because of Bellow shippers. One thing I would change is that underneath her left arm you can see a little looseness of her top, I would have changed that to be form fitting to match with the SU style of drawing gems. 

9). The Zen Garden From Detroit Become Human - 103 notes - Aug 27 2018

This is one of the only times I’ve ever practiced drawing a background. Came out pretty picturesque if I do say so myself. The Zen Garden from DBH has always been very pretty. This was really just an exercise for me to come out of my comfort zone and draw a place instead of a person. Actually, at first, it started as a background for [this post], but the background came out nicer than the subject, so I posted it on its own too.

10). Pearls From Steven Universe - 100 notes - Aug 14 2019

This post just got 100 notes, which lead me to making this post. I think I captured the SU art style for Pearl quite well. When I was younger I found a tutorial for how to draw Pearl and she became my go-to doodle. This post was made years later, but I definitely used the muscle memory I had for drawing Pearl. Though the Pearl I drew was in her bow outfit, this was my first time drawing Pearl in either of these outfits. This post was made before the SU movie a pretty good prediction might I say. I love Pearl a lot.

Thank you, everyone, so much for supporting my work, and may there be lots more in the future.

[halberdierminister]

July Monthly Goals Check-In

1. Write 250 Words Each Day Well, I started out very faithful to this. But sometime around the middle of the month, I got pretty choppy. I honestly don't know exactly how many days I skipped. I'm gonna try to write a fair amount today when I can and hope that it is enough to make up for it. Which is fine. It has been an otherwise very productive month in many other ways, so I cannot be too upset about it. I may start running a wordpress blog with a friend of mine, and if I do that may keep me more on track with these.. We shall see. We shall see.

2. Read 55 Books This Year I finished reading 55 books in May! Last month I read 10 more books. THIS month, however… I read 31 books. That brings me to a total of 97 books read for the year!!! A lot of them have been VERY short books. Lots of poetry collections, manga volumes, graphic novels, etc etc etc. But not exclusively!! I was hoping to get to 100 books by the time I wrote this but the last couple days, I have not been able to make the magic happen. But that's fine! That's TOTALLY FINE. This will be a very significant get, but I have months to get over that hump. By the time you hear from me on this goals check-in next month, I will undoubtedly be decently well over 100 books, and I can talk about why that personally feels so good then!

3. Get A Full Time Job I did not get a full time job this month. BUT. I applied to 38 full time jobs. Got a bunch of rejections. HOWEVER, I have scheduled EXACTLY ONE JOB INTERVIEW so far so that is good news! And that would be a VERY good job if I were to get it! Some of these jobs are actually pretty exciting things and I feel confident for the first time in a while that I might actually find a good job IN MY CAREER PLAN!!!! Also I almost lost my part time job but the library director was able to convince the village to let me stay on as a substitute, and it has paid off surprisingly well. I've been working two to three shifts a week on that, which is more than any of us expected. So I guess what I'm saying is I am making good progress again and I hope I can have something positive to report by the time I'm thirty. Eugh.

4. Move Out Speaking of being almost thirty. I really do not want to be here. If I get the job I interview for, I would be able to move in with my friends in Milwaukee just about as soon as possible. So that is good news. Every day it gets more tempting to just say "screw it" and live down there. But that won't help me find a job. And the job really is the important thing.

5. Drink Less Soda I mean yeah. Occasionally, I drink-a the soda. But not too much. I am good at drinking less soda than I did last year or the years before that. That's because I would have several sodas each day, to the point where it worried some of the people I know.

6. Get Something Published Just found out that I'm getting something else published today! So that is one new poem published this month! I also had my fic in the Lalonde Zine come out, but it turns out that the Lalonde Zine was more of a shared Google Drive folder than an actual zine. Maybe I should offer to compile the zine into one document? I should do that. That would be a good thing to do and it would give me a lot of experience with doing that, something I haven't really done in a while. So the practice would do me good! And then I would feel better saying that I got published there too. But yes so besides the Lalonde fic, I have had two poems published in zines, one poem published in an online literary journal, and one fic published in an online fanzine this year! If you include the articles I wrote for school newspapers, I have gotten at least one thing published every year for the past fifteen years. If you don't count the articles (or the Lalonde fic yet), I have had 30 pieces of fiction and poetry published since 2005! That's pretty neat! I want even more though!!!!!! I found a publisher's website that accepts unsolicited manuscripts. I'm going to try to put together an honest to god actual collection of my poetry, one bigger than either of the two digital chapbooks I have made. I have a friend who is a professional editor -- not of poetry, mind you, but I might be able to convince her to give it a shot -- and I would honestly hire her at full price to take a look at it. I actually will need to seek a lot of feedback from a lot of people, so if you want to read a document full of a bunch of my poetry, lemme know and I will show you what I've got when I've got something.

7. Finish Writing A Legitimate Businessman Finished in April! No new news. But just because I completed this goal doesn't mean that is the end of it! I do still have the sequel to work on, even though I haven't done any of that this month. And one of these days I am going to get around to sitting down with the printed copy and a pen and editing the shit out of it so that I can write draft #2! I think I'll probably throw draft #2 up on wattpad (why not?? I've been curious about that website and know absolutely nothing about it) and maybe I'll make a nice looking e-book out of it that I can distribute on noisetrade or itchio or something! I wonder if I could get it printed on demand or something. Obviously not for profit. But like, maybe I have friends I want to send a nice printed copy to.

8. Write More The Revelation of Takaya According to Jin Finished in Februrary! No new news. A friend of mine has offered to bind a copy of it when he has access to the materials, and I think that'd be dope as hell. I ought to work on compiling it into a nice document. I don't know if that's what he would need. He would probably want to do that work himself. Sometimes I think about the concept of making an illustration for it? I don't know. I can't draw. But I might not need to draw for the thing I have in mind. Really I should be consulting with him on that. Ah well. Either way, I hope that ends up happening. That would be so friggin cool.

MINOR GOALS

9. Finish Playthroughs Of 1. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild: Finished in January! 2. Persona 1 Main Quest Good Ending: I didn't do anything on this whooooops. Getting into the second half of the year without once having touched it. I ought to get back to this. 3. Pokemon Sword: Finished in March! 4. Pokemon Let's Go Eevee: Finished in February and March! 5. Persona Q2: I have finished the fourth dungeon and gotten to The Twist!!! It's weak. This really is the kids' version of a Persona game. Minus like… the fact that it's still rated M for partial nudity. There was exactly one moment of horror and even that was like… just a bit scarier than The Nightmare Before Christmas. But I did some of the side quests and those are actually decently fun. So I have the final dungeon left. I just wanna sort of power through this. I'll worry about completion when I do new game plus, whenever that might be.

10. Record More Ukulele Videos I did not do this. I want a new microphone. These are not inherently related things, as I do have a microphone already. I have everything I need to do this. I just haven't done this. And I would like a new microphone. Also, an amp for the uke would be nice. I should text my old coworker, see if he still has one to sell.

11. Record Let's Plays Neither did I do this. How could I? My parents think video gaming is the Devil's Lettuce. And they are always home. They would notice if they heard me talking to my computer. And that is assuming that I had something I could play on my computer that anyone would want to watch. I need a better computer. A gaming computer. An editing computer. I'm lucky that these are the same thing.

12. Duolingo? I was SUPER gung ho in the end of June and the beginning of July, but before too long I petered out. I've used a couple streak freezes and have really been doing mostly the bare minimum to not drop out of the emerald league. But I've got a streak of about 208 days, and that is nothing to sneeze at! Do I feel like I'm learning? I dunno. But I am at least interacting with Spanish just about every day so that… that's got to be helpful, right? right?

This was over one thousand five hundred words. Wait! Sixteen hundred exactly.

[rpgsandbox]

Return to the Stars, a tabletop science fiction role playing game, helps players create their own stories in an optimistic space opera setting.  

Return to the Stars is designed to allow the creation of characters that evoke the best elements of geek culture. In the far future hyperspace travel gave easy access to countless worlds, and humanity sorted itself into like-minded communities. One such society was the Convention Authority, founded to celebrate the now classical arts of science fiction, fantasy, and gaming.

One day, without warning, the stellar beacon that illuminated hyperspace went silent rendering galactic travel impossible. The systems of the Convention Authority stayed connected thanks to a replica fleet of early starships. Now, after more than a century of effort, a long-range exploration craft has been built. Its purpose: to return to the stars and reconnect with lost civilizations of humanity.

The players of Return to the Stars are a new generation of geeks — makers, genetically enhanced cosplayers, scientists, and pop culture enthusiasts setting out on an adventure of exploration and discovery.

If you enjoy tales filled with optimism and hope, where players can paint a better future in bold primary colors, then you should prepare to Return to the Stars!​

Easy to Learn, Simple to Play

Return to the Stars is powered by the popular Fate Core SRD, an indie game system that helps you tell rich stories without a lot of preparation or calculation.

Carl Sagan once said “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” We’ve provided a science fiction setting and skills  so you can jump right in and tell stories of adventure and exploration.  You might think of the game and its setting as a pie crust—a foundation you can fill with your imagination.

Return to the Stars comes with an adventure specially designed to teach the core concepts of the game.  In playtests at many different conventions, new players have been up and running and having a good time after ten minutes of explanation.

Our goal: if you love anime or games or science fiction or cosplay, and have thought about trying roleplaying games, you can get Return to the Stars, read it, and play.

Cool New Tools

If you already love games powered by Fate, we’ve added some fun new subsystems that you can enjoy in Return, or adapt to your existing games and settings.

Character Arcs

Often in fiction a protagonist has a problematic way of interacting with the world. It kinda works for them, but its shadow side takes a cost. Eventually, they learn they need to change and grow. Character arcs are a structured way to spotlight how someone grows past their Trouble.

Competitions

Competitions are a type of contest in which the drama comes as much from trying to perform at the limits of your ability as it does from overcoming the opposition.

Downtime Tinkering

Creative options that players can have fun with between sessions to make the game richer for everyone, getting minor in-game benefits. Equally inspired by the Amber and Pendragon RPGs

Props

Return to the Stars is a game about who people are not about the stuff they carry.  Still, loot makes players happy.  Props are gear that you can have fun collecting but which are only used a single for a dramatic effect. Like an intriguing prop in a well-made science fiction movie it provides a moment of cool that shakes thing up and advances the story, and then you don’t see it again.

Space Opera Skills and Stunts

Skills tailored to tell science fiction stories—play as a scientist or an academic rather than someone with “lore”. Hack into computer systems, change your genetics on the fly. Skills can be varied with over 100 fun stunts, including many novel templates you can repurpose for other settings.

Explore Ideas and Ideals

Return to the Stars is episodic by design: players travel to reconnect the lost worlds of humanity, and have adventures with strong science fiction hooks: adventures that can only happen because of technological or social progress. Player characters bring their ideals and abilities to face the unknown.

The game comes with scenarios and encounters that provide interesting starting situations from which players and game masters can improvise intriguing stories.  Also, since December of 2017 we’ve been tweeting daily sci-fi headlines from the game’s setting, an archive of useful prompts to inspire your creativity.

The game’s themes:

Optimism: humanity can be better in the future thanks to science, cosmopolitanism, diversity, and humanism.

Space Opera: space battles, pulpy melodramatic adventures, romance, and risk-taking

Pop Culture: your heroes come from a post-scarcity society of enthusiasts enjoying and thinking critically about the media they love.  Imagine Worldcon, if it were an actual world.  

Hopepunk: Kindness doesn’t equal weakness, and that in the face of cynical oppression caring is a political act. An act of rebellion.

But wait, there’s more…

Return to the Stars is a complete game, but if you chose, you can extend it with the Stellar Beacon, a zine which includes:

One Atom of Justice, One Molecule of Mercy, and the Empire of Unsheathed Knives an original essay by novelist Alexandra Rowland, exploring Hopepunk, the new sci-fi sub-genre she identified last year.

Aphrodite on Deck a solarpunk themed scenario for Return to the Stars by designer Brie Sheldon

Fallen Juggernaut designer Emmett O’Brian brings us a “hard SF” adventure where players explore a mysterious megastructure.

The Stars, My Sandbox non-linear encounters by Return author Mark Sabalauskas.

The Beginning Gamemaster Pep Talk a column by comics writer and illustrator Amy King, providing encouragement for new game masters from a new game master.  

Paint a better future in bold primary colors-get Return to the Stars!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, November 1 2018 3:59 AM UTC +00:00

Website: Festive Ninja

[freya-amelia-smith-fmp]

MY PROJECT PROPOSAL !

Section 1: Rationale

(approx. 150 words)

Year 2 of my Graphics course has been full of learning new skills and I feel like having learnt these skills I have been able to achieve a lot this year, especially when I have been romtal working from home as we have been in a lockdown.

In this lockdown I feel like I have thrived, I have gathered a lot of personal skills including confidence, resilience, inderpentans and determination. The lockdowns have helped me push myself and show my talent within graphics design. I feel like this is shown in my page too screen outcome and my multiverse zine pages.

I have always admired pieces of Graphic Design in the pass and that is what lead me to choose my specialism of graphics communications I love the fact that you can manipulate art over and over again until you find the right one you can communicated with the world about anything through means of advertisement Iv created and that audience can be a child or a fully grown adult.

To do graphics you have to have a technical skill base as that is another reason I have a love for graphics as i have been able to learn new skills that will help me in my future career. Also the fact I can undo mistakes and not affect the quality of my work.

Section 2: Project Concept

(approx. 250 words)

I have focused on the topic of between the lines to train’s a tube’s as I can highlight the different places that are between different railway lines on the London Underground and help these places look more inviting and safe after covid.

So this brings me to wanting to Create a campaign to help advertise London after the aftermath of covid. The campaign will include different forms of advertisement weather that be postcards, posters or billboards focusing on key points in the city of London such as the The British museum, Tower of London, Piccadilly circus, Trafalgar square etc.

My form of advertisement will be dedicated to individual places that are pinpointed on the London Underground map and their colour scheme may be delicate to the colour of the line it runs on whether that be the Central line, District line etc.

In this project I aim to create another form of advertisement maybe focusing on leaflets or  mockup apps this will contain a map of London that will help advertise places that have suffered a lot.The reason and perpose for this and for me to create a campaign is too spread awareness that london is a covid safe and a fun place to be after the huge effect it has had on the population mentaly and physically after this world pandemic and it is also to help advertise companies such as theaters as they are suffering emestly. Theaters have suffered so much during this pandemic they have lost over 92% of there ticket sales and are estimated to lose over £250,000 0ver the next month which will mean alot lost over a year i gathered this information from the newspaper The Guardian that was published on Thu 19 Mar 2020 12.05 GMT and written by Chris Wiegand. This is why I will be taking inspiration from theme park and zoo maps as they are fun and inviting and I feel like this will help promote places after people slowly come back into the city to visit and help the money come back into the different industries.

For me to get to this idea I have spent the last 2 weeks gathering research form different sources, my most helpful bits of research were me looking at the london underground map as it helped me with colour pallets and places to focus this topic around but mainly watching the news and looking at the bbc website and also reading old newspapers and seeing what industries have been effect at the beginning of lock down a fact that pushed me to wanting to promote tourism and different industries is that as a country we have lost over £22bn due to a big drop in tourism and tourist money spent overall since the pandemic started has dropped by 78% almost £420m a week this can just tell you by looking at the figures that they are business struggling and needing tourism back again and by creating this campaign hopeful it will promote and advertising a safe and inviting city to tourist again.

Section 3: Evaluation

(approx. 100 words)

Evaluating my work is going to be a big part of me developing and making my work the best it can be. I plan to do this by getting feedback from my peers in my study groups on a wednesday. I will also use my targets that I get from my lectures from them looking at my blog to improve and evaluate my work.

Every week I aim to create a weekly evaluation to review my week and what problems arose and what positives came out of the week and with the weekly evaluations it will allow me to plan ahead and be organised.

Overall I will have an end evaluation that will go over everything including processes, growth of my skill base and knowledge, positives and negatives and a lot about my outcomes and how i got there and what the journey was like.

With evaluating my work I will be able to reflect and help improve my work and grow as a designer.

Proposed Research Sources and

Bibliography

(Harvard Format

www.ons.gov.uk. (2020). The impact of the coronavirus so far: the industries that struggled or recovered - Office for National Statistics. [online] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/articles/theimpactofthecoronavirussofartheindustriesthatstruggledorrecovered/2020-12-09.

Anon, (n.d.). Tube Colours – Suprageography. [online] Available at: https://oobrien.com/2012/01/tube-colours/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

Brown, L.J., David and Palumbo, D. (2020). Eight charts on how coronavirus has hit the global economy. BBC News. [online] 6 Mar. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51706225.

Colchester Zoo. (n.d.). Zoo Map. [online] Available at: https://www.colchester-zoo.com/plan-your-visit/zoo-map/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021]

Etsy. (n.d.). Original Limited Edition Prints by RedFacesPrints. [online] Available at: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/RedFacesPrints?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=260423806 [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

Sky News (2020). The cost of coronavirus: Which industries have been worst-hit? YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch5a4u9eu9U.

Sweney, M. (2020). Drop in tourism could wipe £22bn from UK economy, says WTTC. The Guardian. [online] 26 Aug. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/26/drop-in-tourism-could-wipe-22bn-from-uk-economy-says-wttc-covid-19.

Thorpe Park. (n.d.). Theme Park Map | Thorpe Park Resort. [online] Available at: https://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/resort-information/map/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

UNWTO (2020). Tourism and COVID-19 – unprecedented economic impacts | UNWTO. [online] www.unwto.org. Available at: https://www.unwto.org/tourism-and-covid-19-unprecedented-economic-impacts.

Wiegand, C. (2020). UK theatre ticket sales drop 92% due to Covid-19. The Guardian. [online] 19 Mar. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/mar/19/uk-theatre-ticket-sales-drop-92-percent-due-to-covid-19.

Wikipedia. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performing arts. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_the_performing_arts.

www.afn.org. (n.d.). London Underground Map. [online] Available at: http://www.afn.org/~alplatt/tube.html [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

www.chessington.com. (n.d.). Park Map of Chessington World of Adventures Resort. [online] Available at: https://www.chessington.com/explore/theme-park-zoo/park-map/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

www.keymodernrailways.com. (n.d.). Between the Lines. [online] Available at: https://www.keymodernrailways.com/article/between-lines-34 [Accessed 24 Feb. 2021].

Project action plan and timetable

[riskeith]

hi bb!

oh rip... the ol’ laptop fan situation. it must sound like a plane when you play genshin right? yes, we’re more prepared now. i remember the first few years there were so many fires and stuff to the point where they even made bbq illegal. such a mess, but it took away a fire hazard which is good. i believe aus had the same situation right?

awwww sounds so cute! pokémon go? no i don’t! i dropped it after that summer sjsksjdk. do you play while you’re walking that’s so adorable. wait bakudeku zine??? you’ve peeked my interest.

ooh that makes sense! i thought about the gold seelie too actually! the babie might bring you mora which is always good to have. also there’s fanart of the gold seelie being aether and those are sooo cute. have you seen any?

help i hope xiao knows how lucky he is to have such a devoted fan as yourself!! you’re really pulling all the strings for him i applaud your patience and determination. dude albedo is like... easily one of the prettiest animated character i’ve seen! he’s gorgeous! also i like his elevator move that could be so handy. and for the dancing videos, just search on yt baron bunny dancin or something hehe.

WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WHAT THE FUCK? wait are you serious? venti’s jpn va is HINATA? I HAD NO IDEA WTF???? god..,. that’s it i’m switching to jpn dub that’s insane... i was actually gonna ask you once if you could apply haikyuu characters to the game who would they be and the only one i was sure about was that hinata would be venti.... 😭 you’re so talented for knowing that hehe.. also you can say that you’re studying when you’re gaming then lmao. study smart not hard. god i’m still in shock over venti. this made my morning ngl.

i have no idea how fic collabs work either. i had a friend that did it once and she said they each wrote a chapter but i feel like that might be confusing if the writers use different writing styles..? idk it seems fun but kind of scary too..

ilytttttt little blushing girl.. <3

it always goes back to dragonspine does it not... 😶 but damn it’s been about a month and you’ve saved 12k that’s super solid. since xiao will be coming around feb that means you’ll have another month-ish to save up as well... so girl you’re def getting him sjdksjdk.. <3 and so much other goodies as well. unless you don’t pull him on the first try you might get some other great characters and weapons/artifacts as well. you need to force me to start saving up too bc if venti is really coming back.. i /have/ to get him esp now that i know about the va..

they’re adorable! i don’t know much about their story but i think they’re best friends, right? which makes it even more adorable. and there’s so much fanart of them as well. dude speaking of, genshin stans make the BEST fanart. i spend hours just looking at them and it’s perfect. i imagine there’s so much on twitter too, right?

god. remember shiro and adam. dreamworks would def not do that.. lmao...

your bravery for even considering posting wip. i’m taking my hat off for you. also, one writer to another; how does your writing process usually go? i’m always interested in seeing how other fic writers work bc it varies so much.

oh!! i was all over the place but i really liked sm groups. and loona! you don’t like slow songs? like even slow indie? aksjjdhdkdhf im gonna keep asking to find a middle group bc right now i’m super lost help...

i don’t really like sleeping in so it’s fine HEHE it’s 9 am now and i woke up about an hour ago which was perfect. 10 hour sleep? immaculate. not yikes. sleeping is always good never stress about it shjdhdjd, think about when you go back to school and have to pull all nighters etc.

kiss <3

heya!!

yeah HAHAAH it gets so hot omg.. and my laptop is supposed to have pretty good specs so i can’t imagine what it would’ve been like if i tried to play on my old one yikes 😬 oh shoot! yeah we have a fire danger rating too, the second lowest one is “high” and it goes beyond “extreme” to “code red”/“catastrophic” lollll. and we’ve regularly got fire bans in the summer to try and prevent anything! 

hfsdkjfhs summer 2016? god i remember that time so clearly... iconic 😩 i do play sometimes! normally if there are any mystic gyms around me to join, otherwise i’m kinda lazy about actually catching the pokemon HAHA oops. https://twitter.com/kotatsutomikan1 here!! does that mean 👀 you main bkdk 👀👀👀

oooo i thought the seelies were actually just there for decoration? AHAH. yessss I saw one with a whole lineup! https://twitter.com/icedkappe/status/1347555831831699457 look how cute 🥺 ugh but that reminds me of something i was thinking of earlier today, i hope they’ll introduce skins or something later down the line? fshdk like think of the potential. it always upsets me when i click the hanger icon and it only lets me change their glider fhsjfskfjsdjkf

god when i saw albedo’s hair... <3333333 and also his eyes??? um chief alchemist? more like PRETTIEST alchemist. yesss i’ve been doing plunge attacks a lot more recently (preparing for xiao?) and honestly ugh if i had albedo.. I LOOKED THOSE VIDEOS UP!!! THEY ARE SO FUCKING ADORABLE WHAT EHE FSUCJK!!!!!!  my god. fancam for characters who? ? from now on only fancams of baron bunny are allowed 😤😤😤

AHAHAH YEAH HE IS!!!! wait have you finished the world quest with him tho?? either way i’m sure you’ll be able to find clips of it in japanese dub online... his ‘ehe’ is so cute my god.. study smart not hard my motto!!!! <3 

yeah I feel like chapters is confusing which is why separating by POV might work better? definitely scary tho lol .... such uncharted territory for me

IM DEF GETTING HIM!!! xiao i am patiently waiting for you to come home 👐🙇‍♀️ yes!! i really hope the four stars on his banner are good bc i’m def gonna be pulling it a lot AHAHHA i hope hm.... i wanna get xingqiu to match with chongyun but beido seems so cool too 😩 tho i already have so many claymore users fsdhfksdfhsjd. oh that also reminds me venti’s elemental burst dialogue ‘kaze da!’ is so cute... like his voice is so melodic??? omg.... WAIT lemme send you this interview i found https://youtu.be/g3floaU41Uc !! AND START SAVE UP MARRIAGE ANON!!!!! tho i think he’s like 5 banners away so you still have time if you do wanna pull now... fhdsfkjds

they are!!! chongyun has this line in his story profile “Who could he possibly trust, if not his fine friend Xingqiu?” 🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭 how cute is he i love him so much :((((((((((((( yeah there are so many on twitter!! i don’t see much on tumblr tbh bc i don’t look at my dash too often AHHAHA but it’s all over my twitter timeline~ 

my writing process depends!! but typically i type out the outline of a fic/write out certain scenes, then fill in everything around that ahaha. usually my ideas come from a line i thought up that i really like or just a concept. i usually also type out my plans in all caps LOL. i hope that makes sense lmaooo how about you? do you just go for it or plan everything out first?

ooo yeah sm have some really nice stuff... and nice! i never gave loona a shot FJKDHFKSJ. i don’t think so?? the slow songs i do like are usually exceptions rather than the rule LMAO but i like hozier’s stuff even tho they’re slow (but who doesn’t? AHAH) honestly i couldn’t even give you examples bc i can’t think of any FHSDKFJS like i guess for example, lovely by billie eilish and khalid, i like the song but on a normal day if it came up on shuffle i’d skip it? FHSFKSD im so sorry legit i am no help at all fhskdfhsjdfjsdkfhsdhkfhk but what are some artists you listen to often?

i never pull all-nighters!! it’s kinda like my rule, even if i’m absolutely fucked i’ll deal with it later rather than not sleep fhskjfsdf. (or maybe i just haven’t reached that stage yet... i hope not!). also wait a second i just registered what you wrote.. YOU WOKE UP AT 8AM????????? my goodness... legit i don’t think i did that a single time in 2020. there was a week i woke up at 8:30 every day but very quickly i started sleeping in again omg... that energy! i’m also gonna try start waking up early but it’s hard when i go to bed then read fic 😩

kisses!!! hope your day has been swell so far xoxo

[pixelrender]

Top 10 game I missed in 2019

This year was a weird one. Quite a few big indies came out but none of them was a massive hit. Also, Epic paying devs for exclusive rights on their games put several major releases outside of my sightline. I just can’t be bothered with it. On the other hand I got way more invested in Itch.io and the scene around it. I probably expanded my library there more than my steam Library and I was super pedant while keeping track of new releases there. There were many exciting ones! Choosing only ten releases proved to be a difficult task.

Fortunately I posted about many more over the course of 2019 and I plan to post several honorable mentions in their separate posts.

One other thing worth mentioning is that games I was hyped about at the start of the year mostly got released and mostly fell out of my radar. Some of them got enough attention from more important outlets than my lil blog or they got overshadowed by more exciting unsuspected releases.

In comparison with the 2018 list, this contains somehow less unified and probably less alternative selection of games. In other words, there isn’t a single walking sim on the list and most games are focused on gameplay. Let’s start at the bottom of the list (yes, it is ordered this time):

10. Later Alligator

Originally, this game didn’t make it in top 3 noteworthy releases of September. But opposed to at least two games on that list, It’s been popping up on my mind and I think that spending few hours with it must be a pleasant time. Reasons for that are simple. Heaven Will Be Mine, a previous game by Pillowfight, left a lasting impression on me and Later Alligator itself has a charming trailer and premise. The game not taking itself too seriously is another aspect, which makes me more interested in it right now. The graphics remind me of an old animated short or an alternative zine for kids and I like that very much.

9. Fit for a King

And another September release. This stands strong for a variety of reasons. Unique gameplay inspired by Ultima and combined with Ultima inspired graphics creates such an inspiring product, which is both fresh and nostalgic. But it’s something totally different than millions of games with Nintendo inspired graphics and so much better for that alone. Using the whole keyboard for a wide variety of regal commands is another great feature taking this game on this list.

8. Legionary’s Life

To be frank with you, dear reader, I’m not sure why I got so excited about this the moment I read a very short comment on it and watched the trailer. It’s not particularly pretty or fun. It’s about something else. You’re a regular person. It’s a life sim combined with an RPG and somehow very delightfully presented with many things to care about and to manage and it looks like a more interesting version of Paper’s, Please, actually. Now, I probably am overselling it, but that’s how excited this newest life sim made me. Gotta play it.

7.  REDO!

I love metroidvanias and this year’s harvest has been generous. One of the most interesting and different ones releases of 2019 was REDO! Released in early access only to get full release few months later this dark anime (BLAME!) inspired non-linear platformer is dripping with atmosphere and good pixels graphics, which are anime inspired but also decent about it and the result is very charming. It’s not Rain World, but the dev works really well with colours. Environments are detailed and expressive. This will be one of the first games for me to play when I return to computer in 2021.  Honorable metroidvania mentions: Outbuddies, Cathedral, Gato Roboto, Sun Wukong VS Robot, Feudal Alloy

6. Wildermyth

This game looks like a treat and from what I read on RPS, it probably is one. It’s a tactics game with some very stylized hand drawn graphics, which make otherwise somehow generic fantasy feel super unique. The story is narrated in a form of a visual novel with individual panels presenting both the continuation and choices. There’s so much good stuff in it and I’m excited to try it out one day. The game’s still in early access, so there’s no need to hurry.

5. Heaven’s Vault

This probably is the most complicated game on the list. I prefer simple experiences but sometimes something complex and sophisticated manages to capture my heart. The description of this game is one of the cases. You play as a time traveling archeologist, who is trying to figure out a lost civilization by deciphering its language. It sounds more satisfying than some of the drugs I’ve tried! It looks better than many AAA games too.

4. We Met in May

There are very simple reasons I crave this game. It reminds me of life of thing I like experiencing myself. It’s about the most basic of human interactions and yet love and dating is something fading. Like an ancient language, perhaps. Nina Freeman became my favourite dev after playing Kimmy and listening to the Tone Control podcast episode with her, so this shouldn’t be a disappointment. Also, It reminds me that my list includes zero gamer’s games and you can share these with your less violent buds.

3. Tiny Towns

Yes, I put a board game on my list. This whole year I have been following these as well and this is the only game I really wish to play. It’s simple, colorful, chunky and it uses bingo as its core mechanism. I like everything about it from presentation to relatively minimalist gameplay. 

The picture is a courtesy of my favourite board gaming blog Daily Worker Placement, originally used in their article.

2. Knights and Bikes

I wrote so many words about this game and I was genuinely excited to play it asap, when it came out, but then more important life choices happened and I haven’t played it yet and I won’t play it in 2019. I regret it a wee bit and I’m still looking forward this adorable adventure spiced up with some sad tones. There’s so much creativity and joy put into it and I believe that it might be one of the best games to play with or without children right now.

1. Art Sqool

As I mentioned before, this game’s a piece of art, a piece of critical thinking and more than many games aspire to be. It’s not there to tell a story, It present a phenomena and it allows you to use your creativity and shows you how ridiculous art schools can be. I bought this one many months ago hoping that I’d be able to play it soon. Unfortunately, the shaders don’t emulate on Linux and I will have to wait till 2021. I’m really looking forward to this and thinking about it after finishing it. It’s such a good concept and definitely something more related to other medias like art or art theory than traditional video games.