#there is lots of overlap though so I do take bits and pieces from the live action ads for my own canon

[heartbeetz]

My "every version of Anton is the most handsome man ever" post does Not include silly live action Anton. Sorry. Very funny when they post behind the scenes stuff for those videos, though. Who is this skinny white boy...

(it's the lead dev btw. cosplaying his oc.)

[raayllum]

Been also thinking about the line between "the text wasn't meant to be interpreted this way but it's a solid reading / line of critique (with caveats)" (#1) versus "the text wasn't meant to be interpreted this way and doing so actively worsens the story they're trying to tell" (#2).

Going to do some TDP specific examples.

But basically: When your in-depth reading takes away from the Surface Level reading rather than providing contribution, that's usually a good sign you're going into a story with 1) an expectation or reading that was never promised or 2) are weakening the story through a typically unfounded analysis.

A TDP specific example is the relationship between Viren and Harrow. Canonically, textually, they had a brotherly relationship, both in the dialogue that Viren conveys ("I think of you as my brother" / "You're my brother") and in their persistent parallel framing with Callum and Ezran.

However, that doesn't stop many fans (myself included) from reading a romantic and sexual attraction between Viren and Harrow, especially in their youth. Not only do they just have the vibes, parallels to other couples, and subtext, Viren very much places Harrow's importance in his life in a way that's usually reserved for lovers. Viren having been in love (or ongoing) just makes sense. That doesn't mean any of us are expecting TDP to ever make it Canon — like I said, it's canonically very much Not that — but it does add a layer to Viren always wanting to 1) matter to Harrow as much as he does, and 2) his frustration and severance with Harrow because he wasn't getting the acceptance and affection that he wanted.

This is what I would consider #1 avenue: it doesn't take away from their dynamic, and to me adds a layer, but it allows the text to stand as is. Viren wants Harrow's love and attention in the gradual and then sharp deterioration of their dynamic. All I'm changing is a little bit of the why per my personal reading.

Meanwhile, if I went the route of "Yeah I know canon shows Harrow appreciating, taking Viren into account, and smiling at / loving him, but I don't think Harrow cared at all and he was just a bad friend to Viren for years" then... Yeah I could read it that way — it's not as though Harrow or Viren were hardly perfect friends to each other, and Harrow's discard of Viren is harsh (even if it was a long time coming in a lot of ways) — but what does that leave me with? Frustration, maybe; a poor view of Harrow; immense sympathy towards Viren? At best, I'd maybe resent how Viren learns the lessons Harrow was trying to teach him by paying for it with his life; at worst, I'd think the narrative was being fundamentally unfair to Viren without recognizing that his previous modes of self sacrifice were always couched in ego, shirking the immediate consequences of being saved, or that he was routinely willing to sacrifice everyone around him first, including his own children.

This is where we get into area #2, and I see it happen all the time with TDP, whether it's from the series not portraying monarchies as a bad thing or the ever persistent "issue" of dark magic. Quite frankly, it's silly to walk into TDP post-S1 expecting dark magic to be anything beyond �� given all the current textual evidence — "morally complicated" magic at best. Yes it can be used for good things, but that doesn't automatically make it good, and while we could spin logistical wheels for ages, the Point the story is Making with dark magic is about power, desperation, love, self-destruction, violation, and agency, and how all those things can overlap or counteract each other. Toting out "well I think dark magic is blanket statement Okay and Good actually" misses all of that, and actively makes your reading and experience with TDP worse. The surface level reading is important to take into account when examining a piece of media, otherwise it can lead to a very warped view and effect your ability to be well founded in your reading of the text.

That doesn't mean you can't desire a more morally neutral form of dark magic — plenty of fantasy series and stories have it, and some I adore (like "the legend of Zelda" — but it does mean accepting the story is never going to broadly speaking do that, and it's Okay that it won't. I'd be silly if I walked into LOZ expecting them to get into the ethics of its form of (non) dark magic of using monsters for spell parts because it's 1) a game mechanic and 2) it's not interested in the ethics of it, and no amount of me saying "well it should be" will change that, nor is it a Story Flaw that it doesn't.

This is all to say that I think asking "Why would the writers do this?" is one of the most useful, if basic, questions to ask when it comes to analysis and when figuring out whether your viewpoint is falling into avenue #1 of being grounded, or avenue #2 of veering towards warped territory.

For example, if I take Rayla not being by Callum's side when he's struggling over the pearl reveal in 6x06 as an indicator she doesn't care about him, I'm doing a deep dive that ignores all the very Surface Level emphasized scenes of Rayla caring about and supporting Callum a whole lot. I could make the claim she doesn't care based on that scene, but it wouldn't be well founded because it's ignoring miles of other much more prevalent, consistent scenes of her being there for him; it's not a well founded claim.

For something less obvious, let's look at 5x08. While Callum could've given Finnegrin the wrong spell on purpose, as some fans have thoughtfully proposed, as a sneaky wink for die hard fans... why would the authors do that? What does the story gain from that reading or intention? Well, it makes it seem like Callum was less desperate in his dealings with Finnegrin, which makes him doing dark magic afterwards come off worse. It also lessens the battle Callum has throughout that episode for feeling in control and recognizing that he can't always be. It's a reading that, in my opinion, not only strays away from the surface level reading, but is one removes elements from the text that the text would otherwise be stronger for having. In comparison, after all, if Callum gave his version of the right spell without thinking it through, he did so entirely out of desperation, which better affirms just how desperate and worn down he had to be to do dark magic, and is another instance in the episode of him feeling very much out of control (especially since we don't see the 3rd with dark magic on screen, so otherwise, we'd only have him punching Finnegrin as an example and nothing else).

Same thing with the old (now debunked) theory of Callum's bio dad being elven in nature. It's an interesting idea, exploring the implications and backstory and how'd grapple with it, but it'd weaken what canon is actively striving for, which is that Callum's magic use is special precisely because he's an ordinary human who's gained primal magic, and having elven ancestry would counteract that. It doesn't mean that the idea isn't a Good one or that it's not fun to explore in fanon, but there's a lot of reasons the story isn't (or decided not to) have it be canon, because it was stronger for the story they Wanted to tell for it not to be.

Sometimes, as fans this means acknowledging that what we want or prefer in a story is just blatantly not what's being set up, because the story is going to do things regardless of what we want or personally like. That doesn't mean those decisions are bad, and it also doesn't mean those elements or decisions or constructions are beyond critique, but it does mean to ask yourself some key questions:

Is there anything my reading is missing? (ie. if TDP shouldn't have monarchs and that's the critical focus, we lose the messages about leadership, family, and legacy that are engaged with through the vessel of hereditary monarchy)

Why might the story or scene go in certain directions? Are there story constraints (time, tone, etc) they have to abide by?

Am I expecting the story to ascribe to my worldview or preference, and am I open to things that don't do that? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Is my in-depth takeaway aligned with a surface level reading? Are both readings working together, or are they opposed? What other surface level readings might be plausible here for a casual viewer?

Even if this is not personally compelling and/or believable to me, does my personal takeaway match up with the characters' responses to it? Why or why not? (Think every Disney movie where they fall in love in 3 days. Realistic? No. Does it matter within the context of the story? Also no)

Again, this is not to say that 1) what the casual takeaway Is is an objective singular monolith (it isn't) or 2) if the casual takeaway and your interpretation is at odds that you're wrong. But through context clues, we can usually narrow it down as to what the story intends, and that if our interpretations do veer heavily to examine why and to manage expectations accordingly.

Anyways hopefully this all made sense Viren x Harrow forever

[20dollarlolita]

What are notches and how can I pirate them?

If you've ever used a commercial pattern, there's a good chance you've encountered notches. They're little markings along the edges of your cut pattern pieces, and you use them for identifying the pieces and aligning them with each other.

Notches are important for a lot of things. First of all, sometimes parts are not easy to tell apart from each other, so notches make similar pieces visually distinct. They help you know which parts align, so that you don't accidentally sew something to the wrong edge of a piece. They also allow you to align parts that might not otherwise line up. If you're connecting an inside curve to an outside curve, or you're connecting a gathered piece to a flat piece, or you're connecting two similar pieces made out of different fabrics, notches help you make sure you're lining pieces up.

However, as much as I love using PDF patterns from indie brands, sometimes a small pattern company will, <screams internally> just not use notches.

We add notches to the pattern piece, and not to the fabric, for a few reasons. We cut most garments on the fold, so when you add notches to the pattern piece, the notches will be symmetrical across the garment. It's also easier to manipulate paper without distortion than it is to manipulate fabric.

For many reasons, one being a lack of notches, I started a blouse and had to scrap the entire thing and start over. The fabric that I was working with was relatively fragile, and couldn't stand to be ripped and re-sewn too many times. Since I'm making this again, from a new size of the pattern, I thought I'd take the time to show everyone how I add notches:

The basic technique for this is called "walking a seam." You're going to need a tool to use as a pivot for your pattern, and a surface where you can stab through. Carpet, ironing boards, and big pieces of cardboard all work well for a work surface, and you can use a push pin for your pivoting tool.

To walk a pattern seam, the first thing you need to do is to draw your seam allowance onto each pattern piece. When you walk the seam, you're going to be aligning the actual seam lines, not the edges of the fabric. If your pattern won't tell you what included seam allowance is on every piece, ask for your money back. That's basic information you should always get.

Start at the top of the seam, and stab your little stabby tool through both layers, so that you line one seam line up with the next one. You can now use that point as a pivot to swing either pattern piece around.

It's hard to see what's happening in photos, so here's an illustration.

In this illustration, the red dot represents your pivoting tool. In the top row, you a) place the pivoting tool at the end of both lines, so that they overlap. B) turn one of the lines/pattern pieces. so that the lines overlap. Due to the curves of these lines, it only overlaps for a little bit, before they start curving apart again. Now C) You move your pivoting tool so that it's at the point where the two lines diverge.

Second row: You now, using your new pivot point, move one of the lines so that it overlaps the other line. You can now move the pivot point to the spot where the lines start to come apart again. Once you've moved the pivot point, you can rotate the seam lines to once again make them line up.

It makes a little more sense in video form, though GIMP was being uncooperative and not saving this as an animation properly.

Anyway, the point of all of this is that it's an accurate way to make sure that two curved lines are the same length.

Now, if you're walking a seam, and you put a mark at a point in the walk, the mark will be at the same length on both pieces. This is how you use marks to make sure that two pieces line up if they're curved in different directions.

For example, these two pieces are different shapes, but they're the same length. Because fabric is weird and it stretches, if we don't put a mark in the same spot on each piece, when we match them up, we can't know for sure that they're actually meeting up evenly on both spots.

For princess seams like this, I like to do one notch above and one notch below the big curve.

If you're making a pattern to sell to other people, it can be really helpful to look at where notches are supposed to go in modern pattern making convention, and to stick with that. For example, a lot of the time notches are meant to line up with base foundation lines such as bust or natural waist.

If you're just doing this because you got a pattern with no notches and you fucked it up last time, the only thing that matters is that you give yourself help.

You'll see that I have a single notch above the curve, and a triple notch below. This is because on the front, I had a double notch below, and that would look too similar if they were the same number of notches.

Okay, so other pattern making convention here: see how the side back and side front both face the same side? This is technically wrong.

The reason this is wrong is that you should be able to put your pattern together like a puzzle and get half of a garment. Fronts and backs face opposite sides so that you can line them up on the side seam. When I wanted to walk these two pieces so that I could add a notch, I had to turn one upside-down and work on the back. That was really annoying.

Walking patterns is really important for complicated pattern pieces, like this rectangular collar that goes onto a very curved neckline. To ensure that this collar fits correctly, I wanted to add notches on the bottom that would line up with the shoulder seam. To walk that line, I had to place all four of my bodice panels together, so that the collar was all in one place. Again, you can see how half my pieces are wrong side up, and that's just becuase that's how this designer made this pattern.

You'll also notice that, for notches, I clip an actual notch in the pattern paper. I'm using a special hole punch for this, but you can use all kinds of different things. You can just cut a slit in the paper, or use a pen or something to draw in your notch.

Anyway, there's a way to just give yourself a few clues about what's the proper side of things in this crazy world of patterns.

[latibvles]

trouble's always gonna find you, baby.

okay hi, here's a piece of that western au I've been yapping about all week!! wahoo!! you can find my thoughts in the tag #western au (creative I know) but in short summary this is a Wild West au, the Bucks and (some of) the guys are in a vigilante-esque cowboy gang, Viv is the banker's daughter, and there's a whole lot more details about it because I've subjected Several people to it. Do not come to this expecting peak historical accuracy but do come here if you want John Egan and Friends in cowboy hats. TW for blood & discussion of a gunshot wound if that bothers you at all — otherwise here's three of Bucky's meetings with his ahem "angel" of sorts. tagginggg @hellofanidea , @saturnwisteria , @shoshiwrites & @upontherisers for having to listen to me yap about this (this is not proofread folks be kind to me)

I.

He thinks he’s died and gone to heaven the first time he sees her.

Not that Bucky thinks he’s necessarily deserving of it (he knows he’s not, has known as much since the first time he felt the spray of blood on his face) — but that’s the story isn’t it? Jesus comes to the Apostle John on a white horse, something like that. Resurrection, salvation, and all that fun stuff he didn’t pay much attention to as a kid despite his mother’s best efforts. Why Christ would appear to him and not someone like Brady or Jo, who are much better about praying and piousness, he doesn’t really know why. He’s also pretty sure Christ was supposed to come back the same way he left, so maybe it isn’t Jesus himself after all.

Her horse is pale and white, like her nightgown; early morning light and slight mist in the air make her look somewhere between an angel and a ghost. What was that thing his mom used to say? When the Devil tries to take you, he could see her now, pinching his chin between her finger and thumb to keep her looking at him, tilting his head up to her to ensure it, he’ll sink his claws in while giving you the prettiest smile you’ve ever seen, John. That feels more reasonable. The closer he gets, the easier it’ll be for her to drag him to the pit.

She reflects all the light of dawn — he can hear her mare chuffing, moving this way and that as she grazes the field, her white coat glowing in the haze. Bucky can’t fight that urge to move closer to her — but to his credit he’s not really trying either. He knows he shouldn’t, that he should just keep going, but curiosity grips him and doesn’t let go.

Maybe it's temptation. In his experience they tend to overlap anyway.

 He can see the grass stains now on the hem of the gown where it falls on either side of her; vibrant green against thin white fabric, flashes of olive skin that he tries not to linger on as he moves closer.

“You an angel?” Bucky asks without thinking, watches how she jumps slightly and snaps her head to look at him— eye level on their respective perches. She laughs a little, shaking her head.

“No,” she looks him up and down. “You from around here?”

“No,” Bucky’s lips curl on a grin, taking in the way her hair falls around her shoulders in soft brown waves. “Two towns over.” She whistles low, raising her brows at him.

“Long way from home then, sir.” Bucky reaches up, tipping the brim of his hat and she laughs a little as her horse moves again, a bit closer and still trained on the grass as opposed to his curious stallion.

“Not sir,” he declines. “It’s Bucky. You got a name?”

“Maybe.”

“Well I can keep calling you angel if you want.” She rolls her eyes at that, a smile tugging at her own lips. Gotta be an angel he affirms, just from the sight of the small strip of white between her lips, the amusement clear in her expression. Christ, she really is beautiful. Hers are some kind of warm hazel; a little gold, little green. Her hair falls freely past her shoulders, a bit past her chest — warm and brown and wavy.

“Seems a little dishonest if I’m not one though,” she notes. “Are you a liar, Bucky?”

He’s about to give her an affirmative no ma’am but it catches in his throat. She’s been holding his stare for a while now; arched brow, head tilted and he has the strangest inclination that she’d know even his answer would be a lie. Hell, for the past few years his mother thought he was working on a ranch with a buddy and his wife. And yes, he’s working with his buddy, and his wife — but it’s not a damn horse ranch.

“You give all strangers the third degree?”

“Just the chatty ones.” She looks him up and down, smile growing a little wider. “Guess I got my answer then.” Bucky kisses his teeth, feigning disappointment.

“Guess that’s a no-go on the name then?” She hums, looking around for a few seconds like she’s searching for something and Bucky can’t help but look around too — towards the barn on one end of the field, the house behind them with the pale white siding, and the mostly-broken and rotting fence encompassing much of what he assumes now is her backyard.

“Race me to that fence over there and you get it if you win,” she declares, pointing straight ahead. “But if I win I get yours.”

“Already told you. It’s Bucky.”

“You also told me you’re a liar. Maybe I’m shooting for last names,” she counters with a slight shrug. “Deal or no deal? I don’t have all day.” Bucky snorts at that, the edge of impatience, the way her mare seems to dig at the dirt in an antsy way to emphasize the point.

“Alright, deal.”

“And you better not go easy on me, Bucky.” He tries not to preen at the sound of his name on her tongue, the slight toothiness to her smile and how her brows furrow at him — voice taking on a competitive tone that stokes at some kind of fire within him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it ma’am.” She snorts at that as she leads him towards the center of the field with a slight tilt of her head, and he follows with a grin making its way onto his face. He sidles up next to her, watching with interest as she holds the reins a little tighter, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

He hardly even registers her counting them off — which is to say he doesn’t register it at all. Too focused on how her lips move and the slight uptick at the corners of them. The crack of the reins is deafening when she takes off, a blur of white that has Bucky chasing after her — the heavy thundering of hooves loud in his ears. She’s faster with the transition but he’s really only a few paces behind, cracking the reins and urging the horse beneath him forward.

She looks over her shoulder, barely, at him and smiles again. Her nightgown’s rippling with the speed of her movement, dark hair whipping behind her with every thunder of her mare’s hooves against the hard dirt.

Bucky feels his heart stutter in his chest.

She slows at their agreed upon finish line, but he continues to move forward until he’s a few feet past her rotted fence. She eyes it, then looks back up at him. 

“I win.” She declares, and he can’t help but chuckle at that, taking in this newly windswept state of her. So if they ever do this again, he’ll know exactly what to expect, and if he never sees her again, he’ll have this memorized in its entirety. He nods a little, tipping his hat to her once more. He’s been lingering long enough. He could already envision the way Marge would turn his face this way and that, looking for scratches and Willie’s sage, mildly annoyed “you’re late” when he walks through the doors. But he likes this silence between them, in an odd inexplicable way.

“John Egan,” he says after a minute’s past, watching her brows raise slightly. “Friends call me Bucky, though.”

“We’re friends?”

“Halfway there, ideally friends know each other’s names,” he teases. Her lips press into an indiscernible line as she looks him over, before nodding slowly.

“Maybe next time.” Bucky grins at that, nearly preens beneath the promise of a next time.

“I’ll hold you to it, angel.” he counters as he turns to leave, relishing in that slightly amused scoff from her as he takes off once more.

II.

The second time he sees her is about as unplanned as the first time.

There’s a lot of things he didn’t notice before, that he’s noticing now for better or for worse. He’s pressing a hand to his side haphazardly, barely upright on his stallion as bright vermillion leaks through his fingers despite his best efforts. The bullet went clean through, thankfully, and the other guy was laid out in the middle of the dirt path for his guys to come pick him up if they cared about that kind of thing.

The territory they consider theirs is a handful of towns in close proximity to one another — close enough to share one Sheriff. He knew the dangers of traveling to the fringes of it — a general no man’s land that was riddled with bandits and scouts from other gangs searching for a means to expand their reach. Which is why he went at all; Buck and Willie with him to check out a commotion that ended up in a shootout. He’d broken off from them, drawing a couple riders with him despite Buck’s protests, and maybe he ate a bullet in the process but the other two guys were laid out which was what really mattered anyway.

He’s not really guiding his horse anywhere. Sometimes he decides to just do his thing and Bucky isn’t too hard pressed to stop him as he steps over rotting fence work and makes his way towards a barn with the doors left ajar. It’s mostly hay and workbenches in there, a couple stables and saddles hanging about. He dismounts unceremoniously and his horse immediately lays on one of the piles of hay.

His head’s spinning as he slumps against the pitch-black mount, sliding his shirt up to assess the damage.

It’s not pretty but it’s not life-threatening. Maybe. Okay, how should he know? He’s not the goddamn doctor. That’s Jo — or, technically, Jo’s brother, but neither of them are here right now. Christ he’s dizzy, head leaning against his horse’s torso as it expands with every inhale, and he presses a little harder against the wound — it’s not like he’s got bandages on him.

There’s a brief moment where Bucky wonders if this is meant to be his final resting place. Bleeding out over a surface-level bullet hole, Christ, what a way to go out. If he had the blood for it he’d be flushing. The notion makes him snicker and feel half out of his mind for laughing at his own unfunny joke.

He barely registers the creak of the doors, but he feels the warmth of sunlight as they open, can see the dust hanging in the air from the loading hatch also left inexplicably open — his gaze fixed on the beams and ladder leading up to the hayloft.

“Miss Vivian? Are you—” A soft gasp brings him back to reality. He tilts his head to look ahead at an older woman; much shorter than him and heavy-set. They hold each other’s stare before he smiles and waves with a bloodstained hand. She’s taking off like a bat out of hell.

Whoops.

She moves faster than he’d expect for a little old lady, and he almost laughs at that if there weren’t black spots in his vision, if his mouth didn’t feel dry, if he wasn’t jumping from one thought to another as the adrenaline wears off and leaves much of his body feeling sluggish and heavier than it already was. Back to staring at the ceiling, then, counting dust particles and biding his time as he waits for the Devil to finally come pick him up.

“John?”

Fuck. He recognizes that voice. He lifts his head again. She’s different in this light — hair pulled away from her face, in a much nicer dress than the nightgown he’d first seen her in. She pays them no regard though as she walks forward, casting a shadow over him. He thinks she might yell at him. He laughs half-heartedly at the odds — noticing everything except that it’s apparently her barn he found himself making a mess of, things tucked into the crux of her arm.

A bottle of whiskey, a flask, cloth dressings, rags— oh, she really is too good to him.

“Hey angel,” he murmurs as she kneels before him without a word. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Of all the barns to go and die in you had to pick mine?” she asks, exasperated as she untucks his shirt to undo the buttons. He tries not to let his mind wander with every brush of her warm fingers against his skin. She pulls him up by the pits to a proper sitting position, and he grunts as he tries to help her with that.

“What can I say? Had to get that name.”

“Well you’ve got it.” He watches her drench the rag with the alcohol, running it across the exit wound first. He’s silently grateful it didn’t hit anything vital — or at least, he doesn’t think it did. It’d probably hurt even more than it already does.

“No I don’t,” he counters. Her movements stall for a moment before she continues, shifting again to clean where it’d entered him. Her head is bowed before him as she works, and once again his heart’s stuttering a little when she looks up at him through dark lashes, squinting at him.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Wanna hear it from you,” Bucky shrugs a little. “Doesn’t count if you’re not the one telling me, angel.” She mutters something about him being ridiculous that has him chuckling as she grabs the bandages. There’s smudges of mud on her skirts now that he can’t look away from — jaw clenching as she wraps his torso with careful precision. Her fingers drag across his skin, rough palms pressing to his stomach, his back. It’s all he can focus on; the roughness of her hands and the mud on her skirts, he damn near misses what she says next.

“Vivian,” she murmurs. “Viv. Whatever works.”

“Vivian… Viv… angel,” he chuckles a bit. “You gotta give me a third.”

“Does bandit work?” she asks as she assesses her work. Bucky kisses his teeth.

“I mean I prefer vigilante.” This makes her snort, and with her state of dress he practically relishes in how “unladylike” it is. Lifting her head, Bucky can’t help himself — reaching out to tuck some strands of hair behind her ear that fell out of place, aware of how close she was to him now. “We’ll put a pin in it.” She holds his stare for a few moments longer and he selfishly takes it in — the hand pressed into his outstretched leg so she doesn’t lean into him too much, the gold of her eyes. When she retracts, he swears that she’s branded his thigh with her handprint; he’s not mad about it.

“But I’m right, aren’t I? You’re…” she trails off, like saying the word will summon Sheriff Harding in a flash of holy light. He figures that explaining their unique relationship with law enforcement is a conversation for when his head is no longer swimming. His horse swats at him with his tail as if he’s trying to keep him awake, and he nods a little.

“That bother you? Bandit in your barn?”

“No. Just… surprised is all,” she looks away, wiping her hands with the rag — which is how he realizes that it’s his blood on her pretty fingers. Part of him wants to press further, just to see if she’s lying about it, but he ultimately decides against it. For now, he adds internally. “I’m not gonna have a bunch of your guys on my doorstep treating it like a hostage situation, am I?”

Bucky laughs, half-surprised by the look she gives him. It’s something between irritated and concerned, like it’s more of a convenience than anything else. She’s thrusting the small flask into his chest as she asks it.

“No, probably just two annoyed friends of mine. And they might apologize for me,” Bucky explains as he undoes the cap. He half expects the burn of alcohol when he raises it to his lips, but it’s just water on his grateful tongue. He licks his lips to gather what tries to escape. “Sorry for scaring your uh…”

“Maid?”

“Yeah. She seems nice.”

“Good at keeping secrets, too,” she adds flippantly. She takes his shirt in her hands. “I can… clean this. Get you a blanket. Gets cold back here at night you just… can’t come in the house.” She’s rubbing the nape of her neck and he nods, nonplussed at the boundary there. He smiles, running his hand over the dressings once, then twice.

“I’m getting the five star treatment, huh?” She rises, rolling her eyes a little as she takes the whiskey bottle and the dirtied rags.

“Better than most,” she affirms. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

III.

Willie and Buck found him in the middle of the night. She was in her nightgown when she led the two of them to the back, to the barn where he’d wrapped himself in the blanket, knocked out cold. The vision of her when he brushed past was another he was adding to the gallery in his brain just titled Vivian. Bucky couldn’t really ride on his own; still a little loopy, his face pressed against Buck’s back while Willie led his horse beside her own.

“That the angel you were talking about, John?” Buck asked, gruffly.

“Mhm. Pretty little thing, don't you think?. Beat me in a race, too.”

The anecdote was met with silence from both of them, and if he wasn’t tired, he’d be more hard pressed to figure out the reason why.

Afternoons on Sunday are always the busiest — and the Church in their town is the closest of the bunch. Bucky hasn’t attended in years, and he didn’t this morning either, but he’s here anyway with Curt, waiting for Josie to get out. Sunday errands, her brother was a protective type and considering he patched up most of their wounds without questioning where they got them — the least they could do was accompany his sister to run errands.

And Josie’s sweeter than candy, so it’s not like Bucky minds much.

“How’s your side?” Curt asks curiously, bumping his arm. Bucky shrugs.

“A little sore. That’s about it.” Curt chuckles at that.

“Alright tough guy,” Bucky grins a little at the sarcasm. “When we gonna meet this angel, huh? Or is she a secret or something?” Bucky doesn’t answer for a moment. Truthfully, he hadn’t made the ride out to see her since, and that was a few weeks ago. He’d wanted to, but he’d been healing and there was a feeling in his gut that sending a letter would be a bad idea. So he shrugs once more, scanning the flood of people exiting the church in search of Josie.

“Well you think I’m making it up, so who’s to say?”

“Don’t tell me I hurt your feelings, sweetheart,” Curt teases, and Bucky’s about to counter with a remark of his own when his breath catches in his throat — lips parted, staring only a few feet away. Fuck.

He recognizes her immediately, talking with somebody, or listening, more like. The man next to her is doing the talking, and she’s holding onto his arm — not pressed into it, but definitely holding onto it. And it’s damn near impossible to miss the ring on her finger, chunky and attention-grabbing in the afternoon light. The older woman they’re talking to takes her hand to look over it, running her thumb along the back and the man next to her preens, talking so fast Bucky doesn’t even attempt to read his lips.

“Bucky. Bucky?” Curt snaps his fingers in front of his face and he jumps a little at the sound, whipping his head to look down at him. “You alright?”

He looks back up at Vivian, and for the briefest moment, he swears he’s caught her gaze before she looks away immediately — a full turn of her head like she’s looking at the other people around and not just trying to avoid him. There’s a want there to cross the threshold and speak to her — not out of any desire to embarrass her. More like see if he could get her the hell out of there. The stiffness in her posture is so plain to see that it’s impossible to ignore.

He’s also far too aware of who he is in comparison to who she probably is, which is to say — if a nobody from nowhere came up to her, it’d probably raise a few eyebrows. He looks back at Curt, who’s staring at him expectantly.

“I’ll tell you later,” he mumbles. Curt nods, and Bucky tries not to stare at her for too long.

Even if he so desperately wants to.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

thoughts on society but not really

[Hi maggots, it's me, your kind of scarred mascot. I already made a post about the carnage that I witnessed in taking even one step into the ofmd fandom, so I won't go there.]

But at this point tumblr is where I go to for comfort and social interaction so here's me making a post before I pass out with the medications. The sore throat is killing me and honestly it's all a bit blurry right now, so things are gonna be not very clarified. Clarity. Idk.

I don't know at what point reality bleeds into fiction, and fiction bleeds into reality. I suspect not a lot of us do. More importantly, I have no idea what the consequences of that overlap are, and the whole artist from art theory. Like, if trans people get joy from the Harry Potter franchise, where JKR is a transphobic piece of shit, should they give up their joy for no fault of theirs or continue to indirectly support her? As a trans guy, I still find comfort in what the fandom created. Why is everything so messy-

Anyway fandoms, they're all so strange, aren't they? Whole communities with defined roles that also evolve and overlap, fade out and emerge. But physically they don't exist. Or do they? Are fandoms the people/the fans, or the source material, or the fanon material, or the canon creators, or the canon cast/crew/publishers? Which fans are representative and which aren't of the fandom as a whole? Is it about numbers or is it weighed against the intended message of the show and its impact and other factors?

Jesus christ my hands hurt I'm so close to passing out hnngh painkillers are wild.

hello maggots if anyone sees this i'd like a hug and some love, please? *holds out arms*

sending you all love. and comfort. it's a fucked up world. i hope i bring you some joy in it. i know for sure that you all do.

i'll hopefully function a bit more if the illness doesnt get worse, so I'll continue with GO/DW then. Maybe OFMD, though I'll have to see how without damaging my mental health severely. i think i used tumblr too much today i made a fake show and an ad for GO and honestly i do not remember what i did. night night.

[themsthenow]

Ok so this is kinda a tutorial but not really cause I don't recommend doing some of the things I did, cause it's not safe.

The pic on the right is 1 out of 12 thingys I cut out of ply wood

I used a saw to cut them out.

you could probably just use something slightly wider than a regular lollipop stick to get the overhang , like the free wooden utensils at a cafés.

You'll probably need 2 or 3 if so for each finger joint

The claws were cut out of some board I found in my house, but a clipboard should probably work, maybe double up just incase idk.

I don't recommend getting a knife and hammering out the outline of each individual claw thing, a scissors should hopefully be enough.

I dont have a photos of:

1. drilling holes into each end of all of the stick joints(the black dots were holes I burned, until my wood burner died, they're also held together with bent nails)

2. Cutting out the board for the palm part where my hand is

3. Taking a bunch of clothes pegs for the springs to attach the fingers to said palm board using a long piece of metal? To hold it like the bent nails, you could probably just use a skewer

4. Tying wires like a cm apart from the drilled holes(you can't really see it in the image) to thread string through, so it can move the joints when pulled, you can see the twisted part on the outside of the finger joints, once they're tight just flatten them into the joint and put hot glue over them so they don't catch on anything like your clothes or skin

5. Gluing a foam sheet and elastic band to the palm board

6. Gluing the half pegs on to the outside of each of the finger joints so they don't go backwards

I added another Layer of foam to the board to cover the elastic and the painted them.

There was a lot of trial and error (and hot glue) trying to get these things to not overlap when moving them but they work now

Hopefully this helps someone somehow, be careful and stuff

Each finger joint was made with 2 lollipop sticks and 1 ply wood cut out thing, with the ply wood thing hany out . The holes were put in at both ends

The wires on the joints can be any type, I think, as long as its sticks

The claws and hand board can be made out of layered clipboard(probably)

I used acrylic paint, idk if it matters though

When drilling or burning the hole be careful, for both your safety and not breaking the lollipop sticks

Idk if the bent nails could be replaced with anything. Wooden skewers?

The thread I used is actually fishing wire because it's thin, strong and passes smoothly between the joints

Soo for 2 hands

Lollipop sticks x 24, bring spares

Ply wood cut outs/ an alternative x12

Clipboard board cut outs of claws x6

Pully wire /fishing wire

Craft Foam x1 sheet

Clothes pegs x12

Nails /an alternative x12

A bit of elastic fabric

Paint

A glue gun with lots of glue sticks

A SAFE way to cut out everything

A SAFE way to drill the holes

[thatdogmagic]

This is the last post I plan on making about the current situation.

I've been trying to recall what it is that might be getting repeated, and there's a couple instances I can think of that are pretty ripe for taking snips:

There are chat logs where I made unkind generalizations about autistic cis men, in the context of the majority of my experiences with them being largely negative, and being relieved that I had a space where my own neurodiversity had room to unfold.

She has chatlogs where I commented on not fully understanding trans men who still veered ultra-femmy, even though I don't have any trouble wrapping my head around butch trans women. That contradiction made me think about it quite a bit, and ultimately decided it wasn't a great opinion to have/was mostly just some lingering All Things Being Binary shit I still find myself unpacking.

I'm sure there's other thorny conversations that can be pruned for content, but I'm having trouble thinking of what it is beyond interpersonal clashes and, yeah. I've already seen the depths of missing context there.

There is no better example, in fact, than the comparison of shadowy werewolves with glowing eyes/teeth. It was taken from a concept that was tabled after approval was actively sought because there was a recognized stylistic overlap. Since 'shadow werewolf with glowing eyes/teeth' is a very common visual element in a lot of werewolf artwork, we also went on to discuss when those visual elements would best be avoided, and when they could be put to use.

This wasn't mentioned in the original comparison posts. Nor was it mentioned that it was never intended for public posting. It was a thumbnail idea for promotional material, drawn over a month ago - and nearly a full year after Lacey's skin tone changed - and it was quietly set aside in favor of other ideas.

Bottom line, I don't have any control over what she does with what she has. I don't have any control over what people think about it. But I do have control over what I do with me, and what I plan to do is stay off social media for the forseeable future, and keep working on the projects that matter to me, like I always have.

In the meantime, if you know me off social media:

I do not want to be contacted about any additional escalation

I do not need to know about any further instances of reposted chatlogs or artwork

It's kind of you to want to know my side of the story, but for my own reasons I'd rather not go into it beyond what I've already posted.

If we discussed commission work that you no longer want, please let me know ASAP so I can remove you from the list I have prepped for when I get back to taking those. Those of you who contacted me about it already have my email address.

All that being said, I understand if even with context, some comments lose people. I'm not gonna hold that against anyone. Where I'm at in my own development is probably not going to be enough for some, and that's fine. It doesn't have to be, and it won't stop me from continuing to try.

End of the day, keep in mind that this is still a personal altercation being made public, with everything that entails.

PS - If any other art is being posted: understand that it is being done without permission, after Ependa and I both actively tried to delete those pieces off the server, stated we'd done so intentionally, and then actively requested those files be deleted off the server/her machine when we were made aware of the fact that she was using third party plugins to retain access.

[faraway-sunshine]

What about the split in half one? That one looks most like you, I think

Meet Whoever's Inside My Head #2: Sunny Omori (Myself)

Once again, bulk of info under the cut.

You can address me as: Just Sunny and He/Him's fine. Calling me Omori might trigger something, I'm not sure.

(Saturday 16th September, 2000, 11:39 PM)

(Yeah, I stayed up all evening figuring this stuff out)

Until recently, I would have made this a separate page.

Omori was my most prominent other self. After Mari died, I escaped from reality via dreaming and sleep, and when I was awake often these dream elements were carried with me to the waking world. But every time I managed to escape for a while, I'd remember and it'd all come crashing down again.

Remembering a memory when I sat at Mari's piano, a uniquely crafted model the maker called an "Omori", I adopted that name when I felt myself kind of form another version of me. One twelve years old from a few days before Mari died, who played with his friends and existed in a vacuum, who only ever existed in this faraway alternate world with no parents or rules or school or music lessons or anything. One who was, for the most part, oblivious.

But Omori grew curious, as I, Sunny, faced the reality of moving. I think maybe Omori realized so many times before, but either I managed to get rid of his memories or he did so to himself. For all I know each wipe could have been a brand-new Omori. I also felt two extra pieces break off Omori after a time, one protecting us, the other a punisher of sorts.

As I developed and started facing fears and reconnecting with friends, this bled into Omori's world. At the end of it all, when for the first time I decided not to let myself fall back into unknowing and when I saved Basil, I had no need for this sort of escapism. I thought maybe Omori would vanish or die, that the vicious scramble in my head was for his own self.

But that didn't happen. Instead, Omori's presence changed. I could tell which "memories", which emotions and thoughts and likes and dislikes that I felt unified on or weren't coming from me or any other distinct voice. And I never really felt Omori either go away or take charge. I don't know if this is the right terminology, but I think maybe Omori and I merged? Became one person? I'm not sure. But it's a nice thought, really, that after years of separation and infighting that we're both starting to properly live.

Having said that, there's a lot more me than there's Omori, as Omori largely thrived on distance and neutrality and drifting by and also kept himself very guarded. That doesn't make Omori any less important or deserving of nice things, though.

Although we both have overlap, Omori is more left-brained, focused on logic and facts and straightforward ways of getting through things, while Sunny is more right-brained. We can play off each other pretty nicely. And although I (Sunny) never feel Omori take total control anymore, sometimes he lets me zone out while taking control of a tedious chore or boring conversation so I don't have to think about it.

The parts of me that feel more like Omori aren't interested in deep conversations. Or blog passages. But there's a bit of Omori in everything I do now.

Design

I tend to think of Omori and I as like a yin-yang symbol, so the black and white is paramount. Splitting down the middle was more of an introductory thing; visually I see us as kind of the same person wearing one outfit rather than half of two. However, I do imagine myself being a bit lopsided, as Omori did not really age in any way and when Omori totally fronted he completely believed we looked as we did when we were 12. And for the white in our eyes, I tend to draw only a little bit in one eye and a larger bit in the other, as when Omori was almost always confined to my lucid dreams I tended to think of him as having lightless eyes and I think it's a nice visual metaphor for getting used to the sunlight.

[veinsfullofstars]

hey just wondering, how do you draw daroach? i wanna figure him out for myself but dont feel like i get down how he looks well enough. thanks for the help if you have any, if not then thanks for just answering

Thank you for the question! And, yeah, I totally get it - that rat can be a nightmare to draw sometimes, haha. I definitely struggled with him a lot at first (you can kinda tell if you compare my earlier works to my recent ones). I think it’s because so much of him is obscured by his outfit in official art? The way the brim of his hat dips over his face or how his cape likes to defy physics - all in service of a cooler silhouette, sure, but taking away a lot of readability and foundation to work from in the process. I’ll try to offer some tips that work for me (though I’m hardly an expert on this, and teaching's not exactly my strong suit, so please bear with me if things get muddled, haha).

The main piece of advice I can give is gather and study as much reference as you can. Official art, concept art, promotional stuff, sprite sheets - whatever you can find, just grab ‘em and put ‘em somewhere you can easily pull up when you’re drawing. I get most of mine from Wikirby, Spriter’s Resource, and official sites like the Kirby JP Twitter, as well as screenshots taken directly from the games (a great way to get in-motion poses and back views, I’ve found). Here’s what my ref sheet for Daroach looks like (I also have a separate one for color swatches):

Kind of a mess, yeah, but very worth it, I assure you. The more visuals you have to work off of, the easier it will be to detect consistencies in design. Which brings me to my next point: shapes!

Most Kirby characters are, at their core, just a buncha simple shapes. It can be hard to tell sometimes when they wear clothes (like with our rat buddy here), but they still have similar foundations of circles and other rounded features. A way I've found that helps with this is to try redlining (that is, take a piece of reference and trace over it for the purpose of study, learning where lines connect, how silhouettes look, how different parts overlap, what shapes are used, etc.). Here’s an example:

This is a great way to find those design consistencies I mentioned before. I did these a bit messy for a better sense of movement (and ‘cause I’m practiced enough to sketch a little quicker), but you can always start slower and cleaner if it helps you see the shapes and layers more clearly. You can even do them multiple times to familiarize yourself with the design and eventually try copying them without tracing, like doing gesture drawings or life studies.

In Daroach, I’ve found that his head isn’t a perfect circle shape, but more like a rounded diamond, with his ears connecting at or just above the “points” on the sides. His body is a bit smaller than his head, and his snout smaller still, each having sort of a teardrop-like shape. His eyes are bigger than I expected them to be, half circles tilted down slightly, often cut off by his snout and hat to create a shaper angle (meant to make him look more intimidating perhaps?). His ears are taller than his hat, though they can tilt back to look shorter. There are also a lot of arcs and triangles present in his design, especially in his cape when it sits across his form or flares out, and the brim of his hat pointing down from just past his ears to right over his snout. Also, unlike many Kirby characters, he does in fact have a neck - it's just hidden behind his collar and bell most of the time (don't ask me why I spent so long verifying this, no I don't have ulterior motives, don't look at me).

Of course, these observations aren’t set in stone. Kirby characters rarely stay perfectly on-model (see Dedede for proof of that), and Daroach is clearly no exception. I mean, just look at these official pieces (all collected from Wikirby):

Even the folks at HAL Labs are not immune to style inconsistency. And that’s not a bad thing! We love a little personal flair in this house. There’s nothing wrong with altering the design a bit to fit your own style - in fact, it’ll probably happen naturally the more you practice, especially once you’re comfortable enough to work without a guide. Here’s some studies I did recently, no tracing, just observation (with different colors used to help me figure out layering):

I’ve seen other folks take their own designs even further than this, adding more fur or sharper shapes or even realistic rat features to our favorite thief. Nothing like stretching those creative muscles once you’ve got the basics down! On that note, don’t be afraid to be inspired by unofficial sources as well. If an artist you like draws Daroach (or any character) in a way you find appealing, ask yourself what it is you like about it, study it as you study official works, and find ways to incorporate elements of that into your own art - “steal like an artist” as the saying goes.

Another thing I recommend for Daroach specifically is studying how real top hats and capes look, especially from various angles and poses in motion. I find it helps to see exactly how fabric sits on a figure or what sides show at different positions. It might seem weird to use human reference for a cartoon rat, and it might take some finagling to get proportions right, but it’s surprisingly effective. I do this with fighting and athletic poses all the time to help figure out weight distribution and line of action. Don’t be afraid to expand your art repertoire into other fields - you never know when it might come in handy!

And, of course, the key thing to hammer home here is practice, practice, practice! Do studies, do gestures, draw with and without references, build muscle memory, do sketches you show to no one, draw memes, draw angst, take your time, fill pages with messy doodles or just drop one in a corner and call it a day. The more you draw this smarmy rat, the better you’ll get. That’s the long and short of it with any skill, creative or otherwise. You gotta try in order to get good, you gotta make mistakes in order to improve, you gotta be kind to yourself in order to do what you love.

Anyway, I think that’s all I got for now. Forgive me if this got a bit rambly or incoherent - I have trouble putting my thought process in words sometimes, haha. I sincerely hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck with your own future rat-creating endeavors!

Sketch started and finished 06/14/24.

[animehouse-moe]

GUND-ARM: A Ray Of Hope

So, definitely a lot going on with the episode, but I've got to start off with the little promotional video they did for the new company. Incredibly cute and actually impressive how well they animated it. The tine of green around Aerial from the green screen. The slight desync between Aerial and Suletta. The off-key singing, the background noise from animals. There's a lot of effort put into making the quality of the video seem low, which is pretty impressive in a way.

A quick interlude before the meat of the episode however, featuring Suletta and her mother. I do feel really bad for Suletta, because she just wants to feel safe and loved, rather than discerning the truth from her mother's words.

But unfortunately Prospera and Suletta are on different wavelengths, as is evident in Prospera's comment about people attacking Gundams.

There really is something that feels sinister to Prospera's words. She's taking Suletta's passion and desire for love from her mother and twisting it to the benefit of her plot, which is hard to experience when viewers get to see it as that rather than how Suletta is processing it.

As a side note I feel like that's something they've done really well. Typically it can be hard to understand things from the perspective of a character when you see them as something else entirely, but I feel like GWitch has done a really solid job with that, though I can't quite put my finger on why.

Anyways, the real content of the episode starts as Shaddiq begins his attempt to schmooze the girls to get in on GUND-ARM, and overall I think it's a compelling piece to the story that works. Sure, it's already happened twice in different capacities, but Miorine is Delling's daughter, and Suletta has the best and potentially only "accepted" Gundam currently. It's a gold mine that everyone wants a piece of.

What I find interesting though is he's the first with agency out of all the contenders. He goes against his adoptive father's ideals and provides a fresh angle in the contention of Gundams in this world.

And I mean, it both fits his character and works. He's been passive the entire time we've known him as character, letting everyone else do the heavy lifting. And at the same time, trying to seize Aeriel through direct means has proven to fail countless times, so Shaddiq is certainly finding himself on the right track.

I do enjoy this final scene with Shaddiq though, as once more he allows others to do the work for him. He has an interesting emotion lingering on his face though. It's a bit hard to put into words, but to me it feels almost like rumination. He's definitely deep in thought because he doesn't move the cup anywhere, and casting his eyes downward make it feel like a more negative thought process. He talked about a prior business affair with Miorine when they were younger, so it could be that he's lamenting over what could have been since she denied his involvement. Regardless, it's a nice touch, and presents an interesting tidbit, all the girls have strongly isolated personalities. The smug "you get what you deserve", the empathetic "I feel bad for her", the enthuastic "don't worry we'll cheer her up!", and the cold and calculated business personality.

The other bit from this episode was the politics of the Earth house. I really, really enjoy the different perspectives and worldviews that this small little group possess. They've all been exposed to varying influences and challenges, so they all come out with different opinions and ideas. Yeah, they definitely have overlap, but at the same time, an Earthian that doesn't want to stand out and is somewhat placative to Spacians is in direct opposition to another Earthian on the same issue. It's not a black and white image made by these characters, nor is it really even that gray. There's lots of approaches and understandings that sell the politics and ideals of the world incredibly well. Given how some series handle the concepts of racism/xenophobia/etc, The Witch From Mercury really is proving to provide a great measuring stick for other storytellers.

I just really love it as an emotional piece to the story. It shows how prejudice and war has fractured communities and peoples, without getting into traumatizing or terrible actions to prove it. It's a rare case of words speaking just as loud as actions, and I think it works great for kids that are trying to lead a normal life at school. They're not trying to delve deep into painful memories, but rather make the most of the present and provide change.

All that said, I'm really curious to see where this next episode takes us. There's potential for Prospera and Bel to play more active roles since they're under Suletta and Miorine now, but that all depends on the outcome from the changes Shaddiq made now.

[archandshri]

23rd May ‘24 - [arch] Witch Hat Atelier Takeover Episode

Greetings! I am back from the dead! I have had a fair few weeks of rest and admin and now I have lots of art thoughts! (lets see if I can get some down)

OMG Shri I am in LOVE with your last few posts!!! Have you considered not hitting it out of the park every time?? I have thoughts about the mind’s eye thing and picturing your work… maybe at some point I’ll write a blog about it :0

I’m working on a super cool comic for some people I can’t yet talk about but I’m going through a HUGE research process for it. It’s awesome, it feels like I’m back at uni. Learning so many skills and documenting my research properly in my slides again 💪💪

Though I can’t talk about the project itself, I would love to share a bit of analysis I’ve been doing on Witch Hat Atelier!! (Heads up - the following post contains spoilers for the first half of the first volume)

Expressions!!!

Though not unique to Witch Hat Atelier (WHA from now on), the manga uses a combination of subtler, realistic illustrations combined with goofy exaggerated ones - in particular using styles found commonly in manga.

The first few pages have quite minimal facial expressions - they’re still obvious (and to a degree, exaggerated in Coco's case) but not goofy. Shirahama uses additional techniques like text and sparkles on the right hand page to communicate Coco's excitement.

Traditional manga expressions, with more exaggerated and goofy features, are saved for comedic moments - in this instance from Coco’s childlike excitement.

Here we have quite realistic expressions, exaggerated by a combination of shadow (right-hand page) and tight close-ups. This. brings us into Coco's wonder, and communicates her high level of engagement.

In fact, the goofy expressions are almost exclusively saved for smaller panels, whilst more high drama or wonder moments take up larger panels and whole pages, so there's space for that high level of detail.

In this spread, expressions are playing a more minor role until the last two panels. In the panel circled in red, Coco’s expression is distressed. Because it’s a smaller panel, mid shot panel, her expression is emphasized by more cartoonish techniques (eg. The lines down her face.)

The last two panels return to slightly more realistic expressions, without the more cartoonish aids. This makes the moment feel more dire. Shirahama emphasises this once again by using close-ups and darkness surrounding them for the appropriate ambience.

Shirahama uses a high level of detail to capture moments of high wonder. They force the reader to take in the extent of the image. These are usually paired with minimal text which also requests that the reader takes time to absorb the image, rather than skimming over text.

Panel Pacing and Flow :0

For the ‘day to day’ ordinary scenes, pretty straightforward paneling is used. On a grid, straight lines, very little overlapping.

This is broken in moments, like introducing Qifrey. A three-quarter image of him breaks the panel structure to say ‘hey, this guy is important’.

Overlapping panels are first introduced in this moment - which is huge for Coco, as she realises how magic is used. The change in format once again tells the reader that this is important by adding more visual interest. The images sit like a bunch of disjointed puzzle pieces, like she’s about to put something together.

On the second page of the spread, the format returns to (mostly) normal as everything slots into place.

What can I say... line of action!!! Look at those gorgeous textures that lead the composition into that curve. That's all from me today folks, hope you enjoyed reading through! I've got a bit more stability in my life now, so hopefully I'll be more consistent with my uploads. (no promises I'm taking it easy) lots of love! :D Archie

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Live Action - OP Fan Review

So it's finally time.

We waited on bated breath and anticipation to see if Oda's masterwork could in fact translate to live action, much less Netflix live action. Titles such as Death Note and Cowboy Bebop have caused sincere fears that it would not go so well, but with Oda in the production there was hope, and now we see if it's rewarded.

Knowing that this is an adaptation and they were covering most of East Blue's saga in 8 episodes there will of course be differences. But whether or not they work remained to be seen, so let's talk about it.

Spoilers for One Piece, both Live Action and manga/anime because there will be overlap to discuss

First and foremost we will need to pour one out for those who didn't make the cut; Woop Slap, Ripper, Ritchie (referenced but not seen), Gaimon, Django (he had a poster but not a presence), the Usopp pirates, Johnny and Yosaku, Carne, that fly in Fullbody's soup, Pearl, Moocy, and most surprisingly Hachi. It's a shame to not see them (also 3 future-warlords in the audience of Roger's execution) but I can understand them...minus Hachi he's kinda an important connective piece in the long run. Also no Usopp Hammer or Usopp Rubber Band, the sacrilege!

So as far as adaptations go though this was really good. Opinions are of course subjective, so a lot of fans are welcome to say that Live Action has done arcs better than the manga/anime, but I'd say it's either as good or a little less, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of people who haven't watched or read One Piece get a nice introduction of almost the first 100 chapters/45 episodes, which contrary to the memes of 'yeah One Piece gets good at episode 629' should be enough to whet people's appetites to see if they wanna take the plunge.

Of course, change is scary and sometimes not accepted, so not all the changes made were ones I liked, at least as much as the original source. I kinda feel like we did a few characters dirty; Makino (no flirtatious chemistry with Shanks? come on), the Orange Town Mayor, Mohji, Chouchou (again, I get it, can't really get animals to act so easily), Fullbody, Gin, Krieg, Genzo, and Nojiko did have a bit more to do in the source material but often only got one scene or lacked the same spark they had. Also the amount of death was surprising, I get most of it but at the same time killing off Merry (and recontextualizing how the Going Merry was named by not having Merry be its creator even with the lore change that Syrup village makes ships) does kinda leave Kaya even more alone, in the original at least she had him and the Usopp pirates for company. While Buggy as a character is awaiting praise later down the line I will have to say that his role beyond episode 2 was a bit lackluster, he was never gonna help the crew for sure but it was weird for him to just saunter away from Arlong Park, I also feel like we could've better explained Devil Fruits and water's effect on DF users, because it is a very big misconception by those on the outside that Luffy simply loses his powers when hit by a splash of water, rather than his strength being sapped when more than half-submerged; rain, splashing waves, that doesn't effect DF users that way, and it's not like it's an off switch Luffy could still stretch while in water it's just harder to do so. It was also a shame not to have Shanks and Buggy's backstory shown. The CGI did have some rough moments too, I was not too much of a fan of how they did Kuro's pussyfooting (no you don't understand it's literally called the pussy foot technique) in episode 3, episode 4 was better, I felt that Luffy vs Arlong relied a bit too much on it too. Zoro's flashback was oddly placed in episode 4, given how it's more fitting as a build up to Zoro vs Mihawk, also felt like the context of Zoro losing to Kuina 2001 times in a row was sorely missed in that flashback. I will also have to admit that while the costuming is great, there is a very glaring case of it being very easy to spot the important characters from the crowd.

Some changes I was more than fine with, Alvida changing her call to most powerful makes sense since insulting her appearance wouldn't really go down too well, Zoro could've been a bit more mellow but he still played the edgy deadpan guy well...at least until Luffy eventually wears down his brain cells, and as cool as the Mr. 7 fight was it does not help debunk those 'minority hunter' memes. Changing Sham's gender worked pretty well too, the actress wore the look very well, and though people were a little let down that Benn Beckman is not super handsome I didn't have a problem with his look.

Of the changes I liked more it's probably that we saw more of Nami growing vulnerable to the crew, sure in turn we lost her fake-stabbing Usopp and grabbing a lit fuse but we got her bonding with Kaya and staunchly try to convince Zoro not to fight Mihawk - whereas in the anime/manga she had already ran off with the Merry - plus I feel like we got more friendship between her and Zoro at this stage, it's not that they didn't get along but I do feel like Zoro's dismissal in the live action is almost tied to feeling a little hurt by her betrayal. I enjoyed and was surprised with how much Garp we got, and how much he and Koby interacted with Luffy this early, since while we get the cover story of Koby-Meppo it's more it's own thing and we don't even learn of Garp's relation to Luffy until about 3 more sagas (sagas, not arcs, sagas), but it did help flesh out Koby's character more and his own character growth in parallel to Luffy. Think the change I was most approving of was confirming Kaya x Usopp, like she loves that liar so much so it was sweet to see a kiss in there, no romance my ass Oda, I also liked that they made it that Kuro was poisoning Kaya, since her original illness suddenly going away was a bit strange.

Every major character in this show translated very well to their characters in the source, even if they are a little different in some traits. Inaki as Luffy is a perfect fit, being equal parts charismatic, serious when necessary and aloof, he handled the big pressure that would've come with a character of Luffy's character in fantastic stride. The other crewmates were of course very well casted too, having wonderful chemistry with each other, as were their child counterparts, but I found myself most impressed by the villains; Morgan, Helmeppo and Kuro especially surprised me by how well they came across, Jeff Ward as Buggy was always gonna be a perfect fit in my mind too, given how much I saw of him in Agents of SHIELD. Arlong did take a bit of time to grow, but I can't deny he does the laugh perfectly. Side characters such as Kaya and Zeff also impressed me, having been given a bit more content to chew on in their stories, and Shanks did soothe my worries I had from the trailer by being jovial and true to character.

The biggest positive impression I got from One Piece was the sense of wonder and vibrancy, the settings were all wonderfully crafted with care and style fitting to Oda's vision, I particularly liked the added carnival entertainment stands in Arlong Park to better reflect its homage to Sabaody Park, the same can be said with costuming - referencing previous colour spreads - and motifs like the bounty poster introductions and the leitmotifs of characters like Buggy, Arlong and the Straw Hats, plus the instrumental of 'We Are' is wonderful. Most important is that the moments landed, especially Shanks giving the Straw Hat, the barrel scene, and Nami asking for help, but we also crafted some newer subtle moments, such as Luffy being drawn to the Merry and pitching to Kaya regarding it, and Zeff and Garp's conversation. Easter eggs were also hidden well enough to not be blatant to non-fans but rewarding to those who know.

So yeah, it was very much a huge success, one I hope will be translated in its positive reviews and viewership. If there's a second season I'd anticipate that we'd cover Loguetown and the Alabasta saga, but with that comes more castings I do not envy the team to find, because outside of campaigns for Jamie Lee-Curtis to play Kureha there are a ton of big and iconic players in those arcs that'll need perfect casting to pull off; Ace, Crocodile, Vivi, Bon Clay, and Tashigi (since you'll have to have a comparison with Kuina's actress) is tough enough but we're also gonna have to make the 'puppet or CGI' decision with Chopper and somehow cast the most beautiful woman on the planet to play Nico Robin. Then perhaps Season 4 (providing they do the Skypeia saga all in Season 3, only needing to cast one to three properly big players depending on whether they have Shanks meet a certain someone) they'll have to struggle with even more casting difficulties.

Still, if they're up for the challenge go ahead and do it, I'll be there for Season 2 if they're willing to make it.

[muninnhuginn]

So, going to link a couple of things before I start with this.

Firstly, the new MV for the Vortex/Overthink/Tides medley which is going to form the basis of my observations.

Secondly, this post, which makes a strong argument that Link Click is deliberately drawing from other time travel media. In this case, the 2002 version of The Time Machine. Also, a fun fact not mentioned in the linked post, but that I recently discovered is that the name of the girlfriend the time traveller is constantly trying to save is *Emma*.

Now that I've linked these two, I just want to say that this rest of this post is me having fun and I would love for these to be deliberate references, but let's be real, a lot of time travel media understandably shares a lot of visual language. Hourglasses, butterflies, and clocks are all fairly recurrent themes.

Click the read more for a mix of potential references to other time travel media and screenshots of specific details of the new MV I found interesting:

Left: Link Click (note the photo reel design). Right: Doctor Who (specifically one of the intros for the Twelfth Doctor)

And to add to the photography aesthetic present throughout, the photo reel clock resolves itself into a camera lens:

Next, we have a main character centred within a clock. In both cases, the character casts multiple shadows that resemble clock hands.

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate

The shot where Qiao Ling is stood still amongst a moving crowd is neat for two reasons. First, the people she's surrounded by seem to be those related to the cases CXS/LG have taken on. You can see Emma just behind in the above screenshot. And the other thing is that the first time this sequence plays the moving characters are too blurry to easily make out. When the sequence reverses however, and the lyrics speak of "pausing" the scene actually freezes with all the characters clear for a tiny bit. (I didn't screenshot purely because it was a pain to get the exact moment but you can check this if you want)

Upper left: Link Click. Upper right: Higurashi Gou/Sotsu. Bottom: Steins;Gate 0.

Next up: fragments! This one is honestly a real stretch, but hey, there are at least two other time travel adjacent shows that use them as visuals in their openings. I would really like the use to be similar to in Higurashi (the example screenshot is from the anime sequel Gou/Sotsu but the sea of fragments is present in the og too). In Higurashi, each time "loop" is actually an alternate timeline (wherein events would differ slightly even without intervention) and so each fragment represents another timeline. For Steins;Gate, it's more a visual that exists purely in the opening sequence to play into the whole shattered clocks aesthetic.

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate.

This one is inspired by me watching the opening only to go "Okabe Rintaro????" when Qian Jin showed up. But also. We can clearly see some of Qian Jin's scars in this shot. There appears to be one on the back of his neck and two over his left shoulder. These have to be relevant and obviously his eye colour has me side-eyeing but I don't think we have all the pieces for this character yet. (Him being a former cop with a connection to both of our focus cop characters though makes me think)

And a final one with generic anime trope no 58382929:

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate

I know, I know. This is typical anime/donghua. But! It's deliberately a shot in Steins;Gate that returns again and again throughout the series. It's also very associated with the character of Mayuri so take that as you will.

Bonus whatever this is:

Multiple Cheng Xiaoshis in different states of doing badly. I wonder if the centremost one is the one Lu Guang appeared to be thinking of in episode 1? Possibly another "fragments" situation or if not then it may be various things Cheng Xiaoshi will go through in this season

Anyway, the Steins;Gate opening visually has a lot of similarities and of course a lot of it is natural overlap because they're both time travel series. And they both draw inspiration from The Time Machine (especially Steins;Gate's sequel, Steins;Gate 0). But I find it pretty neat how all these series from different times and places do have these recurring themes.

[p1x1x]

how i color/render!!!!! (general + metal)

hi i had an actual piece i was going to do this with but decided to just actually draw a process for this!!! before i say anything else though i'm not a professional so this isn't a "how to" it's "how i" thing sdlfkjsdlfkj,, also i draw in paint tool sai, for coloring i just use a flat blocky brush for everything

ok Here We Go. ramble

general things

When it comes to my style of shading, it's almost more of color "texture" rather than sensible shading? I'd say 80% of my shadows are placed believably with respect to a "general" light source but I fudge it a little because sometimes I think it'll look cooler. Oh and I live on the left side of the box. Let's me have the option to place really saturated colors as accents if I ever want to.

Normally in any work I choose the base colors based on what mood I want for it, but for easier explanation this is the pattern I found I do for nearly every color.

Each color tends to get around 3 - 5 shades total. The lightest shade tends to be a smidge more saturated than the base color, but then every shade color after that starts getting less saturated. Kind of based in reality, as shadow is the absence of light, and light is color, so shadows tend to be "grayer" (of course this rule can be broken : 0 and even while that's true light reflects so some color from environment is added back in the shadow asldkfjaskdf I do this if there's an actual background,,). I still darken the color though, so instead of it being linear straight down or just to the left it's a bit curved like a backwards C in the color box thing.

I also hue shift the shades because I think it makes it look more interesting than just messing around with saturation alone. Almost always I shift the hue to the left (towards red or pink), because I like that. I don't actually know the reason for this eye just think it looks good. Even with cool shadows they still end up in reddish hues (but with how desaturated my colors are it's pretty much gray so,,)

As for order of shades - I don't choose these shades beforehand either, I usually just start with a shade close to 2 and after placing those shades down I either go add a lighter shade (1) or continue with darker shades (3, 4) before going back to add 1... it's kind of all over the place and the placement of doritos is hard to explain too so! Example!

I forgot to take a picture of the flat fill, but yeah this is pretty much how they appear. Basically, I start placing biggest shadows first before gradually populating it with 5 billion doritos and lines. As for patterns:

Some of the common patterns I find in my own drawings. Lots of overlapping colors and whatnot, the triangles/ines also tend to hug either the lines or the edges of other triangles. Depending on the material, the patterns might be different. Think this one is a good example of bunch of stuff:

The feathers of the wings have tons of overlapping triangles that bleed into each other, but they still follow each other's edges. That big rock in the picture doesn't have much triangles - it's got more blocky rectangles and lines instead. The grass itself are just fat lines really. The bushes in the background have a mix of odd shapes somewhat overlapping each other... I feel kind of awkward pointing all of these out from my own work so um yeah!! There aren't really any hardset rules it's just whatever in the end!!!!

the main request for this whole thing was how I rendered metal .so Moving On lsdkfjsldkfj

how metal

step by step process, a bunch of separate images lskdjfdsf this is a closer look at how I render a specific material. Rare instance of lighting being added in the first place haha,, and I actually did most shades in order kinda so it's not super confusing

There's no particular background or mood for this metal arm here, but I find doing a flat fill really important either way. If I decide to finish and post that commentary of my own drawing thing it'll be more obvious how it affects the drawing there but essentially placing a flat fill first helps establish the mood of the piece while also being really helpful in making sure the colors you choose all work together.

(this is a thing some painters do as well I think? helps all the colors blend nicer together and depending on the color of the fill you can have some nice warm or cool undertones. instead of blending for me it helps with handpicking colors - especially when there's multiple different colors and not just an arm but enough rambling ,sdflsdkjf)

aaaanyways what I wanted for this was warm-ish lights and cool shadows so the fill is a slightly orange gray. When it comes to metal I establish a rather harsh shadow at the beginning - this is because I treat the base and shadow as two separate colors, if that makes any sense. It probably will with pictures,

These steps are grouped together because it just follows the general shading and patterns I described earlier. The lightest shade is a bit more saturated and red (and really subtle,,), yadda yadda the next are less saturated, darker, but still redder - the 3rd shade getting close to pink. At this point the 3rd shade has an almost blue tint (to my eye at least) and it's because of how colors look relative to each other.

When a warm color is placed next to a gray, that gray will appear cooler relative to it. A cooler color next to a gray will make the gray appear warmer. So in this case, because the base is a bit more saturated and orange (warm) than the 3rd shade, the shade appears as a really faint blue relative to the base! Or maybe I'm just crazy I don't know,,, irl wouldn't notice a difference : ( they think I'm weird for moving the color picker by 1 pixel to the right... orz

Now the shadow gets its own 2 darker shades... still following the same rules. Notice there's a bit of a harsh line that goes down the middle of the forearm parts. That's where most of the lighting will be placed against, because metal tends to have a dark shadow right next to the light,, uh not a professional here I'm pretty sure it's the core shadow (darkest shadow of an object, usually next to light).

Here's a picture I stole from the internet where you can see on side of either light there's a noticable darker section before it's mostly back to midtones

Fun part of metal! Adding the light!!!!!

For me this is a pretty good stopping point because the lighting really sells the metal look. Since I had a cool purple shadow the lights are a warm yellow. I still stylize the light a bit so there's just a few doritos and lines but other than that I'd consider it done... there's some extra stuff you can do though

These are quick things that help place it in an environment or mood. Say, this arm's out in a forest or something so there's green bushes and whatnot... Usually metal will reflect those colors in the environment so adding them really helps in making it fit in with the background.

Quick way to make it glow too is to create a new layer set to overlay and go over the light with a color of your choice and blurring it so. it Shinier!!! I used both of these before too : 0

bit blurry but there are green/yellow doritos reflected from the grass/bushes/leaves and some reddish ones from the tree trunks! and there's a tiny bit of glow on the light! yeah this piece had a lot alsdkjfa

that's basically it. i’ve only rendered metal 4 times total so here is where i say again not really a tutorial but loll maybe this made sense and helped someone laksdjflaksjdflkjsdf

if you scrolled to the end for a tldr; here's one irl did! it’s very concise and 100% accurate

[acestories]

Arc 1; Chapter 1

In some ways the world hasn’t changed; Karens still scream at grocery store clerks for no reason, Douchebags think they own the roads, and the sun continues to rise every morning. But, it’s definitely changed; people fly through the air on their own, a car mechanic lifts the car he’s working on with his bare hand, and a thief outruns a squad of police cars.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. 2020 was terrible already, but as if that wasn’t enough, it had one last fucking piece of shit to throw in our faces. Christmas night, there was a violet star in the sky. By new years eve, it had become a sun. By new years day, a violet mist that brought with it plague, one with a 10% mortality rate, and the rich and powerful hid themselves away from it. As they always did.

But as it turned out, ⅕ of those who survived it got what could only be called Superpowers. And very few of the rich and powerful got Superpowers. The inevitable started to happen.

And where do I fit into all of this? Well, I'm the ñonbinary cat boy waiting for their take out to be ready. What? Just because I got Superpowers doesn't mean I don't want tacos. And these guys make a gochujang teriyaki sauce that is to die for. And I'm not gonna let some random ass fuck wad villain destroy this place, I can't recreate the sauce!

The villain (who I think called himself Syndrome or some shit like that, I can't remember) charged at me, fist raised high. I'm able to dodge at the last minute, the concrete street corner shattering as it took the blow, which when combined with my latest bruises, are enough to tell me that this guy has one of those god damn Escalating Strength powers in addition to the basic stuff.

Gotta take them out fast, before they start punching Blackholes or something. I think someone could do that.

The villain starts monologuing; ooooooh, his name is "Symptom." That's actually kinda cool I gotta admit. Regardless, thank fuck this guy is long winded. Or really into L.A.R.P.ing. Doesn't matter now though; I charge at him with the speed of a bullet and unleash a flurry of blows. After a few seconds of what sounds like a machine gun going off, he starts to fall backwards, a look of surprise on his big stupid, neck-bearded face.

Heh, I caught him Monologuing. Guess that makes me a sly cat instead of a sly dog. :D

Oh yeah, the cat parts. While only ⅕ of survivors got super powers, over half of survivors got "fantasy bits." I got turned into a cat boy, but I've seen people with other things. Someone I went to high-school with got turned into an Orc.

Oh, and these things aren't a package deal, but there is enough overlap that it's testing fate to make a cat girl angry. So the Boomer who's screaming and making threats at me for not saving his car is either really brave or really stupid. I'm betting on the latter.

CRACK!

Shit, wasn't paying attention! Mmm, that's gonna smart tomorrow. I stumble to stay standing, looking for who hit me. Dammit, my vision is still blurry.

POW!

Again, but from the other side. This time though, I'm able to recover faster, and I see a trail of dust kicked up by a wind. Great, a speedster.

Dick wads didn't just get standard stuff, they get to be stupid fast. Faster than even I can see. But, based on the fact that I didn't explode, safe to assume that they're not too much stronger than I. Probably not much tougher either.

I suppose I should explain myself, huh? So, almost every super is significantly stronger, tougher, and faster than they were before, with heightened senses to boot. Most can lift one end of a car. I'm one of the ones that can kill a building. We don't got any Supermans or Omnimans, but we got some guys who're way the fuck up there.

But after the basic stuff, lots of people also got other powers, some coming into them easier than others. Symptom from earlier got Escalating Strength, which makes him stronger the longer he fights, but not tougher or faster (no, I don't know how it works exactly). Our new friend is a Speedster, so they get to move at Mach speeds (or close to it).

But now that I know what to look for, I can look and hear for them. And with my Cat Ears, I'm really good at hearing them tear through the atmosphere. They might be faster than sound, but the air sure as shit isn't. As they come towards me, I fly 30 m (100 in freedom units) up into the air, the Speedster's momentum carrying them past where I was.

Yeah, I got flight. Which is also pretty common, and lots of people make it work. I can't. I can jump up to this high, and after that I can fall with style. If I try to actually fly, I become a hazard to everything around me. Aside from knowing you guys are there, the only other power I know I have is Laser Eyes. And the only time I've used that, I destroyed my bed and first print Power 9 mtg cards! Those are worth $165,100!

As I drift down, I can see the Speedster trying to get her bearings. Well, she's practically where I was, and I can make myself come down really fucking hard. Choosing occam's razor, I bring myself down to the ground. Hard. Hard enough that the Speedster is now a good couple inches in the pavement.

I stand up, keeping my foot down on her head. After a minute or so, I felt confident in assuming she was down. Long enough that I can try to tie her up for the cops. And tie up Symptom. And actual–

"Oh, thank you señior!" I turn around to see the old Latino lady who took my order running up to me. Before I can process this, she glomps me in a bear hug.

"Uh, you're welcome. If you don't mind me asking, what did I do?"

"You saved us." This time, I turn to the Old Japanese man who cooks in the kitchen walking up to me, but picking up a bag I hadn't realized the Speedster had dropped before also hugging me. "The fast one stole from us while you were busy. You're a true hero."

"I'm not a hero. I was only here for tacos."

From the face pressed into my chest came "No, you were the only one here, and you helped. That makes you a hero."

I tried to form a response, but a slight rustling brought my attention, not to the store, but to the hole in an apartment above it. To a family. Their family. Their grandchildren.

As what I just did begins to really sink in, a young teenager comes up to me carrying a bag of styrofoam boxes. "But I only ordered one thing of tacos…" is all I can say weakly.

"The rest is our thanks." The only response I can think of is tears.

[wodania]

A series of notes on my cultural/fashion inspiration for some miscellaneous houses and regions within ASOIAF! Unfinished bc I can only fixate on so many families. A basic rule of thumb is that fashion may overlap closer to borders or with characters who have a close connection to a region outside of their native one. Not tagging this bc it’s a commentary to go with my own art and not an analysis of actual inspirations for Westerosi cultures. Like at all.

The Northmen (-Iron Islands) : the main inspirations I’ve always come back to for the North is Indigenous and Slavic inspirations. I use First Nations, Inuit, and Métis fashion influences alongside Slavic fashion as well. In terms of ethnicity it’s a mixed bag as well. The Starks, minus the inclusion of Cat, in particular I’ve always seen as Algonquin, based on the irl region of these people spanning north in wooded regions. Ukrainian fashion specifically comes to mind as an inspiration for many of my pieces, including those I’ve yet to post.

The Iron Islands: Scandinavian 100%. I do imagine a lot of overlap from the mainland indigenous-inspired population, which also has irl historical merit, fun fact (Erikson’s expedition circa 1000). Major Viking vibes with the islands, as GRRM intended. I also like to include “foreign” jewelry, fashion, and accessory styles with Ironborn designs due to the Iron Price, as well as their trading with foreign merchants.

The Free Folk: Iron Islands/Northmen love child. Scandinavian and Indigenous inspirations, though the Slavic has fallen out at this point. More Inuit inspired fashion starts appearing in my inspo list at this point.

Riverlands: Ireland. House Tully especially. Those girls are Irish. Plaids are common fashion, which overlaps into the Stormlands (see Stormlander category). Flowing fabrics and leather armour alongside the more modern chainmail. Knotted pattern embroideries. This would make the Stark kids, minus Jon, Indigenous-Irish inspired, though most take after their mother over their father.

Stormlands: Scottish icons. Especially House Baratheon and House Connington. Like the Tullys, plaid is a common fashion. Tight hairstyles or head coverings for women for efficiency against the wind. Differs for formal wear where weather is not an issue. Paler features due to lack of sun, rather weather beaten depending on the occupation and habits of the person (do they sail often, do they hunt despite the weather, etc). Thick Scottish accents because there’s no way Robert and Jon don’t have a Scottish accent, I don’t buy them being British one bit. Kilts would be pretty cool too. Generic historical drama chainmail with a hint of kilts or plaids depending on the person in question.

The Reach: Mediterranean Europe is my go to for the Reach. Dark hair, tan skin, artistic clothing. A huge focus on art and renaissance, with fashion and accessory inspirations coming in from Dorne in the south. Italian renaissance, with a hint of Tudor England in the fashion. The wealth of the region is evident in the higher class’ fashion sense. Nice jewelry, embroidery, and fabrics. Even prettier armour.

The Westerlands : to be determined. I’ve been playing with a bunch of different fashion eras and have settled on Tudor as a default, but this may change. I’ve been debating playing around with French and German fashion in the future.

Dorne: I read somewhere that Dorne was inspired by Palestine, “Moorish” or Islamic Spain, and Wales (?) and the first two stuck with me. Don’t know where the third one came from but ok. North African/European/West Asian cultural overlap. Islamic European fashion and architecture is a new endeavour of mine so I’m still playing around with combinations and stuff but I have the vibe figured out. Ethnically, North African and West Asian inspired peoples with more European overlap or even complete European the further north. Different houses/regions have different irl inspirations but that’s too deep for me to dig into at the moment.

The Targaryens : BYZANTINE!!! The oldest Targaryens of old Valyria were Byzantinian, yet the fashion and culture began drifting away and is only present in small forms by the time Rhaegar and Viserys come into the picture. Now the fashion inspiration for the Targs is often imitations of fashion from different kingdoms within the Targ empire. Ie Rhaegar was probably a Reach fashion kinda guy.

The Vale: I’m gonna be honest with you I often forget these guys exist and have put almost zero thought into them. English? I have no idea.

Dothraki: Mongolian. Not gonna go much deeper as I’ve yet to explore Essosi inspo.