#thinking of redoing my folder for 4 in some way

[aquarifiend]

Icl I lost my mods folder for both ts2 and ts3 last year after building them for like 11/12 years and I was super bummed out and couldn’t bring myself to remake my folder for ts2 again but with the legacy version being released I’ve actually started to download little bits and pieces again instead of playing cc free like I have for a year

[jisuto]

I think you've gotten a few questions about your process ( apologies! ) But I saw you use CSP to make these gifs - do you cut up the frames from your recordings to do that? Is there a particular way you go about that? I'm interested in making gifs and was a bit curious 🤧♥️ but if you cannot share such secrets I understand!

All right, this finally convinced me to make a guide and I hope this was helpful!! Feel free to send in any questions.

First off, PRO has a frame limit of 24 so your gifs will run very short. EX has no frame limit and right now there's a free trial for users until the 24th.

Make a new canvas that's an Animation. For my gifs, I use a 540 width and adjust the height later. Go to Window and turn on the Timeline so you can see all the cells.

I trim my game recordings into short clips of what I want to gif. Then I insert them like this as MP4 files:

The red line is the current frame you're looking at. The blue lines mark the gif duration at whatever starting and ending frames you choose.

Whatever is inside the blue box will appear as the gif. Personally, I don't like using this and end up fixing the canvas size later. But let's get to actually making our gif first.

I like to make my gifs 30 FPS or less and I'll be changing it to 25 FPS from here:

Click on your clip on the Timeline. For this example, I didn't trim my clip exactly where I want it to start so I'll drag it to left where the frame number turns negative and I end up going 4 frames back (or you can just move the first blue line 4 frames ahead):

Then I drag the second blue line to where I want my gif to end. Since I want to make the height shorter, I go to Change Canvas Size and fix the dimensions (you can still resize and adjust your clip around too):

The blue box is gone and we can just use the canvas itself to fit the gif. I ended up adjusting it again and now we just need to save it!

I'm already fine with everything so I won't change the numbers. Make sure the Loop Count is set to Unlimited:

Choose where to save it and wait for it to export. Let's take a look at our finished gif:

Notice how pixelated some of the areas are? That's because we didn't export it with Dithering on so let's redo it:

Look at how much better it looks! Make sure to turn this on or it can make your gifs look way worse.

And that's the basics! If you want to put a color filter, make a new layer and put it above your clip. I use the bucket tool with the color i want and change the opacity and layer type:

And here it is! If your color filter only showed up partway on the gif, that means your layer wasn't present on all your frames so go to the Timeline and drag it to cover the entire length.

If you want to add a watermark or words, start making a text above your color filter and you can also change the opacity:

You can also add images on the gif with your brushes. Make a new layer above the color filter and apply them:

If you want to fix the colors more, right click your clip layer and it'll make a new layer above with the adjusted colors:

You can also do the 3D white bar effect. I make a new folder above all my layers with a bunch of colored lines. You'll need to erase whatever shows in front of the object and I decrease the opacity to make it easier, then change the color to white. You can adjust which frames each bar will appear by dragging the ends of the Timeline length (arrows will appear). As shown below, I was able to use the same line in frames 1-33 before making a new one at frame 24.

With 2 bars:

And that's all I wanted to cover! There's many editing guides that you can also apply to CSP so don't hesitate to try them out. As I mentioned earlier, you should only use CSP to make gifs if you already have it and don't have better programs to use. I hope this guide helped you out :)

[meowmeowriley]

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! Tag as many people as you have WIPS!

If you saw the original, no you didn't. Lol sorry, had to do some housekeeping here on my blog, and had to redo this post.

Right well, here's the thing, I have way more WIPs than I do moots 😅 butttttt I'll drop what I've got. Please please please ask me about any of them! I'm begging for interaction!

1) Little Meow Meow - my first fic, it's not abandoned, catboy!Ghost is also unkillable and emo.

2) Poké-Pandemonium - Pokémon and secrets. Here soon I aim to make people cry with it ❤ (soon as in within the next couple of chapters, whenever I put them out)

3) More Than Just Loose Ends - 09 Ghost has been watching over and mentoring 22 Ghost his whole life

4) Oh, Brother - my most popular fic, told through the eyes of Erin MacTavish (John's sister) and Tommy Riley. Baby's first realistic and in character AU.

5) I Don't Think We're in Space Anymore - Ghost is a shape-shifting alien and also chaotic as fuck. And horny. Whoops.

6) Was tHat thE BiTe oF 22 - FNAF but all the characters are replaced with COD characters. It's my little abomination.

7) Be Kind, Rewind - Ghost is suddenly 10 years younger. Young dumb and full of cum. Seriously, being 19 means he's got that teenager horndog thing goin on.

On to the ones that haven't been posted yet

8) Duo Fatui - Unus Annus, but make it Soap and Ghost

9) Is That Gonna be a Problem? - Ghost and Soap met before the events of MW2, and were secretly together during the game. This is the story of their relationship.

10) Cohabitation - ghost!Ghost and Zombie!Ghost share one body. They're the same person, so it's not difficult. They banter like siblings.

11) Lost a Bet - Ghost lost a bet with Gaz, so Gaz gets to design his next mask. Gaz designs a cat skull mask, and Ghost bonds with a bunch of stray cats on base.

12) Outlaw Outta Time - some of the COD boys get sent back in time and meet up with a certain outlaw. COD RDR2 crossover. It's a fix it for Arthur ❤

13) unnamed fic about trans Ghost dropping hints that he's trans and Soap who thought he was straight being really confused by the boners he gets around Ghost.

14) unnamed fic about Soap thinking Ghost has a girlfriend, that they're on their way to rescue, when it is in fact a dog. Ghost is fully aware of the miscommunication and thinks it's funny, so he doesn't clarify

15) unnamed fic about Ghost and Soap getting sucked into our world a la Supernatural's The French Mistake. They have to pretend to be Samuel and Neil until they figure out how to get home

WHOO BOY! I think that's all of them. And they're all Ghost/Soap except the FNAF one, because they're children.

Mooties who aren't already on this list, no pressure though! @myriadblvck @27potatochips @resident-idiot-simp @tacticaltaxonomist @ratpiss0

[macnryart]

Blog Post #7

3/28-4/11

Well. Production Pass 2 was...rough, to say the least. We all went into it like "yeah I think we're doing pretty well" only to be immediately humiliated by the progress the other groups had made. As embarrassing as that was, it was the kick in the ass we needed to really get moving and now we're doing pretty well (all things considered). I spent the majority of this time redoing the layout for everything. I went back in and combined the faces and renamed everything and then continued working on secondary layout stuff (windows and doors mostly). I was told/assigned by the group to stick with layout as opposed to cleaning up the storyboard (which was the original plan).

This, in all honesty, bothers me a little bit when I think back on it because the apartment layout is something I started back in the very first week because I knew it needed to be done and I didn't have anything else to do. I just wanted to help out. I didn't know I would end up being the designated layout artist for the whole film. It's not the end of the world or anything and I don't mind the role, but I do mind that I wasn't ever asked if I wanted to continue doing that or move to something else. I actually would really like to work on the sound for the animatic and then work on general asset modeling but it was just assumed that I wanted to stick with layout. Yes I will bring this up to the group at some point.

On a similar "being assigned things" note, with the schedule, we just get assigned things to do and due dates with no real discussion about whether that's possible both with the speed that we work and the time that we have for that week. Which, while I know is probably exactly how it works in the industry, this isn't the industry and this is a situation where I don't think we should treat it like it is. When you're working in the industry, that's your entire job (and presumably your only job). Right now, I have four classes, two part time jobs, and a lot of stuff I'm dealing with outside of that. This production is not the only thing I am working on and I cannot drop everything else in my life to get things done. I intend to bring this up the next time scheduling is done.

There were also some mild issues with some of the pipeline organization. I, due to being the layout artist, have largely been in charge of referencing assets into the scenes. It took two conversations and felt like pulling teeth to get everyone (mostly Helen) to understand why I asked that we have a PUB and a work folder. All of the pub files I had created and referenced into my rooms were deleted and I was not given any notice about this until I was like "hey uh what happened to the assets?" at which point it was explained to me that the "finished (since renamed "published")" folder was only to be used when the asset was done (like, textured and everything) and that was what would be referenced into the scene. And I was like "absolutely not, the most recent version of the asset goes in the pub folder no matter if it's done or not and that's what gets referenced." It's the only thing I've really put my foot down on so far with this production but I stand by that decision because it's an important one and it affects the efficiency of my work.

Helen modified the asset list in a way that didn't really make sense to anyone and, when a lot of us were talking without Helen there (we didn't purposefully exclude her, she just had to leave early from our scheduled meeting), it got brought up that Evan had tried to ask her if we could change it and he got shot down. Upon hearing that everyone else was confused too, he asked us to bring it up at the next class and hopefully that would get listened to. That...concerned me, honestly. Evan generally is not afraid to give feedback or suggest that things be done differently. And the general consensus from the group seemed to be that everyone knew there were problems with the list but no one wanted to approach Helen about it. I'll talk about this more in Blog Post 8.

[pendingrp]

*taps mic* hello hello tags ! currently cleaning out my folders and thought about bringing back some old tvd plots in which we can hit a redo button and write out the stories of our favorite characters in how we want it ! under the cut you'll find some plots ideas / mini summery in what we are thinking . feel free to shoot us a message on your thoughts !

plot #1

an au recreation of the beginning of legacies in which hope brings the dead back to life in trying to bring back her parents. when hope opened the portal between life and death to bring her parents back, it left a window for all dead to return, including the council who had always been watching from the dark.

plot #2

tvd / to / legacies roleplay set a month after 4x12 . brining those who were in the school back to the past when klaus returned back to mystic falls ( tvd 3x06 ) or set in new orleans set in TOs1 .

plot #3

set in the prison world of 2018. Though in real time it would be 2028 . going from legacies 2x10au . All who were in Mystic Falls now stuck there will have to find a way out or be stuck there forever .

plot #4

an originals s1 redo.

[fishfauna]

UNIT 4: Animation, Headphones

REFLECTION ON THIS UNIT

Overall, I think that this was the toughest unit I have had to forbode this far, While I did gain a significant amount of knowledge from this unit, it was extremely difficult with the sheer amount of workload I had to undergo, especially when by proxy I had too take a leading role.

We had had a gantt chart organised in the beginning to track the time with a log, but due to circumstances regarding group disputes and technical difficulties (some we fixed quite late). We often went over contingency periods and had much left to do.

I had been relatively heavy handed in this unit, having to carry multiple tasks, one of them being the storyboard. If anything, it had been extremely difficult organising and creating the storyboard, as I had to redo it several times. Below are some of the brainstorming from early in the unit (which included a scrapped idea which came prior to the headphones). Initially there was a lot of profanity so we had to censor a lot of it out.

We had to overhaul the entire storyline as Paul suggested that there was a lack of hope and we needed to reconsider the motives of the characters. At that point in time, this is what Me and my other teammate Zixuan brainstormed:

And this is how we lead to creating a whole new storyboard. This time, the storyboarding went smoother than it did previously, and I was able to create the animatic successfully within the constraints of the time limit (approx. between 90 and 120 seconds).

Other early, initial work are in the folder of the project. Below were some of the early designs and the redesigning that I had to undergo before the animation, as well as references I had used besides any of the moodboards included in the folder:

I had to repeatedly redesign the pocket, as it had been different prior to its current design. We had to make it smaller and less overbearing, leading to the final design being more cramped.

In addition to creating this, we did have some other designs changed leading up to a reciept becoming a pocket:

In addition to this, I created the models for the Oopster and Gum Packet, which included meshes that I had created. To create the text, I painted it in on Blender, and I had also done the same for the magazine. This is how the Oopster and the Gum Packet's meshes look:

In terms of organising my own work, I had realised I had been very inconsistent and very scattered in terms of thought process. While I had tried my hardest to take command in a leading role, it had been difficult trying to log or organise my own work. As a result I had started using a notebook as a personal log to track what I had needed to do to keep up with the work. In addition to this, I had helped with lighting up scenes, specifically scenes that Zixuan told me to do so that the lighting aligned better.

The old man design, while he had initially been a businessman, had also had to be redone due to issues with the mesh. I had forgot to mention that Zixuan also tried to begin making the mesh on the hand in, so that is negligence on my half as she was able to transform the mesh of the premade man into a fat guy, but it was ultimately me who had to reextrude the shirt and change the costume, while another teammate Alisja did the hair and features. I would have also had to create major changes throughout the idea of creating a train, from going towards changing the background into a subway by creating a gradient due to our images not working. However, we were able to make them work with the "Images As Planes" function so that it would show up in our final render.

This was especially crucial when I had to create my own animations, where I had to keep track of what I needed to do and what frames I needed to do. The way I kept track was messy, but this way worked for me. It helped jog my mind and be motivated. It's not necessarily professional looking in the slightest, but this was intended to be only readable by me, so frankly the presentation of it was not really important at all.

REFLECTION, GROUP DYNAMICS Personally, I was looking forward to a group project as initially it felt harmonious, but due to my perfectionist nature I think I had generally a hard time trying to control my stress. As mentioned before, we did have complications with time constraints, and it did not help that, while we did have 5 people working on it initially, two people dropped out and barely created much work. It was also especially hard as only me and Zixuan were two out of three remaining members that was very competent with Blender, which made workload for us and the pressure much higher as we had to support someone who struggles with the program. I also had the responsibility of having to redo a team member's skyline again because they left us practically making their contribution to the work very small, yet I credited them anyway. If I had to do this again, or at least correct any of my past mistakes, I think that I would have pressed on a little harder as the leader of my group. I tried my hardest to uphold morale, though maybe that was my internal anxieties projecting, and my entitlement to feel like I had to still do so much work to keep the pace going.

I think that in terms of doing things differently, I could have done some animations in a more formulaic way so that they can be done quicker and more efficiently. I also should have not started/told my group members to start the shots from 0 in Blender because there was a slight discrepancy in the shots which made them a frame longer, but they were mostly the same otherwise.

Another thing I would have done smarter is encouraged the assets to be done faster, and acknowledge errors in Blender etc. faster. I think that as a leader I had a lot of liberties which I could have managed better.

Overall, I think that this project was a tall order for us to complete, and two people (including me) had to help out very often and carry out the bulk of the work. It had been stressful, but I think that my confidence with blender is improving. I would have also probably started laying out my blog etc. in a more organised way as well instead of heavily focusing on trying to communicate to others without regard of logging my own progress.

NOTE: If you can access the final document, if you go to the ANIMATION folder the fully audio mixed file should be there, sorry for the mix-up

[pixel-bloom]

SIMS TAG

Ahhhh thanks for the tag @natolesims​ ^_^ I’ll tag @ashubii​ @mosneakers​ @payte​ and @ashubii​

What’s your favourite sims death?

Hmmm, drowning is classic but I was so shocked when the meteorite killed my sims in ts2, so let’s go with that one.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Gotta go with MM; I tried Alpha back in the day but it just looks off in my game.

Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

Not usually. I did have a pear shaped sim back in gen 3 of the insectas I fixed, but most of my sims keep their weight.

Do you use move objects?

Always.

Favorite mod?

I like SoL, but I’m looking into the other game enhancing mods...

First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

Sims 1: Vacation, Sims 2: University, Sims 4: Seasons

Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

ALIVEEEE, like, “LETS DO IT LIVE”.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I don’t MAKE too many sims (I steal them all from the neighborhoods) but Ant was my favorite for a loooong time. Theo is my favorite currently :) They’re both entertaining to “play” the game with lmao

Have you made a simself?

Yeah but she’s been sitting for years in her sad house in Windenberg. I don’t play simself stuff, but sometimes I’ll dress her up for a simblr challenge.

What sim traits do you give yourself?

Cheerful, Geek, Goofball. I’m very basic.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

I don’t really have one...uhhhh, black!

Favorite EA hair?

I always use the city living hairs. Love the one ponytail with the braid on the side. I also love the Island Living hairs.

Favorite life stage?

I like my moody teenagers the best. The phases can be irritating but entertaining if I integrate it into the story.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

Gameplay but I actually really like customizing lots. I’ll download a lot or redo an existing one.

Are you a CC creator?

Nah, I honestly don’t have time :(

Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

I have some pretty awesome mutuals. I’m too MIA to be a part of a squad. Work, relationships, and life get in the way of playing sims lol. I’ve tried to join a general discord but I’m awful at using it.

What’s your favorite game?

Currently, Disco Elysium. Usually, Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon or whatever the current Zelda game is. (Actually I’m playing Minish Cap rn!)

Do you have any sims merch?

No T_T I might have in the past. I REMEMBER DISTINCTLY that I had the Sims 1 ONLINE but my mom and I didn’t understand how to set it up so she gave it away.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

No, that sounds terrifying. I barely post on tumblr LOL

How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

Hmmm good question. I think it’s less “basic NPC” (base game??) and a little leaning towards my own lil funky style. When I first replayed sims 4 again in 2020, I downloaded all the basic CC that was trendy (and kinda outdated). In 2022, I moved my save to a new PC and started over, so that helped.

What’s your Origin ID?

I do not know. I do not use Origin or any EA app for socializing/sharing

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Looking at my CC folder: simandy, clumsyalien, sentate, nolansims, and deetron.

How long have you had a simblr?

2020 I believe. Maybe a bit earlier but I didn’t post anything

How do you edit your pictures?

I used to have photoshop T_T (RIP) and used PSD and actions and EVERYTHING LOOKED SO GOOD. I lost access and I can’t bring myself to pay monthly rn. I miss it though, I hate the way my screenshots look now.

What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

I’d honestly like packs to be refreshed. I’m not one to ask for new stuff...I think there’s enough stuff. We need things to work properly LOL

What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

City Living has gotten the most focus from me. It’s SO much fun to go thrifting, go to festivals, and I love apartments. I’m sure I’ll love Island Living but I haven’t gottten to explore it yet.

[witcherscreenshotsdump]

mod project progress! ✔️-> finished ⭐-> progress has been made ⭕ -> on hold

@ningnomaningnong oh a list ! yeah that could be a good idea to list out all my projects,( for me too, so i don’t get lost in the mountain of projects i have :’D )

the one i’m working on right now is the alternate outfit for Syanna inspired by Anna Valerious’ outfits ✔️

i’m also working on a new hairstyle for my Angoulême model, it’s well on it’s way but i’m not satisfied with the headband  ✔️

hairstyles for Ciri:

short cropped ‘mistle’ styled

ashen messy hair

the long ‘ alypre’ hair model ✔️

the ‘jinx’ hairstyle

the braided ponytail

the child ciri ‘actually look like herself ‘ face model ⭐

the witcher 2 faces for both Ves and Triss

 the poet shirt for Jaskier

the Eva green face model for Yen

the rework of the lore friendly Blue dress for Triss

the long hairstyle for Eskel (  i have another version ready for game import but i have to actually do it ) ⭐

the Regis dressed down mod ⭐, i also want to make him alternate outfits, something closer to the books ( love the idea of him with an apron ) but maybe something very fancy too idk yet, maybe i’ll do both 

then i have the Yennefer lore friendly wardrobe ones :

Maribor torso ( started, currently in WIP folder )

Wyzima torso   ✔️

some witcher armors for Ciri :

Cat ( started, currently in WIP folder )

Manticore ✔️

Viper ⭐( started, currently in WIP folder )

Griffin ⭐( started, currently in WIP folder )

i’m thinking about doing a Skellige style mod for both Yennefer and Triss too, but it’s not started yet ( beside the early draft of an hairstyle for yen )

i may do a Nilfgaard style too for Ciri and triss, Yen not sure yet

i would LOVE to do the ‘hexer’ actors like I did the netflix ones :

Michał Żebrowski’s Geralt face is started and it looks cool in blender but i’m dreading the game import :’)

Grażyna Wolszczak’s  Yennefer is also started but i’m going to redo it all over because she looked AWFUL in game, that poor woman

Zbigniew Zamachowski’s  Jaskier isn’t started yet but i’m looking forward to it

⭕ for the netflix crowd i still have the netflix triss mod to update with the new dress and hair option, also would like to redclothify the blue dressthen the other characters models i had planned but never had the strenght to start lmao: netflix dijkstra, philippa  maybe ciri and jaskier complete with outfits and hair ( maybe an outfit and hairstyle for the yennfer mod too idk ) not gonna lie it’s not a priority for me ⭕

the Dicks out for temeria mod check this ask for the list ( minus Avallach who is already out ) ( Eredin’s model is started but i’ll need SBUI for further testing ) ⭐

an alternate outfit for Evelyn Gallo based on Evangeline season 2 outfit from wakfu ⭐ ( near finished )

lady echo model from wakfu season 4 ⭐ ( started )

the romance swaps like i did with Ves, Tomira is next and i’ve finished all the new assets ( fancy bun for parties, custom hood,naked body, party outfit ) all that is left to do is making the swaps ✔️

the Play As Iorveth mod that i desesperatly want but i have to actually work on it to have it :’) ( the mod is fuctional but needs a lot of polishing! V.0.2 is now in WIP folder ) ⭐

then the source mods, omg the source mods i want to make so many of them D’:

Cahir ⭐ ( re-re-re-re started from scratch AGAIN )

but there’s all the others:

Essi daven ⭐ ( not started, STARTED  looking forward to do it because i never see her depicted like i imagined her so either i read the book wrong/have bad memory, or it is another ‘rhino’ experience or maybe i just imagined her slightly differently either way it could be fun  )

Eithné ( started )

Lara dorren ⭐ ( near finished )

Cregennan of Lod

Neneke

Jarre ( started kinda, i have a face/hair initially for Cahir that would be better on him

Borch three jackdaw/téa/véa ( started, well i have a start of a tea or vea Hairstyle, that’s it lmao )

Vilgefortz

Tissaia de Vries

Mève of lyria ( based on thronebreaker ) ✔️

Gascon Brossard ⭐ issues with exporting a needed model ⭕

Reynard Odo ⭐

The rats and Ciri as Falka ( started, only mistle hair for now, also have an old falka hairstyle for ciri but it’s wonky )

some female dwarves ( started)

iorveth ( started )

✔️ also started making child Syanna and Annarietta models, maybe i will make more child characters it’s useless but fun ( started but can’t continue due to mesh exporting problems ) ✔️

i probably forgot some and it doesn’t count the new ideas i consistantly get   😂

[toomanyfandoms02]

Evidence // Spencer Reid x Reader

HEY guess who's back. I'm SO SO SO sorry for the delay. I've been having the most SERIOUS case of writers block and I'm finally pulling myself out of it YAYYYY. So here ya go.

Not a request, but I couldn't resist this prompt!

Summary - Spencer and Reader get locked in the evidence room.

Prompt - “What on earth happened in here?"

Word count - 2.9k

Spencer and I often stayed after together to finish up work. We didn't like to have to wake up so early to make touch ups. So here we were, sitting on the floor in the back of the evidence room. We were sat behind tall filing cabinets, a dim lamp lit beside us.

We were working a case in Arizona involving 3 girls. It was running relatively smooth, the problem was that the police station that we were placed at was in the middle of nowhere. And that was proven by the signal warning on my phone.

*unable to send message.*

Good thing it wasn't anything important.

There were multiple pages sprawled out in front of us, we looked between them all.

"I don't think we will have to stay too long after today." I commented. "It looks like we are working pretty fast this time around."

"I guess we're getting the hang of this " Spencer laughed, writing something down.

*click*

I craned my neck around the cabinets, wondering if someone was coming in the door. Seeing no one, I turned back to him, shrugging my shoulders.

We continued for another hour (and 28 minutes by Spencer's count). I stacked the papers together, shutting them in a folder and tucking it under my arm. I stood from my previous position, stretching my back.

"That's enough sitting on a concrete floor for me." I complained, hunching over and dragging myself to the door. This earned a laugh from Spencer. I reached for the knob, eager to get to the hotel and sleep.

But the knob only jiggled.

And jiggled.

And didn't budge.

"Uh. I think, I think the door is locked." I whispered, turning to Spencer slowly.

"No way." He stated, lightly pushing me out of the way. I listened as he jiggled it, desperately trying to turn the door knob. His head was placed against the glass, hands framing his eyes while he looked out the small doors window. "The lights are all off out there. I think they are on night patrol."

"Well this is thrilling." I laughed, slumping onto the floor. I pulled my phone from my pocket, holding it in the air and attempting to call Emily. The call started, my excitement being crushed by a warning on my phone.

*Your call cannot go through at the moment, we are unable to find a signal.*

Well fine then.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?" He asked.

"If there was anyone that knows how to pick a lock, I thought it would be you."

"Why?" His posture looked stiff and offended.

"You know everything." I deadpanned offering a dumb look. He rolled his eyes at this and sat down across from me. "Do you think we'll die in here?" I asked nonchalantly. Spencer squinted his eyes at me.

"Well statistically, no." And that's all he said.

"Is that all you got?"

"I'm too tired to ramble." He groaned. His head was leaned back on a cabinet. "But I will say that on average night patrols and at around 3:30 to 4 am. So we have quite a few hours to kill." The clock on the wall read 11:17. Yeah, we had some time to kill.

"Alright, we aren't just gonna sit here. We are gonna play games, I can't stand to sit in silence." Spencer sat up slightly, flashing me a confused look.

"Like what?"

"We are going to start with would you rather. I'll start." My head started sorting through all of the would you rather questions I had been asked that I loved and found the perfect one for this genius.

"Would you rather lose the ability to read or the ability to speak." I watched as he opened his mouth to answer then closed it, thinking again. I thought this would be a pretty obvious answer for him.

"I think I would lose the ability to speak. I could do nearly everything the same. I would just have to write my findings down." He sat in thought for a moment. "Would you rather have unlimited international first class tickets or never have to pay for food at restaurants?" I was thoroughly surprised by the question.

"That's a good one! I definitely want to travel, but I do eat a lot... First class tickets. I want to see ancient ruins, can't walk to them." I laughed. We played this game for around 10 more minutes before getting extremely bored of it.

"Alright enough of this." I groaned, coming up with a new idea. "We are gonna play two truths and a lie. Pretty straight forward, I'll start and you try to guess which one is a lie." Spencer nodded and waited. "I broke my leg while falling from a tree when I was 9, I've had a crush on someone on the team, and I once ate nerds candy for a whole week when I was 7 and had to get my stomache pumped." The last one had his eyebrows furrowing. I remained still and emotionless so he couldn't read me as well.

"I completely believe that you ate candy for a week and had to get medical attention as a result." He pointed out oh so graciously. "And you're a total klutz too, so it wouldn't surprise me if you broke your leg. Plus I think I'd know if you ever liked someone on the team. Final answer you've never had a crush on anyone on the team." He looked so smug in the moment, this just got me more pumped to wipe that smile from his face.

"Nope." As expected, his face immediately fell.

"Who did you like!" Spencer's arms were flailing in exasperation.

"I don't have to tell you that." I chuckled. "Now you go." My foot kicked his lightly, egging him on. He gave a glare and moved on reluctantly.

"I'm afraid of the dark, the only reason I drink coffee is because I had a crush on a girl who liked it, and I drank 11 cups of coffee one day and was up for 39 hours straight."

"You definitely drink coffee because you like it and not because of a girl, lie." There was no question about it, that would be a dumb reason to drink something.

"Actually that is why I drink coffee."

Huh?

"The lie is that I was up for 39 hours straight, I was only up for 35."

"Christ Spence!" I shook my head in disapproval. "Tell me about the girl." I could see his cheeks flush in the slightest. ~~Silently wishing that I could make him feel like that~~

"Her name was Josephine and she lived on my street. She and I would play chess together in the park whenever I wasn't studying, and she would bring a cup of coffee every day. Eventually, in my own way to impress her, I started bringing coffee too. And she liked that, but of course we drifted apart because of how fast my life was moving. It's unfortunate." He was staring down at his hands now. "You and her are very similar. I think that's why we've gotten so... close." That comment got me very curious.

"How were we alike? If you don't mind me asking."

"She was kind and funny, never let anyone down. And she was intelligent. Not only in personality either, you have the same color hair and eyes. I bet you guys would have gotten along really well." I could see him making his thinking face, I assume he was looking into past memories.

"That's so sweet." I kicked his foot with a smile, bringing him back to reality. "So, last round until we are playing the dreaded truth or dare ooooOooOooOooo." Spencer laughed and rolled his eyes. "I use to have a cat named Piglet because of how obsessed with Winnie the Pooh I was, my first boyfriends name was Spencer, and I play guitar."

"There is absolutely no way your first boyfriends name was Spencer, it's the 828th most popular name. That would be nearly impossible or a crazy coincidence." His hand gestured were out of this world at this point, completely flabbergasted that I would even try to tell him such a *lie*.

"Wrong again pretty boy, that's true. His name was Spencer Allen Sallow. The only reason I remember his middle name is because I remember his initials being 'SAS'. Are you ready for truth or dare?"

"I guess." He mocked annoyance and threw his head back.

"Ok, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"If you could make one wish, right this second, what would it be?" He stared at me intently for a moment, as if he was looking for the answer in me. He then lightly shook his head, it was so small, but hard to miss considering we were practically having a staring contest.

"I would wish for the door to be unlocked so I could sleep at the hotel." His head nodded.

"Boring, I choose dare." I was now sitting much closer to him, waiting for whatever that beautiful brain could come up with. Spencer looked to the papers on the floor and then back at me, an evil smirk forming on his lips.

"Do a snow angel in our paperwork." My shoulders slumped.

"What if I rip something!" I wouldn't usually whine like this but *geez* I did not want to redo all this.

"Just be careful then." I looked at him with a pleading look. "Oh so you're *boring*." That's what got me.

"**Fine!**" I slowly lowered myself onto the papers, flattening out and looking up to Spencer, he was hovering over me slightly in a criss-crossed position with that evil smirk. His hands gestured me on.

I laid my arms and legs and and moved them, hearing the paper scrape against the floor and giggling. I had to admit, it was fun. And if having fun with Spencer meant I had to redo a few papers.

Then so be it.

I sat up after Spencer told me I'm done through fits of laughter, holding his stomache and nearly toppled flat on the floor. I looked around happily to see most papers were only crinkled, not ripped. I'll just have to flatten them out tomorrow.

"Okay asshat, truth or dare." He tapped his chin, looking daring for once.

"Dare." Perfect.

"Serenade me." I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched his face fall.

"With just my voice?"

"Oh no no, I have an instrument, the bag I carry with us on cases is like a never ending bag." I reached into the giant bag and pulled out a ukelele case, but not an *ordinary* uke case, a *mini* uke case. "Can you play ukelele?" I pulled it from the case, handing it over to him.

"No, but I may be able to pick it up."

"So you will actually serenade me!?" I got my hands ready to clap.

"Sure, why not." I clapped infinitely fast, watching him pluck at the strings a bit and lean back into the cabinets. Then he started on a beat, one that I recognized.

"Put your head on my shoulder, hold me in your arms, baby. Squeeze me oh so tight. Show me that you love me too." I listened to him through the whole song, knowing full well that as soon as he was strumming that ukelele I was already done for.

"How did I do?" He strummed the last chord and look up at me with a smile.

Oh how I wanted to tell him that he serenaded me to the sun and back.

"That was amazing! You learned that om the spot?"

"Yeah, like piano. It's basically just math and note remembrance." He shrugged, setting it back in my case. "Truth or dare."

"Truth."

"What's the first thing on your bucket list and your biggest secret?"

"You can't ask two questions, that's cheating!" I laughed.

"You technically never specified that so, answer."

This little shit.

"Fine. The first thing on my bucket list has been the same since I was an 8th grader, which is to fall in love. And I know that's cliche but I'm sticking to it." I didn't want to tell him my biggest secret. Truth be told I had a pretty normal life, so my biggest secret was my attraction to him. After telling my mom about it she told me workplace romances were dangerous and wrong, so I tried so hard to get over it. But it's not going away, it's doing anything but that.

"Come on y/n, I'm not going to judge you for your secret."

Yeah uh huh, sure.

"It's embarrassing, and I would prefer not to tell you in a locked room so I can immediately escape after I tell you. So can I just tell you when the door gets unlocked?"

"It can't be that bad."

"It is."

"Please Y/n!"

"I like you!" His mouth shut quickly, tilting his head like a confused puppy. Now that I had given out my biggest secret, I felt a little... powerful. I crossed my arms firmly over my chest, maintaining eye contact, my heart pounding out of my chest. He wanted the truth and he got it, I hope he's happy to be stuck with me in this room for another hour and a half.

"Really?" Was all he could say.

"No. I just said that I could have awkward tension swirling around the room for the next hour, I love doing that." I replied in the most monotone voice I could muster. A very faint smile was appearing on Spencer's face, making me a little nervous. He quirked one eyebrow.

"Are you sure it's not sexual tension?"

What?

My eyebrows raised at the question. Was he... flirting with me? I didn't know he knew how to do that, let alone so *well*. He began speaking again.

"Truth or dare?"

"It's my turn to ask you."

"Truth. Or. Dare." Who knew Mr. Sweatervest could seem so intimidating.

"Dare."

"I dare you to act on your biggest secret." Is this some weird way to make me kiss him, because it's working. If we aren't on the same page, this is about to get Mega embarrassing, but I don't think this could get any weirder. I crawled forward, placing myself on his lap and staring into his eyes. I've never seen him smile so big.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Actually no, this is awful you should really stop." He deadpanned, lightly placing his hands on my hips.

"One, since when do you use sarcasm. And two, I hate you." I giggled, pulling his face to mine. One of his hands fled to my cheek, rubbing his thumb across it. He pressed further into the kiss, all while pulling me impossibly closer.

Is this real?

I pulled one hand away from his face, putting it on the skin of my thigh and pinching myself.

"Ouch shit!"

And apperantly I don't know my own strength.

"Are you okay?" Spencer's face was a wave of concern, scanning over my face quickly to make sure he didn't do something wrong.

"Yeah I was just, pinching myself to make sure this was real." I lifted my hand to his shoulder, resting it there.

"Why? Is this like a lot of your dreams?" He winking obviously at me as I slapped his chest.

"Please stop." I whined, pulling myself off of his lap. "I'm very tired and we still have an hour left, are you up for a cat nap?" I pulled a blanket from my bag. "We can use this as a pillow, it's already pretty hot in here."

"Definitely." I made it into a pillow, giving him enough room. He slung his arm around me, burying his head in the crook of my neck. "Thank you for telling me. And for the record, I wouldn't want to be locked in a room with anyone else." And with many papers scattered messily around us, we fell asleep.

-

I shot up, hearing voices I knew all too well.

"What the hell is happening, since when it pretty boy a playboy."

"Finally! Now y/n can stop silently pining and telling me about it."

"I knew those two had chemistry."

I blinked slowly, trying to release the sleep from my eyes. Spencer's sleepy arm was still wrapped around my waist, unmoving. Once my eyes adjusted I was met with the staring eyes of Derek, Garcia and Emily. Then there was Hotch, just entering the room.

“What on earth happened in here?"

"We got locked in here and played some innocent party games." I explained gesturing to the messy papers. "Spencer dared me to make a snow angel in our files." I smiled sheepishly. Spencer was now stirring awake, sitting up and looking at our teammates. Derek held out his hand for a fist bump and Spencer highfived it weakly.

"Told you you would rope her in." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes at the comment and stood up.

"Let's finish up this case. We've only had 1 hour of sleep and I want this day to be over with already. Save the comments for when I'm asleep on the jet." And with that we were off.

But let's not ignore that Spencer and I's hands were clasped beneath every table we sat at that day, it's not to be ignored.

And I won't be forgetting that day any time soon.

[randomwords247]

Cuz people said yes, here’s the sketch, thumbnail and an alternate thumbnail for the title page! (as well as it feat: the old words and no lighting or background)

First picture is the sketch, second is the thumbnail, third is the alternate and fourth is added bonus uwu

I loooveee talking about the process of things, and seeing others talk about their process. It’s so much fun seeing how something was made!!!

Rambling about my experience/process below the cut!!

I knew since the comics gonna be about Future Hilda and, well, the Time worm of course, that I wanted the page to be around them as a main focus. I had a few ideas and, originally did the alternate thumbnail. I wanted her to maybe be on the timeworm and be nervous because heck timeworm. But I wasn’t liking how the pose felt, it felt stiff and like there wasn’t as much stakes sorta thing

So then I started thinking about the moment in the show where Hilda is being chased through all the different time portals by the worm. And I added the other two hildas (added being theyre stick figures JHASDHJDAS)

I liked this one the most and went with it, starting to do the sketches themselves! Figuring out the placements for the rest of the worm was hard and I did have a few hidden layers of messing around to see what worked and what didnt - this was a problem that bugged me even into lineart. But I do like what I settled on. Could I have done better? Probably, but I did like it Tildy was a late addition cuz of how I was struggling with the worms jhasdjhdas

Lineart was really fun, and wasn’t too difficult - I struggled a bit with future hilda and had to redo some bits like the eyes to make them look right, but honestly?? It was jolly fun XD

I actually found out as I was tryna get a colour reference for the time worm, that it hecking changes colour. Like. It goes from white and blue  and sorta gradients into this red and sorta light yellow-orange colour. WHICH IS REALLY COOL IMO but it also made it a lil more difficult cuz I had to figure out what colours to do where and all, and I could only do the gradient once. I fiddled with the gradients and the colours a LOT, trying out different colours, even going darker then what they were in the show at one stage.

Then came. *hisses* the portals. Goodness gracious figuring out how to make them look right was a right job and a half. I started at around 4 am (I’m on night shift so my wake/sleep cycle is reverse don’t worry I didn’t pull an allnighter-) and had finished them by around... 10 am? Judging from my discord messages asking one of my friends for opinions JSAHDHJDAS.

I fiddled around with them a LOT and tried a lot of different things, many of which ended up being deleted becuz I had to try and keep my layer count down so it wasn’t too cluttered/confusing. I do really like the way they turned out in the end, and I got into a decent method for doing them, but goodness gracious it was a difficult one to figure out. I did like a different layer for each colour - one for the light colour inside, one with low opacity for the inside, the white outside, the glow, then a colour on top to make sure it gave off a specific colour light. As well as that I had to make a seperate layer for the parts of the worm interacting with the portals so that I could smoothly make it look like it was inside of them - that was also kinda difficult

THEN CAME LIGHTING! This part was FUN. For everything I covered it in a very dark purple turned down to I believe 66% opacity, since everything would be mostly shadows - I then went through and erased where I felt light would probably hit. I used a smoother brush for the worm, since it was bigger and moved further away so the light wouldnt be as hard on it. And it looked nice jhashjsd.

Then, using another clipping mask layer, I individually added a small gradient of the portal colour - so it seemed more believable that that was what was giving out the light. It was a really nice finishing touch honeslty

So, while I know theres a lot I probably could’ve done better, I honestly had a blast and I’m gonna be starting on sketching out the first page to figure that out. I’ve only been thumbnailing things recently, maybe a month??? Or so??? I’m not sure, but I can definitely reccomend it - it helps with figuring out the poses without ruining a well done sketch, and definitely helped me out with this a lot.

Honestly I’d say at the end of the day, have fun, try and experiment, and use references!!! I had a whole folder of files with references up, from Future Hilda to Tildy to the Time Worm to the portals themselves, each of which I had at least 2-3 references for. It helps a lottttt

Uh if you read this far then thanks!! Sorry bout the rambling ^^’‘

[potterlovemail]

Math Tutor - Drarry Headcanon

(modern au)

Harry Potter wasn’t the brightest student in his classes. Throughout highschool, he managed to be pretty decent in his studies; he had B’s, and rarely any D’s. This pleased his parents greatly— though, they never really were strict on grades, they simply wanted Harry to live on happily and become whatever he wanted to in the future.

James is a professor at Hogwarts University. Basically Duke, but aim just a tad bit lower. Hogwarts was known for having many gifted students attend; no person was the same as the last. It seemed everyone had their own interests.

Though, Harry had no idea what he was going to do. He thought about teaching like his father, but it seemed far fetched. He could hold his own in class, teaching on the other hand— no. Harry hated teaching. Those times teachers would ask him to explain his answer, his mind almost always went blank. Maybe he was nervous, or perhaps he just disliked explaining himself. He’d put the future aside for now. There are more important things to be worrying about.

First day on campus, and they’ve been given their roommate’s name. Harry didn’t really mind having a roommate; just as long as they weren’t horribly annoying. He’d have to share a room with someone named Draco Malfoy. He had no idea who the hell that was. Harry had heard of the Malfoy name— apparently, they funded Hogwarts for a little bit. They were wealthy, Harry knew that much.

On the first knock, who supposedly is Malfoy answers the door. Harry didn’t know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t this. Malfoy was darn gorgeous. That’s right, Harry was into blokes, and what are the odds that he landed a room with someone as attractive as that.

“Holy shit,” Were the first and only words to leave the stunned male’s mouth. “Nice to meet you too,” Malfoy stepped out of the way so Harry could walk in and drag his luggage along. He does so reluctantly, eyes trailing Malfoy. Malfoy’s eyes were grey, and it was pretty much the most beautiful shade of grey Harry had ever seen. Oh, boy, he was crushing big time.

“You’re staring. Is there something on my face or are you just surprised that I’m your roommate?” Malfoy’s voice cuts through his thoughts. The blond knew where he was at the Popularity charts. “Well- I.. actually didn’t even know who you were till now,” Harry tries his best to stand his ground and not stammer. “I mean i’ve heard of the Malfoy name, of course,” His heavy feet crossed the room, heading to the empty bed which Harry assumed was his. Malfoy had pretty much unpacked everything. His bed looked expensive compared to Harry’s; the mattress looked fluffier, and just comfortable while Harry’s looked flat, and plain. Maybe Malfoy had paid them.

“Alright then. You stay on your side and mind your business, and we’ll be fine,” Malfoy states calmly, sitting down on his bed with a proper posture. Harry couldn’t stop himself from looking just a little bit longer. This seemed promising.

A week of sharing a room, and the two males realized that they literally were opposites. Harry’s closet looked like a jungle compared to Malfoy’s. Even the dark haired male’s hand writing was put to shame with Malfoy’s bloody cursive writing. Damn rich people.

Harry wasn’t proud of it, but they’d argued sometimes. Mainly it was Malfoy complaining about how Harry took too long in the bathroom, and how Harry had used up all of the shampoo. Their mornings usually went like this, and they parted ways for their classes sharing insults.

“Git.” Harry walked out the door first, trotting down the hall to get to his class, bag clutched tightly in one arm. “Prat!” Malfoy bellowed, just enough for Harry to hear as he speed walked. It was hilarious to the blond. Despite this, Harry was still crushing. How could he not? Malfoy just seemed so.. perfect. Gosh, it was still a shock how he had managed one week without throwing himself on the male. If he did that he’d probably be sent to the nurses with a broken nose, or maybe a concussion. He didn’t even know if Draco liked guys.

Second semester, and Harry was having serious problems with Math. Math wasn’t his best subject— it was definitely his worst. One particular evening, Harry’s jotting down notes messily and trying badly to recall everything. He has an exam in about 4 days. He’s so focused, he doesn’t even realize that Malfoy was watching him.

“You seem like you’re actually thinking. It’s hurting to watch,” Malfoy snorts, and Harry’s head snaps up to glare at him. “I’m doing my best to study. I’m not stupid, alright?” He rolls his eyes, averting his gaze back to his near crumpled folder paper. “I didn’t call you stupid. Not really. But, I could help you with that,” The blond offers. “And why would you want to do that?” Harry’s interested, definitely. He would never pass up on that, he really needed the help, but he also wanted to know what Malfoy was up to.

“Just cause. And i’m bored, the poor need my help.” Only Malfoy could make Harry as irritated as this— yet the dark haired male wouldn’t act on his annoyance. He didn’t want to make their ‘friendship’ worse than it was, and besides, he wants to be more than just silly roommates and friends. “Fine. Help me,” Harry groaned, crossing his legs as Malfoy made his way over to him. “Great. Now scoot.”

Malfoy wasn’t a bad teacher, or rather, tutor, at all. He helped Harry with things he couldn’t wrap his head around, and even took the time to explain it thoroughly. Harry couldn’t tell if Malfoy was just showing off, or trying to help.

Harry’s heart felt as if it’d leap up his throat any moment; they’d never been this close to each other. Knees made contact, shoulders touching briefly as Malfoy pointed to certain equations. Malfoy’s hand brushing against his as he stole away Harry’s pencil to demonstrate. All of this made Harry slowly insane.

“You look a little pink. Don’t tell me you’ve got a fever of some sort,” Malfoy comments, pausing his very useful tutoring. “I’m fine, peachy,” Harry shrugged, knowing damn well the blush on his face only deepened.

He was going to die if he didn’t make a move soon.

Harry decides that a week later is when he’ll make the first move. Was it probably the scariest thing he’d ever done? Yes. Merlin, yes. Harry was never an open romantic, he didn’t give out much hints. It was because he just didn’t want to be rejected, but he strongly felt he had a chance with Malfoy. For whatever reason.

So, this is how he did it. “Hey, I need you to errr.. explain this one again to me.” Harry asked, fidgeting with the pencil in his hand. “Sure.” Malfoy peered at the paper, expecting a complex equation ready to be explained, but he was met with something different. Harry had written, ‘You’re cute’ just underneath his notes. Malfoy fought back a smile, looking back up at Harry. “Everyone tells me,” He cooed, and Harry nearly groaned out in frustration.

That’s right, how was he supposed to flirt with the gracious Malfoy; who’s expectations were as high as skyscrapers and the Eifell Tower.

“Thanks.” Draco muttered, breaking eye contact. Harry blinked; it hadn’t gone so badly.

He keeps it up, writing down small compliments where Draco could easily spot them. Each time he did, he knew he was getting somewhere— because Draco had become different. He wasn’t purposely insulting the dark haired male, and if he did, it was jokingly. Harry felt like he was floating. This was all he’d ever wanted since the first day he’d walked in and blurted out, ‘holy shit.’

He hadn’t even realized how fucking amazing Draco’s laugh was till he was the one who had made him laugh. At the end of the day, Harry had finally asked him out. ‘I really think we could make this work. Not the math— but, you and me. What do you say?’ Harry had tried his best to make his handwriting neat and decipherable.

“Hmm.. well, I’m not sure. If I dated Potter would that ruin my reputation? Most likely, yes.. “ Draco looked up at the ceiling as he talked to himself, and Harry gulped. “But, I don’t give a fuck,” The blond adds, and Harry lips curve upwards, later breaking into a wide grin. “So then..?”

“Yes. Prat, I’ll go out with you,” Draco’s rather angelic laugh comes out again, and suddenly, Harry’s kissing him. Draco kisses back quickly, and it’s like a fire lit in both of their stomachs. It was the spark that Harry had been longing for.

Sadly, even after all of that studying, Harry managed to get a 73/100 on the semester finals. Not too shabby, but Draco would definitely have him redo his notes.

[ommsims]

story process challenge

i was tagged  by @xldkx​​ to do this challenge, created by @herpixels​​​ , like a month? a month and a half? ago and it’s been sitting half finished in my drafts for nearly as long. *sigh* (regardless, i love stuff like this so even if it takes me forever to get to it, i appreciate the tags! 💕). 

i decided to answer all the qs because it took me damn long enough to get to this, so i might as well put some extra elbow grease into it (plus it was fun!). btw it’s all going under a cut b/c it is long. i apologize in advance.

1. My Writing Process - used to be a hot damn mess. literally word docs strewn throughout my pc. However, I recently switched to using Onenote (it’s what i use to organize my d&d campaign notes) and hoo-boy is it so much nicer. this is how it’s set up and it’s honestly night and day. i can have a page with outlines, a page to organize & order screenshots, and a separate page for drafting text, and i can easily toggle though them without having to switch windows? a big thumbs up from me.

When it comes to actual writing- I used to write my drafts in novel format, which i enjoyed but it made “converting” them into tumblr posts time consuming and frustrating. I ended up scrapping most of the text in the process, retaining pretty much only the dialogue. 

Anyway, nowadays I write in more of a screenplay format: dialogue only + key scene information with the occasional note to self. 

I do keep a master “arcs” page with key events and each individual character’s arc from beginning to end and secondary “outline” pages with slightly more detailed outline for each leg of the project. No screencaps b/c spoilers galore! 

My typical work flow process for a scene goes: (1) brainstorm scene ideas, (2) take screenshots, (3) organize screenshots into a rough storyboard, (4) add 1st draft of text, (5) edit photos, (6) edit text, (7) upload to "drafts” here on tumblr, (8) let sit for a bit (9) take a final look at things/proofread and edit as needed. It may sound counterintuitive, but i find it much easier to write dialogue for a set of images rather than attempt to take images based on prewritten text. I feel more comfortable editing and tweaking tone and content in the text this way. Otherwise, I get frustrated when I “can’t” shoot a scene exactly as it appeared in my head.

2. How I build my scenes - A lot of what i do is rooted in gameplay, therefore my sets are usually (a) play-tested and (b) not super pretty. I’ve certainly improved at decorating & building over the years but more often than not I download lots off tumblr and the gallery because I don’t have the patience, aptitude, or time to build all of my own sets. That being said, I frequently gut builds only to build a number of completely unrelated mini sets inside to reduce the number of times i have to replace lots. I also keep a list of “important locations” and where certain characters live / will move to, to help keep this all straight as there aren’t nearly enough lots per neighborhood or even per world in this damn game...

my least favorite part of scene building is actually decorating. lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love clutter. I honestly do. but fuck me if i expect myself to spend hours meticulously decorating a set, spend another 3 hours toggling back and forth b/w BB & live modes adjusting things to get rid of the damn routing errors. (yeah, yeah, i know i could ignore them, they’re not important, especially in those scenarios where i’m using a set for screenshots and nothing else, but idk. it really grinds my gears.) and then have to replace the lot like a week later because there aren’t enough lots in the game. *sigh*

3. CC/Pose Making - i do not consider myself to be a cc creator nor a pose maker but i do dabble occasionally. And to be completely honest i’d much rather spend my time doing other stuff, so it’s not high on my list of priorities atm. plus there are so many talented cc creators in this community; i can usually get by with what’s already out there.

4. Getting in the zone - Honestly, I do a lot of brainstorming for plot & dialogue in the shower. I don’t have any particular playlists to get me “in the writing mood” but I do enjoy listening to music as I work. Either instrumental stuff or simply artists/songs I like. If something just so happens to “fit” a scene I’m working on, one i’ve got planned, or even just gives me vibes for a certain character or group, I add a quick note to the top of said scene’s draft. Most of the time I stick it in the recesses of my brain and add a quick link when I finally get to the point of posting the draft to tumblr. For whatever reason, when I have one of those “oh this song is perfect for X” moments it’s essentially ingrained in my mind for the rest of eternity. 

5. The screenshot folder - this will most likely give some of you out there major anxiety. but i swear it’s an organized chaos. :)

yep. 32.9gb of screenshots & related things... 

So with the raws from a single random scene selected, you can see i take roughly 10 screenshots per image posted. not terrible i guess but i’m working on it. Typically I take screenshots and once I’m done editing a scene I’ll move them from the general folder to a more specific project folder.

6. Captions - I’ll answer this in three parts:

for my townie story. not really. I prefer using the text box. I tend to write (& re-write) the dialogue for each one of these scenes several times over as I add more “scenes” into my drafts. It would be incredibly inefficient, time consuming, and would waste a lot more space on my pc to have to save .psds of each image just so i could edit dialogue when I decide: “oh hey maybe so and so needs to bring up X in this scene” and then change my mind an hour later.

for niko, noor, & co. I’m a text on image type gal here. don’t really know why, but it gives the project a different energy. ironically it makes it feel more laid-back to me. which i guess makes sense, it’s a much more light-hearted “story” than my townie project. which is, imo, very soapy haha.

for legacy stuff. all text goes below the images in the text box. reasoning: it’s gameplay, I don’t brainstorm, outline, or pre-write for this. I play the game, take screenshots, plug ‘em into my drafts and write some commentary / dialogue to go along with it.

7. Editing - i am a creature of habit and have not majorly changed my editing process in probably a year and a half (when I began using reshade and had to adjust my color correcting psd). it’s a super basic system:

drag & drop my “color correction” psd.

run actions in ps. (i made my own “all-in-one” actions to really streamline the process; i have different “actions sets” for my premades’ story and for other things that get posted to tumblr. even if no one else notices it, i like the little details that keep my projects separate and “identifiable”. 

voila. all set to upload.

sometimes i crop images, add “text effects”, or do more in depth editing (i.e. editing a phone screen or adding rain etc.) but overall i try and keep it simple for myself. 

8. Throwback - i posted an image of one of the first (but never posted) scenes I’d written for my townie project up above. but as for how would i redo a scene i’d already posted. well i’m currently re-doing my townie story so i guess i’ll just say you’ll see how it’s redone when i get to part 1! 😉

anyway, no tags because i’m so embarrassingly late to this party but if you hadn’t gotten around to this tag, wanted to do it but didn’t get a tag, or started it and left it to sit and now you’re thinking “oh god that was months ago should i even post this anymore?!?” consider yourself tagged by me and go ahead and post it for all to see!

[werejusttouchingeachother]

DUBAI 2019 [August 28th, 5:00AM]

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 T/W: cursing Words: 2446 A/N: its... the final chapter. i hope it isn’t too disappointing and i can’t believe i just finished my first series (altho short) on here. this is a big moment and i’d wait longer to upload it but it seems right to do it on KyoongDay. for anyone and everyone who’s been with me through the whole ride, @realllllrica​ @jongins-laceglove​, @mongryong-the-corgi​ for hitting me up constantly with feedback, @hkynm​ for the constant support and discussions about baek and writing, @exosnet​ @bbh-net​ for all the support, silent supporters like @baekyoonbi​ @tiredgirltingz​ @lolii-moon​ (YES I SEE AND LOVE ALL OF YOU) and even the anons who reached out and everyone else, i love all of you and thank y’all so so much, may all your lives be filled with the same warmth and happiness that Baekhyunee emits ☀️💕

Dubai International Airport

His hands are nervously drumming against the handle of his luggage as he looks around while you quickly respond to Seoyeon’s text. You push your phone back into your pocket, swallowing slightly as you catch Baekhyun’s gaze from where he stands next to the car while Manager unloads all the bags from the trunk.

It had only been two nights ago when you’d taken Baekhyun to Trance and shown him all of Dubai. Earlier that day, you’d almost broke down as he left your office and thought that you were having a rerun of what happened at New York.

And yet, you didn’t. It felt like ages ago and it killed you now because as you gazed at him, you wished you could redo it all again just to relive every moment with him, the good and even the bad if only it meant to be in his arms again.

No matter how many times you’d been through this, it killed you every time you had to watch him leave.

You sighed as Baekhyun gave you a smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. Jongin elbowed your side and you turned to the tall man, giving him a small smile as he cocks his head in the direction of Baekhyun.

“Go hug him before he starts crying,” Jongin teases and Baekhyun glares at him, already opening his mouth to curse at him. You grab his hand before he can and drag him around the Prado car, taking him to the front that’s facing the wall for some privacy as you look at him.

“Hey,” you say, cupping his cheeks with your hands. “Don’t stress so much. It’s okay. I’ll fly down sooner than you think, okay? You’ll be busy with SuperM and all the shows at America for a while anyway so forward your schedules to me and we’ll figure something out. Okay?”

He nods, sighing softly in between your hands as his gaze drops to the floor. You squeeze his cheeks slightly and his gaze darts back up as you mumble, “Eat properly, okay? I’ve told Jongin to tell me if you skip meals so you better not do it.”

“You too,” he rolls his eyes, pulling away from your hands and gripping them in his own instead. “You better not lose weight either.”

“You know I won’t. Seoyeon doesn’t let me.”

At this, he pouts. “Maybe you should come with me to monitor my eating and I won’t skip then.”

“Baekhyun.”

“Seoyeon can come too! To monitor you! We can form our own support triangle!”

“Shut up,” you laugh, shaking your head at him. He sighs as you encircle your arms around his slender waist, hugging him tightly to you.

“Soon,” you mumble softly. “I promise.”

Baekhyun holds you to him, asking, “Where’s your car?”

“The parking lot below this.”

“You can’t come see me off inside the airport, right?”

“No, the fans have been waiting for hours.” You look up then, tilting your head back to gaze at him. “Also, Dubai airport security is pretty strict so I can’t get very far inside without a ticket.”

Baekhyun sighs again before pulling back. You stare at each other in silence, eyes stinging slightly as you force yourself to not cry because you know if you did, it’d just hurt him and get him upset too which would then make you feel worse.

He doesn’t say anything as he leans forward, cupping your face and kissing you. You stumble back slightly as he leans his entire weight onto you, your back pressed up against the side of the care as his lips press into yours deeply in a way that you were certain he was savouring and cherishing each nanosecond, memorising it until the next time that your lips could meet again.

You hear someone clear their throat and Baekhyun pulls away reluctantly. He immediately crushes you to his chest again, hugging your head until you’re suffocating and you’re almost thankful that you can’t see him because you weren’t sure how much longer you could keep a grip over your emotions.

Baekhyun loosens his grip around you and you smile as you feel him gently kiss the top of your head before finally letting go. You smile up at him and he gives you one quick kiss before turning around.

You take in a shaky breath and step away from the car as Baekhyun quickly strides to Hyungnim, grabbing the passport and ticket from his hand as he headed for the glass doors at the right corner of the parking lot, leading to the airport. Jongin and Hyungnim turns to give you one last friendly wave and you nod at them with a smile as they follow him inside.

It was an unspoken agreement that both you and Baekhyun abided by—no matter how much it hurt, it always hurt a lot worse if you turned for one last glance so you both always left without looking back.

Your phone suddenly rings with the familiar notification bell saved for Baekhyun and you furrow your eyebrows, grabbing it from your pocket to check the message.

[4:13AM] So you may wanna check the backseat of your car for some pictures from a secret folder that I may have left for you to miss me.

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion as you read the message. Secret folder, what—

Your eyes widen as it strikes you what exactly he’s talking about and you quickly run to the right, leading to the stairs downstairs to where your car was parked.

You’re slightly panting as you unlock the car door, and dive into the backseat, closing the door behind you.

“Oh my god,” you breathe out when you notice a familiar beige box placed on the floor of the car, grabbing it and placing it on the seat.

You grin like an idiot as you open the Louboutin box, fingers finding a hard white paper and turning it to read his familiar handwriting:

Ha, fooled ya! ^^ I know you haven’t worn out the ones I gave you last time (I know everything, okay?) but I really put a lot of thought into this so I hope you use them well. Also, check the glove compartment for the secret folder photos kekekekeke

You mutter curses under your breath as you bite down on your lip to stop yourself from splitting your face open with your grin as you pull away the paper wrappings and gasp aloud when the shoes are finally revealed.

The first thing you notice is that they’re customised—a sleek red body covered with what appeared to be black lacing.

You peer closer and your eyes widen as you feel your heart stutter slightly.

The intricate designs adorning the lace were the exact same that you’d drawn by your own hand decades ago; your first design as a child: the half-circle sun you’d drawn in between two upside-down v’s that were mountains.

A design that was familiar and known to every kid whether artistic or not, it was the one you’d been most proud of as you incorporated it into your very first designs that you’d launched at Paris—both for children and adults, by developing the base circle and triangle into a more elaborate geometric pattern with bold and monochrome colours in a way that it struck as familiar and funky to everyone alike.

A detail you’d gushed about in passing, long ago to Baekhyun—not having expected for him to remember it.

You gaze at the red-soled heels in awe, exhaling softly in disbelief as you wonder how he even thought of doing this. The geometric designs added a beauty to the Louboutins that you didn’t even dream of, heightening its beauty with the complementing red-sole.

You glance at the note again, eyes falling on the last words and reminding you of the glove compartment.

Feeling too impatient to step out, you just throw your leg over the steering and climb to the front seat, grunting as you feel the gearshift hit your side in your hurry. You sit down with a heavy breath, mentally preparing yourself for the photographs of yourself that your insane boyfriend had, for some reason, thought would be hilarious to print them out for you.

“Byun Baekhyun, I swear to God,” you mutter under your breath, opening the glove compartment slowly. “If it’s the blowjob pictures, I’m gonna—”

You stop as you notice the familiar black album cover of City Lights that you were certain you’d last seen in your apartment, next to your sound system with the marker that Baekhyun had carelessly left without placing it back in the shelf.

Frowning in confusion, you take the photobook carefully, recognising it as the one without the photocards. You pull it to your lap, feeling the hard circular disk and opening the last page where it was, except now the shiny silver surface had been signed with the marker:

To my love, my soul and my heart My moon, Y/N

You smile as you read the words, fingers flipping through the photobook and suddenly, a paper falls out onto your lap.

Placing the photobook back in the compartment, you unfold the paper and start reading the letter:

I hope you’re happy cause I didn’t sign anywhere except on the disk, okay? I just wanted to write this because I know I don’t have enough time to tell you and there’s so much I want to say. I’m sure you remember this but the first time I left you in 2017, at Paris—I ran back to the airport’s parking lot and found you in your car just like how you probably are reading this right now, to confess to you for the first time. I knew it was too quick and I knew it might scare you but I wanted to say it anyway. We’ve always rushed, Y/N. I rushed to judge you at Paris, you rushed into a grudge because of my ignorant words. We both rushed at that power room and then we waited what seemed like forever to finally admit the truth to each other. We waited forever to kiss and god, we waited fucking centuries to have each other. I didn’t care when I finally told you I love you because I knew I didn’t want to wait anymore. Because I meant it. I meant it then and I mean it every day—on the many days that I drowsily say it at the end of a call, on the fewer days when we’re both so busy that we forget to remind it to each other, and on the even lesser days that I mumble it into your hair when I hold you close in my arms. I know you hate it when I apologise for the way things are because you say they’re already perfect as is, and I know that if I doubt it, I can always look at you and be reassured of the same. You see me as your beacon of hope, the sunlight in your darkness but you have no idea what you do to me, Y/N. You’re the strongest person I know. The first time I saw you at Paris, you’d been yelling at poor Jun Ki about the broken lights and I remember thinking that you were like some kind of ice queen in her own lair. And then as I pissed you off throughout the show, turned you on at the power room, watched you fall in love with me over tteokbokkis at Paris (okay, it was me who fell in love), I realised how much of a front you’ve put up all your life. And now, I realise how much you’ve grown ever since that first time I met you. Now I’m not crediting myself for it (maybe a little bit) but I like to think that I had something to do with warming all that ice down, melting it away with my light.

You call me your sunshine but you’re my moon, Y/N. Being blinded by these lights all the time, you’d think it’d be easier to see but there’s so many times when I feel lost and helpless, where I have to shine blindly in the direction of the cameras and just blindly smile, pretending that I’m okay. But then you’re there to hold me, you’re there to guide me with your light through the dark. You’re there to tell me that I am okay and I can finally believe it because I know you’re there, holding my hand in my dark that’s blinded by light. You think I shine down on your darkness but you guide me away from mine. There aren’t enough words in any language to ever express how much I love you for the comfort that you are, for the home that you’ve become. And even if there are, I don’t know half as many languages as you so this is the best I can do, okay?

I know you’re a lot better than you were when we first met but I still want you to take better care of yourself, Y/N. I trust Seoyeon to make sure that you aren’t skipping meals and I’ve told her about your little couch situation, so you better start sleeping on that bed, baby. You may not be a model on the runway but it’ll hurt your back and neck and you’re almost always on your feet during your shows so please sleep better. Listen to Jongdae in your room, if that helps (or I’ll make covers of his entire album and send it so you can listen to me instead. Yeah, I’ll do that. Delete his album, don’t listen to him in your room, he has his girlfriend for that). Also as much as I enjoyed your little Arabic tradition, please don’t do it too much. I looked it up and it DOES have tobacco and it IS harmful so you better find another activity to do when you’re stressed about work. Again, I’ve mentioned this to Seoyeon and I think she’s banned you from shisha so yeah, don’t be mad but I love you hehe ^^

My ice queen who became my moon, I love you and miss you already. Fly back to me as soon as you can. Always wanting to stroll more streets with you in yet another exotic city. Always wanting to listen to you throw shade on more tourist guides. Always waiting to be in your arms again.

Your favourite man in the world, Always your sunshine, Baekhyunnieee 'ㅅ'

[the end.]

[nostalgiaaftersimming]

Simming 2021 Goals

Nobody tagged me I just felt like doing this lol.

1. First thing’s first: fix the game so that it’s actually enjoyable to play again. The primary reason why I haven’t been playing TS2 is because it has a tendency to crash these days. I have a decent computer - it was specifically built for gaming - but for some reason it really doesn’t seem to like the ‘open world’ concept with TS2. I might have to close it up again or play in worlds with minimal decoration to help ease the problem.

2. Redo my mods folder. There are a couple of problems going on that are likely caused by mod conflicts (for example: my sims weren’t reacting to their partners cheating on them when it was right in front of them) that I haven’t gotten around to fixing. I should really get on that.

3. Cull some CAS CC. I did this with my build/buy CC recently, but I haven’t touched CAS because there’s no easy way to go about it and I’ve been dragging my feet because of it. c,: But it needs to be done. Especially if I’m going to go on another downloading rampage with all the shiny new cc that’s coming out these days as I’m wont to do.

4. Start work on a custom neighborhood, maybe? I’ve still got that alien city idea rattling around in my head. I’d really like to do it; I adore worldbuilding and think it’d be a lot of fun to create my own hood from scratch, and it’d give me something to update this blog with as I go through making the lots and the characters. Not to mention I wouldn’t be dealing with the majority of my CC whilst creating it, so the loading times will be glorious. 💜

That’s about it in terms of goals, I think. Of course, I’d like to share some gameplay too; I’m considering something small like the Asylum Challenge because I don’t wanna commit to a legacy challenge atm, haha. I’ve got an Idea for it that excites me, but oh god, it’s going to be absolute chaos on top of chaos. I look forward to suffering for everyone’s entertainment.

[fundielicious-simblr]

wips!

Hey y’all, author here (still feels weird calling myself that ngl) I was inspired by @meetthefundies​ post about pose making from a while back and decided I’d take the dive and finally get into cc making for the sims 4. It’s always something that I’d thought about, and with corona basically shutting everything down I’ve had ample time to try and learn how to do things. The whole of last month was basically a bunch of trial and error, YouTube watching, and Tumblr scrolling (coupled with my parents asking why I have pictures of random white people saved onto my google drive almost every other night 😂💀)

In the middle of august my dad caught corona, and so the government isolated my whole family and I in the house (he’s all better now thankfully) for 2 weeks, meaning I had 14 uninterrupted days of just coming up with different designs and trying to make things work. So this post is to basically just put out there what I’ve been working on, a few have made it into my game to be play tested, but so far only one has actually left CAS 😂 I know these are definitely major works in progress, but my anxiety means that I’d keep redoing things over and over again in an attempt at perfection while the rational side of me tells me that everyone has a starting point - this one is just mine. Anyway, I’m rambling (as usual), so let me just post the damn picture so I can go back to actually working on these pieces 😂😂

I’ll start with the casual clothes,

This is what I’m working on right now, ironically it’s the easiest thing I’ve done so far. This is essentially one of those ‘Snoga’ sports skirt things that fundies wear, this is the second round because the first had annoying clipping that meant I had to go in and change the design. If this one turns out fine enough then I will make different skirt/legging length combinations, but for now I just need this to be usable enough in game to warrant making different styles. 

Sleeveless frumper dress thing (I’ll sit down and come up with names for these later 😂) 

This was inspired by Anna Marie Maxwell and her #fabulous frumpers as well as the frumpers the Maxwells used to wear in the 2000s, I stalked the Maxwell blog right back to the beginning and just started saving pictures 💀 This is so far the only thing that’s made it into an actual game save, and you’ll be seeing a sim or two wearing this in different swatches in around a month since my queue is now below one month long. This dress is probably between the 8th and 10th attempt at making a basic frumper as this is what I started trying to make as I was trying to learn everything I could about making cc.

Basic short sleeved cheap looking dress (like I said, official names will come later 😂)

This your basic average amazon dress that fundies love ( a la bates sisters boutique style) I’m at that point where my instagram explore page thinks I’m a 14 year old Apostolic girl or a baptist mother of 8 looking to change my style, so I have a wealth of inspiration to choose from 😂 This is something I made and forgot about because I got excited about the exercise skirt almost working in game, meaning that this hasn't even made it into blender yet. 

Now we can move onto the formal stuff:

Ruffle mother of the bride/groom dress

This is my attempt on that blue ruffle dress that Kelly Jo Bates wore to Erin and Zach’s weddings. I initially tried to make it exactly like the dress she wore, but then I realised I was falling into the tendency of making things hard on myself unnecessarily 😂 This has made its way into CAS but there was some awkward clipping around the arms which I need to fix in blender, and will fix the textures before I can try and test it again.

Fishscale type dress 

Yup, you guessed it, this is my take on that dress. This made it into blender, but seeing the uv_0 layout made me go “eek” and distract myself with something else 💀 I’m probably going to go in and change the design, take some creative license and change the ‘fishscales’ around because there's only so much space in the uv map. 

Wedding Dress 1 aka the ‘Anna Marie’

I’ve highkey been calling this one the ‘Anna Marie’ in my folders because this wedding dress is directly inspired by hers (fyi: this link does take you directly to the Maxwell family blog, that web archive website is banned where I live and I’m not sure how to upload an archived link with my vpn on cause sometimes my laptop starts moving mad) This dress is one step away from being tested in game, and was so far the easiest dress to ‘design’ because there's literally nothing on it. I have been watching some more advanced texturing tutorials and want to try and make this look a bit better than it came out in my initial texturing attempts before I bring it I game to test.

Wedding Dress 2 aka the ‘Elissa’

This dress was inspired by Elissa Maxwell’s wedding dress, there's not many close up details of her dress so at some point I just got creative and probably the only thing I can really lend to her dress is the gathering on the side. The bolero came in as an idea after I had attempted doing these cute sleeves but was defeated after a while, so I changed things up so as not to frustrate myself 😂 This dress also has a bit more texturing needed before I can attempt to see how it looks in CAS, but I think I'll just see what happens with this one.

Wedding Dress 3 aka the EBP

In my head this dress was meant to resemble what Erin Bates Paine wore to her wedding, as in, a dress that is fine and would be considered modest (albeit a bit dated) but is chopped and skewed to make it EVEN MORE modest. The kind of changes that are obvious so the whole world knows you’re extra special and extra modest. This dress was an experiment as I played around and attempted to construct a corset back for this dress and the ruched tacked on sleeves, which turned out alright but it needs a bit of tweaking here and there, as well as an overhaul of the initial texture I'd tried out for this dress. In the notes app on my phone the initial look I was going for with this dress was “EBP overly frilly disaster” because that’s what I thought her wedding dress was like, but when I found pictures I decided I’d save the overly frilly disaster for when I was slightly better at the whole cc making thing.

Anyway, this is what I’ve got for now, I’ve got a swim dress thing next on my list which might be slightly easier to bring from start to finish? Not sure, at this point its hit and miss with how the weights transfer which affects the end result. I do have to say, seeing all these unfinished things laid out has sort of reinvigorated me to try and finish what I’ve already started before making something else, especially since a lot of them just require me to play around with the texture.

[gerrydelano]

okay, since people have asked, i’m gonna start fresh and take it from the top explaining my creative process for music! very long post under the cut.

gonna try to structure this by:

basic mechanics (some of which already outlined here but restated)

how i did firesorrow girl

how i’m doing bloodwater ballad (minimal spoilers)

things they have in common/what my apparent signature is based on now two songs that follow similar patterns

so here we go! 2.5k words of infodumping! what else is new lol. OKAY! SO:

BASIC MECHANICS

the key word here is improvisation. i am vocally trained but it’s been a very long time since i’ve studied or even done a single actual vocal warmup or anything. i’m actually pretty foolhardy with my voice! i also don’t play any instruments, could never read sheet music (thanks dyscalculia), and have very limited knowledge of audacity (the only program available to me). 

so, everything i do is completely by ear. i don’t know what notes are what! i go into this blind every single time and just... make it up as i go. which is not something i can advise other people to do because i don’t even know how i do it! just happens. sometimes i surprise myself ngl!

so okay, disclaimers out the way. here’s my process in pieces.

WRITING

get randomly inspired with a single lyric

for firesorrow girl it happened in the car on the way home from work

for bloodwater ballad i woke up at 1am out of a dead sleep, got this ask, immediately spent the next 4 hours writing lyrics

PICK A REALLY IMAGE HEAVY THEME. RUN WITH IT. RUN SO FAR.

write a verse out of it and start humming to see if something sticks

if it works out, make the verse into two parts and then go for the chorus

repeat that convention one more time

bridge has to deviate/usually has More Words

add another two part verse and chorus

honestly, it’s like writing poetry! once you pick the language convention and symbolism you want to use, you just have to worry about syllabic measurements and whether things can line up more or less symmetrically. rhyming is relative, but i tend to try and have fun with it.

sometimes i come up with phrases and images i REALLY want to use, jot them down in the bottom of the note, and try to find ways to rephrase them that will fit in with the melody in my head once i’m actually tweaking the whole song. sometimes they can’t be used, but sometimes you come up with something even MORE intense just because you had to swap some words around and do math.

i really just Hyperfocus. for each song, i sat and wrote the lyrics in 2-4 hours and was finished, only ended up tweaking them a little bit after testing out a full recording and realizing certain pieces fell flat or didn’t feel right in my mouth.

RECORDING

this is where you throw things at me!

i’ve recorded in places such as my bed, my recliner, my table, and my bookstore when it’s so empty no one can yell at me for singing.

i start, obviously, with the base vocal!

i try to do this in one shot. usually, if i ever try again because i think i can do it better, it just sounds worse. so, if there are any spaces that are individually not good, i redo just those bits and workshop them together during mixing.

then it’s time for harmonies!

i put my headphones in to listen to the track on my laptop as reference

record clips on my ipad under the cover of the day 

which have been a blanket, a tablecloth, a robe, etc.

it’s suffering. but it muffles outside noise so i do recommend trying to do something like that if you record things. that’s how RQ did TMA at first so we are OUT HERE. BOOTLEGGING.

i save the clip to my google drive

i try to give them names that’ll tell me what the fuck they are but it does get very messy. i am here to just. suffer.

convert them from ,mp4 to .wav with the google converter

save it to my folder

which are also extremely messy. i try to organize them by song now. i sure had a lot of cleaning to do.

drop it into audacity, fuck around, go wild

MIXING

and THIS is where you full on murder me with your bare hands.

i have no idea what the fuck i’m doing. none. no idea at all. nothing.

every single thing i do is just. pure improv. pure chance. it’s awful.

one of the tricks i use liberally is reverb. makes things smoother, a little more eerie, which for the last two songs i’ve done is actually useful.

sometimes i have to use bass and treble to increase and decrease the volume of a specific piece, because using that little left right thing on the side of each track does NOT WORK! just bass and treble it!

i choose something to keep in the background, usually a sample of something because i still do not know how to play instruments.

but usually, i just rely on my own voice and just, overlap a bunch of harmonies accordingly. it’s hard work to not be overwhelming, sometimes i drown myself out and have to stop complicating things so much!

in terms of playing around with the clips of harmony and small melody deviations, i time everything by hand

i don’t know how to make it measured evenly and line up exactly with the stuff above it like automatically. i have to literally wiggle the tracks by hand and make them work.

but at least when i edit the bits, i solo them alongside an empty track that is the length of the whole song so that they’re in the right placement if i ever have to put them back in it so i don’t have to WIGGLE THEM EVER AGAIN

the mixing goes differently depending on the songs so i’ll elaborate on this when i get to each one.

OKAY. g-d. fuck. neck hurty. okay here we go.

FIRESORROW GIRL

as we know, i wrote, recorded, and mixed this song in a total of four days. i'd never actually fully written and produced a song before, in this context, so it was a complete shot in the dark and a whim and WHEW.

i definitely learned my lesson about recording music through the mistakes i made with that, though. which were:

i labeled my files miserably. like. i don’t know what’s what in the folder a lot of the time and i’m scared to look at it ever again

it had about 16 tracks, MANY of which are scattered and unorganized little snatches of miscellaneous harmonies that i lined up by hand and would be terrified to mix down into one track or anything. COMPLETE travesty.

i used a 15 second “chinese guitar” sample i got from a free website. literally just one little loopy boy. most good songs do NOT just use the same sample looped like 25 times! it was very basic and i wish i had the ability to give it some variation, but i tried to compensate with the vocals.

i used plenty of reverb for the extra church feeling, because that was part of the lyrical motif i chose and so i wanted the actual music to match.

it actually sounds very cool a capella! but since i didn’t hum the ENTIRE way through the silences are awkward, so i wouldn’t post it.

her basic structure is this:

5 minutes, ballad (a wholeass musical narrative)

one loop of the guitar as the intro

first (four line) verse in only the base vocal

but introduce a soft hum 3/4 of the way through

second verse continues to use the singular hum throughout

but on the second line, introduce a higher harmony to the hum

take it away again

chorus was very simple for this; just two lines

next two verses have BOTH sets of hums consistently throughout

until, of course, i removed the LOW harmony in some places to emphasize certain words so that you could hear them better with less obscurity and weight! a fun trick. it’s another thing i did on the second line of a verse, because reintroducing the low hum on the third was HOO.

also introduced the first counter lyric - “love made sure it hurt” which extended into the chorus as a longer note, for Flavour 

chorus again, but now the phrasing is different

lean directly into the bridge

introducing a bunch of miscellaneous random harmonies on certain phrases i wanted to emphasize

but ANOTHER trick i did there was REMOVE the hums on “a simple human friend”

...before letting it ALL pile back on for “she can’t burn” - the third chorus with different phrasing

fifth and sixth verses introduce the famous counter lyrics

it’s an entirely new voice doing entirely different things; it’s agnes speaking over the chorus that was telling her story for her, disagreeing with it, telling it to stop

“i am not your prayer.”

this counter lyric makes it into a dialogue, not just a hymn.

let EVERYTHING come down on the very final chorus, added even MORE harmony bits (there’s a very high one right at the very end that i wonder sometimes if anyone noticed)

taper off at the end by shedding layers one by one

faded the guitar loop slowly

reduced it to the two hums that have been consistent throughout

after they both hum one full round together over no guitar, i removed the high one so that there is just one half a round left with ONLY the low hum

which was intended to evoke the image of just... the last person standing in the echoing cathedral after the choir has filed out, still humming the song by themselves.

and there you have THAT. holy mother of G-D i have so many words okay i am so sorry. so now, without further ado:

BLOODWATER BALLAD

i really did just wake up in the middle of the night and go eric? eric???? eric???? time to write an ocean ballad.

you wouldn’t necessarily tie eric to the ocean, but all i needed was one word from him and i was off my shits. absolutely just out of my mind cuckoo bananas.

and i couldn’t rightly call it a shanty because it’s not a work song! it’s not encouraging or loud and shouting. it’s basically a reverse murder ballad. a murdered ballad. it’s very haunting, and my use of pirate phrases is intended to cause some significant amount of pain!

[pauses to look at two ships passing and all the nautical themes in there.] [looks in the other direction towards my 3 novel series about the ocean] [looks at the island i live on] no i don’t have a very specific bias. who are you

anyway, i’m not going to spoil the lyrics and all, but i can still explain the tone and my process because i’m pretty sure that you’re all going to die regardless of what you think you’re expecting. the actual words and the harmonies are Raw.

to start, though, it’s only 9 tracks so far!!!! we just have:

the background ambiance

the tempo SFX

base vocal

base vocal 2 (NOT a copy paste of the first one, but a whole second recording with just enough differences in some inflections that you can Tell it’s different)

low chorus harmonies

very short burst of high chorus harmonies on just the first lines

verse harmonies

verse hum,

some ghostly ohs. for maximum haunting flavour

it’s VERY compact and neat, i’m cleaning up my files as i go, i’m doing my best to NOT give myself angina. i don’t actually plan on adding more to it than that other than some bridge harmonies, and HOPEFULLY a bit of percussion if i can find a way to make it work! i am pretty pleased with what i’ve managed to do in the last two days, i actually really hope i can finish it tomorrow.

so, his basic structure is this:

10 second introduction of background ambiance and the tempo SFX

which i really do think you’re going to lose your minds over because it’s a very specific, evocative sound that makes my heart hurt

first verse is isolated for the first word only

i introduce the hum here straight after that, but it’s very gentle

second verse is the same

until i end the very last words with the introduction of the second base vocal track, to emphasize. Something.

two-part chorus, each part four lines

every chorus in the song begins with the same first line, but all the rest following are different every single time. MUCH more complicated than firesorrow girl’s two lines with drawn out notes

low harmony for ALL choruses

but the line that repeats gets an extra special high harmony on JUST that

third and fourth verse:

have the hum througout

introduce another high harmony with a slight lyrical deviation

i isolate the vocals and cut the harmonies on a Single Line that i want to absolutely SLAUGHTER you in one shot so ha :’)

second chorus, completely different words (probably my favorite one, ngl)

the ghostly “ohs” are spaced in between the chorus sporadically

they alternate between a clear oh and a radio static oh.

first chorus: clear, ghost, ghost

second chorus: ghost, clear, ghost

third chorus: ghost, clear, omitted

no i won’t tell you the significance there. it’s just the pattern that happened :-)

i am still working on the bridge! but it’s a four part (four lines per part) bridge, too, with a deviated melody

i’m going to add a low hum or SOMETHING to it, but that’s a problem for tomorrow ron

what i DO have is the two layered base vocal tracks. which hoho.

i leave the vocals layered when he’s singing about a specific person. then i cut bits from the second track (the more intense one) and leave the soft original base track to sing solo when he sings about someone else.

no i won’t tell you who! or what it means!!!! it’s just gonna hurt you as much 

fifth and sixth verse have the same high harmonies as the third and fourth

final chorus, even Crazier words, introducing another character

the omitted Oh in this one is to create an empty space before his final words

the low harmony’s counter lyric is FUCK WILD

and i leave the layering on for Reasons :)

ends by total vocal cutoff, leaving only the ambiance and the tempo SFX

So Yeah! I Can’t Wait To See What You Guys Think!

this, however, has forced me to confront some things about myself.

SUMMARY

this bitch can only write long ballads! what!!!!

the basic composition of both of these songs is very similar both because i have limited options seeing as i can’t play instruments/don’t know how to use programs, and they’re the best way for me to communicate stories.

so, my signature is apparently “5 minute ballad about a tragic side character that tells their story/communicates to someone directly at the end in a determined way that we the listener knows does not amount to success.”

who the fuck knew my style would be so specific once i got around to actually making music haha. like really there are definitely noticeable differences between them and they do not even REMOTELY sound the same, but we follow this structure:

two four-line verses

chorus (the major structural difference lies here in two vs four lines)

two four-line verses

chorus

four four-line parts for the bridge

two four-line verses

chorus

tapered off ending

layered hum harmonies. harmohums. love it.

so we have the religious cathedral song vibe of firesorrow girl, and the Ghosts On A Ship In The Rain vibe of bloodwater ballad. i find it kind of fun that while i follow these similar guidelines, they’re literally. fire and water. completely opposite in theme despite the similarities in how their stories end. which is to say, in death and with the people who controlled their lives speaking over them. 

there are major differences in those endings, though. you’ll see what i mean when you hear it.

okay i need to stop i am so amazed if you read this far wow thanks LOL i just. it helps to write this stuff out and make sense of myself tbh!!!!