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Steven Universe: End of an Era: Outline & Review

I wrote this review in October but never got around to posting it here

Steven Universe: End of an Era is far more than an art book–it’s also a collection of behind-the-scenes material, stories about the experience of working on the show, planning documents and associated background info, and both older versions of developed concepts AND concepts that never made it into the show. It's a huge fusion of all those elements, and it's definitely an experience!

Some low-quality images are included with my review just to give you an idea of what’s there--it’s not a good substitute for getting your own copy, but here’s a tour!

Like the previous concept art book, Art and Origins, I'll be giving you a description of the structure and overview, while also collecting notable information for fans. Obviously just about everything is "notable" once again, but I'll aim for unique insight or perspective on the main source material, keeping the screaming about everything new to a minimum so you can also enjoy something for yourself if you pick it up. My low-quality photos should prevent people from feeling like I'm reproducing the book in any capacity. Please grab one while you can and have your own experience!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

OVERVIEW

The book is titled "End of an Era" for a couple reasons--obviously because it is released after the show has wrapped, but also because Gem history recently ended its "Era 2" and began Era 3--an age of prosperity and peace. The author--the person in charge of adapting all of this information into this slick, readable package--is Chris McDonnell, whose work was previously applied on the Art and Origins book.

The foreword is by N.K. Jemisin, a well-known science fiction author who's a huge fan of the show (and wrote a really excellent series that also has a weird geological connection, by the way).

And the cover, like its predecessor, is shiny and decorated with a beach scene featuring minimalistic characters--this time it's the Gems at night in front of the Temple, and on the back cover is a big pink leg ship in a cross-legged pose.

The interior covers are decorated with tons of amazing sketches of Steven and Connie on the front, and a bunch of Gem sketches on the back. Every interior page that most would leave blank is highlighted with some kind of sketch art or character exercise--it's so much to look at, so much to absorb.

The book is dedicated "For Eddie."

Its organization is different from the previous book in that it shares applicable work in chunks associated with groups of episodes rather than pertaining to different aspects of building the show.

FOREWORD

N.K. Jemisin gives us such a great introduction to the book--apparently understanding very well that the audience of this book is full of animation enthusiasts and adult fans more than it is full of kids, and explaining that bewildering journey some adults had from blowing this show off as a silly kid thing to falling in love with it hard and fast.

The important thing, Jemisin says, is being able to trust a storyteller with your heart. And it was clear to her that Rebecca Sugar knew what she was talking about and was saying important things about identity and the radical power that comes with accepting it and demanding respect.

Important also is how we handle heroes and who gets to be one in fantasy. That's part of the reason Steven Universe speaks to so many--because we see ourselves here, and know stories can be about us. Acknowledging the power we all have to MAKE THINGS BETTER with what we fight for is so important--especially if we're going to speaking to the next generation about it.

Highlighting Rose Quartz as a "born leader" who failed and Steven as a relatable scamp who did what she couldn't, Jemisin asserts that we can save the world.

1. END OF AN ERA

We start with an appeal to the audience to think about identity and the formative parts of our childhood--and how different it is if who you are and who you become is restricted, mocked, erased, or Not Allowed. Most people, if not ALL people, can relate to this, but for those of us with a special relationship with Steven Universe because of queer identity, this hits hard.

But it doesn't have to be anything grand to be something we respect--this show's authenticity comes largely from how personal everything is, drawn from real-life experiences and incidental truths from each artist's perspective, leaning hard on childhood and formative experiences.

Rebecca Sugar offers some interview bits to discuss writing philosophy and why "writing female characters" was difficult for a nonbinary person who'd been socialized as a girl and a woman. Rebecca has spoken before about how frustrating it is that marketing for cartoons was SO gendered when she was growing up (and to some extent still is).

The Gems in the story are all "she/her," but on their planet they're defined by their work, not by emotion or relationships (unlike women in our society), so having them be socialized opposite to how she was and be able to claim those emotions through choice and NOT as just an expectation "as women" was revolutionary. Rebecca wants her show to tell all marginalized people that they don't deserve to be in the margins.

Weighing in on other aspects of the show were Ian Jones-Quartey, Joe Johnston, and Miki Brewster. Ian describes feeling like at first doing SU was a thrill ride that meant they'd finally get to do all the cool stuff, but it quickly became a responsibility that he took very seriously--the need to tell a good story now that he'd been given a megaphone.

Promotional art, planning documents, character sketches, and concept art from the lighthearted to the stone serious is included, along with some very cool (sort of famous) timeline charts that track major characters' developments. It's emphasized by Rebecca that the developmental materials ARE NOT CANON (and especially are not MORE canon) compared the final show.

There are concept sketches alongside final art for Aquamarine and Topaz in "Wanted" (with Topaz labeled "Imperial Topaz"), the Zircons in "The Trial," Blue and Yellow Diamond, and the Off Colors (including Pink Lars).

And there's also a spread of "the two sides of Steven's life: Gem Magic and Rock N Roll" featuring Sadie Killer and the Suspects (referred to as "Buck's band")--as well as a cool "Crew Cameos" key and some concepts for short-haired Connie.

And then there's some more "finished" art with stills alongside concepts, including some background art, revision, and really cool "fairytale" art from some of the shadowplay storytelling bits. We get "Lars of the Stars," "Jungle Moon," and "Can't Go Back."

2. THE BEGINNING OF THE END: A SINGLE PALE ROSE

In discussing the huge reveals and Gem mysteries in the show, the pacing is examined, and emphasis is put on the intended "slow burn." One of the most difficult things in the show was to strategize so that every piece that was needed to support another piece in the future was placed properly to seed what it was supposed to.

Some of the ideas they developed were more of a group effort and were fit together collaboratively (like Amethyst's being younger than the other Gems and Jasper being from Earth), while others were intended from the beginning based on Rebecca's vision (the fundamental idea of Pink Diamond's true identity, for instance, as well as Obsidian's design and sword and our Pearl not being Pink's first).

The writing process gets a great deep dive here, including fun tidbits like how the orb in the moon base was inserted by Joe Johnston and they literally had no idea what it was for when they wrote the episode. They repurposed it when they figured out what they needed.

Rebecca credits her detailed timelines for helping keep the order straight, and discusses how other artists are sometimes flabbergasted that a storyboard-driven show can have this much detail and continuity and yet not get wrecked by the free non-scripted boarding process. But Rebecca and the Crew valued that approach and loved the way fresh eyes would handle an idea, making it come back alive, entertaining, vivid.

Several Crew members weigh in on the writing process. Lauren Hecht refers to making lots of incorrect guesses despite being on the inside. Joe Johnston recalled getting briefed on his first day and getting so excited to start working on this massive project.

Miki Brewster remembered being told Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond and being shocked--and also confused about why Ruby and Sapphire would need to be married if they're already basically married. Drew Green talks about being brought in late and getting to watch unaired episodes and a rough of the movie while eating cereal.

Ian Jones-Quartey complains about Pink Diamond's real jester-like form being leaked to the internet through a Hot Topic shirt. Rebecca piggybacks on that and says it was upsetting that the wedding was leaked because of toy fair keychains featuring Ruby and Sapphire in wedding attire. They'd always be worried about leaks, and sometimes Rebecca struggled not to talk about the reality of Pink Diamond before the reveal because she knew it would make so much more sense once the truth was out. And everything associated with Rose makes more sense once you know she's Pink--especially what happened with Bismuth, considering what we know about how Pink Diamond has a habit of treating anyone who no longer serves her interests.

When it comes to visual cues, Rebecca also talks about intentional designs to create a feeling of unity between concepts, like the flower shapes on Pink Diamond's palanquin lining up with the poofs of Steven's hair and the star imagery of the series. Steven Sugar and Mary Nash discuss how the Human Zoo incorporated this imagery, trying to look like Homeworld with a Pink Diamond touch.

Steven Sugar, as a game nerd, liked to throw in video game references from old and modern stuff to feel like he's inserting what he's enjoying and who he is from moment to moment, while Mary Nash, who related to Sadie as a basement-dwelling young person with cult interests, liked to include stuff from MST3K and cult movies. Pearl's hand gestures get a spotlight too--her reflex to cover her mouth when Pink Diamond was being discussed was analyzed here.

A "Top Secret Visual Timeline" from 2016 is included which tells us some Diamond history. It has an earlier version of Pink Pearl's fate and does not include Spinel since the movie hadn't been greenlit. The timeline includes the birth of the Diamonds, the emergence and major story beats for each major character, and some philosophy of the driving force behind each.

We're told that Pink Diamond straightened up, behavior-wise, after she lost her first Pearl, and that Yellow and Blue wanted to give her a planet but White only agreed to it to prove she would fail at managing a colony. Pearl, meanwhile, is so confused to have a Diamond who keeps asking her what she thinks when she doesn't believe she should have opinions.

And when Pink moonlighted as Rose to start conflict, she found herself leading an army to fight Pink's troops--then Yellow's, and eventually Blue's too. Lapis is said to be waiting for the conflict to end on Earth so she can terraform, but she gets trapped instead.

Pearl's love story with Rose is described as "an endless honeymoon" where she's free to love her, while Rose's is more like "I'm now the head of the family and I'm going to give everyone what they never had, so everyone is super special!"

Jasper is described as "adopted" into Yellow's army as the only successful Beta Quartz. And White Diamond knew that Pink Diamond was not dead--she thought she was just running away from home like a brat and would eventually be back.

3. THE HEART OF THE CRYSTAL GEMS

Now we discuss Rose Quartz--the original Pink Diamond. How she was selfish and selfless, never enough and always too much, and how Greg was her first partner who "challenged her" to be an equal. Rebecca describes Rose as being delighted by the idea that both she and Greg reinvented themselves, but when that leads her to want to share her past, Greg isn't interested--he only wants to know who she is now, and doesn't consider the old her to be her.

Rebecca likes Carl Jung's concept of "enantiodromia," which is the idea that extremes lead to their extreme opposite. This is demonstrated in all of the Diamonds. This narrative is interspersed with drawings of Greg and Rose being cute.

But another "heart" of the Crystal Gems is its relationships--particularly, Garnet, the fairy tale romance embodied. More psychological theories are discussed with regard to differentiation in a relationship making the relationship stronger, and how they made sure that happened for Garnet during the appropriate arc. Rebecca has struggled with the idea that she, like Ruby, went straight from a "family" group to a living-with-others situation and never lived by herself. But she also learned that you can in fact develop as a person in the context of a relationship--you don't have to be alone to do it. Ruby learned that too, and chose on her own terms to be with Sapphire.

The wedding made so much sense to Rebecca and the crew that they couldn't imagine a wholesome couple like Ruby and Sapphire not having a wedding episode. They wanted it for years: The wedding concepts always included the tuxedo for Sapphire and the wedding dress for Ruby.

But pushback (often blamed on the conservative standards of the international market) led to negotiations trying to keep Ruby and Sapphire's relationship from being explicit. Rebecca and the Crew were very tired of this double standard, and they were especially irritated by attempts to claim a wedding wouldn't be well received by a core demographic or wouldn't make sense for Steven's character. But other shows had done weddings and Steven had been established to love weddings already.

Rebecca kept adding more elements to the wedding episode to answer all the concerns, but she didn't want to back down from explicit marriage between these characters. They deserved it. And the audience deserved to see this as wholesome, like any other cartoon wedding. Eventually they got their way and were allowed to have the wedding. But the ordered episodes were also coming to a close without promise of more, so Rebecca had to request more episodes to be able to wrap up the storyline!

And of course, there is Steven, the true heart of the team. A very interesting aside discusses Garnet's leadership and how the network pushed the Crewniverse to acknowledge Steven as the leader. This was successfully resisted throughout as well--because Garnet is the leader (unless she's incapacitated, of course). It's fantastic that this concept was preserved because too often a young male chosen one is elevated above people with more experience and knowledge because of that chosen one tradition, so it's really nice to have a show acknowledge that team leadership is more appropriate for an adult.

4. ERA 3

Beginning with a discussion of the Diamonds, this chapter deconstructs the dysfunctional "family" of the Diamonds (who are said to be based on tropes about evil stepmothers and stepsisters), with the thread of dysfunction originating with White Diamond.

Yellow is physical, Blue is emotional, White is judgmental, and Pink is impulsive. Some philosophy on why Pink is naturally manipulative and why she clashes so much with White is offered.

White believes her identity is to be imposed on all because she is the pinnacle of what should be--and therefore, she has the right to make decisions and statements about and on behalf of everyone. But her secret is that she can't do what the others do--act or feel or want. In trying to be everyone, she is no one.

And this becomes very important when she confronts Steven about his identity and turns out to be wrong. The triumph of Steven being totally, fully himself is a beautiful, simple revelation that's described as far more satisfying than the theories about Pink living inside him or Rose returning from his Gem.

Also discussed is Gem architecture. A lot went into this idea, and Steven Sugar weighs in to say he had to think of what it would mean for a world to have buildings but serve no human needs. That's why it's mostly focused on transport and storage. Even the broken planet is meant to indicate a place stripped for its resources, and everything serves a function that is meant to avoid looking like the human equivalents.

And there's another layer, too: a difference between Era 1 and Era 2. Era 2 became more functional to hide Era 1's broken bits, and older Homeworld buildings still have some "ornate and ancient" feel to them. And the fact that props, tools, and even walls and doors could be living was taken from a concept Rebecca thought was horrible from old Busby Berkeley movies, where people were inanimate objects and it was portrayed as lovely. Tom Herpich helped conceptualize these living objects.

Steven dealing with "princess tropes" is discussed here too. The Pebbles (worked on with Pendleton Ward) were sort of his Cinderella's mice, and all the locked-in-a-tower, having supportive tiny friends help you, getting princess clothes made, attending a ball, having to mind your manners stuff was intentionally related to fairy tales.

The point of doing that (besides fun) was to easily invoke the feeling that Steven was being made to be someone he's not, and that he was being treated like THIS is who he really is when it isn't. White Diamond as the "evil stepmother" is discussed with regard to her detailed features and massive scale. They generally didn't put fingernails and eyelashes on characters (especially not to indicate that they were women or girls!), but they decided White would get all of these feminine markers for tradition's sake.

Rebecca also invokes several other references that were included and describes the princess tropes as "chipping away at his integrity" setting him up for the final challenge with White.

There is again tons of concept art: Homeworld architecture, Pebbles, Diamond diagrams, background Jades and Lemon Jade Fusion, Comby, Diamond extraction chambers, and White Diamond.

5. CHANGE YOUR MIND

Now we finally begin to discuss Steven's identity. The "Perfect Steven," discussed in several interviews before this book's release, was an idea back in 2013; the "ultimate Steven," beefed up and shonen-looking, was far from perfect because OUR Steven is perfect, while this alpha hero Steven idea (used in Steven Universe Future) didn't belong being idolized in such a show.

They thought about having Steven fall apart into organic half and Gem half early in the show (during "Giant Woman" after a successful fusion and unfusion, even!), but they didn't try the concept until the last episode. They didn't want the "Pink" Steven to be portrayed as "better" even though he would be more powerful, so they decided he isn't whole without his organic self and he's just as much of a shell as the organic half. They absolutely did not want any ending that required Rose to be inside him or waiting to come back. But the debates were fierce--what DOES it mean to have Rose's Gem?

Ian Jones-Quartey brings in an anecdote about his own family to emphasize some of the immigrant themes that inspired aspects of the show. He had a brother who reinvented himself elsewhere away from family without resolving issues, and all the ramifications of that were explored in the show through Rose Quartz. (He is careful to say he doesn't think his immigrant experience is like being from another planet!) But he did say you can hurt your old family even if they were toxic or didn't know the real you, and you can hurt your new family by hiding your past. The Pizza family of course was also a more direct reference to Ian's Ghanaian family.

In talking about the new Fusions from this episode, Sunstone is largely described by Miki, who also got to board the Sunstone section. Sunstone was described as a cool 1990s character and the evolution just continued into making them a fourth-wall-breaking PSA dispenser. Obsidian is also discussed, with their sword being an early concept. Steven Sugar said they totally knew it would be forged in action. Obsidian being similar to the Temple design is of course another very early detail.

The story of how James Baxter got involved with one of the final scenes (Organic Steven and Pink Steven fusing in front of White Diamond) was shared. His family was fans of the show and Rebecca Sugar took the time to drive to a birthday party for his daughter and give her a drawing. He then owed her a favor, and this was it.

Concept art is again included, this time with sample boards, promo images, a Diamond fight concept, costume design changes for the Gems, new Fusions, the so-called "Mega Diamond" ship conglomerate, some scenes from the White Diamond confrontation, Pink Steven, multiple pages of James Baxter animation, corrupted Gems and their healed selves, and photos from the "Change Your Mind" premiere and some awards. The show has won one design-related Emmy, a Peabody Award, and a GLAAD award.

6. STEVEN UNIVERSE FUTURE

The book doesn't cover the movie because it got its own book, but dives right into Future. Ian Jones-Quartey emphasizes that the movie and Future are separate and different from the original show, which ENDED. After all, after that, Steven has a neck!

Some new names are invoked now: new writers Kate Tsang, Jack Pendarvis, and Taneka Stotts. They were excited to have Steven make HIS OWN mistakes instead of trying to clean up someone else's! Now, instead of doing the usual shonen anime thing and having the final battle be a big physical rumble, Steven has to make peace with himself and take an active role in coping with what all the fighting has done to him and what effect it's had on who he is (and who he wants to be). There is no sudden "I love myself!" answer, either. It's always a process.

Drew Green and Maya Petersen, who came on board as storyboarders officially in Future, also weighed in on writing for a "mature" show, how to deal with Steven being a "moral compass" while being sort of unreliable, and what they learned as Crew that they didn't know as fans. Drew didn't know Garnet never asks questions. Jack didn't realize the show never deviated from Steven's point of view. Taneka was nervous but excited to collaborate. Kate was worried about how established the show was and what to do as a new writer to contribute appropriately.

Maya was on the old Crew but not as a storyboarder, so felt like some of the "old" ideas ended up not being appropriate for the "new" Future in an embarrassing way--and dreaded the idea of dealing with Steven's emotional problems when they were similar to stuff she'd been through. She also was personally behind the idea of Steven wanting to dump his problems by becoming Stevonnie, and got to work with Etienne Guignard on inventing the Pearl creation backstory with Volleyball.

There's some discussion of "depression hobbies," stress, and the show's pacing. And they say Etienne was entertaining at pitches. There's even some discussion of how Greg is taken off a bit of a pedestal because his terrible restrictive life in the suburbs sounded wholesome to Steven and Greg presented it negatively.

And then there is some information about how the Crew felt behind the scenes due to fan reactions and negative press. Ian discusses feeling offended when the Black characters are described as bad examples, as if their cartoonized but realistic-in-context features are automatically caricatures.

Rebecca Sugar felt beaten down by some of these narratives and began to access mental health services, inspiring some of the content of "Mindful Education." A long reflection from Rebecca discusses people's infighting about her show and what she had a responsibility to show or not show in the story. She learned a lot about bullying from Cartoon Network's anti-bullying program and learned that bullies thrive on whatever attention you give them--unless it is made clear to them by a peer group that no one is impressed by their cruel actions. Also, not all negative feedback is bullying. Constructive criticism is different. Self-awareness can help you avoid internalizing what bullies might do or say to you.

Segueing from the discussion of how people are affected by and connect with the show, we then discuss how they chose as a team what should be covered as the show came to a close. They didn't have time to do quite a few stories they wanted time for, like a Rhodonite story, a Lars side story, and Diamond "prehistory" and religion; all of it was put aside for the main arc with Steven.

They thought people would find those stories about Homeworld and Off Color history very interesting, but so much of the show had been about Steven's Gem adventures, so keeping him mostly on Earth seemed appropriate. The acknowledgment of his battle damage, of his trauma, was necessary and real, and helpful in an important way to the core audience.

Oh, and there was some stuff about a cheeseburger tree. Don't ask.

In discussing the "reverse escapism" of the original show (Gem aliens are intrigued by everyday human culture, and realism is necessary), Rebecca says her views have changed on escapism and gets why some people want a soothing feel-better show. She acknowledged also that her own escapist dreams-come-true fulfilled in the show didn't feel like escapism because they were givens to the majority of mainstream culture, but were never guaranteed to marginalized people.

Rebecca ties in her several-times-told story about "Love Like You" and how the middle bit was when she didn't feel she was worth looking up to, and the realizations she had to tie the beginning to the end. Feeling like someone will like you less if they know you more is terrible. So sometimes a show like this can be helpful in telling people that they belong when their fantasies are things like "I want to be loved" and "I want to know I exist."

In Future, Steven has to connect to who he is and love that person--and understand that person enough to finally feel that even if he's not fixing their problems or saving their world right this second, Steven deserves his family's love and support, and they WANT to give it to him.

There's a huge amount of supplemental material in this section so there's no way I could name it all. The charts for Future's timeline are pretty straightforward, though a few episodes like "A Very Special Episode," "Why So Blue," "In Dreams," and "Bismuth Casual" aren't specifically represented and a couple are in a different order ("Prickly Pair" was conceived as happening after "Fragments" and "Homeworld Bound").

Steven feeling like a monster, having intrusive thoughts, having not forgiven the Diamonds, and getting help/moving on--it's all there.

We have keys, color scripts, and boards for the new opening and some various backgrounds and storyboard art from episodes. Model sheets for Shep, Nice Lapis and Mean Lapis, Jasper, Steven Tag Gems, Pink Steven Powers, Monster Steven. New house concepts, Era 3 Homeworld concept art for the Diamond environments, and background art for the Reef.

New Connie and Greg designs. Concepts for Mega Pearl, the Rose Quartzes, Bluebird, and Morganite (who didn't get used). And there are some photos from recording and the conference room. There are even some extras from "Crossover Nexus," the crossover with OK K.O.!--including an unused cut scene that included Ruby and Sapphire fighting. The rest of the book is a bunch of adorable Crewniverse art--extras, blog drawings, promos, and gifts to each other.

NOTABLE

The first timeline chart in the book features a cool sketch of the original Off Colors, which at the time this planning document was drafted included unused Off Colors Flint and Chert.

We knew of their existence already because of an episode of the podcast, but these two unexpectedly appeared as incidental characters in the Steven Universe Future episode "Homeworld Bound," identified only in the credits. Sad to think that instead of banding with the Off Colors, these two were probably shattered for their crime (being Quartzes who don't want to fight) and that's why we see them being repaired in this episode. Later, there's some brainstorming for types of Off Colors and "a Ruby that wants to wear limb enhancers" is mentioned as well.

It looks like there was also originally more juice to the story of tracking down the events of the war culminating in Pink Diamond's assassination.

One of the timelines talks about Steven thinking it makes sense that Pearl can't talk about her involvement because she might have been a double agent, explaining why Rose Quartz always knew what Pink Diamond was doing. It seems like that bit was supposed to be included in Garnet's version of the story she believed in "Your Mother and Mine." Seems like they originally conceived Garnet's story to inspire the Off Colors to become pirates and freedom fighters, though in the show's canon this storytelling happened after Lars had already reinvented himself the way he did.

Sadie was also supposed to be sending letters to Lars via Steven, which is funny since the "Letters to Lars" episode is just a montage Steven letter. And of course it's specified that Steven was supposed to get Pink Diamond flashbacks by going to the Palace on Homeworld.

The second chart in the book makes references to Sadie's reinvention of herself as a parallel to Lars, Greg, and Pink Diamond all doing the same thing, and how positive it is to embrace such a thing--a version of yourself that YOU create.

I love that Yellow Diamond's arm ship arm-wrestling the Cluster was always part of the plan.

There's some more explicit direction to have Connie help Steven understand the Diamonds as "strict parents," and a lot more emphasis on everyone realizing Rose had been inspired by THEM rather than them all following her.

White Diamond is presented here as if she thinks of Pink Diamond as a "daughter" (whom she now understands she has "lost"). There are notes on how the Diamonds have a responsibility to their children and should attend to it before just continuing to make more.

One of the concept art images for the Off Colors features Rhodonite crouching by Padparadscha saying "Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you." It's very interesting because she DOES seem to protect Padparadscha in the show, but doesn't seem confident about it in her final version, even though it does seem like she'd be "programmed" to guard aristocratic Gems because of her Ruby and Pearl makeup. Cool.

A "Crew Cameos" spread was included, which is of great interest to some of us who loved seeing the Crew insert themselves into the show. Not every SU Crew person who's been represented in a crowd was there, but this crowd included Amish Kumar, Kat Morris, Amanda Winterstein, Angie Wang, Lamar Abrams, Emily Walus, Mary Nash, Joe Johnston, Christy Cohen, Danny Cragg, Hilary Florido, Danny Hynes, Matt Burnett, Ben Levin, Elle Michalka.

The official national flower of South Korea, Hibiscus syriacus, is the name of Pink Diamond's flower.

One of Steven Sugar's comments about the silhouette difference between humans and Gems points out that humans have ears. This seems to be pretty good confirmation that they are not supposed to have ears, despite that sometimes we'll see ears drawn on them in some frames.

Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is characterized in this book as "self-hating" in a really interesting way, saying that because she believed she was not capable of compassion, she practically worshiped those who demonstrated that ability and thought they were so much better than her--which is described as "intoxicating" and resulted in others being drawn to her. How interesting is that!

Timelines reveal that early plans for Pink Diamond's first Pearl originally had her getting destroyed by Pink during a game, and then her destruction was rewritten as a punishment from the Diamonds after Pink Pearl defended Pink Diamond to the other Diamonds. They went back to the idea of her getting hurt by Pink for the final version, though the cracked face and control by White Diamond was not on the agenda until they started writing "Change Your Mind."

10.

The approximate ages of the major characters, based on emergence, are revealed on these timelines. It begins with a cracked-planet-looking graphic depicting four tiny Diamonds emerging at 20,000 years ago. Some suspicious "blacked out" redacting surrounds a long timeline tail that goes back before that, which may mean there are secrets they still don't want to reveal. But the dates go like this:

20,000 years ago: The Diamonds emerge.

11,000 years ago: Pearl is custom-made for Pink Diamond.

8,000 years ago: Sapphire emerges (on Homeworld).

6,000 years ago: Ruby emerges (on a colony).

5,750 years ago: Garnet is formed.

5,600 years ago: Lapis is poofed and put in the mirror.

5,200 years ago: Jasper emerges (on Earth).

5,050 years ago: The Cluster is planted.

5,000 years ago: Amethyst emerges (on Earth).

4,500 years ago: The Crystal Gems found Amethyst.

3,000 years ago: Peridot emerges (on Homeworld).

40 years ago: Pearl found Lapis's mirror at the Galaxy Warp.

And of course we know 14 years ago Steven is born!

11.

Originally the Diamonds were based on a quartet of themes: Love, Fear, Pride, and Sorrow. It got too complicated to keep and it was abandoned, with Pink's identification of "love" being described as "particularly outdated."

12.

Notes on a sketch say that Pearl was inspired to become bold and unashamed because Pink's questions drove her to have opinions, and it's said that Rose "fell in love" with her boldness.

13.

Rebecca tells the story of driving off a ridge and getting stuck in the desert, comparing this to Ruby's tumble during her Wild West adventure and using it as inspiration. She's told this story before but here it is in print. She also included the story about using the flowers from a friend's wedding to put in Ruby's hair.

14.

Rebecca describes having to "fight" notes she was given when it had to do with Ruby and Sapphire's relationship. One she describes as NOT fighting was for a signing card depicting Ruby and Sapphire dancing. It was called "too romantic" and she decided not to worry about it since it wasn't the actual show content.

She was also scolded over her book The Answer because the powers that be expected her to downplay that relationship. She always argued that queer youth deserved these things.

15.

Tom Herpich describes being inspired to name Blue Diamond's comb "Comby" because he was watching the news about Comey getting fired from the FBI. It's also a mineral-related term and I always assumed that reference was intentional, but maybe it's not and this is the only intended significance to Comby's name?

16.

Rainbow Quartz 2.0's design is not discussed, though the other two new Fusions from "Change Your Mind" (Sunstone and Obsidian) were. RQ2 has some sketches included, but no accompanying narrative in the text.

17.

A sheet of corrupted Gems and their healed selves is offered, though it doesn't appear to be final. The obelisk in "Serious Steven" is labeled Albite. The unnamed Worm Monster, Desert Glass, and Watermelon Tourmaline are included. An unnamed birdlike Gem represents the Big Bird monster from "Giant Woman." The crab monster from "Arcade Mania" is labeled Blue Chalcedony. The Tongue Monster is drawn uncorrupted but not named. The Flower Monster from "Back to the Kindergarten" is labeled Grossular Diopside or Titanite. The invisible monster from "Island Adventure" is labeled Moonstone. The Lighthouse Gem is labeled White Topaz. A form for Larimar that was used in "Change Your Mind" but changed in Future is there. The Slinker is listed as Chrysocolla. And the Crab Monster is listed as Aventurine.

On the next page, this is changed to Bixbite (as it was in Steven Universe Future), and we then also have Lace Amethyst, Blue Lace Agate, Crazy Lace Agate (Fusion), Ocean Jasper, the Mother Centipeetle Nephrite (Facet 413 Cabochon 12) and three other Nephrites, Angel Aura Quartz, a hooded Jasper, Zebra Jasper, Biggs Jasper, Watermelon Tourmaline (labeled as Fusion of Gem * Onion--huh?), Snowflake Obsidian, "Little" Larimar, and Orange Spodumene (who was the Worm).

18.

The Rhodonite side story would have been about the love story of a Ruby and a Pearl working for Morganite. Images of Morganite and her servants, unfused, are in the book. We do not get this additional information, but Rebecca said in a panel shortly before the book's release that Rhodonite's story would have been about finding out that she had been Rejuvenated 17 times because her components kept falling in love and needing to be reset.

19.

Referring to the Diamonds on one of the charts, Steven's perspective is "I can't believe I helped these" and then there's a censor bar. Welp.

20.

Some included art by Hilary Florido features Kevin with a souped-up Koala Princess car and another where Kevin is staring at himself in the mirror in front of an altar to himself.

21.

Rebecca's sweater collection is included in the Crew art.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

#steven universe #steven universe end of an era #su spoilers #long post #su merch #myblog

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botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years

Text

[Image ID: A screenshot of an anon asking saying “I just wanna say that your tags whenever you rb art and fics are so cute 🥺 you reblogged something of mine the other day and the tags were just so nice and innocent??? It’s like watching a little kid at an aquarium 😝so as an artist I thank you, hope you don’t take it as cringy” End ID]

- - - - -

Cringey?? nonononono I may be a young kid watching the pretty fish swim aimlessly in the aquarium but I will

recklessly enjoy other people’s content don’t test me

I try to keep it in the tags cause I don’t wanna take away from the op’s original work, plus it makes it easier for other people to rb it from me, but I will amp up the love and appreciation when the situation calls for it. You could straight up come into my inbox or messages and just ask me to give you a reblog and I will do it, I do not care I love you, content creators.

Cringe Culture is dead it’s time to gush plus if I do this often enough people might do it more for me so it’s a win win hehe

Legit, I got a super sweet comment on one of my fics quoting something I wrote and it made me so happy so I was like “huh, guess I’ll do that more often then” and now I’m doing that, that’s how impressionable I am asdfghjk

Also hello?? specifically *my* tags helped you out?? I am a nobody, CLEARLY not enough people are doing this smh, allow me to teach the masses for a sec here

How To Make A Content Creator Happy: the world’s simplest guide to spreading serotonin through a keyboard

Step fucking one) You reblog it. I mean, that’s a given. You’ve all seen those “reblogs help creators out and likes do nothing” posts so I won’t rant too much. Likes are good, but reblogs are like handing someone a stack of a hundred dollars and all it takes is one click!

(PRO TIP: Hold down the button and swipe for mobile, and hold the left alt button and click once for computer [though it will only rb to your main blog. if you want it for a side-blog then you’re stuck with two clicks but HEY two clicks to help out a creator you like is nothing!])

You share it! Just share stuff. Share the ao3 like, please do it. Don’t repost, don’t just mention it, give the links especially when you’re just in conversation or talking about it around plz I swear it does wonders

Ok moving on to the super simple stuff for commenting and putting stuff in the tags because I guarantee that the op will read them

write A N Y T H I N G and I literally mean anything just fucking:

!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sdjflksdjfkjh

?!?!?!?!!?

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhghghhhhhhhhh

:OOOOOOOOO

prettyyy

<33333333333333333

just fucking go ham, go nuts, it doesn’t need to be coherent it just needs to EXIST the very existence of someone enjoying someone’s content gives so much serotonin so stop being silent cowards and give us a smiley face from time to time

uh what else what else....hmm [golden rule is treat others the way you want to be treated, so if you’re a creator yourself, just give whatever you would want seen in the comments of your stuff! I mean that’s how I came up with all this...]

Point out the details! I mentioned earlier about quoting stuff from fics (that stuff is just 👌👌👌 so delicious) but I’m pretty sure (I’m not an artist myself don’t quote me) that the exact same effect is present when you talk about details in art or something. So talk about that pretty snowflake in the background! Or that piece of dialogue that made you laugh. Just a simple nod to the details is a big difference between saying “I like this” versus “I like this thing that you took the time to make the effort you put into the details did not go unnoticed”

just ALL the feedback please and thank you

this might vary from person to person, though personally I love when people are like “The way you write imagery is so good please do more!!” so just give a little nod to someone like “The way you draw this character is amazing please do more” or something like that

I wouldn’t go as far as to give criticism (although personally I’m the type of person that loves the occasionally critique for future reference, cause it means that you care as much as I do about the quality of my work)

But along the same lines as the details thing, a nice nod to a creator about what they’re doing right is sooooo good! makes the butterflies flutter

~~~~~~Did that post give you emotions?~~~~~~

G O O D

~~FUCKING TELL US~~

THE ACT OF SOMEONE WRITING A SET OF LETTERS, OR SOMEONE SKETCHING A BLOB MADE ANOTHER DISTANT HUMAN BEING DEVELOP CHEMICALS IN THEIR BRAIN?? SURE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THAT BECAUSE WOW THAT’S AMAZING!?!??

just go “I’m so happy” or “I’m so sad” just “TT__TT” just fucking “:OO” or just “I hate this” [HUMOURISTICALLY] and “I can’t believe you’ve done” just give it yes tell us the emotion that you have felt we love it

I don’t think enough people understand how amazing that is???? You were once in a normal, neutral state, and then a piece of content that I created just made you smile or laugh or cry like WHAT that’s amazing omg

Ok so that’s pretty much the simple stuff right, that’s your elementary classwork right there

Just give something, literally anything and just go “I love this so much!!!!!” bam done, you just murdered the op with your love, great job

So yeah, that’s that. Pretty simple stuff, no?

...but you wanna graduate to master class?

You wanna fucking go ape shit

you wanna just

g o t o town?

I said this was gonna be a simple guide so don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell you that you have to write a full length essay on every post that you come across

[BUT IF YOU WANT TO DON’T LET ME STOP YOU THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE AMAZING?? HELL WRITING OUT A PARAGRAPH OF A COMMENT IS ALREADY JUST *CHEFS KISS* MASTERCLASS OF MURDERING THE OP WITH LOVE JUST ANALYZING THE SHIT OUT OF THE COLORS AND SHADING AND FRAMING OR JUST POINTING OUT THE THEMES AND SUBTEXT AND CHARACTERIZATION --part of the reason I love betaing stuff so much because I can analyze shit and shower it with premature love while also helping fics to be even better than they were originally ugh so cleansing for my literature heart-- SO YEAH GIVE CREATORS A PARAGRAPH, DARE I DREAM OF PARAGRAPHS, BECAUSE WOW YES PLEASE YES]

...ahem anyway

the way to graduate from good to great as a receiver of content is

to do all this

any of this

any of this simple stupid amazing shit

and just

put it in an ask or message

that’s literally it

Let me tell you why that’s so amazing, it pumps up the already amazing dopamine dosage of these actions alone, and multiplies it by a hundred, let me tell you why

Let’s say you read a drabble. You loved it, you reblogged it, you gave it hearts and emojis and ranted for a few tags about how it made you drop your muffin on the ground. Fantastic work, you just made the op pass out.

Then you go about your day and that’s the end of that.

BUT

if you do all that

and then put it in an ASK

dare you even a direct message?? (probably not most of us on here are cowards I get that)

but an ASK, anon or otherwise?

The message you just sent to the op was “I interacted with the post you made, and I loved it so much that I went the extra mile of going to your blog to make extra extra sure you understand how much I liked your thing”

There’s a wordless wall with every post! You like and reblog the thing and move on with your day.

But the fact that YOU sent a HEART a SINGLE sentence about how you liked a thing? the fact that you BREACHED that wall and just fucking keyboard smashed in the inbox? the fact that you did that is the most amazing thing in the world

you just ambush the op with good vibes. we were expecting the bare minimum in the comments and tags, but the fact you when out of your way to make it a message or ask???? superb, outstanding, the sheer SHOCK of it will shift tectonic plates

you’re my fucking hero if you do this. you’re a godsend. I would kill for you,👏people👏would👏kill👏for👏you.

AT LEAST THEY WOULD KILL FOR YOU IF THIS ACTION DIDN’T ALREADY MURDER THEM

BE A MURDERER, NAY, A SERIAL KILLER. MURDER CONTENT CREATORS WITH LOVE

BE RECKLESSLY KIND AND LOVING YOU PIECE OF SHIT, ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE CRINGY TO STARVING AND DYING WRITERS AND ARTISTS WE WILL TAKE IT ALL GOD DAMMIT

YOU ARE A CHILD STARING UP AT AN AQUARIUM IN WONDER.

MAKE YOUR HAPPINESS STIR THE TIDES, LET YOUR PRESCENCE BE KNOWN PAST THE REFLECTION OF THE GLASS.

THE FISH ARE LOOKING FOR YOUR SMILE.

#I had to write this post in ANTI-ADHD format so that people would actually pay attention to it so apologies to the neurotypicals #IMPORTANT #👏give👏content👏to👏content👏creators👏#cause unlike for you guys the content we want doesnt need to be the highest quality #we just want a sentence about how it made you feel is that too much to ask?#just one keyboard spam plz #idk what else to tag this as #its 1 am and i have thoughts #art #not botw #writing #i just realized the analogy of fish and creators is a bit weird #i dont mean to imply that our entire existence relies on your feedback #i mean it kind of does #BUT #we're not animals and we don't OWE you content #so uh #all the more reason to give people a heart every now and then right?#this is getting a bit ranty #i'll leave before i embarrass myself further #long post

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miracul0us-multishipper · 5 years

Text

“You”

A grin spread over Felix' face as he let the charade drop.

“Me.”

The black haired girl he now knew was Marinette rolled her eyes and turned back to her sketch book, a clear dismissal.

“You’re blocking the light. Go bother someone else.”

He sighed and brushed his hair back, decreasing the similarities to his cousin to the necessary minimum.

“Why would I? Everybody else is so boring.”

No one in this entire city had even realized he was back; not their classmates, not the teachers, not even the brunette fashion disaster that obviously had some experience with deception. Of course his little charade would have to end once Adrien had recovered from the cold that kept him at home, but until then Felix would have his fun. Yesterday he'd spend the entire day in the Bourgeois Spa, fooling the entire staff, the Mayor and his clingy brat. Despite the latter being Adriens “best friend”, not even she had realized who she was really inviting. Getting rid of her had been a little harder, but in the end he'd spent a wonderfully relaxing day in a steam bath and his skin was softer than ever. Courtesy of the ridiculously expensive mud bath he hadn’t had to pay a single penny for.

“Looks like you'd fit right in then.”, Marinette commented and drew an especially vigorous line in her book.

“Ouch. You wound me, darling!”

She shrugged and ignored him. Ignored him! That wouldn’t do.

With a last tug at his no longer messy strands he sat down next to her, leaning into her space as far as he could risk without getting slapped. His last few attempts had thought him that lesson.

“Oh, come on, Marinette, you must to tell me!”, he nagged her, happy when her face turned from concentration to annoyance. “What gave me away? Was it the wink? Or no, it was the greeting, wasn't it? Too much enthusiasm.”

“Why do you even care? You got all the others, didn’t you?”

He clicked his tongue.

“I have standards. If there's one person who can tell the difference, my performance is obviously lacking.”

She huffed and added a little bow to the skirt she was working on. Knee-length and plain colored, decorated with small ribbons. Classic and elegant, yet a touch of playfulness. He would have complimented it if he'd thought she might value his opinion.

“If it wasn’t my words or gestures, what was it?”, he asked on, not willing to give up and admit defeat. It was their little routine by now. He'd come up and try to pass as Adrien, she'd see through him and he would try to annoy her until she either gave him her full attention, or snarked him off. Marinette Dupain-Cheng – despite her cute appearance – could be mean, he'd learned.

“I don’t think I want to tell you.”, she shrugged, but he could see the beginning of a smile tugging at her lips. She'd deny it, but secretly she enjoyed their little battles of wits.

“What?”, he gasped and slumped against her in played shock, conveniently knocking the book out of her hands and onto the steps of the Trocadero. “But why?”

Now unable to draw on, she finally gave him her undivided focus.

“Because you, Monsieur Graham de Vanilly, are a major pain in my butt.”

“Oh? I would have thought you above such pettiness.”, he lamented. “To deny a fellow fashion enthusiast your criticism! To dishonor the sacred solidarity between artists! Truly a shame.”

“You? An artist?” She snickered. “Don’t make me laugh.”

“Hey! Deception is as much of an art as these tiny scribbles of yours. And I am a master of my craft, thank you very much.”

She waved her hand and shooed him back a little.

“The questionable status of your craft aside, I'd hardly call you an expert. You were here for a day and already had the entire class plus three akumas after you. Your play didn’t even last an hour before it blew up in your face. Maybe you should ask Lila for a bit of advice! She's been here for months and is still on her unquestioned bullshit.”

He growled at that, drawing out another of these smug little smirks Marinette so rarely wore. After all his visits she knew how to rile him up.

“Do not compare me to that- that klutz! Anybody could spew some fancy tales and name drop, but that doesn’t mean she has skill. There's no finesse, no authenticity beneath that badly styled hair of her.”

“And there is beneath yours?”, Marinette said sweetly. He huffed and raised his chin.

“Of course there is. I don’t run around as Adrien for the fame, but for the fun of it. And I actually put in some effort. I was only found out because my goal required breaking character, and I still had a score to settle with my dear cousin. You think I only depend on my pretty face, because it looks conveniently close to Adrien? Wrong!”

His chest swoll a little as he spoke. With his accomplishments, he'd earned a little pride in himself.

“True, artful deception requires three things Lila Rossi couldn’t fake if her life depended on it: Discretion, Distraction and the right timing. She only ever barges in headfirst, unable to survive even a second outside of the spotlight.”

She hummed.

“My mistake. How could I ever assume you to be alike, since you obviously care so little about getting attention?”

Snarky little minx. Well, she wasn’t wrong, to be fair.

“Enough of that!”, he decided and eagerly turned back to her. “Now tell me what gave me away.”

“Let me see...”, she mused and pursed her lips. “I guess I could tell you that...”

“Yes?”

“...under certain circumstances...”

“Go on!”

“...it might be...”

“Might be?”

“The scent.”

He blinked. This had been his mistake? What kind of cologne did his cousin even wear?

“The... the scent.”

“Uh-huh.”

She moved to get back to her sketching, but he snatched the book before she could even touch it.

“Nah-ah! First you've got to expand on that. What perfume is he wearing?”

She shrugged and leaned back.

“Oh, isn’t it obvious? Adrien always wears “Manners and Class” N° 5. You on the other hand reek of “Wouldn’t know politeness if it hit me in the face”. A poor choice, really.”

She leaned in.

“You stink.”

It took a moment for her words to register, and he couldn't suppress a gasp when they did. With a satisfied smile she tugged her sketchbook out of his hands and crossed her legs, ready to put the finishing touch on her latest design. Felix fell back on the step next to her.

“That's it.”

“Yup.”

“You've won.”

“Fair and square.”

“I am defeated.”

“Annihilated. But to be fair, that opening was too easy.”

“Perfect set-up. Clean execution. Merciless punchline. You have earned your victory, so claim it properly.”

“I will.”

He fell silent after that, acknowledging his defeat. He lasted all but two minutes before his need for attention beat his shame.

“So? What do you want as your prize?”

“Peace and quiet?”, she proposed, gnawing at the end of her pencil.

He shook his head in disbelief.

“You're more ambitious than that, Dupain-Cheng. Here I am, Felix Graham du Vanilly, offering you everything I can give, and you settle for peace and quiet? Tsk, you can do better than that.”

“Maybe I could ask you to clear the area, while I’m already at it. For the entire week.”

He should leave. He wouldn’t get any real feedback out of her today, and now that he had offered her a prize she might develop some common sense and ask him for his connections, or some favors that could get her publicity. He was stretching his luck every time he decided to pester her again.

But he stayed. Whether it was his wounded pride, or his curiosity ever since she'd sent that little love declaration to his cousin... he couldn’t allow the only borderline interesting person in this city to dismiss him like that. Especially not when he hadn’t been able to get a rise out of her yet.

An idea popped into his mind and he spoke before he could think.

“You could ask me for a date.”

Now Marinette did put her book away.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

She blinked.

“Did you miss the part where I asked you to leave me to my scribbles, as you put it? Because I am sure I mentioned it a few times, now.”

“No, doesn’t ring a bell.”

She groaned and closed her book. He counted that as a victory.

“Well, then maybe you remember the fact that I’m in love with Adrien. Which you already know, since you watched the video clearly addressed to him. And deleted said video. And replied very rudely.”

He hummed and stood up to circle her. An actor had to have a sense of drama, after all.

“The past is the past. And in the present, I look just like Adrien.”

Now he finally seemed to have broken through her cool facade.

“So what?”, she snapped at him, crossing her arms. “Do you think I like him for his looks? Am I that shallow, in your opinion?”

Of course she wasn’t. But he'd finally struck a nerve.

“You're not?”, he provoked slyly.

“No!”

She stomped her pink flats on the ground with more force than should be physically possible.

“I love him because he is kind. And thoughtful. And funny and confident and fair and so classy, and because he loves to make friends, and because he's loyal and caring and-“

“Okay, okay, I get it. He's your little fairy tale prince.”, he interrupted a little harsher than intended. Clearing his throat he continued. “And you'll be relieved to know that I don’t want to date you either. No offense to you, but I am above such mundane things as crushes.”

She rolled her eyes and sat back down.

“Of course you are.”

“Fact is, my dear Marinette,” he lectured smugly, “that you can’t even say two words to your loverboy without seemingly suffering a particularly unflattering stroke.”

“What a flowery statement, Sherlock.”

“Another fact is that you can talk very fluently to me. Far too fluently, in my opinion.”

Marinette's eyes narrowed with suspicion and he smiled.

“What's your point?”

“My point is,” he finished his circling and came to a stand right in front of her. “that you can use me to practice. Here, I'll even mess up my hair again!”

“Wait, I didn’t even agree to-“

“You're welcome. Aren’t I a dashing little dream prince?”

He posed in true Adrien fashion and Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Please, just don’t.”

“Pah! Ungrateful as always. Anyway, back to business!”

He spun into a dramatic pirouette and kneeled down before her, taking her hand between his.

“Marinette, my fairest!”, he proclaimed with vigor. “Is there something on that bright mind of yours you want to share with me, Adrien Agreste?”

She groaned again, but didn’t pull away.

“If you'll leave me alone after that...”

“I'll do anything my good friend asks of me! I am sunshine personified!”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Close enough.”

He almost regretted looking for Marinette this late. The sun was about to set and most tourists had already left for locations with a better view. If there had been more, one might have captured a snap shot of Adrien Agreste kneeling in front of a random girl about to confess. His cousin would be delighted when he found out about his scandal in the news.

Alas, it was only the two of them who paid attention to each other. But Marinette was about to begin, so he didn’t ponder on the viewers anymore.

“I... I wanted to tell you that...”

He almost winced at that poor display of rhetorical talent, but she wasn’t done yet. Taking a deep breath, Marinette lifted her eyes off of her shoes and looked directly at him. And for a moment it felt as if she were looking into him. He'd seen these bluebell eyes roll in annoyance, glare in anger and sparkle with mirth, but never had he seen them this piercing, this all-consuming.

“Adrien, there's something I haven’t told you yet.”, she said, and it was as if he'd never heard her speak before. This wasn’t the voice that had teased and bantered with him, or the disinterested lull she mumbled in when she tried to ignore him. This was soft, yet firm and confident. Like tugging the strings of a violin: a clear, pleasant sound that offered a first hint of the potential in this slender instrument.

“I didn’t keep this from you because I don’t value our friendship.”, she said and her fingers tightened around his. Felix was suddenly sure that no expensive mudbath could ever make his skin as soft as hers. “It's the furthest thing from it. I didn’t tell you because I value our friendship so much. And I was scared to risk it.”

She took a step closer and he had to swallow.

“Adrien, you are the first person I think of when I wake up, and the only person I see in my dreams. Every morning, when I walk into class and see you, I feel like there's pure sunshine in my chest and springs under my feet. Like gravity is just a loose suggestion and I could float if I jumped. Like... like I could do anything I ever dreamed of.”

She looked down upon their hands. Disentangling their fingers surprised him, but even more surprising was that this time, she took his hands between hers.

“I know you feel trapped sometimes.”, she whispered and he found himself suddenly very insecure. Was she still acting? Was she this deep in their little charade? Or... or was she truly talking to him?

“I know you put up a smile and try to give everybody what they expect. And that you don’t have a lot of chances to just be you, not the heir of a great legacy. But I... I want to be your escape. Your safe haven. What I am trying to say is...”

She looked back up to him, and her smile was radiant.

“I love you.”

...

There was a tightness in his chest.

Because he wasn’t breathing, he realized.

Odd.

He didn’t have time to overthink this little detail, though. For as soon as he opened his mouth to say something – what, he didn’t know – she blinked and took a step back. The spell faded and his mouth fell shut again.

“So,” Marinette cleared her throat and looked away. “How... How was it?”

“Uh...”, he made, which was admittedly not the smartest reply he’d ever given her. The fact that he still hadn’t remembered to breathe in didn’t make things easier.

Marinette shifted her weight from one leg to the other, uncomfortable.

“That bad?”

Ha.

Ha ha.

He shook his head and finally sucked in some much needed air.

“Good”, he croaked out, which was still not much of an improvement from his earlier statement of ‘uh’.

“It was... really good.”

Ah. The simple beauty of a full sentence.

“You think so?”, she asked, voice high with surprise. “It wasn’t... I don’t know, a little too much?”

“No!”, he answered a little too fast. “Uh, no. No, it was really... really good.”

Marinette's eyes went narrow.

“Are you making fun of me? Because I may be small, but if you did this to humiliate me then I swear to god, I will take this pencil and-“

“I was serious. What you said was beautiful.”

They both blinked at his words. He hadn’t meant to say that. This wasn’t how their interactions went. They were snarky. Mean. Teasing from time to time. But not... this. Never this open. Never vulnerable.

“Thank you.”, Marinette gave back, seemingly unsure herself. “I should... you know, it’s late and my parents are waiting.”

He nodded far too eagerly for his earlier efforts to make her stay.

“Yes, of course. I'll... No, you know the way better than me, probably.”

She laughed at that. It wasn’t a snicker, or one of her smug little huffs. It sounded... sweet.

“Yeah, no need to walk me home.”

She eyed him for a a moment, then the emptying place.

“I could walk you home, though. If you want to.”

Yes.

“No.”, he said and something in his chest roared in disappointment. “Thank you, but it would be quite the detour for you.”

She shrugged.

“Alright. Don’t get lost.”

Shouldering her bag she took her sketch book and moved to leave, but stopped mid movement to turn back around.

“Oh, and if you tell anybody – especially Adrien! – about any of this, you'll find out what I was going to do with that pencil! Got it?”

He rolled his eyes, finally in control of himself.

“Yes, oh great master of pencilmanship. Your weapon is as feared as its wielder.”

Satisfied she nodded and turned around, but stopped yet again. With a groan she dropped the bag, stepped in front of him and grabbed his collar. He'd never admit to anybody that the surprised squeal that followed had come from him. Utterly frozen in shock he could only watch as Marinette came closer and...

“There!”, she hummed and combed back his hair with her fingers. “I like you hair better this way.”

A small nod was all he could muster up, but it was enough for her. Waving him goodbye she turned around for good.

“Well then. See you around, Felix!”

He watched her leave, desperately trying to regain his voice.

“Y-Yeah. See you around, Marinette.”

Only when she had completely disappeared in the nearby metro station he allowed himself to sit down, wobbly knees no longer able to support him.

“What...”, he mumbled to himself, “...the entire fuck...”

What did just happen? Nothing made sense, not this stupid idea and certainly not his reaction to it. Sighing he leaned back against the steps and touched his hair. It was still a little messy, but laid back against his head in its usual fashion. If he concentrated he could almost feel the warmth of her fingers trapped between his strands.

He sighed deeply.

...damnit.

- - -

A little one shot because I hadn't written about canon!felix yet.

#miramu writes #felinette #felix graham de vanily #canon felix #ml felix #ml felinette #ml marinette #marinette dupain cheng

2K notes · View notes

laetro · 3 years

Text

Saloni Sinha: Merging Concept, Visual Styling and Experimentation

Senior Experience Designer at Frog Design, Saloni Sinha unravels the unique step-by-step approach she applies to her designing and illustrating process. Starting out with experimentation, she progresses to conceptualising and ends with visual styling to produce what she considers the effects of her designing roots.

Known for illustration, Saloni Sinha is a designer by day; illustrator by night; bassist on weekends and a full time dreamer. Her approach to design is rooted in experimentation, conceptual thinking and visual styling. Saloni’s illustration style is often inspired by exaggerated reality, nature and outer space. As Senior Experience Designer at Frog Design, her works have included visual direction, design language systems, branding and UX flows amongst others. Meanwhile, being a music lover, she often contributes her designs to the indie music scene.

ORDER A CUSTOM ILLUSTRATION

Q. Could you please elaborate on what your role as Senior Experience Designer at Frog Design involves and related projects you’ve worked on?

Saloni Sinha: My role at Frog Design varies from project to project. I’ve been lucky to find myself involved in different domains like enterprises, B2B or B2C markets. I’ve also had the opportunity to work on visual direction, design language systems, branding, UX flows and involve myself in pursuits of organisation initiatives from time to time.

Q. Which artist’s works do you look up to and what do you adopt from them in your approach?

Saloni: I get inspired by many different artists all the time. Some of my favourites over the last few years are John Jurez, MC Escher and Maria Tuiriana. John’s subjects are always out of this world. His usage of colours and minimal look are some things I try to adopt in my style as well.

Likewise, I’m always in awe of and puzzled by Escher’s genius mind. I am not sure if I’ve adopted any of his approaches but it always mesmerises me. Maria has a dark yet adorable and humorous style, which is always a delight to see. I feel quite inspired by her use of organic and traditional mediums, which is a good reminder for me to turn to transitional media as much as possible.

Q. Having worked on various projects across branding, UI/UX, typeface, posters, etc. how do you adapt to the diversity in their nature and demands?

Saloni: Having gone through the foundations of design and having the opportunity to experiment with different disciplines in my design education has helped me adapt to different domains. Yet I feel that most of the time it’s the willingness and staying curious that helps you adapt.

Q. Could you kindly elaborate on why you choose visual styling, conceptual thinking and experimentation as the roots of your work?

Saloni: l usually start with experimenting, which is sort of an open field to play around and have fun. At this stage, I’m not bothered by the end result. Once you have one or two good concepts, you can start to refine and build something intuitively. Lastly, you decide which sort of visual styling would best suit the concept. Normally, I tend to play around with colours and typography to decide a mood. I don’t believe in a fixed process; I feel you can iterate and keep an open mind.

Q. Which have been the noteworthy clients and projects you’ve worked for and could you highlight some valuable experiences you’ve had in particular?

Saloni: Some of the projects/clients which are special two me are:

Saptan Stories – a 7-week long collaborative arts event hosted by Aardman Animations (UK) in collaboration with British India. I was really happy to be hand-picked among 7 artists from the UK and India. Every artist had to interpret a story written by the masses. It also felt personal in some sense as I had just gone through a break-up and each line coming in felt like what I had experienced, though with a mix of fantasy in it.

Tailor & Circus – I had the opportunity to create a set of design prints for their underwear collection and also to design a sustainable packaging hamper. They’ve been very inclusive about their audience. They are bold in their approach and sustainable, so I feel proud to be associated with their work. I thus got to see my illustration in a different medium, which is always exciting.

Album Cover for Amogh Symphony ‘IV’ – The artwork for their album turned out to have a very different take in terms of the look and feel, unlike conventional metal band covers. The art was conceptualised with the title track ‘Birds’, which emphasised feminine freedom and connection with mother Earth.

l usually start with experimenting… Once you have one or two good concepts, you can start to refine and build something intuitively. Lastly, you decide which sort of visual styling would best suit the concept.

Q. In terms of technicalities like colour scheme, lighting, proportion and the likes how do you describe your style and approach?

Saloni: I usually tend to work towards a minimal style. I spend more time sketching and inking before I start to digitise. In most of my work, I try to keep the use of colors to a minimum of two or three while colouring digitally. In my opinion, two to three colours bring good balance and harmony. I add depth by adding some tints and tones while sometimes playing around with unconventional proportions to bring surprise.

Q. If you could determine one thing about the field of art today, what would it be and why?

Saloni: Art can be more immersive with upcoming technologies. People can experiment and combine different mediums to create enriching experiences.

Q. What particular efforts or ways do you take to understand and achieve what is expected by a client?

Saloni: Understand clients thoroughly, making sure they are involved in each stage of ideation. At the same time, give yourself time to refine your ideas. Ideally, you don’t want to show them the entire process of brainstorming since it may expose them to half-cooked ideas and confuse them. Once you have a few directions for them to choose from, you can funnel your design sooner.

Sometimes it will also depend on what kind of client you get – there might be clients who are particular about something, while some give you more liberty. As an artist, though, you can take that lead in direction while still keeping the brief in mind.

Q. How do you choose subjects and the manner of conceptualising them in your illustrations?

Saloni Sinha: My subjects keep changing from time to time. Earlier, I was heavily inspired by the metal culture and dark fantasy, so I naturally made a lot of punk/spooky drawings. Nowadays, with my growing interest in space and nature, I draw a lot of inspiration from the two and amalgamate them with everyday life and fantasy.

Q. What kind of projects do you dream to do and what draws you to them?

Saloni Sinha: I’d love to work on a project related to sustainability and nature conservation that can make an actual impact on our planet. And, for fun, I’d love to make album covers for some of my favorite bands as I love music.

#Saloni Sinha #Laetro #Art #Arts #Digitalart #Artist #illustration

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gamesofmuggles · 6 years

Text

Newt Scamander x Slytherin Princess

Requested : Can I request a slyhtherin reader falling in love with hufflepuff newt.but shes the slytherim princess so everyone’s confused at why she’s dating newt

Around 1600 words.

Without you asking, you gain a "title" in the school. The Slytherin Princess. Alright you descend from a powerful family of Wizards, and you were like pretty good in class. Also very generous and helping, not that ugly looking but that title was too, freaking much. Your ambition was definitely what send you to Slytherin, you didn't know what sleeping was, and you always ask for more task at your charge. Everybody made sure you have your favorite spot in class, for the Quidditch game, you always found a little note at breakfast in the morning, and even if all that seems wonderful, people were pretty boring to you. You knew everybody in the school, well the interesting one. That kid that was blocked in a painting, the one hanging out with the ghosts, that girl who succeed to stupefix someone in the second year, someone who blew up the toilet, the kid always hanging out with magical creature. It was an other night of watching the corridor, does Prefect sleep?

"Don't move" as you heard the voice behind you, you could feel a little tickling on your hand. Without moving your body you turn your head slightly to the left side. Your favorite ring. Diamond and Emerald was delicately slipping through your fingers. The reason why? A Niffler. A real one although a baby you presume was holding to it. His weight pushing the ring to the edge of your finger. "I had an awful night trying to catch that little buddy" the voice come closer. There could be only one person to do this. Newt Scamander. "Quick," you said watching the Nifler nearly at the end of his quest. He jumps to catch the little animal in his hands. With a bright smile he looked at you, you were not amused. At all. You ran your eyes to look at him. His freckles made him look younger. "I believe this is yours" he tickled the Nifler to get your rings back. With an awkward gesture, he presented it to you, then tried to put it on your fingers and scuff and presented it to you again. You grab it and put it as his place. "Mister Scamander, where this Nifler come from?" "My.. room?" he said trying to break the awkward silence. You rolled your eyes to him. "You can't have him around" "I know, he just, well he lost his mother so.." You sigh and saw the little nose of the animal picking from Newt pocket. Fuck it that was cute. "FINE, keep it until he can manage to live by himself" Newt smiled at you and you again rolled your eyes, despite being popular you weren't that good at socialization. But as you did the minimum everybody thought you are the kindest. "Go on then," you said not wanting to report him and he jogged back to his common room.

You were struggling, like really struggling in front of your Magical Creature paper, you suspected the creature to feel your lack of empathy for them and then acting all kind of weird. You leave your paper on the making to grab breakfast, you read the paper alone when you found your solution. All the Hufflepuff was looking at you in direction of their table. "Scamander" Newt chocked on his sausage and blushed. "I need you" you seat next to him, a leg on each side of the bench. "For the paper for Magical Creature," you add, waiting desperately for him to speak. "Ok" "See you tonight then, meet me here" You returned to your work, leaving Newt being questioned by his house fellow.

As you watched the clock tick you noticed he had 10 min late. He was impossible. The moment you wanted to go back he arrived, a bunch of books again his chest, and a mess in this hair the usual. You raised an eyebrow. "Sorry" "Yeah come on it's ok" You seated at a table during the study hour. As you explain your problem to him, you noticed he had trouble looking people in the eye. "I just don't know the difference between these two braids, their basically the same!" He laughed "No their note" With a quick drawing, he shows you the subtitle differences between them. "This is way too difficult" "How's so?" You glanced at him. "You are the best in transfiguration, and you think distinguishing two creatures is difficult?" You blushed a little bit, open your mouth ready to fire him, but instead took a deep breath, he had definitely pushed his boundaries to say that. "They feel I don't like them" "Well, yeah. We are the one killing them usually" you freeze to that, biting your nails nervously and old habit. "I never thought I would see that" you both turn to Melissa, you hated. H A T E D her. "You flirting with the wrong Scamander, while Theseus is out dare being a hero" That was by far the cruelest thing someone could say. "Fuck off" "My pleasure" "Oh I would burn that bitch to the.." you turn but Newt was gone, leaving only the sketches on the table.

You close your cape as you step outside of the castle, you knew he would be somewhere, as you needed some fresh air too. You descend the brick step towards the forest, he was seated against a tree stump. "Want me to end that girl reputation?" you said seating with your legs crossed. "Listen, that was stupid and I'm sure you are.." "I know you don't mean wrong but you just couldn't understand" he cut you. "I think I know perfectly" "How? I'm sure you're the proud of your family" "I'm the proud of the Headmaster, I'm the proud of the Transfiguration teacher but I sure ain't no proud to my family" "But why?" this time Newt was looking at you and you were the one avoiding it. "They only care about themselves, all my efforts didn't lead to nothing, I did it for nothing." "Are you kidding? You're a powerful witch, and kind.. and" You smiled at him, as he searches his words. "Thank you Newt" "I'm heading home, you staying here?" you asked standing up. "Yeah, I'm gonna check on some.. people" "Sure you are," you said coming closer to him and tightening his scarf. "I'll see you around"

This new friendship was truly new to both of you, he was getting the attention he deserved and you, true support no one ever gave you. You noticed something changed in you when you saw him arrived late in class, and his shirt was upon up because he didn't have the time, and you smiled widely at that. After this mortified introspection you felt a lot shyer around him. Was he thinking the same? after all, you spent all your time together.

It was winter and you visited Hogwmades, you were freezing to death. "Here you can take my scarf" he pulled around your neck the Hufflepuff colors, and it was not that bad. "You're not cold?" "I'm used to spend hours outside" "Let's go get a drink" When you entered the Tavern and seat at a table, you heard some whispers around you. "I think you're right, she dating him" "But why this makes no sense" You feel your cheeks burned, Newt wasn't paying attention to it, too busy looking at you. "We leaving," you said when the drinks arrive. "Oh, why?" You took his hands and lead him outside. "People were talking again" "I'm sorry," he said drawing circles in the snow with his foot. "For what?" "Because you spend your time with me" he looked so sad that you never felt so much down in your life. "How could you imagine that I care about them?" "I feel like sometimes I'm not at the right place" "Excuse me?" "No, it's not like.." you unroll his scarf and angrily gave him before returning alone to the castle, the fact that he didn't feel comfortable around you, or thought that your friendship was not something you were proud hurt you.

You couldn't focus on your homework, in front of your eyes a piece of paper flew to you and landed on your books. "Astronomy tower" you knew his handwriting by heart and you hesitated a moment before joining the high tower. "Hello?" you inquired. "I'm sorry" a hand in his pocket, the other one holding a sunflower he never looked more vulnerable and kissable. "That's for you" you grab the flower and smiled. "Thank you." "Listen, If I ever did something that could upset you or make you feel uncomfortable I want you to tell me," you asked your voice a little broke. "In the contract, this has been the best year" "I think we should give what the people want," you said mischevious "What is that?" "A couple," you said coming closer to him. He did the first step at your surprised and kissed you, his smell was the most reassuring thing ever and it feels truly like home. And everybody could shut up.

Notes : Sltyhertin Princess gif from /megaraprynce / not my edit

#newt scamander #newt scamander imagine #newt scamander x reader #newt scamander x stlyherin #slytherin x hufflepuff #young newt scamander #young newt scamander imagine #slytherin princess #slytherin imagine #slytherin princess x newt scamander #niffler #harry potter #harry potter imagine #hufflepuff imagine

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sylveradrake · 5 years

Text

Pay What You Want commissions are open! Active Slots: 1. [ Open ] 2. [ Open ] 3. [ Open ] 4. [ Open ] 5. [ Open ] Reserved Slots: 1. [ Open ] 2. [ Open ] 3. [ Open ] 4. [ Open ] 5. [ Open ] Frequently Asked Questions (Please Read!):

[ ? ] What does pay what you want mean? [ A ] Pay what you want (pwyw) means that, beyond a minimum, you can pay whatever you want for the commission! The minimums are listed on the sheet, and anything above that isn't necessary, but greatly appreciated! If an item says 1+ kofi, you must pay at least one kofi, but you can add more if you're feeling generous! [ ? ] What is a kofi? [ A ] Ko-fi is a website that allows you to support your favorite creators, a bit like a way to tip them by "buying them a coffee"! A 'kofi', as I call them, is each unit of support you give an artist ($3US). There is of course a small chunk taken from each kofi, so the artist doesn't get the full $3 (just something to bear in mind). You can give as many kofis at once as you'd like, hence these commissions being pwyw so you can give whatever you feel like giving! [ ? ] Are these all the options you have for commissions? [ A ] These are primarily just examples of things I've done consistently in the past! If you have a more 'custom' idea, we can certainly discuss it! I've been doing pixel art for about 3.5 years, so I have some decent experience, but like every artist I have limits to my current abilities. You can see both my Tumblr and DeviantArt galleries for more examples, including the options for the line styles, animations, and shading! [ ? ] What ARE all those options under the examples? [ A ] Hard lines means the piece will have "hard", solid black lines between each "section" of the piece: the outline, and between all the different colors, etc. Lineless means that rather than having that solid black line, I use a slightly darker shade of each color to outline them, like the fullbody dragon! This gives it a softer, 'lineless' look. Cell shading means that there's just one color used to shade, rather than a blend. The Kakashi doll on the far left has cell shading: just one color in a hard shape. Smooth shading means what it sounds like: a few colors are blended from dark to light to make the shadows smoother! I do a few very basic animations for certain dolls or icons when requested. Typically this refers to a one-pixel "bob", and a blink cycle. I can also have a doll open its mouth and bring up a small speech bubble if you'd like them to say something! Please bear in mind that animation takes additional time and effort, and though not required, additional support is appreciated for animated pieces! [ ? ] Why are there things you refuse to draw? [ A ] For the most part, it's simply a matter of preference. For others, it's a matter of ability. Some things are just a bit too complex for me to feel I can pull it off in a fashion consistent with the rest of my work, and therefore being worth your money! Hence a limit on complex poses and the number of characters per shot, or complex designs, like mecha. Other things like the ship limitations are just personal preferences that make me uncomfortable. The NSFW ban is mostly due to most hosting sites not liking to host mature artwork...and also a matter of both my ability, and personal preference. [ ? ] What constitutes NSFW? [ A ] For me, this includes any nudity that shows genitals - nipples and / or breasts are fine. This also includes anything sexual, including any and all fetishes, even if genitals are not shown. I also do not do heavy gore. I may expand this umbrella term if anything not already covered comes up! [ ? ] I can't afford a commission, but I'd like to help! What can I do? [ A ] You can share this comm sheet and / or my art with your friends! Getting the word out might mean finding someone able and willing to order a comm, which of course is a big help! [ ? ] Do you do requests? [ A ] Unfortunately, not at the moment. If you'd like me to draw something for you and the comms are open, you're more than welcome to order something! While I do do personal art for myself and for friends, I can't make free art for everyone. In the future I may do something akin to raffles, but for now, we're starting with the commissions! [ ? ] Can I donate without ordering a commission? [ A ] You most certainly can, and it's very much appreciated, and would be a huge help! Of course it is NOT an expectation: no one has to donate if they can't or don't want to. But if you just want to throw some general support in to help me keep creating, you're more than welcome, and I'd appreciate it tremendously :heart: [ ? ] Do you accept DeviantArt points? [ A ] I do not. To put it bluntly, DA points can't pay my bills. I have nothing I need that DA points can buy, so I only work with money. Sorry! [ ? ] Do you do anything like art trades? [ A ] For the moment, no - but I might in the future! I'm open to the possibility, but for now (and for this post's purpose), I'm working on commissions! If I ever open up art trades, I'll be sure to make another about it! [ ? ] How is best to contact you? [ A ] Any of the above listed social media! On DA, please send a note with a subject line about pwyw commissions. On Tumblr, you can send an ask (off anon) which I will reply to privately. You can also send an IM! Email also works: just include the pwyw commissions in the subject line. I do my best to check all of these sites a few times a day, but there may be times where I'm limited. I'll try to post ahead of time so you know why I'm not responding promptly! Otherwise, it could take me about a day to get back to you. Please be patient! I have other responsibilities. I may also take hiatuses if I feel the need. If I go more than a few days without responding and haven't given any warning, there's probably something keeping me from my messages, and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as I'm able! [ ? ] What's your policy on refunds? [ A ] So long as I haven't finished flat coloring your piece, you can get a full refund, of course! But once the piece is lined AND colored, I've put in a good bit of work, so I'm afraid I won't be able to refund you. As stated on the sheet, you can ask for an update on the piece any time! And I will send you the cleaned sketch once it's finished to see if there's anything you'd like changed. Though please bear in mind some things can differ between sketching and lining, especially when shrinking down to pixel. A sketch is a general outline, not the full product! [ ? ] Are there any other circumstances where you might refuse a commission? [ A ] Honestly it depends. I hope not to encounter any other reasons beyond my general rules, but I DO retain the right to say no to any commission for any reason, which I don't have to disclose. If I do say no, please respect that decision. It's never anything personal. [ ? ] Where does the art go once it's finished? [ A ] Any commissioned art, by default, will be posted to my DeviantArt, my Tumblr, and on Ko-fi! I'll also send you a copy / link through whatever means you contacted me with. If you'd like your art to be private, you need only ask. I will then only send YOU the art, and it will NOT be posted anywhere else. I can also post the art anonymously if you’d like it posted, but your name not attached to it. [ ? ] How can I use my commission(s)? [ A ] Any way you like UNLESS it's commercial - in other words, if you make any money using the artwork. Please also do not trade or sell the artwork. Otherwise, feel free to use it for any personal use you'd like! You can also repost the art so long as you provide a link to my original post. If your comm wasn't publicly posted, a link back to any of my social media will suffice! Just always be sure to use proper credit so people know where the art came from! That way they can find my pages, and maybe get a commission of their own! [ ? ] Do you do fanart? [ A ] I do! My commissions are all one-off, unique jobs, and I'm hardly about to impact any IP markets. So long as it's a large fandom (no Disney, though - that's one I won't touch), and my art wouldn't greatly impact the profits and livelihood of other creators, I can do fanart. But I DO prefer to do original art! It's great to work with new designs, and help give original characters more art for them! Gimme OCs to draw! [ ? ] Can you design a character for me, like a custom adoptable? [ A ] I can! Just bear in mind that I'll need as many details as possible to make something that fits your vision! I'll also need to work with you more than typical to be sure we get it as accurate as possible, so be prepared for a lot of communication until we get it looking as you want! [ ? ] Can you do gifts - in other words, can I order art for another person? [ A ] I do, and you certainly can! Just be sure to let me know who the gift is for, so I can tag them! If they don't have any of the social media I use, you can just give me a name or screen name to post with it. A gift will just cost you the same as any art you'd order for yourself! Also please do be sure you have permission to commission art of characters owned by another person! [ ? ] What do you mean by 'item'? [ A ] Each individual pixel piece! One lone pixel doll of 150 pixels would be a minimum of two kofis! But if you want two dolls interacting, it's two kofis minimum EACH. So at least four kofis. That's because I still have to sketch, ink, color, shade, and possibly animate EACH doll! Twice the effort means twice the price.

#commission #commissions #pwyw #pwyw commissions #pay what you want #pay what you want commissions #pixel art #pixel cursor #pixel icon #pixel doll #long post

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draco-omega · 6 years

Text

10 months ago, I decided to make a game.

10 months later, I have a bunch of art and a bunch of interface code and a whole pile of design notes, and not much game.

This is my story.

(Now in bullet point form so that I can stop redrafting it >.>)

I have a treatment-resistant anxiety disorder which significantly interferes with my ability to work - both on my own projects and other things that might be called 'gainful employment'. (I still feel some shame at admitting this so bluntly, even though I feel ideologically that there should be no more shame in this than any physical impairment that resulted in the same. Fuck mental health stigma, defining self-worth by employment is toxic capitalist dogma, etc, etc.)

In part because of this, I had been effectively unemployed and living with my mother for a number of years. (I still did my best to hammer out projects, but nothing, y'know, actually PAID anything... >.>)

Then in late 2017, my mother died (somewhat unexpectedly) of cancer, which left me with no home (we'd been sharing an apartment that she had been covering most of the rent on) and literally zero income. Obviously grief and upheaval did not help with any of my prior difficulties managing employment, either.

After some debate, I decided to combine the savings I had left over from my last stint as a network administrator with a (modest) inheritance from my mother and try to actually make a living at making games. This is something I had always theoretically wanted to do, but never put actual money on the line for. (Okay, in a perfect world, I'd happily give all my work away for free and live on some minimum guaranteed income, but we do not yet live in such a world).

One of my historically biggest gamedev weaknesses was a lack of artistic ability, so this seemed a perfect thing to put money towards. I could hire an artist, which would not only allow me to make a more commercially appealing product, but would also free me up to focus on the mechanical and writing aspects of gamedev, which are the areas I most wanted to be working on and also consider myself best at. (Any followers that remember my work on ToK may recall me complaining there about how it seemed I spent my time on nothing but graphics? >.>

This was shortly after Touhou fangames had been given the official blessing to be sold on Steam, and some had already achieved great success there, so this seemed like a good way to create some instant appeal and interest in my game, while working with a franchise that I already loved to death and had written hundreds of thousands of words of fanfiction for (eg: This or that or this other thing)

And so Chronicle of False History was born!

...and yet I somehow still spent most of my time working on art. You see, having never worked with an actual artist before, I underestimated a number of things:

1) I underestimated how much work it would be to find a suitable artist in the first place (though at least this part is done)

2) I gravely underestimated how much of my time would be spent on 'art direction' or 'project management' or whatever you want to call it.

Every sprite that is created, even for canonical character designs, requires making a large number of decisions regarding:

What attack and spell poses it will have (and how to cover the broadest range of signature abilities with just two 'frames', for budget reasons)

Which of enumerable (and sometimes mutually-exclusive) costume details from canon (and fanon) should be selected (and do you have any idea just how many variations there are on things as straightforward as 'the hilt of Miko's sword'?)

Gathering a pile of reference images that clearly detail every element of the character (and action poses) to be drawn (which is also harder than you might think; a lot of art is sufficiently suggestive of details to view without actually being a good reference to reproduce and anything that isn't exactly what I'm looking for risks my artist misunderstanding my request entirely)

Designing alternate-history variants of this character in a way that can be clearly conveyed with minimal costume and color changes alone (as any significant redrawing would cost far more and the cast of the game is so large already) and doing so before the part of the game they would appear in is even written.

Gathering reference images for all of those things

Writing up a detailed description of all the decisions listed above (and often drawing actual diagrams of action poses and projectile overlays that are ambiguous to express with just words) and handing it over to my artist

Waiting a while, then getting sketches back and finding out that there is inevitably a whole pile of things that need changing (either because the artist misunderstood my request entirely - despite all that previous effort - or because an idea of mine looked far better in my own head than it does, or just the usual 'incremental improvements' to something that is on the right track but not quite there - like a sort of collaborative redrafting.)

Spending hours poking at these sketches in an image editor, testing how well individual details resolve at in-game size, how well the action frames snap together, and how I feel about each questionable element. This often extends to (crudely) adjusting and readjusting the position and angle of individual limbs and eyebrows and projectiles that feel 'off' so that I can figure out what I would like her to do with them (and whether it's even worth making her take the effort to do anything with them at all)

Finally, summarizing that feedback into a detailed list of change requests (often with new diagrams to clarify my words) and repeating the last two steps over and over and over again.

Like, she does great work - don't get me wrong. I'm very pleased with the end results and this is just an inevitable part of the process of making something professional. But it does also mean that my original idea that paying an artist would free me up to work on things other than art has been... laughable in retrospect, to say the very least. In fact, it's very possible that a greater percentage of my dev time is spent on art-related tasks than on previous projects where I was doing all the art myself - I just get better art for my trouble (and money....)

This is especially true given that:

3) I underestimated just how much art work I would still need to do completely independently of her

Raven is doing character sprites. These are arguably the most individually important art content in the game, and certainly the ones that give it the most screenshot appeal, but that has left me to do everything else. Which has included:

Figuring out how to make battle backgrounds that passably match the art style of the game (since commissioning enough of these to fill all the locations needed would absolutely blow my budget)

Designing the entire look and feel of the combat screen to mesh well with Raven's sprites while also being something I am personally capable of making (using only cheap/free resources)

Creating all tweened animations and particle effects

Designing every single little UI element that exists in the game:

Elemental symbols

Dialogue boxes

Spellcard icons (and the entire menu design that requires them in the first place)

Combat action menus

Icons to indicate spellcard usability

Spellcard tooltips

Targeting overlays

A turn order bar

Spellcard availability reminders

Font choice for damage/healing numbers, spellcard names,

More cursors that you can shake a stick at

Lots more stuff, I'm sure

And even the completed sprites I get from Raven still need multiple hours of processing each to split them into component parts with sufficient information to re-composite and animate in-game. (If you've ever wondered why my screenshots seem to only involve Nazrin while I've already shown sprites for multiple other characters, this is why)

It never ends!!

...which is a fact that has been extremely draining. Like, it is probably difficult to overstate just how demoralizing it has been to pay this much money and work this hard and long and still somehow be mostly doing art (or visual-related coding) when I naively thought this project would offer some freedom from this after the endless, endless hours I spent doing this for ToK.

And it has also revealed a very tangible (and extremely stressful and troubling) fact about this game's development:

I am going to run out of money before I am remotely close to having a saleable product

When I first laid out plans for this project, I ballparked a modest but realistic budget for the artwork. I chose an art style that could provide pleasing visuals for a very large cast of characters at a cost-effective rate (for a game, at least). I deliberately limited my cast size based upon the agreed-upon cost per character with my artist (and have repeatedly held myself back from various fun ideas because I felt I simply could not afford to make a habit of such things). I studied sales figures for comparable games to aim for a target that had a reasonable probability of sufficient return (or at least breaking even). Game development is always a gamble, of course, but I felt (and still feel) that I made a sensible budget call and it was an amount I was fully able to pay.

But in all this, I neglected to factor in what has been, by far, my most costly development expense: remaining alive.

You see, at the rate my artist is able to produce work, the cost of retaining her is utterly dwarfed by such banal things as food and rent and not freezing to death in the winter. I live about as modest a lifestyle as possible - a one-room apartment, no car, no eating out, nothing in the way of luxuries (I don't even own a cell phone) - but that is still awfully expensive when you have no income and no prospect of it in the immediate future either.

It's a vicious cycle. The less work I get done, the more I feel future financial pressures breathing down my neck, the less work I'm able to get done (due to stress and general demoralization), the more I feel future financial pressures, etc, etc, etc.

And there's a logistical problem even outside of my own stress and anxiety and being damnably human in my need for actual rest: I've spent nearly 10 months working together with my artist and thus have a pretty good sense of how fast she's able to get character art done. And unless something changes dramatically, the time required for her to finish the art assets for the game will be several years longer than I will have any savings left to pay for them - because, as it turns out, hiring an artist is actually a tiny expense compared to merely continuing to exist.

I... don't really have a good answer for this problem and I've spent a lot of time consumed by it at this point. I have faith that Chronicle of False History can be a great game... eventually. But that does no one any good if I can't stay afloat long enough to make it. I've considered pivoting to another smaller-scope game project in the meantime, in the hopes of generating some modest influx of cash that could be used to fund the rest of CoFH's development, but there are a whole slew of reasons this is dicey (not least of which is that small-scope projects have a tendency to not be nearly as small as one anticipates...)

I've also thought about exploring Patreon, but like... I'm fully aware that I don't currently produce nearly enough interesting content for people to just want to throw money at. Tantalizing glimpses of it, perhaps. The promise that in the future I might. But what do I really have to show for this at the moment?

And so, here I am, exhausted by a marathon of work I did not properly anticipate and without the tangible reward I'd expected to have by this point (not a finished game, by any means, but like... much more of one than I actually have). And every month that passes by in which I get less done on my game than anticipated is yet more cash bleeding out of my bank account, like I'm trapped on a badly leaking boat with no shore in sight. I need a rest from all these stressors (and some more personal ones not described here), but when time spent not working has itself become a stressor these days, where can I even find it?

...wow, this sure sounded upbeat, huh?

In any case, I still care a lot about CoFH and have no intention of stopping work on it. I just... need to figure out some way to allow myself to continue to do so without this enormous capitalist behemoth crushing me beneath it.

(I had originally intended to provide more of an overview of the useful work accomplished over these past 10 months here, with mockups showing the evolution of the game's visual design, but clearly that goes into a future post at this point).

#Chronicle of False History #Gamedev #Game Development #CoFH #Personal (Kinda)#What; surely posting a massive wall of text at 5 in the morning is _completely sensible_#And not at all inane #I am... tired #But these sure are words #So many words #I apologize if I drown anyone in them

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luckstergal · 6 years

Photo

Probably a good idea to finally up an admit that for the past several months, I’ve been suffering a bit of an art funk. And for a really fucking stupid reason.

Warning: A ramble and a rant as I try to get my shit together

Motivation plummeted and it’s been a massive struggle to draw ANYTHING for a while, to the point where I have been forcing out what little work I have produced (my Patreon images and a commission comic are really all I have to show for my efforts since my crash). There’s even a gift that’s 2 months late now because I can’t bring myself to finish it with confidence.

What made me crash? There were a few things that struck me terribly during the summer. Mostly to do with how I choose to apply my work. How I prefer to extend my reach. And how I choose to experiment and try to grow.

I have gotten criticized repeatedly by people, both whom I know on a fairly high level and those I hardly know, for putting a lot of effort into fanwork. I always try to defend myself in pointing out it’s a fine practice piece at least, it’s a good way to experiment, and then I try to force myself down to a bare minimum effort just to avoid the criticism again.

But I want to do more fanart. It has a higher reach that my own work, and I enjoy it in general. I meet new people. I sometimes get new clients. And I learn new things!

So I end up in an infinite loop of being excited about something only to be shot down with “Why did you put so much effort into something you don’t even own?”

I thought that mixing my personal work with fanwork would remedy this, but no. It just keeps coming. It caused anxiety to hit a high point in me, made me more aware of how much time I am spending on each and every piece, how much effort I’m putting in on fanwork and commissions vs. my own stuff, and made me less and less inclined to actually fire up the tablet. I started mentally numbing myself with the notion of “Why even bother? It’s fandom garbage. It means nothing no matter how much effort you put into it.”

It got to the point where I considered just kinda quitting. Not entirely. But I’d just drop off the face of the earth for a year or two and work only for the 2 clients I have managed to keep over the years as regulars, while I work on my own stuff completely behind the scenes and not do anything to build new relationships, reach out with familiar content, or anything.

Just put in all my effort into something I don’t even know will get feedback more than a few pity notes. Disappear for a while and hope for the best.

Recently I am making an effort to get back into drawing again. To fight the anxiety.

Fanart? Original work?

As far as I am trying to consider, why the hell does it even matter how much effort I am putting into what content? I don’t understand why it’s a bad thing that I am trying new things and putting in a lot of effort into things that are not 100% my own. I still had to MAKE the damn thing! I still had to do the sketch, do the cleanups, resketch it maybe, do the ink, do the colors, and if I am feeling particularly daring--put in a detailed background!

Why is it suddenly less impressive because it’s fanart? That I went out of my way to spend 16+ hours making something beautiful and inching out of my comfort zone?

Where am I going with this? I don’t even fully know....

But I’m done abandoning projects because of this very shitty criticism.

If there is something wrong with my work that needs to be fixed, then pelase do tell me and give me help and advice.

But if the only thing you have to say is a finger waggle and “Why are you putting in so much work into fanart”

I’m going to tell you to go fuck yourself. That should not be something you repeatedly say to someone to make them feel bad for the time and effort they spent.

#Blog OP #Just a stupid rant while I sort my shit #A very dumb criticism has petrified my motivation for a while #and the more I think about it the more it pisses me off #Shut up Luckster

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dragonagecompanions · 7 years

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Inquisition companions and advisors react to an afab Inquisitor asking them to come with them on a shopping trip to get mens clothes for the first time in the first step of their transition (FTM). (I’m also curious to what clothes they would recommend) Thank you :)

(Him? Them? Pronouns for Inquizzy weren’t specified, and since I’m almost completely ignorant about transgender…everything I’m going with them. No offense is meant, I promise.)

Cassandra: Clothes have never been of great importance to her, and her eye is far better turned to armor than accoutrement. But when the Inquisitor comes to her she is honored to help them however she can. Shopping may well end up trying her patience, but every time her hand settles on the hilt of her blade tailors start working faster. It’s the best addition she has to the trip, but no matter what they have her support.

“You are the Herald of Andraste, but also my friend. I am not so fashion minded as Madame de Fer, but I will always be at your side.”

Solas: Their trust in him is touching, though it sparks no small amount of shame, but he is quick to decline a physical trip.

“I will more likely hinder you in Val Royeaux, and as it has been pointed out I am not…perhaps the flashiest dresser. But if you will permit me, I think I have a solution.”

And the Fade, with its ability to be manipulated at will, is a fantastic place to find one’s style. By the time they wake the Inquisitor will have a good idea of what will suit them, and the resident rift mage is pleased to be able to help a friend.

Varric: It only takes a single glance at the…distinctive style of Skyhold’s resident author to know that the Inquisitor is talking to a professional. And with contacts throughout the mercantile business he can also assure they get both the best prices and the best designs.

“All this Herald business, it’s just a mask. You be you, Inquisitor, and that’s worth a story.”

Sera: First off she makes her opinion on yellow and red plaidweave clear. But she also wholeheartedly supports the Quizzy, and while they are with the tailor and seamstresses she keeps the pranks to a minimum. Later of course she will tease them about being a colorful nob, and probably throw in a few stolen breeches to their growing wardrobe.

“Clothes keep skin in and rain out, but you look pretty sharp Herald-thingy. Don’t let it go to your head and get too big, though, or I’ll dye it all green. Good for a laugh, that.”

Vivienne: As their confidence and transition progressed Madame De Fer has been waiting for this moment, and the request has hardly passed their lips before she is accepting. It only takes a little time to arrange a visit with her personal tailor, and within a matter of hours there are sketches and plans for a wardrobe that defines both the myth and the man– and is designed to catch the eye.

“My dear, you will be judged on your every move and word, and there will always be those who will find fault with your actions. But you are above all of them– and we will have you look the part.”

Blackwall: If one would judge their resident warden solely on his hair and beard and constant quilted wardrobe they could be forgiven for thinking him unhelpful in designing a wardrobe. But Thom Rainier had been in his time a fashion plate, and while Blackwall has traded chiffon for chainmail he still remembers how such things work.

And he is painfully aware of how it feels to live as someone you are not, and is doubly gad to help.

“You’re a better man than most I’ve met in my time, and anyone who doubts it is a fool. Clothes don’t make a man, but if you feel more yourself than it’s worth the effort.”

Iron Bull:

“Not sure I’m the best person to ask, boss. Qunari and shirts don’t always get along. I mean, I have your back if you need it and I’ll bring the booze, but might be better to send a proxy.”

And so it is Cremisius Acclasi who accompanies the Inquisitor on the first of many shopping trips. He can offer them more than just sartorial advice- though his own background grants him that in spades- and the two bound over a shared journey.

Dorian: The heavens have opened up, the Maker has smiled on him, and Dorian Pavus finally has a chance to burn the terrible beige monstrosity the advisors have dressed their leader in. He gladly supplies them with patterns and ideas, sketches and swatches and everything they need to make their own choices– and is not shy about voicing his own opinion in each piece.

“There is nothing like a truly stunning wardrobe to give confidence, Inquisitor, and if my dear friend Mavaris were here she would support me. For now let me simply say that I am here for whatever you need– and right now you need to put the red down, it’s not your color.”

Cole:

Cullen: HIs advice of ‘armor will take you farther’ and ‘a good coat is really all you need’ is appreciated, but hardly helpful. More helpful though is his unwavering support and invaluable tips on male hair regimens.

Leliana & Josephine: There is no question that Spymaster and Diplomat will be working together on this particular topic. Antiva is a land famous for its fashions and styles, and no one knows shoes like Sister Nightengale. At least three war table missions are dedicated to the topic, and for three days straight Cullen is forced to model for them all.

It’s very helpful.

(Interested in helping people who need a new look? Need a new look? Want to know more about transitioning? Ask these guys! )

–Mod Fereldone

#cassandra #solas #varric #sera #dorian #vivienne #blackwall #cullen #cole #iron bull #krem #fashion

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chanzicoup · 7 years

Text

“Blindsided” (VIXX N x Reader Imagine)

A/N: This was suppoed to be something more but I ran out of ideas :p

Count: 2.6k

Genre: Angst???

~Blake

You were a good girl despite being from a rich family. Many people expected you to be spoiled rotten or to wear designer clothes and have an attitude but that was far opposite from the real you. No one expected you to volunteer at the hospital or at orphanages. No one thought you had just graduated at the top of your class back when you went to Harvard University last Spring. No one knew you wanted to be an artist. No one took the time to get to know the real you but they had all the time to judge you and the make their own view of who you were. You guess that's why you never really dated, no one would want to put effort into the relationship when you would be putting your all into it.

One of those judgmental people was Cha Hakyeon, who wanted to be known as N. He made it big in his music group VIXX and left his home for training. Both of his parents were close friends with yours so that meant when you were children you'd be forced to play with each other. You were also forced into the same high school classes and even some extra curricular activities like tennis most rich kids found fun. Those types of things never excited N so he always ditched practice to spend his time in the music room. You never dared to snitch on him because you didn't want to give him a reason to hate you. He was the closest thing you had to a friend.

All the popular girls at school tried to be friends with you but you quickly learned that they were the exact people others assumed you were. Mean and snobby. They picked on the other kids and then turned on you when you stopped talking to them. This also led to rumors about you thinking you were too good and better than everyone. All the popular boys just wanted you for your body, which was in good shape thanks to tennis, something you actually enjoyed. You hated your life that was already planned for you but didn't have the power to fight it.

Your life at home wasn't much better either. Your parents were too busy running their handbag company to pay much attention to you so they hired nannies to raise you through your most precious years. You often wondered why you were born if they didn't want you. Whenever you talk to them it feels more like a business deal than a normal conversation between mother and daughter or father and daughter. N's family ran a very successful company that was so well off they hired people to do work for them and this allowed them to have most of their time dedicated to N. You were always jealous but never made any indication of it. Instead you did whatever your parents told you in hopes of getting their love in return.

When the day came that your parents invited N and his family over you had no say in the matter. You mother only peaked her head through your door that morning to tell you there'd be guests over for dinner and that you had to dress accordingly, which translated to "wear your most elegant attire" in understandable words. That was about eight o'clock this morning and at the time you were in the middle of painting a cherry blossom tree in a grass field. You mother would've thrown a fit if she saw what you were doing so after she left you put all of your tools and colors in their respected containers and hid the still wet painting in your bathroom, the only room people asked for permission to enter. It was better to continue later when you thought it was safe, usually when your mother speaks to you once she'll nag until she's satisfied.

Dinner is always at five o'clock. It has been for the whole 25 years of your life, soon 26. To be exact you have 31 days until your birthday. You remember something from years ago, something your parents had scolded you about. Was it finding a husband? If it was then they would've said it on more than one occasion. It was the day you were packing for Harvard, you were keeping yourself from crying because you could not bring your paints with you. You managed to smuggle a sketch book into your luggage before your parents gave their farewell speech that consisted of, "study hard and be successful." Not once did they say, "We love you," or "Be safe!" or even a "Call us when you land!" Did they mention something about meeting someone somewhere in between? You couldn't recall, after all that was nearly 8 years ago. You were only 18 at the time, your parents "encouraged" you to go to college with out taking the summer after high school off. Talk about overload.

You sit at your table that was pristine white despite the amount of times you've spilled watercolor on it. In fact your entire room was as white as a blank canvas. It was the only color your parents enforced upon you, such a needy color, wanting to be decorated with every shade of every pigment. But no, for creativity creates less room for knowledge. The bed in your room was bigger then you needed it to be, the desk was smaller then your door, and your walls were untouched by your creative ability. Whenever you did make anything you'd sell it immediately and give the money to a charity, it was all you could do without your parents approval, therefore they would never know unless you slipped up. You were in no need of extra cash when your family controls your life to the last point. On your table there were minimal items, your journal, an old math textbook you've solved all the formulas in, and a single pencil. Your journal held the words you were never allowed to say. Your math book was something you've had since you were little. You'd gotten it as a present from one of the staff that work in your home. She said to you, "A smart girl should start smart." And you've lived up to those words everyday since then. You were five or six when the book was gifted to you but the material inside of it was college level. On your free time you'd investigate the equations to find an answer, you've always loved math because it helped you solve problems through a series of steps, there was always an answer no matter how difficult things might seem. And the pencil was obviously well used. The eraser was almost nonexistent and the length of the wood was halved over and over from the amount of times it's been used, sharpened, and used again. You should really replace that pencil with the ones in your desk drawer and throw it away, but that wouldn't be fair to trash something that still has use, even if there's not much left of it. It's not right to discard something with full potential.

Until four o'clock you sat at your desk with your books, not once getting a headache from the constant writing or calculating, it was a past time you were allowed to do without your parents becoming angry. Your mother came in to check on your preparations and was aggravated that you were still in casual wear. Before she could shout you apologized and went to your closet. She closed your door to leave you be thankfully and you pulled out a rose gold dress, a black one, and then a blue on. All of which will be perfect for a dinner in your household, but which should you wear? The rose gold was plain but can be elegant with the help of accessories. Were you in the mood for readjusting bracelets all through out the meal? Not entirely, back in the closet it goes. The blue dress was long and dark. It had a flower like pattern that covered it and fixated around your arms to act as sleeves. Wasn't it getting hotter outside because of the change of the seasons? The black dress was at knee length and had no sleeves, cancelling out the fact that the dark color will bring in more sunlight and heat. It was elegant on it's own with out the help of bulky jewels and was revealing enough at the same time to keep my body temperate. Perfect choice. I put the blue dress back and changed out of my leggings and blouse into the chic material. I paired the dress with pumps of the same color and a gold necklace my late grandmother gifted me before her passing. It had my birthstone as it's charm.

"Emmabell! The guests will be arriving shortly! Are you ready?" You heard your mother announce from the other side of your bedroom door. You only had to fix your make up and do your hair so a little white lie shouldn't shake her up.

"Yes mother, I'll be down shortly!" You rushed to the bathroom to loosely curl your jet black hair that was about the same axis as your shoulders when it's finished. You went for light colors of eye shadow and naturalistic colors for your face. All your mother would've wanted was for you to cover the oh so few freckles and acne scares you've accumulated through the years so you did the bare minimum to make sure they were covered. She wants everything to be perfect at every possible moment. When you were completely ready you plugged your phone into the charger before leaving so when you were excused to go to bed you can listen to music with out worry before slumber took over.

"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Cha! What a blessing to see you after so many years!" You heard your mother's feigned cheeriness from the top of the stairs and took it as your cue to make your appearance. You smiled at the guests and hesitated when you saw one that was familiar in an unfriendly way.

"And this must be your son, Hakyeon!" He's gotten taller since the last time you have seen him. High school graduation less than ten years ago.

"Good evening." He smiled and shook your parents hands.

"This is our daughter, Emmabell." You father gestured to you and you smiled once more.

"Hello." You greeted.

"Oh my, dear you've grown so much!" Mrs. Cha exclaimed as she came in for a hug. She's always someone you've seen as a second mother but never actually confined in, mainly because it was a rarity you'd see her. You were also deathly afraid of Mr. Cha because he reminded you of your own father. He could be the nicest man on Earth and you wouldn't know. Men with money could be dangerous because they might think they're capable of escaping punishment with the waft of a wallet.

"Shall we sit for dinner?" Your mother questioned. You had no idea why she started acting so suspicious but you went with her plan nonetheless and sat down at your father's right side, your mother on his left. In front of you sat N, who stared intensely at you for a reason you were unsure of. This was just a dinner, correct?

The chef's brought out the meal and you ate very little. An uneasy feeling caused you to loose your appetite; you simply picked you your food while the sets of parents conversed with each other. Whenever you were directed a question your mother couldn't answer you would politely and honestly give your part until you got quiet again.

"Hakyeon is just a few weeks older than Emmabell isn't he?" Your mother asked as she sipped from her wine glass. Receiving a cheerful "yes" from N's parents, a silence took over the table, as if they were beating around the bush. It was until your father said the words, "Let's get down to business." And apparently you weren't the only one that was caught by surprise. N was as in a daze as you were.

"We brought you two here to discuss something of the utmost importance." Said Mr. Cha to N and you, "we have agreed to merge our companies together by marriage."

"An arranged marriage of Hakyeon and you, Emmabell." Your mother summarized before taking another sip of red whine.

An arranged marriage? Was this something your parents thought of you, their daughter needed the help of someone else to run the business. You were fully capable of being independent and without a man in your life. Was this all the faith they had in you to succeed? You would've choked on your food if you had any in your mouth, unfortunately for N he was midbite when his father announced the news.

"Excuse me?" He asked when he gathered up himself again.

"You heard me. Your mother and I told you before you needed to find a wife before you could take over the business. We gave you time to choose your bride, now time's ticking and we have no other choice." His father's words pierced sharply through the air and you froze in your seat, your parents had given you the same choice and now it's too late. You weren't sure you could snake out of this one.

"But why should we merge with them?! Our company is running smoothly!" N defended his opinion on the marriage, but you couldn't help but be a little offended. Was he saying his family was better than yours?

"And ours isn't?" You snipped, your polite voice only emphasizing your annoyance. Your father nudged your leg under the table, his way of telling you to cool off. You weren't going to listen tonight, you'll apologize later but for now you aren't going to allow some dirt bag to mock your family's craft.

"Well thankfully I wasn't the one to say it."

"What we mean is," N's mother spoke up "If we merge companies by marriage it'll be a legal way to increase sales and overall production."

What if you rejected? Lied and said you found a man while you were studying and hadn't told your parents about him yet. That would only buy you time, and you knew you'd never fall in love before your parents had to force a ring on your finger. Apparently you weren't the only party that wasn't excited about the predicament. You could see from the spot you were sitting in that N wasn't all that happy to be your husband, he probably hated you the most. You couldn't see his hands or anything past the table but you'd have to be stupid to not know that he was clenching his fists right now, out of sight out of mind.

"We will give you two time of course. To make up for lost time." Your mother said after another sip of wine.

Since you really had nothing else to say, anything that'll make a difference that is, you kept quiet again and barely picked at your food. The news has ruined your appetite. N had given you a face, one that shouted "Say something moron!" but you ignored it. He sighed and thought of ways to get out of this. Knowing his parents they'd make him go all out and actually tolerate the woman they had set him up with. They would want them to live in a house paid for with their money and grandchildren in return for all of their hard work making wedding plans. N wasn't even warned like you were, if he had known before he would've took the chance to get with someone who had his heart, not some girl he's known forever.

#kpop #vixx #vixx n #kpop imagine #kpop scenario #kpopficscommunity #vixx imagine #vixx scenario

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doodlewash · 5 years

Text

Hello, my name is Brenda Jiral and I am originally from Rochester, Michigan. I currently live in Hamilton, Michigan with my husband and two of my three children. I have been drawn to art for as long as I can remember. I see beauty in things that most people would simply pass over or dismiss.

Sunlight Breaking Through

Sunny Day

Like the way bright sunshine creates the most beautiful shadows; full of color and life. Or the multitude of color shifts that are in the human eye or a flower. I am frequently mesmerized by the dazzling light that bounces off a lake in the morning sun, and the range of colors in every rock and weed under the water’s surface.

Enchanted

I have been “making art” since I was a child, so, it was a natural progression for me to become an artist. I believe it’s what I was created to do. I studied fine art at college, but after three years, I decided to put higher education “on hold” in order to pursue my other dream: motherhood. I got married, had three beautiful children, and devoted my life to my family. The only creative outlet during those years were the many craft projects I would do with my children.

Dogwood Leaves

Once they were all in school, I was finally in a position to dust off my dreams of creating art and see what I could do with it. After taking the few watercolor painting classes that were available at our local art center, I was left to my own devices. So, from then on, I became self-taught. I poured over every book and video I could get my hands on at the local library, and watched every You-tube tutorial I could find. And I experimented: A LOT!

Sunlit Shore

My father was also an artist, and one of the things he said all of the time is that “art is 10% talent and 90% work” -Alfred M. Ponte. That doesn’t dismiss natural, God-given talent, but rather, it puts the emphasis on what you DO with that talent. You can either sit on it and do nothing with it, or you can work your tail off to develop it and share it with the world. I’ve chosen the latter, I worked hard, and now I enjoy teaching others what I’ve learned. “Your talent is God’s gift to you; what you do with it is your gift back to God.” -Leo Buscaglia.

Pomegranate

For the past two and a half decades, I have lived with chronic pain and illness. To say that it’s been hard would be a gross understatement. I don’t share this often, because most people really don’t know what to do with that information. And honestly, I’ve been judged harshly all too often.

And I don’t share it to get attention or because I feel sorry for myself. I share it in hopes that if there is someone else out there, struggling with health issues, my story would give them hope. That maybe there’s a purpose for this struggle and something good can come out of it.

Resilience Sketch

Resilience

I don’t have one of those inspiring, miracle stories. I will most likely be in pain and ill for the rest of my life. And I have come to terms with that. This story is more about how art has helped me through some of the darkest days of my life. Art has been a blessing in so many ways. I am so very grateful for the gift it is in my life! There have been days that, because of the pain or the endlessness of it all, I felt really down.

And rather than dwelling on that and allowing it to get out of control, I would go downstairs to my studio in an effort to take my mind off of the pain. At first, it can be like pushing a rope. I may not “feel” inspired or excited about what I’m doing, but I choose to do it because I know I need it. I may be just doing a little sketching in my journal or pushing some paint around on a scrap of watercolor paper, or whatever.

Trees & Hills

But at some point, I realize I no longer feel down. Don’t get me wrong, the pain is still there, but my heart feels a little lighter and I am excited about what I’m doing. And that’s when the paint has begun to work its magic on me. I feel joy and peace and alive again! And that’s when I remember: I’m going to be ok.

In spite of the health issues, I still try to teach a few classes or workshops per year. It’s not nearly as much as I would like to be doing, because I love to teach, but for now it will be enough. Maybe someday, I will enjoy better health and be able to do all of the things I want to do with my art, but for now, my life is full.

My Process And How I Got Here

When I was in high school, my art teacher expected a sketchbook full of drawings every term. How I dreaded that deadline! I really didn’t like to draw. I know that sounds crazy, since I am so passionate about All-things-ART. But I really didn’t like to “waste time” in my sketchbook. (That’s the way I felt about it then).

I wanted to do the serious art, not sketch! How silly I was back then; I cringe when I think about how much energy I spent avoiding my sketchbook. I’d wait until the day or two before the deadline and just throw it all together, giving only the bare minimum in order to get the grade.

Kohlrabi

Fast-forward to my early days learning to paint in watercolor. I would get so frustrated with my attempts to draw something in order to then paint it. All I wanted to do was paint, but my efforts showed my lack of drawing ability. I was reminded of my art teacher’s insistence on mastering the basics, and realized that I had failed to build a foundation before I started to “build the house”.

So, I went back. I began the discipline of forcing myself to draw at every opportunity. After all, I had a lot of time to make up! I put a sketchbook in my kitchen, so I could draw during breakfast and lunch and one downstairs, in my studio. I also put one in my car to draw while waiting for my kids to finish sports practice or orthodontist appointments. Eventually, I began to love to draw. I began to see the wisdom of building a foundation of this basic skill. Now, I don’t go anywhere without my sketchbook or watercolor journal. I travel with it and record memories and I draw, draw, draw.

Driftwood

Pink Geraniums

My creative process varies on the project I am working on at the time. If I am looking for a new painting idea, I will often go to my sketchbooks and “mine” them for inspiration. I will also pour over the thousands of photos I have taken over the years for just the right image that speaks to me. I also keep a running list of painting ideas, and sometimes I fear that there won’t be enough time to do them all.

Like I said earlier, a lot of my paintings begin in my sketchbook or watercolor journal. Some of my favorite ways of drawing is contour drawing, blind contour drawing or continuous line drawing. I am drawn to this technique because there is a decisiveness and character to the line that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Rather than a sketchy line, which is hesitant and unsure, the contour line that I employ feels confidant and sure. And rather than going for a photographically realistic look, or an architecturally accurate line, this line expresses more of the freedom I’m after and attracted to in nature. It feels more organic and personal to me.

Single Tree

Continuous Line Drawing

Over the years, I have tried many different brands of paint and watercolor paper and I have no plans on settling on any one kind. I’m all about experimenting and exploring. In fact, I don’t consider myself a traditional watercolor “purist”, but rather, an experimental, mixed media artist, because I will never stop experimenting with new mediums and techniques. That’s what excites me the most about art: that I will be learning until the day I die!

Mossy Tree

Mossy Stump

When it comes to watercolors, I mainly use Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton paints. And for paper, I love Arches cold press and Winsor & Newton brand. In addition to those, one of my favorite discoveries a few years ago is mineral paper. I am so in love with this surface! It’s smooth and so receptive to watercolor and ink line drawing. I have found two brands so far: Yasutomo Mineral paper, which comes in only two sizes, and Terraskin Stone paper. (This one is a little more difficult to find, but what a gem!)

I also love to use Caran D’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels, Derwent Inktense Blocks and watercolor pencils and a variety of water-soluble ink pens. And I can’t leave out my trusty fountain pen that I use for a lot of my drawings in my watercolor journals!

Yellowstone

In closing, I would like to thank Charlie at Doodlewash for allowing me to share my story and my love of art with others. And thank you, fellow-art explorer, for taking the time to read my story.

Benda Jiral Website Facebook Doodlewash

GUEST ARTIST: "How Art Helps Me Through the Difficult Days" by Brenda Jiral - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolor #watercolour #art Hello, my name is Brenda Jiral and I am originally from Rochester, Michigan. I currently live in Hamilton, Michigan with my husband and two of my three children.

#WorldWatercolorGroup #art #art therapy #artist #doodlewash #drawing #featured #painting #sketchbook #Sketchbooks #sketching #watercolor #watercolor sketching #watercolour

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winryl25-blog · 7 years

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Civil Engineers

The final place I labored at was previously a thriving design / build firm. On the couple of occasions the mind trust in the Architecture department and the Construction department would gather their donuts and coffee and meet within the conference room to go over the caliber of our construction sketches and how you can improve them. To read more about slip critical connection, visit our website.

Our sketches had the standard problems because of the usual pressures of the busy architectural work atmosphere missing information, conflicts, coordination issues, CAD anomalies, etc.

Recall the days when firms had drawing checkers? It appears that no-one checks sketches any longer there's just virtually no time within the schedule or budget. Now we call that process putting in a bid. It sure helps make the construction guys angry. We obtain sensitive about our design work, however they get sensitive when cash is involved. Many people are simply so materialistic.

Because the CAD manager, I'd sit and take notes during these conferences, while attempting to balance an espresso, diet coke and two donuts within my lap. After around an hour and one half, everyone had their say. Although I'd a lot of notes, these were just details pointing to the point. The issue was surprisingly simple, the sketches weren't coordinated.

ARCHITECTURAL DESKTOP

Because the CAD manager, I had been greatly grieved with this. I was using Architectural Desktop for our work. I was utilizing it like a BIM tool, building a 3D model and removing all of the 2D sketches. Very awesome however it was difficult to do, needed many years of training on my small part, many years of setup and the enter your car and training of recent people. A few of the new everyone was very resistant against employed in 3D and with tools they weren't acquainted with. Some were really subversive. I known as these folks flat-landers simply because they desired to experience architecture in 2D. I guess it had been much better than giving them a call things i wanted to. More information on sfd and bmd for simply supported beamcan be found by visiting our website.

As difficult because it was, i was receiving targeted results. We're able to create live renderings quickly, we understood exactly what the building really was likely to seem like and we understood in which the design problems were developing. We even made cash on our architectural charges from time to time. Just how did this issue occur?

Because the project got nearer to finishing and the resolution from the detail grew to become finer, Architectural Desktop grew to become harder and finicky. When crunch time came, the subversive flat-landers would explode the work. Once exploded into lines, the less experienced would deconstruct the coordination in order to produce the illusion the project was really finished. Once the inevitable changes arrived, the work CAD data degenerated even more.

REVIT ARCHITECTURE

Then along came Revit. The program satisfied the commitment of what Architectural Desktop was said to be. Don't misunderstand me, it had been a large pain to apply however i understood when I possibly could make Architectural Desktop work for us, i then could implement Revit. Management was definitely not always supportive, supplying no training and no setup time to really make it work, however they did provide doubt and critique. A minimum of they compensated for the needed hardware and software.

In Architectural Desktop you needed to invent complex systems to handle a task. In Revit it was already taken proper care of. In Architectural Desktop you needed to invent complex CAD standards and program them directly into your system, and then train users and enforce the factors. With Revit, the factors from the box labored for us. It was absolutely amazing. I'm able to enter any office with Revit on the computer and just begin working. Suppose? I can not even start to tell you just how much CAD personalization I've done within the last two decades. I do not do anything whatsoever to Revit except to produce families, (their term for parametric block styles) shared parameters and project templates.

Architectural desktop is rough, Revit is smooth. Architectural Desktop is fragile and breaks, Revit is powerful and solid. Upgrading Architectural Desktop is really a multi-week process involving breaking all of the a lot of current personalization and rebuilding it after you buy a couple of books, email some gurus, and discover the hidden cache of secret inside info on what's really happening within the stupid program. It requires not just one but a minimum of three programming languages to create this factor work right. Then obviously you need to re-train you.

Upgrading Revit can be achieved over lunch, without any training. I do not even consider the readme file.

BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING (BIM)

BIM? I truly did not like this acronym. I loved SBM (Single Building Model). It did not appear to match Autodesk's marketing strategy though. Nobody requested me anyway. Really I have faith that the mounds of knowledge in each and every magazine today and on every site about BIM are mainly crap. Each one of these pros who avoid using Revit say you can perform this, that and another factor. I do not inflict of individuals. I am not really sure what they're. Possibly we'll see sometime later on.

But here's where BIM and Revit Architecture rocks. You cannot explode the Revit model. Which means that the geometry will be coordinated. The reference tags and sheet figures can't be edited individually from the model. These tags aren't fragile they're reliable, from the model and the schedules. I am unsure that you can place a Revit project from coordination despite great effort. So much like that, nearly all our drawing problems have left. This is evidence of how intelligent software could make you a much better architect. Yes I stated it Revit can make you a much better architect.

At our firm, Revit stopped is the office joke as our efficiency improved. Whenever we needed to bring in help for our architecture department, Revit experience was our main concern. It had been beginning to become focus in our marketing at that time I left. The very first factor that won people's hearts about our Revit results was that people were solving design problems that people might not have seen previously. Our solutions were valid right right from the start. Inside a design / build office where construction guys are searching over your shoulder, this really is critical.

RENDERING

Through the design process, you are able to place a video camera and snap a nearly perfect rendering. The rendering abilities are perfect and also material and link suitable for 3DS Max if you opt for it. The simple Mental Ray rendering dialog box produced amazing results fast with no work. Any Revit user are now able to make excellent renderings having a couple of minutes of training. Not just could you have top quality renderings fast, however you may also have plenty of made images inside a project to obviously articulate your design for your client. Revit can make you a much better architect.

After I printed the assistance system for Viz Render, the rendering tool in Architectural Desktop, it filled two volumes and was on the 1000 pages, in addition to taking plenty of time for you to master. For more information on risa 3d tutorial, visit our website today.

DESIGN PARADIGM SHIFT

Between your smooth 3D interface and rendering stacks of views, architects are in possession of a brand new first. They be capable of easily see every uncovered surface inside a building design - walls, floors, ceilings and roofs - Inside and out. For the very first time we are able to see everything of all time built. Wow, can you begin to see the implications?

There's now no excuse for bad design or design mistakes. Many people have no idea this but nearly all architects and designers really do not know just what the built design may be like. Sure they know and many are way much better than others, but this can be a fundamental problem especially in which the design charges are low and things are in black and white-colored and 2D. Once while designing some ductwork, I produced an MC Escher like sculpture. My boss was amused while he caught it, however that might have been a large problem.

Revit can make you a much better architect due to the fact you are becoming immediate feedback in your design. If you begin to see the object as it will likely be, then you will correct and optimize it. It might be absurd to not. You will not have the ability to sleep understanding that flaw is within your design. I believe what flat-landers like is that they look in their 2D black and white-colored drawing and can think perfect and congratulations since it matches their imagination. 3D and color is just too many details for them.

Architectural drawing without 3D is much like typing instructions on the computer with no monitor. You most likely got the majority of it right. You are most likely not really able change it out. You may redo it a couple of occasions. Wouldn't the feedback from the monitor be great?

I've found it interesting what size contractors are among individuals leading the proceed to BIM due to collision recognition tools and the cash they save in stopping construction errors and identifying design errors. Some contractors are getting their in-house Revit guys model the 2D construction documents the architects issue to trap their design errors. Stick to the money.

Should not the architects be leading this? I wish to think that the architects not using Revit just have no idea better. They do not know about its coordination features, rendering abilities, and its detailing tools. They do not know it may completely replace AutoCAD. They might believe that attracting 3D wastes time, instead of saves time. I did not know all of this after i began with Revit and I needed to decipher it by myself.

Architects keep listening to how BIM will benefit everyone except them. They may not realize it may benefit them, and contemplate it an encumbrance.

Regrettably everyone knows architects which use AutoCAD 14 and will say "whether it was adequate for An Artist to make use of as he designed the pyramids, then it is adequate for me. " This option are often really fast and perform a very specific kind of work. They're also very gradually losing share of the market, developing carpal tunnel and eventually they'll find society will no longer have a necessity for their professional services. Seen worthwhile ink on vellum hands drafting recently? What about press-on letters, pin registration mylar, leroy lettering sets, or ruling pens?

CAD really required off when Bob Rental property demonstrated a designer utilizing a system on "This Old House". The hardware would be a Plastic Graphics workstation costing nearly $80Thousand and wasn't a practical option at that time, however it produced a notion that resonated using the public. Not embracing CAD was the finish of a lot design firms.

An Artist labored in 3D and colored.

SKETCHUP

Sketchup is becoming very popular lately among architects. These architects are smart enough to understand the need for color and 3D. It's the work they do flow which i can't stand. Most firms using Sketchup will also be using AutoCAD. So basically one group utilizes a design with Sketchup, another group utilizes a construction documents with AutoCAD. (More about AutoCAD later. ) Very little if any data reuse between your two groups. Additionally, it appears like it might be tough to model the inside and outside of a building in Sketchup. To obtain photo-realistic renderings in Sketchup, you require an add-on renderer. Still with Sketchup you are giving your customers sketches they are able to connect with, and that is a superb part of the best direction. Can Sketchup do layouts now?

REVIT WORKFLOW

In Revit you can begin modeling with walls, doorways and home windows or you may use their awesome mass modeling tools, extract volume and area data, and then parametrically attach the walls, floors, roofs, etc. Everything Sketchup can perform, Revit can perform better.

In Revit, you get one database and all sketches and schedules emerge from it. You don't have to draw a random line within the sand and say that's a design drawing and that's construction document. Both of them is one, progressing along together in perfect Zen. The truth is, does not the architect keep designing with the construction document phase? Most carry on doing it in to the construction phase. Revit makes it simple to achieve that. This can be a huge chance for profit in line with the efficiency from the Revit workflow versus the Sketchup / AutoCAD workflow.

Versatility

Among the best options that come with Revit isn't readily apparent. It's data versatility. For example In AutoCAD someone can create a door schedule. Presuming he's a workplace standard, and some door understanding, he blasts this out, done! That schedule doesn't have link with the work. Later if you erase a door in the plan, it's still within the schedule. It's also still around the wall elevation. With sufficient edits with time, the whole door schedule must be rechecked for coordination issues.

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