#this was a bigger piece and I struggled a bit but overall I'm happy with the result

[nekrosmos]

Nik would take Price on vacation everywhere, you know he has a photo album full of pictures of them travelling <3

[eugeniedanglars]

#very well said!#i think it's because the question of this season isn't actionable in the way it was for S1 and S2#S3E1 poses the question: why is ted still in london?#it's a soul-searcher rather than a goal#and soul-searching is good! it brings on character development!#but if it isn't grounded in some sort of actionable goal it leads to the aimlessness we're seeing in S3#if we had rebecca clinging harder to defeating rupert coupled with a rivalry with nate THAT would have provided more narrative tension#because rebecca's desperation to win at any cost would put her in conflict with ted's belief winning shouldn't be everything#but also force him to think 'well am i wrong? should my purpose be to win?'#it would also have been a fascinating reversal for rebecca#S1 she's trying to bring down the club by any means and it fails#but what if she had tried to have the club win by any means in S3 and THAT puts them on the brink of destruction?#they flirted with that storyline when they brought zava in but then it fizzled too quickly#i've really been liking this season (probably more than most) but there is a distinct lack of overall narrative tension#and i think it's because too many characters are being relegated to isolated plotlines (via @nancywheeeler)

i think the biggest problem of season 3 (of which there are Several) is the shift away from football being the crux of the story, which has undoubtedly resulted in the aimless, overstuffed, unfocused narrative we've been seeing for the last eight episodes. season one was as excellent as it was because whether richmond won or lost a match actually mattered; if they lost too many matches, they'd be relegated, and relegation was always treated as a distinct, tangible threat. there were stakes. and while season two had its issues with pacing and unnecessary subplots, no one would call it aimless. the characters had a goal (pun intended): to get promoted back to the premier league. if they lost too many matches, they would stay in the championship league. we as the audience were invested in whether or not richmond won or lost, and the narrative was all the stronger and more coherent for it.

season one asked us, can afc richmond avoid relegation? and we were invested in the answer. season two asked us, can afc richmond be promoted? and we were invested in the answer. now we're eight episodes into season three, and the overarching goal of the season, the question it is asking its audience to remain invested in, is...what? what are we building towards? is afc richmond's goal to win the whole damn thing? to beat west ham? to beat man city? to do just enough to avoid relegation again?

and because we can't answer this question, the narrative has suffered greatly. how are we supposed to believe beard when he says man city is the team's white whale if we haven't even seen them play each other yet this season? if ted's total football epiphany was so life-changing for richmond, why did we speed past all the matches this episode where the team won using that strategy? if this is all leading to a final nate-ted west ham-richmond match, why haven't we spent any time with nate at west ham? why haven't we gotten to see him grow and develop as a coach? at one point, the team was doing so badly that higgins suggested firing ted, who has been visibly struggling on and off the pitch - and the narrative did not give that suggestion the weight it might have had in season one or two. we spent an entire episode watching rupert, rebecca, and chelsea fight over zava - and then two episodes later he was gone, and we haven't so much as mentioned him since. just last season, sam was being heralded as the star of afc richmond, highly sought after by other club owners - but we haven't gotten to see any of his alleged brilliance on the pitch this season at all. i have to kick a little ball around, which those same people love me for, sam said in 3.07, that is, until i fuck up or miss a penalty, or i decide to fight back - a speech that was excellently delivered by toheeb, but loses some of its weight because we haven't actually gotten to see any negative reaction to sam missing a penalty or fucking up or deciding to fight back (not even in season 2 after the dubai air boycott).

(all this to say: i do enjoy the show. i love the characters, i've been enjoying the episodes as individual units, and i'll continue to tune in week after week. but for a show that once boasted football was life, it's sure been suffering since it decided to stop focusing on that.)

[sunskate]

Livvy Shilling & Lèo Baeten of Team Belgium and IAMO interviewed by Absolute Skating

nice interview with them, and some good stuff about the coaches and training environment at IAMO - this part:

There was a lot of learning that occurred last year. The struggles we had inspired us to make a change," Livvy shares.

Livvy described the change as revitalizing. "I love it here [at IAMO]," she says. "I feel like I'm thriving. I love the coaching, their understanding of skating, technique, and the sport itself, but also the way they understand the athletes and their psychology. It's a very nurturing environment. They also have high expectations for athletes, both in performance and behavior. Everything is well organized. At first, it didn't feel like much of an adjustment, but as we got deeper into the work and programs, the adjustment felt bigger. Still, it was one I was eager to take on. It's really improved how we communicate on the ice and how we approach practice and competition." She also emphasized how the move reignited her passion for training. "It's been a long time since I've come into the rink every day looking forward to training."

For Léo, the adjustment was more complex. "I knew I wanted to change quite a bit in how I approached skating, my partnership and my relationship with the coaches," he explains. "The coaches in I.AM helped me figure out what I wanted and even some things I didn't necessarily want but knew I needed." Despite the challenges, Léo fully embraces the new environment, adding, "I'm really happy with our coaches. It's been nice to know them as people too. It was a good decision [to move here]."

Creating programs that inspire

The theme set by the International Skating Union for this season's rhythm dance is social dances and styles of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. "I heard that many teams this year were excited to skate to disco, but together with our coaches we decided against it to avoid being too common. While we still chose a popular piece by James Brown, it's something that we really love. I personally love funky and bluesy music," Livvy explains.

"I wanted to make sure we found something that allowed us to focus on the dancing aspect, a piece that would feel more natural for us. This way, we could rely on our dancing while continuing to improve our technique, rather than struggling to connect to a song and feel limited in our performance," Léo adds.

Their free dance, on the other hand, is a more emotional and personal journey. They chose "It's all Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion, a decision rooted in sentimentality for Livvy. "Celine Dion was the first singer I ever saw at a concert, for my grandma's birthday," she shared. The choice felt serendipitous as the team first connected with the music while they were in Italy (due to visa issues), preparing for Worlds in Japan in the group of Matteo Zanni, where a spontaneous music listening session at their airbnb sparked a thought of creating a program to this piece one day. "We just started dancing and thought, this would be fun to have a program to," Léo reminisces. "It was a full-circle moment when we chose this music, and it's inspiring for us to skate to every day," Livvy adds.

Adrian Diaz and Madison Hubbell spearheaded the choreography for the team's rhythm dance. For the free dance, Cara Moir played the leading role, not only overseeing the choreography but also helping refine the quality and execution of the program. Scott Moir's contribution is centered on elevating the overall quality, be it in transitions or crossovers, or improving technical precision in critical moments of the programs. Additionally, guest coaches and choreographers such as Sam Chouinard and Sarah Steben provided valuable input to enhance various aspects of their programs.

Learning from the best

Training in a vibrant environment at I.AM London Campus, Léo and Livvy have the opportunity to skate alongside some of the sport's top athletes. "Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are spectacular role models," Livvy says, "not just for their skating but for the energy and professionalism they bring to the camp. It's something we all try to embody." Léo adds that watching his fellow skaters has been eye-opening: "There's such a calmness in their approach, something I wasn't used to. It's a great atmosphere to be part of. And all of the teams I observe have qualities that I want to learn from."

The team also draws inspiration from their coaches who were competitive skaters up until recently. Livvy shares, "I was always a big fan of Madison Hubbell. I thought she had the best edge work among female ice dancers and a strong command. If I could have a fraction of that when I leave this sport, I would feel that I achieved something beyond just results." Leo adds, "When you watch Scott [Moir] do some choreography, it leaves me in awe. Our coaches would still kick all our butts."

[did-i-do-this-write]

Hey! I just stumbled upon your blog and I'm in love. I am a complete newbie writer, as in I have never written creatively in my life, but I have suddenly found the passion. I seem to be able to come up with good ideas, but when it comes to articulating them I am struggling a bit. I seem to overuse cliches and seem to just be writing lists of actions beats and dialogue and things just feel a bit repetitive. Do you have any tips for me? Much love 💞

Hello, anon! Thank you for your kind words and I'm sorry that it took me so long to get back to you! I was sick for a bit and I was struggling to recover and then I just got super busy, but that's awesome that you've decided to take up creative writing! Welcome to this wonderful, treacherous, and often bizarre adventure that we are all taking together :)

As for advice, I apologize if it is not exactly what you are looking for or if it turns out to be unhelpful, but i'd be happy to share what has helped me in my years as a writer! Maybe you'll find some of it helpful, too 🤗

Here are my tips for beginners!

Study, study, study!

Read other people's writings, especially in genres that you hope to write in! Seeing how other writers work in their action, add poetic elements, vary their sentences, and overall structure their story can do wonders for helping you break out of using the same list-like style! When you see what other writers can do, it can help build up your own skills and ideas!

Do what's best for your story

You will see a lot of advice that starts with phrases like "ALWAYS do-" or "NEVER do-"

My advice? Ignore that shit! Sometimes you need to break one of those "always rules" to make your story work. And there is no magic arbitrator of writing that will strike you down for using a "forbidden phrase" or "overused tropes." If it works, do it!

This applies to cliches, too!! Cliches aren't inherently bad! Writers use them because readers like them and they can serve a narrative purpose! The question isn't "how do I avoid cliches" it's "how do I use the cliches I like effectively?"

Write badly, write slowly, write short things, write unfinished things, as long as you write!

Every piece of writing you ever produce (finished or unfinished) will teach you something about your writing process! I found that, for me, one-shots and short pieces helped me find my voice before I could tackle bigger, more complicated narratives. I would not be as confident in my abilities as a writer without fluffy, silly, self indulgent fanfiction one-shots.

Keep writing, and don't be afraid to analyze what you've written and ask yourself "what worked in this piece and what didn't?"

And, finally,

Be proud of your writing!!!!

It's okay to love your own work! You wrote it for you, it'd be weird if you didn't love it! Re-read it, enjoy it, look back on it fondly. And I encourage every writer to add the phrase "I could do better now, but I'm still proud of where I was at the time" to their brain!

You are allowed to recognize flaws in your writing while also still appreciating it! You can't learn if you don't start somewhere.

I hope you find something useful in all this! Sorry it got so long. Good luck on your writing journey!

This ask motivated me to write 285 words for Home is Where Your Light Shines Brightest.

Experiment Total: 97,871

[abandonedpie]

Little bit of a vent, not that serious but slightly heavier than you'd expect from the subject.

TL;DR designing an ACNH island is suffering and I took that personally

So my island has been in a WIP state since its creation. Got fairly far with implementing my plans, and I've worked on pieces of it here and there, but recently, I was inspired to redesign the whole thing (again). No longer liked all the ideas I had liked before, and overall felt it was lacking. With some struggle, I started coming up with new ideas that I felt good about.

But the thing that has slowed me down the most? That has me already doubting or even hating my brand new ideas?

Paths. It always comes down to the paths.

Custom paths? Default paths? Both have pros and cons to consider. Fellow ACNH players are likely familiar with these issues: loss of footstep sounds, limited design slots to work with (is it worth using 12+ slots for a single path border?), having to make every design from scratch (no Online for me), lines of grass left between paths/inclines/buildings...

And I can't decide. I can't find an answer. Whatever I try, whatever I imagine, I don't like the result. I've hit a wall, and that wall is my own perfectionism. Clearly there is no perfect solution, and I have to compromise to progress—"finished, not perfect" and all that—but I don't want to compromise the vision I have for my island, even though I know that vision is unattainable.

I just want to have an island I'm happy with. And it feels like no matter what I do with it, I'll never be satisfied. I've seen such beautiful pictures and videos of other people's islands, and while they inspire me and fuel my creativity, they also raise my standards for my own island because I know it could be so much better.

I want to be able to settle for "good enough." But it feels like trying to paint a rainbow with one or two colors missing or not quite the right shade. Maybe I can make something pretty, but it's not what I envisioned or want.

So I think, let's just come up with something different. There are plenty of designs I would like just as much or more, right? I'm already struggling because I like multiple exclusive aesthetics/layouts/etc. and I can't fit them all on one island. But...paths are kinda omnipresent, and that means I have to accept them being substandard. Unless? I've considered using minimal to no paths, but I can't imagine that working for me. I'm not going for full-on natural forestcore or whatever (and even that wouldn't look its best without dirt paths, right?).

I guess I might've made this into a bigger deal than it needs to be. At this point, I feel tired and stuck and hopeless, and part of me wants to let it go. It's just a game. But I don't want to give up and leave my island a mess again. For a short while, I was excited to create, thinking I could shape my little land into something great, something I could walk through with a smile and maybe feel proud of. And now I wonder if that's really possible. There must be something I can do, something I'd like, but I don't know how to find it. I'm honestly having trouble focusing on it right now.

Seeking inspiration is a double-edged sword. As nice as other people's islands look, I know a lot of pictures are shared with filters, and even those that aren't...well, seeing images and videos is different than walking through your own island day after day.

I could go into the game's flaws and limitations, but this is what we've got. And it's not all bad. There's potential. The problem is my own inner critic, and I don't know how to get past it.

The best part is that I've been trying to fight this perfectionism with the game from the beginning, when I last restarted my island and named it Wabisabia after the term wabi-sabi, the Japanese ideal/aesthetic centered on transience and imperfection. You can see how well that's going for me ha ha ha! Even if I want to embrace it in theory, it's not so easy to break through the perfectionism cemented inside me.

Anyway, yeah. Back to agonizing over my island I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[haeroniel-doliet]

Bonus content: heres the super speed summary of how I struggled through the dinluke big bang piece I started over 80 days ago! More thoughts and details on my process below to cut

- Overall wanna post this with all the flaws galore for my future self, not at all because I've just left the record function on, forgot about it and now I have this!

- Good reminder that the worst thing is blank paper and just getting something down okay, rough simple lines convey ideas its all good!

- Drawing on an airplane produces questionable results (the first more refined lines, not NEARLY enough references in use)

- Speaking of, never regretted following a reference over trying to improvise. I feel like it always looks better (that smoke is one good example!)

- Redrawing and redrawing sometimes is so worth it, other times you should just let it be and move on (those first trees before the yellow dotting were kinda okay honestly!)

- Less all sorts of different brushes is better, for consistency :')

- Theres many parts I'd forgotten that in hindsight maybe look better than the end result (like overall composition being bigger and with better feeling of space) but choices were made and I gotta choose to be happy with and proud of the completed piece, afterall its better than all the dusty never finished wips.

- Definitely didn't quite follow the big bang deadlines, I'm sorry :') in general I'd consider that greyscale to be 20% sure (proof of idea and a layout figured out!) But hilariously after what I posted for even 80% I went and redid all that work. (Maybe its not actually totally redoing if you're making the same just improved! All the ground work took its own time and I wasn't starting from scratch at all.)

- At the very end it gets abruptly cut off, despite asking the program to leave on the last frame for a bit... Then I remembered the panic I had just yesterday, because the file for these screenshots took up too much disk space and caused Krita to crash, losing all the progress of like good bit of little adjustments and corrections. I guess I never turned the recording back on, so the very final few hours are missing, but thats okay! This is not professional! (Spot the absolutely tiny differences with the final image posted :p)

-Also realizing after many a rewatch, there's been some glitch with it not recording me recolouring the characters entirely!! How sad, but you can see the difference from when they pop up around the time I'm redoing the trees and at 02.53 and when they return all redone at 03.07

- Theres a lot I don't love, theres a lot that could be better if done differently, but I really have to start being okay with being done rather than perfect!

- Really proud of myself for dedicating to doing a more involved and detailed background/scene than i've ever done before digitally. I've pushed beyond my comfort zone of just characters with a hint of a background, it will get better from here!

- Did I need to post this with all sorts of bits missing? No, definitely not, but hopefully someone will find this interesting, and my future self feels that this was helpful!

[the--sound--of--rain]

2022 Writers' Review

It's already two months into the year, but I'm still going to do this, because I think it's such a nice thing. I was tagged by @lavandulacosmos and @natures-marvel thank you! 💕

1. What is your AO3 account?

brownest_goldfish

2. How many words did you write total in 2022?

34'481, according to AO3 stats

It's not a lot of words, but I feel like this was the year I've developed most as a writer so far, especially writing the first chapter of Lamb and the last chapter of my spooktober fic and I'm very proud of that ✨

3. How many fics did you publish in 2022? How many multichapters vs oneshots?

12 fics, 3 multichaptered and 9 oneshots (and of the 3 multichaptered ones only one is finished so you can see that this is not where my strength lies agajsks but i'm trying to do it more and i actually love it!)

4. What was your longest fic? Your shortest fic?

"A Lover in the story" (finished) is the longest at 9987 words but I published 5000 of those in 2023. Otherwise the longest is "A Lamb for Our Love" at 8618 words so far (one of two chapters)

The shortest is "With a smile" at 412 words. The shortness is owed to it being only one scene, more of a picture I imagined after reading Cry Wolf by @roccinan – and since I can't draw, I decide to write it down 🥰

5. What was your most popular fic? Your least popular fic?

I find this so hard to say, because numbers can never really encapsulate this, and every piece of appreciation from anyone for any fic is a gem in itself. But just for simplicity I'll go for Kudos and Hits here:

The one with most Kudos and Hits is funnily one I didn't write for Berlermo, but for "Arcane" as a birthday gift for @stilljustbitten: "Ice blue" got 113 Kudos and 842 Hits, probably owed to the fact that this fandom is just a bit bigger. My most popular Berlermo fic in 2022 in numbers is "Art and Attraction" at 83 Kudos and 755 Hits.

The least popular in numbers is "Love wins" at 16 Kudos and 146 Hits.

6. What fic didn’t perform as well as you thought it would?

I didn't expect a specific amount of reaction on any of them, so I'd say none of them. Every interaction with on of my fics just made me go "oh!🥰"

7. What fic performed way better than you thought it would?

I'd say "Like the Painting of a sorrow" because it was this oneshot I came up with, wrote and posted within 24 hours, a random idea after reading Dorian Gray. That being said, I am very proud and fond of it, so it made me so happy that it was appreciated!

And also "Love wins", I struggled getting the first chapter together and was worried it was too chaotic, and I was so happy it got good feedback.

8. What was your favorite fic you wrote from 2022?

I'm most proud of and currently most emotionally attached to "A Lover in the story". I'm especially proud of the last chapter, mostly because I managed to write it at all and make something I really like of it.

A Lamb for our Love stands right next to it though – although it's still not finished. (Not because I neglected it, but just because the second chapter is so hard to write) and I'm so excited for what it will become <3

9. What was your favorite fic that somebody else wrote in 2022?

Reducing this to one would be a shame, so I'll list a few 😊

and that was the moment i knew by @alfredo-kesmann

Andrés has Hanahaki disease and coughs up red roses. Whose favourite flowers could those be?

It had started with inconspicuous coughing, a few weeks ago. Soon followed the shaky breaths, the trouble breathing normally at random times. Then, came the shaking fingers, half a week later, creating unavoidable unsteady black lines in the painting he had been working on, the jawline of his self portrait now ruined.

A beautiful take on the trope, with all the drama befitting Berlermo, and overall an extremely romantic and enjoyable read.

Chimera 키메라 by @signorin-anarchia

A sort of crossover of Money Heist Korea and La casa de papel. Andrés is in the concentration camp Korean Berlin was in. Martín joins him there.

His mother's arms are a cradle, a safe haven.

A shelter from all that is evil on earth.

He can remember the faded feeling of bones colliding, rubbing, which nevertheless feels as comfortable as nothing in the world.

Nothing in the whole world.

But there's never much more than anything in the world.

And now his mother's arms are pincers, stealing his life, locking his way.

A very interesting concept with beautiful execution, and very poetic prose that aches just right when you read it.

The Swan's Symphony by @nharidy

Martín plans another and executes heist after the gold heist, and a rescue mission for Andrés on the side – who is alive but asuffering <3. All the old members of the gang are there, and also a lot of new additions.

“Is this true?” Estocolmo asked, turning to El Professor. Mirko, however, was looking at Palermo. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not , he realized. Palermo wasn’t there because one night in the future he might get killed in his bed. 

No, he was there for the one and only reason he's ever done anything since Mirko knew him.

El Profesor sighed.

This genuinely feels like a continuation of lcdp. It gives all the vibes of the show, the characters, their interactions and the action, flashbacks and execution of the heist are spot on. Just overall extremely fun to read.

Remember what your old pal said by @roccinan

La casa de papel Toy Story AU. Andrés is a bullfighter doll, and he finds Martín in the collection he belongs to. But what is Martín really up to?

Andrés is beautiful. And he doesn’t need a mirror to tell him what he already knows. Because he can stare at anything that bounces back light for a wonderful view of himself from head to toe: sunglasses, helmet visors, watches, or even the window on a bright spring day.

He has a slim, well-proportioned frame, a statuesque figure that expertly hides a body of incredible might and power within its wires.

This is genuinely just hilarious, and Andrés is perfectly delusional in it. And the Berlermo romance is so sweet – with an added element of darkness, of course.

10. Tag your friends to do this year-end fic review as well!

I think everyone has already been tagged and done this agajsks but I'll tag the ones I haven't seen doing it, please just ignore this if you have ✌🏼💕 @dormarunt @liz @signorin-anarchia @oreo @lammaducks ✨

[fakeoutbf]

helloooos ✨

big agree about tightrope being on a wedding playlist because it's just so. tender. especially the way he sings "something told me it was you" in four different ways and tones in the chorus makes me wanna sob 🤧 and i don't even want think about the parallels between "we are who we are when we're alone" and "cause we are who we are when no one's watching" from i won't mind 😭😭

i completely get you because i'm just very weird when it comes to people. i always tend to end up in slightly bigger groups of people and it's like a dream sequence when i'm with them and it's all so happy and fun but at the same time there'll be days when i just feel so overwhelmed by all the social interaction that i just want it to be a bit quiet for some time. and god, i love winters so much, but i hate that it comes with this unrealistic yearning to just have someone you love by your side, just to hold you for a little while 😔

the thing about van gogh, and bear in mind this is my minimalistic knowledge, is how much he represents most artists and how much you need to feel to create art, specifically pain. i know i'm making a bold statement here, but i feel like every piece of art is tinged with slight emotion of pain and melancholia and that's sort of what makes it so comforting and i think he was able to capture those two feelings and juxtapose it into nature really well 🤍

god yeah i love how there's always so much to know when it comes to different countries and their cultures and it always frustrates me to no end how i'll never be able to learn it all in a lifetime. especially languages!

friendship to me would be a soft cream shade, because it's neutral and you can always build up on it by colouring it in with whatever colour another person makes you feel. love to me is blue and the vastness it represents and how when you love someone, you can learn to love them everyday and how you're always falling in love no matter how long you've known this person because people change and grow too 💙

if your life so far were to be made into a movie, what songs would you like to be part of the soundtrack for it? also, what actor would you like to play you in the movie?

sending you hugs and warmth 🫶

- s 💌

hi 🫶🏻

i was doomed from the first time i listened to tightrope bc no other song feels as tender and soft and full of love. it’s just so warm it makes me want to cover myself up in a blanket and be safe. and zayn’s vocals are always angelic but singing ballads?? it’s just another level completely. i’d completely forgotten about i won’t mind oh my god you’re so right 😭😭

for me, it always takes me the longest time to open up to someone. it’s easier if i have an excuse to see them everyday and just gradually get to know them. i don’t trust easily and i don’t dive in head first, so i always struggle to meet people who actually have the patience to get to know me. i have friends now that i love and trust but i don’t see them so often that we’re incredibly close. and i’m starting to have work friends which is nice but they don’t really know me yet. sometimes i just wish it was easier to know someone and be able to trust them but i also haven’t gone to therapy so i know it won’t happen that easy. either way, idk if it’s bc it’s winter or just overall my week’s been very hectic, but i wish i could just talk to someone and cuddle with them and just have them take care of me for a bit. it sucks being stuck in your head 90% of the time.

i agree with your thoughts on van gogh and i actually had a teacher tell me that he thought van gogh was incredibly depressing, which i agree and i think is one of the reasons i’m drawn to him as such. to take all this burden and sorrow and pain and sadness and everything else he had going on in his head and interpret it to create such masterpieces. i also think a lot of his nature paintings, especially the ones that have fields and meadows etc, have this feeling of loneliness and solitude. some food for thought i guess. i’d love to see them in person to actually capture their true essence firsthand.

if i could i would love to understand at least five more languages than i do currently. i don’t have the words for it right now but something something grasping the true meaning of art and culture through its original language 😪

oh i love that each friendship to you might change shades! that’s a lovely thought. i never think about all the ways my relationships are different with each person i know, but it makes sense that no two friendships would be exactly the same. and honestly, i’d never thought of love blue like an ocean. it’s a beautiful comparison. i dream of feeling love like that someday 💙

oh that’s a hard one! i feel like it’d be a very boring movie, but alas. there ofc has to be some 1d in there, probably some the 1975 and hozier and most definitely some florence and the machine, most likely dog days are over. i’ll have to think on specific songs a bit more. as far as actors go, off the top of my head maybe saoirse ronan? not bc i look anything like that but i just adore the way she acts. and while i’m at it, why not maybe andrew garfield as well? i’d love that for me. what about you? which songs/artists would make the cut and who would you like to play you?

i hope you had a lovely weekend and i hope next week is nice and calm and easy 💖💞💓💗💕💝

[kathy-rah]

As someone who is slowly learning how to do digital art alone, I may have some advices to give to those who want to start and don't have time/resources to spend a lot of time trying and testing out drawing processes.

These are some things that I've found useful but Boi, it got me a lot of time to get to it. Of course, this is just what I think can be a good advice for who is a newbie like me, you can try it as a way to start your coloring process but it's not something professional t.t so take it with a bit of salt

First advice I wanna give is to do like I did during this drawing process: while I keep everything on different layers (skin tone / armor / hair /detail / background), don't just start with one layer and then start another one after rendering the first one.

Multiple times I've noticed how the different tones didn't match to each other, or the colors were simply horrible to see next to each other. I've spent a lot of time fixing this type of issues in my old drawing, always deleting the layers (fully rendered) or trying to change the tone with horrible results.

Instead, if you too happen to have this problem, I'd advice you to first coloring everything with the base color. As you see in the video, as first thing I simply filled the lineart with base colors. It's not clear but I assure you I've changed his skin tone multiple times because it didn't match the armor. Same with the mask and the red details.

This is something you can easily do at the beginning to see if the colors match and are nice to see all together in the bigger picture.

It's really something easy and I'm 100% sure they teach you this literally at the beginning of art school but Boi I'm stupid. I only learn when I do things myself t.t

Change colors as much as you want until you've reached your desired tones. Be careful of saturation levels. To make everything more balanced, play with the hue level for every base color you've used. You don't like how the red is in contrast with the blue? Change the red layer' hue/saturation values a bit and you'll find the perfect type of red you need.

After you are happy with the overall results, start with the rendering.

This is something I recommend to do if you still aren't used to the use of tones/saturation.

If you need some examples of the pieces where I struggled, here you go: this one is probably my fav one even now that I draw from pc.

Before:

As you can see there isn't balance in the colors. Fulgrim's skin is too much out of everything and in general there is too much differences between the colors. It just doesn't look harmonious. Then:

I assure you I haven't re-drawn anything here, just fixed the saturation, tones and hue levels (and added a bit more of shadows), yet now everything matches. (i also have changed the color of the lineart in a few places, look at the hair for example).

This might looks obvious to others, but I've spent a lot of time on this piece with the only focus on making those colors look nicely together and with time I've learned from my mistakes.

Another example: the commission I did a few weeks ago. I had to draw an Imperial fist, so you'd expect to see a yellow armor. Considering that I painted the background with red colors, bright yellow would have been quite a shock to see: that's why the base color is not yellow but orange. Same thing the clothes aren't white anymore but a light pink.

On a white background it looks weird for an IF armor, yet this is the result at the end:

Yellow is only for the parts hit by the light, where the shadow are more on the red tones. (don't mind the light blue for now)

Of course, you have to take in consideration many things before changing the hues of the original colors, but I hope this could help c: