#tracy j butler inspired

[kobrasworld]

My new character of Lackadaisy cats is here! I call her Gretta Rose 😏👍

[nichenarratives]

Asymmetrical Atrocity

An Obscure Oneshot

Inspiration Art by Tracy J Butler

Mordecai Heller has done a lot of dastardly things in his line of work. He murdered the competition, tortured information from the mouths of gangsters and threw numerous bodies into both rivers surrounding Saint Louis, all at the behest of his savior turned employer. Atlas May is a discerning man of many accomplishments, one who knows when to conduct a business intervention to protect his investments, and when a massacre is the only way to send a message, which is what Mordecai manages alongside Viktor, his cohort.

The tom tuxedo appreciates swift, decisive action as much as the entrepreneur who owns the Lackadaisy Speakeasy. As such, he rarely finds grievance with expectation, carrying out every assignment with extreme prejudice and efficiency. Alongside Viktor's sheer strength and bulk, they form a formidable partnership that's seen the underground liquor spring swell in popularity, creating quite the business for the ever-ambitious Atlas May.

This is work Mordecai excels at, even prefers despite the moral ambiguity most would consider troubling. What he doesn't enjoy are the languid, supposedly quiet stretches of time between jobs, where he is forced to attend Mrs May's exhaustingly raucous parties. Sometimes, he can convince Atlas to let him work instead and buries his nose in the Little Daisy Cafe's books, changing expenses and stock to hide their underground extracurriculars.

But not tonight.

Atlas is out of town collecting his goddaughter - why anyone would want responsibility for a child that isn't even theirs is beyond Mordecai - and taken Viktor with him, meaning other than the band and Horatio, everyone to step foot inside the Lackadaisy that evening would be a potential threat to his wife's life. Atlas has specifically ordered his sharpshooter to stay close to her all evening, so there is no escaping it.

Tonight, he's Mitzi May's bodyguard.

While he never needs an excuse to dress properly, the tom had taken time to dress correctly for tonight; a black three piece suit over a crisp, white shirt, his trademark blood red tie pressed and carefully secured about his neck before it's tucked into his waistcoat and secured with a silver pin, a holster on each shoulder each containing loaded pistols (obscured under his jacket, for security), a knife in each garter beneath his slacks and of course, the piece de resistance - a pocket square matching his tie.

His wayward hair carefully smoothed down and pince-nez shined to perfection, he'd reported to Mrs May's rooms at precisely six, as requested. He at least feels at home dressed up - poor Viktor always looks ridiculously uncomfortable in a suit - even if he's dreading the actual party. He takes a moment to check his pocket square is properly placed before rapping his knuckles on her door. 

"Come in, door's open."

The reply is immediate, but Mordecai hesitates on the threshold, hand still curled and raised uselessly in the air. He assumed she'd be ready on time. As such, the possibility of entering her room was not considered. He hangs in purgatory for a long moment, trapped between refusal and potential repercussions should anything happen to her in the next few seconds, then sighs and pushes the door open.

"Good evening, Mrs May," he greets upon entry, closing the door behind him before surveying the room. Not one to keep a clean house but hardly a slob either, Mitzi's room is clean but in general disarray; her bed isn't made, the closet hangs open, and her vanity table is cluttered with numerous vials, pots, lipsticks and more he doesn't care to identify. "It's time to welcome your esteemed guests into the Lackadaisy Speakeasy."

Mitzi sits at her vanity, leaning close to finish her makeup. She doesn't look over when Mordecai walks in, but an eye does track his reflection. "Of course," she says, pausing to dab her finest brush into the liquid eyeliner bottle. Satisfied it's sufficiently soaked, she raises it back to her face and returns her gaze to the ceiling. "I'm just finishing up, sweetie. Take a seat if you like."

Pale lips curl into a grimace. "No, thank you," he refuses, as politely as he can manage. Mordecai has no idea when she last changed the sheets - he prefers to change his weekly, when possible - nor if she's ever dusted. He doesn't intend to find out by coating his pristine suit in dust. His tail flicks slightly in agitation as he stays by the door. "I'll wait here."

"Suit yourself," Mitzi responds, accustomed to the odd tom after years of his service. She once tried to loosen the man up by asking about his family, but that only seemed to make him more distant. Since then, she's left Mordecai to his own devices, allowing Atlas to handle his peculiarities. Her own interactions with the tuxedo cat are more for entertainment than friendship now. "Are you going to dance tonight? I've invited plenty of young ladies who'd love to-"

"I'd rather not be in attendance," Mordecai answers flatly, his chin lifted very slightly as he grimaces. Mitzi suppresses a sigh as she sits back and studies her eyeliner. Makeup is such a chore sometimes, but a necessity when you have an image to keep. Satisfied, she screws the cap back on the bottle and wipes the brush off on cotton wool, an ear turned to her bodyguard as he continues. "However, Mr May has requested my attendance, therefore it is unavoidable."

The dolled-up feline hums in agreement; Mordecai isn't an enthralling party guest, unless you wish to listen to a man describe the main differences between monocotyledons and dicotyledons in excruciating detail, all in a flat monotone. If she had a choice, she'd have kept Viktor. At least could be loosened up with a drink or ten. "Well, I'm ready. Why don't we take our delightful conversation down to the-"

Glancing at Mordecai's reflection, she sees his eyes narrow, and Mitzi releases a tired huff. "What?" She asks as she turns around to face the pedantic accountant. An ear twitch and a deeper frown is the only response she gets, to which Mitzi glares right back. Atlas might enjoy his nonverbal communication, but she finds it irritating. "Come on, spit it out, Mordecai. The guests aren't getting any younger."

"Your eyeliner," the tom responds flatly. Mrs May turns back to the mirror and scrutinizes her reflection closely, checking for drips and smudges, or misplaced drops on her otherwise flawless skin and outfit. She's practically going insane trying to find the problem when Mordecai finally finished speaking. "Is asymmetrical."

She almost groans. Almost. Why does the man have to be so peculiar? "Is that all?" She asks, waving off his concern to instead fluff up her hair some more, running fingers through the freshly washed waves. They slide effortlessly from root to tip, as perfect as Mitzi planned. "No one will care if it's a little crooked once they taste the liquor, sweetie. My darling Atlas secured the best from Canada in our last shipment. They won't be sober long enough to notice."

"I've noticed," Mordecai asserts, finally stepping away from the door to approach his employer's wife. "Respectfully, should I spend the majority of your precious event distracted by symmetrical sacrilege, my efficacy will be compromised."

Mitzi turns in her seat and regards her employee tiredly, only to shrug a moment later. "Eyeliner is a fine art, sweetie. It could take hours to get it entirely even on both sides. We can't leave our guests waiting that long, can we?" Thinking she has him dead to rights, the feline woman opens both eyes and smirks at her husband's golden boy confidently. "Unless you can fix them in five minutes, it'll have to do."

If she's expecting some kind of emotional reaction, Mitzi is sorely mistaken. Mordecai glances at the discarded brush on the vanity, then the uneven lines framing her upper lids. He's fairly sure a child could do better, but for once, the tom decides to keep that thought to himself and instead looks around the room. Locating a small chaise, he pulls it over to the vanity - much to Mitzi's dismay. "What are you-"

Turning over the seat cushion before sitting down to avoid the dust, he then raises his hands, palms open expectantly. "Your brush and face paint," he requests with his expression set seriously, flexing his fingers for emphasis. "And erase your attempts of both eyes entirely. I prefer a blank canvas."

For the next seven minutes, Mordecai leans towards the other feline, coaching her which eye to close, where to look and sometimes, informing minor technique corrections he suggests for the future. Mitzi stays quiet and complies with his requests, mostly from pure curiosity if he'll be able to paint eyeliner as cleanly as he aims a pistol. She's not met a man who can frame an eye right yet, so she might even forgive his arrogance if he does a good enough job. 

The few times she does look at Mordecai directly, his gaze is intense and focused, fine lips pressed into a finer line in the depths of focus. Mitzi isn't sure he's ever been so close before - even when she was having him tailored for fresh, tidy suits and had to measure his neck ad-hoc for the collar. It's honestly disconcerting and she quickly looks away.

"There," he finally states after what feels like a year. Entirely uninvited, Mordecai takes a gentle hold of her chin and turns her head from side to side to inspect his handiwork. Taken by surprise, Mitzi allows him to do so until he hums in approval and releases her, only to grimace at the powder residue now on his fingers. "I will never understand the need to slather your face in chemicals, but it is now symmetrical, at least. I'll wash my hands, then we can go."

Taking the brush and pot when they're offered, Mitzi turns to the mirror to inspect his work and is pleasantly surprised to find he's framed her eyes beautifully. He even added a small whisper of eyeliner off the lid and extended it slightly to her cheek, giving the impression of fuller lashes when her eyes are open. Mrs May blinks, tilting her head from side to side, marveling at how fine it is and indeed, how symmetrical the quiet sharpshooter has managed to make them.

"Let's get this over with," Mordecai mutters as he re-enters the room, adjusting the cufflinks beneath his suit jacket. His eyes land on Mitzi, once again staring in the mirror, and an irritated murr slips through pursed lips. "Mrs May, while I admire your devotion to setting an immaculate visage in your husband's absence, there is only so much superficial modification careful artistry can achieve. Let's go."

It was in that moment, as Mordecai stalked for the door to hold it open like the gentlemanly type he certainly had not just spoken like, Mitzi decided she'd convinced the girls that dancing with her reclusatory bodyguard was the pinnacle of high society.

Insert the ficus comic here…

[gentlelass]

Welcome to my new brainrot ❤️

[cherry-extraordinary]

Me and my book club gals as modern Lackadaisy cats

[lordofdestructionm]

Why does Wick look like he's dramatically posing on purpose?! XD

Can we see Vampire Viktor and Wick for spooky month?! 👀

Absolutely!

[filmnoirsbian]

Hi !! I was wondering if you had any book recs/favorite books? Things that you think of as inspiration or just plain like? Genuinely curious. <3 im in love with your work btw i spent the other day binging your patreon

Some favorites that deeply impacted me from a young age up into teenagedom: the Animorphs series by K. A. Applegate, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, Oddly Enough by Bruce Coville, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Little Sister by Kara Dalkey, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage, Piratica by Tanith Lee, the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, Holes by Louis Sachar, The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg, Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori, The Sea-Wolf by Jack London, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath, Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, The Iliad and Odyssey (allegedly) by Homer, The Táin by many people, Harlem by Walter Dean Myers, Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, The Wall and the Wing by Laura Ruby, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein, The Hainish Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis, The Ethical Vampire series by Susan Hubbard, The Howl Series by Diana Wynne Jones, the Curseworkers series by Holly Black, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, Android Karenina by Ben H. Winters, An Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, Beloved by Toni Morrison, A Stir of Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, World War Z by Max Brooks, This is Not A Drill by K. A. Holt, Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin, Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Crush by Richard Siken, Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, Devotions by Mary Oliver, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Some favorites read more recently: The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey, Engine Summer by John Crowley, Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot, My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, Reprieve by James Han Mattson, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Kindred by Octavia Butler, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, Station Eleven by Emily St. John-Mandel, The Crown Ain't Worth Much by Hanif Abdurraqib, The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente, Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica, The Girl with All the Gifts by Mike Carey, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, She had some horses by Joy Harjo, Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón, The King Must Die by Mary Renault, Books of Blood by Clive Barker, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, Cassandra by Christa Wolfe

Plays: The Oresteia by Aeschylus, Electra by Sophocles, Los Reyes by Julio Cortázar, Angels in America by Tony Kushner, August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco, The Trojan Women by Euripides, Salome by Oscar Wilde, Girl on an Altar by Marina Carr, Fences by August Wilson, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond

Graphic novels: The Crow by James O'Barr, DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, Eternals (2021) by Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribić, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and John Higgins, My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Tank Girl by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

[ot3]

biggest art inspos?

@lycheestew sorry it took me three and a half months to answer this you sent it to me right around the time i finished my composition writeup and i was like 'good god i can not spend another two seconds thinking about art right now ill answer this later' and then well i just kept not doing it

but anyway. heres uhhh some stuff that was formative/that i am presently into.

Ever since I was in middle school I have been OBSESSED with tracy j. butler's work, she does the webcomic lackadaisy cats and everything she draws is just masterful. Her fully polished paintings are beautiful but I'm choosing to show some of her pencil sketches here because... well... just look at them. like holy shit. I think you could probably trace my love of drawing more stylized proportions with a disproportionate amount of detail on the clothing to her stuff. she also just does magnificent character work and i have a print of her expression tutorial that i kept hanging right by my bed to look at for years.

i was also, as you all know, incredibly incredibly deep into homestuck fandom for the majority of my Learning to Draw years so there were a few artists who were big during peak homestuck posting era that were very formative for me.

in particular i was really into @xamag-homestuck's stuff because i just found the way she stylized characters super pleasing. i spent a bunch of time trying to emulate that.

there was also someone who went by putoshop, i don't know what their current socials are if any but the old blog's gone, and i can specifically site their art as being the thing that got me to start trying lineless stuff

i also have loved loved loved everything @ggdgart has ever done and in particular their use of color in cucumber quest imprinted on me a ton and is something i have drawn a lot of inspiration from over the years. on top of that they have a wonderful sense of fashion and their character designs are just great. cucumber quest rules.

i also was a kid who was really into western cartoons and didn't start watching anime with any regularity until i was in college so a lot of those meant a lot to me. a lot of my early drawing was done trying to copy/trace avatar the last airbender screenshots and while i think it definitely got me started i honestly feel like it had less of a long-lasting impact on the way my art looks than other stuff that i didn't even watch a ton of. i was never super deep into either show as media but i always absolutely loved the aesthetics happening in samurai jack and my life as a teenage robot. they both had that excellent geometric midcentury vibe. more recently in comparison to those two, i also feel in love with the background style in gravity falls and would say that was pretty influential.

right now as for present inspiration i'm absolutely obsessed with everything that deb jj lee does because, well. once again i find really the only adequate thing to say is 'holy shit'

their stuff rules soooooooo hard

i'm also extremely in love with angela sung's art.

the textures! the colors! the shapes! no misses here

im sure theres more stuff i could bring up but this is what's coming to me at the time so ill leave it here

[historyhermann]

An Alternative to the Studio System?: Indie Animation Forges Ahead [Part 2]

continued from part 1. Split because Tumblr claimed there was an error in the post.

Otherwise, Shannon Mowatt's 16-minute animatic of Revamped, has been released in advance of the full animated pilot. It is an upcoming short queer film about four high school sophomores who deal with school life, vampires, and the supernatural world.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs, my History Hermann blog, and Wayback Machine. This was the eleventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on July 15, 2022.

There's the Lackadaisy film about 1920s gangster cats, based on Tracy J. Butler's webcomic. Another series, Outcasts, has cats as characters. Shou Tuzi's Tallyho! series continues to develop. It is inspired by steampunk, fantastique, and other media. Tuzi's studio, Skull Hare Studio, is also working on Arthur: The Timeless Knight.

Daniel is continuing to pursue his action adventure series, Lumeon Lands, which has begin production. These series are important to highlight when Hollywood continues to end projects and sack animators. Some have put hope in indie animation, noting it has the promise to allow creators to have "creative control" unlike working under major studios.

While there are many indie animations I could mention. [6] However, I'd like to focus on a few series in development. One of those is Sam Sawyer's SALEM, also known as Salem or S.A.L.E.M.: The Secret Archive of Legends, Enchantments, and Monsters. In May, SpectroliteAAA, the lead storyboard artist said that she could talk about it soon, but not yet. In January, Sawyer, when asked by a fan, said the same thing.

The series has been fully funded. The now-fulfilled Kickstarter defines the series as an animated story about "a cryptid with a big heart and even bigger questions, on a quest to discover their true origins".

Apart from having high-profile voice actors like Laura Bailey, Rob Paulsen, and Adam McAarthur, a tweet from the show's account confirmed Petra as asexual, Salem (who is also non-binary) as pansexual, and Oliver as gay. The series has Randy Abrams as executive producer. It is being animated with help from Surfer Jack Productions, a company said to specialize in "ingenious storytelling". The company was founded by animation industry veterans Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, Lance LeCompte, and Bernie Petterson.

There are other series in development. This includes Georden Whitman's pilot named Port by the Sea on two kids who are "sailing the seas to fix a now broken moon", Matt Acuña's fantastical adventure The Garden Age, and the Far-Fetched Show, an animated series "about a rock band of misfits" by Ashley Nichols and Dave Capdevielle.

In addition, there's a demon/vampire themed series in the process entitled Bloodgore, the psychological horror dramedy named Please Stay Tuned, the ghost-themed Ghost Hunt, a sci-fi themed SpaceAges, and many more. These are a small sampling of the indie animated series out there. [7] These persist despite the problem of distribution and funding to "make original stuff", and possible iffiness of crowdsourcing, as writer Chris Hill pointed out.

Port by the Sea's pilot will likely come out sometime later this year. The Far-Fetched Show is also moving ahead, with comics to go with the series like Wild Card. The Nichols' Patreon notes that a lyrics video for the series band, Sesemoid, is coming out later this year. This also noted they are still working on the pilot. Currently, there is wonderful fan art of the show's characters, including putting them in a Steven Universe setting, and much more.

The fact that Port by the Sea has over 1400 followers and Far-Fetched Show has over 67,600 followers, along with 406 Patreons of Nichols, proves what animator LanceArts pointed out: that the indie animation scene is "exploding with greater popularity now more than ever."

More episodes of Alpha Betas are currently in production, with recording for new episodes. Four episodes are set to be released in Fall/Winter 2022. Additionally, Lucha Vandross is fundraising for various indie animated series. This includes those inspired by 1980s Hong Kong films (Project Icarus and Project Icarus X) and a modern take on Robin Hood. The latter is about friends "robbing the rich and giving it to the poor" (Samson). [8] Animator 9Hammer is actively releasing series in Newgrounds, of all places. This includes series such as Chaotic Heart and Solace, with new episodes in production.

Others, like Warlord-of-Noodles, have ongoing series as well, which is also posted on YouTube and has a Patreon. Series like Deep States, by Molly, are on YouTube. There is the exciting 2d indie anime in development entitled Broken Beat, made by animators of prominent anime series, like Creative Theory. The series is about a protagonist, Sin, tasked with stopping the reign of the creator god, and challenged by an "endless conflict between humans and manifestors". Sin masters his form along the way.

Newgrounds is a weird place. There's a lot of terrible (and amateurish content) there, mixed with sexual content. It is more than what would YouTube would permit, and includes pornographic material. Apart from the series on hiatus by 9Hammer, Beyond the Fog, there's The Looter, and Zack and Alex. The latter, by Jayevin Abad, had its pilot posted on YouTube as well. Otherwise, there are various other series, films, and more, which have aired on the site. [9] Some shows I've noted before in this post, and elsewhere, like Ollie and Scoops, Eddsworld, Tales of Alethrion, and Satina all have pages on the site.

Apart from Newgrounds, are further series in development. This includes The Art Of Murder, produced by an Australian indie 2D animation studio named Choc Chip. It is produced by Anokhi Somaia and directed by Nirali Somaia. Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli are the series composers.

The Art of Murder is a murder mystery, musical, and pop culture parody where "sketchbook characters come to life" when the clock strikes midnight. It features voice actors like Lizzie Freeman, who also voices a character in Gods' School, Lauren Lopez, who founded a popular online musical theatre company named Team Starkid. There's also Joey Richter (part of the same theatre company), Joey Bizinger, a well-known Japanese-Australian voice actor, YouTuber, and more, and Megan Lee, a Korean-American singer-songwriter. 

There's further projects of note. This includes various series by LGBTQ creators. [10] For instance, there's an animated series such as Scrappers, Swift Spark and the Defense Five, Birdboys, and Novas. Scrappers and Birdboys are by trans women, Charlie Gultiano-Wyton and Danielle Maxine specifically. Swift Spark and the Defense Five is by a trans man, Pan. Novas is by a queer and trans artist, Jesse. Scrappers is being produced by Gultiano-Wyton's animation studio, Variation Media.

Swift Spark and the Defense Five is by artist and animator, Pan, who loves Phineas & Ferb, and is based on a comic of the same name. Birdboys is by artist and animator, Danielle, with some teasers posted on her YouTube channel. Novas is the personal project of Jesse, a SCAD student, who posted a casting call for the animation on Tik Tok. What Avara, mentioned earlier in this article, stated is relevant here: support for indie creators is necessary if you "want to see diversity in animation". Part of that is LGBTQ representation.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[frenzyarts]

Someone may have already asked this but what's some of your biggest inspirations when it comes to your art style?

Oooh I love questions like this, even though it’s so hard for me to narrow it down to a few people. I’ll try my best though!!

Alphonse Mucha - I love art nouveau, also I want the hair I draw to look like how he did hair

Old Disney animated movies, particularly Atlantis - The hands in Atlantis are masterful. I also like when character designs have a “flow” to them, I try to get all the curves in my character designs to have a pleasant flow like that.

Bryan Lee O’Malley - When I was a teen I would do studies from Scott Pilgrim, particularly I remember learning to draw forearms by doing that

Tracy J Butler - Her webcomic Lackadaisy is GORGEOUS. She has tutorials on expressions and stuff and I would study from them, especially during highschool

Ben Caldwell - His character designs are fantastic. The bodies have a lot of that “flow” I look for, and he even has tutorial books (which I’ve been meaning to buy forever but I have been able to look at them at the library)

Simply Too Many Digital Artists To List - I was a child of the internet so naturally I learned by studying my peers. This one is even harder to narrow down because the list of digital artists I admire and do studies of is really really long. If you ever want a list I can try, but suffice it to say, I follow a lot of amazing artists!!

Thank you for your question, I love talking about art so much 🥳

[kobrasworld]

New character of Modern Lackadaisy cats from me!

[nichenarratives]

Crescendo

An Obscure Oneshot

Inspired by this post.

Deep within the forested trails of Missouri, an orange aura licks the midnight sky, casting a glow as potent as the early morning sun over the trees. Closer, the crackle of wood as flames engulf an inconspicuous log cabin is as intrusive as the heat itself radiating from the cabin's carcass, a bright, monstrous creature waning and waxing with the wind, too powerful to be thwarted by the thin flurry of snow fluttering down on the three who watch the building burn.

To the left, an austere feline with a strong jaw and face stripes hunches forward to light a cigarette. Despite his proximity, Atlas May has done little to set these wheels in motion; he arrived with the other two and set them upon the establishment instead, holding back to watch his pilfered heavy hitter and triggerman work their first mission together, gauging if his earlier deduction - that they would be perfect partners - were accurate.

Smoke lit, the striped feline straightens and flicks his match into the snow, where it promptly extinguishes. He raises his gaze to the flaming cabin and calmly drags on his cigarette, relishing the heat it brings to his chest, enjoying the potent hit of nicotine as his rival's storehouse burns to the ground at his order. Atlas quirks a slight smile and exhales smoke in a steady stream. 

The night was almost flawless. Almost.

He can feel the young triggerman staring at his cheek, the anxiously perfectionistic tuxedo attempting to discern their boss' opinion on the job. Mordecai Heller has worked for the Lackadaisy Speakeasy for almost eight months, keeping on top of their books as an accountant, but this is his first job as triggerman, and he fucked up getting into a physical altercation with a guardsman, almost costing him his life.

Atlas knows that's not what worries the tuxedo, however; he isn't begging to return to his desk job nor in crisis after a brush with death, but concerned he's been inadequate. The boy has a lot of anxiety compared to his partner who, even before he had completed dozens of similar assignments, had the confidence to handle himself. 

Viktor Vasko never looked for reassurance or validation, never pandered to his boss, and it's those qualities Atlas wants to encourage in their new triggerman. With life or death hanging on the pull of a trigger, Mordecai couldn't be second guessing himself. He has to be confident, capable, and possess enough autonomy for self-preservation, not hinge his worth on the words of an authority figure that won't always be there to pat him on the back.

The striped feline takes another drag of his cigarette as the experienced bobcat draws Mordecai's attention and hands him back his dropped spectacles. Another slip up, the older businessman turned smuggler muses, sharp eyes still on the roaring flames. Had he lost those, he'd be useless as a sharpshooter and an accountant until they were replaced, if he'd even managed to get out of the flames without time to find the exit with blurry vision. He's got a lot to learn. Viktor will have his hands full for a while.

"Job done," Atlas finally states, drawing the attention of both the man and the boy. He pauses to take a last drag on the cigarette before dropping it to the snow, the sizzle of hot ash lost to the violent crackle of the larger fire. "Take him to see Elsa," he orders, catching Viktor's gaze over the tom's head. He doesn't intend to address Mordecai directly tonight; such attention is reserved for when he does a good job. "Get his arm stitched, then get some sleep. I want you both back in my office tomorrow at one tomorrow, to debrief."

The bobcat simply nods in acknowledgement, then watches as Atlas turns and strides away, back to his own car, taken swiftly by the trees and snow, tracks buried as if he were never there. Only once their boss is gone does Viktor look to the young man now in his charge, the tuxedo barely out of adolescence, a boy with a man's weapon at his hip and an unerring need for acceptance he won't find in Atlas May.

Mordecai drops his gaze to the snow, hand clutching at his injured arm more tightly. He doesn't need to be explicitly told he messed up; he's supposed to be their trigger man, to keep his distance, to protect the brawler and take out any who tried to get the jump on him. He'd been a fool not to take the second shot before approaching, to try to save ammunition instead of safeguarding himself.

The subsequent shot had been aimed at his heart. Had he not brought his satchel, had he not raised it in time, he'd most likely have bled out on the stairs long before they set fire to the building. Falling through the banister, rotted wood splintering into his arm, the dull thud of landing on the joint, are all still visceral memories, as was the lightning decision to shoot at the man who loomed over the broken banister, weapon raised for a second shot. 

Mordecai hadn't even aimed, didn't have time, but it was enough to bring the man tumbling down on top of him, whereupon the tuxedo managed to get the upper hand and impale him with the shattered banister, the crescendo of the fight. He'd lost his pince nez in the scuffle but ordered to leave immediately after, had scurried off without them, teeth grit against the aching throb in his left shoulder, the gun still grasped in his less dominant hand.

He'd survived, but barely. Mordecai shudders, both from the cold and the icy reception from Atlas, the man he wanted to impress. Alive, but a disappointment.

Viktor hadn't wanted to bring the boy on this job, but Atlas had insisted, touting that he needed to learn the stakes, that easing him into it would be detrimental. He believed the boy had what it takes to be a successful triggerman, if only he had the right teacher. "You," Atlas had posited, clapping a hand on the bobcat's shoulder as they watched Mordecai through his office window. "That's why he's coming tonight, so you can show him how it's done. You wait; a couple of jobs, and he'll be the best triggerman we could ask for."

The tuxedo looks as far from a triggerman as anyone could be in that moment; fragile, sullen, freezing. Mordecai shivers and clutches his arm, barely suppressing a cringe of pain into a slight flinch. He's a lost and lonely body, out in the woods all on his own, and without guidance he may perish. An almost vacant expression plays in downcast eyes and the bobcat's expression softens slightly, a sudden wave of empathy in his stomach.

He saw that face looking back at him in the mirror many times after returning from the war, and knows the hollow feeling that accompanies leaving everything you love behind to start anew, only to feel wholly inadequate. It's the wonder if the difficult decisions you made really were right, or if you've screwed everything up so badly, perhaps you'd be better off not waking up tomorrow.

Without a word, the bobcat side steps to close the distance between them to mere inches. Mordecai sees his feet shift and glances up through his lashes, shoulder still hunched against the cold. Eyes still locked on the raging fire, Viktor opens arm arm out behind the tuxedo, his hand pressed into a pocket so his coat also fans out, silently offering the tom a chance to step closer if he wants. 

An offer of comfort and warmth, in a moment of uncertainty.

Mordecai hesitates, ears half-turned away from the crackle of the fire, eyes slowly shifting between the bobcat's stony face and the free space at his side. It would be a step to the left - a simple, single step towards his new comrade - and he'd have accepted the unexpected offer, an offer he's not sure he fully understands the scope of, but is enticed by the warmth nonetheless.

Eventually, much like Viktor, he sets his eyes on the fire and silently steps closer, allowing his injured arm to brush the other's fluffy jumper before angling the appendage to rest on the bobcat's front. Viktor gently closes his arm around him, encasing Mordecai in half of his overcoat, which the tuxedo grabs the edge of to hold around his body, trapping the heat in with them as he pulls it tight, unperturbed by the feel of Viktor's arm around his back and side.

The flames continue to lick the darkness, burning the inky black in orange and yellow as they watch, mesmerised by flames in a comfortable silence. A bobcat, offering simple solace to a tuxedo, in need of reassurance... and perhaps a warmer coat.

[eatherstar]

I’ve officially unofficially gone back to school, and one of my class assignments was to try to draw in the style of an artist who inspires you. I chose Lackadaisy by Tracy J. Butler! It has to be the most visually stunning comic I’ve ever read.

[urban-hart]

6, 9, and 14 for the artist ask game? —Rine

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

I have to dig for the subconscious things for a sec...

Well, even if it's not always at the forefront of my mind, the realism in Tracy J Butler's work (Lackadaisy Cats in particular) will probably always be the most influential thing in my art and writing. The ability to stylize shapes, yet make figures and textures so life-like with pencil??? The writing, characterizations, and the sheer amount of story in Lackadaisy Cats??? 👌!!! Def a big inspiration, even if I don't always realize it and/or actually hit the marks.

Jin Kim's concept art! Particularly for any Disney productions he worked on. Looking back, I do believe there are elements of his work that I love that I may or may not have been trying to emulate.

9. What are your file name conventions

It's a scale. Peak laziness, just the file name automatically given by the computer. Some effort, the name of the subject. If I'm feeling spiffy, i try a play on words. :3

14. Any favorite motifs

I find myself always defaulting to Soft when trying character interactions. Um...sitting, been doing sitting positions a lot lately. Bird/plant symbolism is always fun. Scribbly. Scribbly mess to create the illusion of depth/textures. Intentionally using certain shapes/line types for certain characters.

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Haggard Art, Paperbacks, David Drake, Lankhmar RPG

Books (Wasteland & Sky): The common Joe was abandoned for fandom. Unfortunately for them, pocket paperbacks is the key to reaching the largest possible audience. This was part of the secret to the form’s success. Pocket paperbacks were meant for normal people. Abandoning the masses is never a smart idea.

D&D (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): New school games typically give the players latitude to play whatever type of character they want. This ranges from GURPS where classes and levels are dispensed with and every conceivable character ability is broken down into point values all the way up to recent editions of D&D where there are a bewildering range of races, classes, feats, and so on. The newest of new school games emphasize elaborate player character backstories that the Dungeon Master is expected to somehow tap into in his campaign story.

Art (DMR Books): “The collector who commissioned it was a Haggard fan with a Haggard room. He had several well-known illustrators do paintings for his room, i.e. Jeff Jones, Michael Whelan, etc. A few years ago he decided to give it all up and sold all of his books and paintings.”

Guides (Pulp Net): A pulp magazine price guide? Yup. Bookery’s Guide to Pulps & Related Magazines by Tim Cottrill is the second edition of this work and came out in 2020 from Heritage Auctions via Ivy Press. The first edition came out in 2005, which was actually an update of The Ultimate Guide to the Pulps from 2001. Tim Cottrill owns a book/collectibles store called Bookery Fantasy in Ohio, hence the name.

Pulps (Michael May): So was Planet Stories all that bad? Certainly it featured plenty of space opera and sword-and-planet action. Many of the best of Leigh Brackett’s stories appeared in Planet Stories, including her classic Eric John Stark tales of Mars. In fact, she was instrumental in carrying on the vision of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars as a world of strange wonders. This in turn gave Ray Bradbury a place to grow his Martian Chronicles with stories like “The Million Year Picnic,” “Rocket Summer,” and “Mars is Heaven,” standard texts in classrooms and libraries as serious literature.

Book Review (Scifi Movie Page): When the first Assassin’s Creed game was released back in 2007 it became one of those landmark games that you purchased a game system (in this case the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360) just to play. This massive, oversized, 256 page hard cover book covers the complex history, storylines, and characters that have made Assassins Creed one of the most successful videogame franchises of all-time.

RPG (Matthew J. Constantine): Lankhmar is one of the definitive cities of the Fantasy genre.  Created as a backdrop to match leading characters Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, Fritz Leiber gave us a marvelous playground for the imagination.  Like Leiber’s stories, the city has inspired many in the tabletop RPG hobby over the years. From the City State of the Invincible Overlord to Waterdeep and beyond, it is the proto-urban setting for Fantasy games, and it’s been made and remade by various companies over the years.  The latest is Goodman Games, who’ve produced an impressive set of resources to help guide characters into the world of Nehwon and the city of Lankhmar.

Culture Wars (Kairos): You probably have a favorite movie franchise, TV show, or comic book series that hooked you as a kid. It’s a good bet that many of your fondest childhood memories are associated with that franchise. Compared to the fun, uplifting IPs of yesteryear, the new versions run the gamut from pale imitations to brazen impostors. The magic is missing, but you can’t put your finger on what happened to it. Is something wrong with the product itself, or is it just you getting older? It’s not just you.

Science fiction (M Porcius): If you type “Barry Malzberg” into the search field at the indispensable internet archive one of the things that comes up is The Mammoth Book of Erotica, edited by Maxim Jakubowski and published in 1994. There are also offerings from Anne Rice and Clive Barker, in whom I have little interest, and Robert Silverberg, Ramsey Campbell, and Samuel R. Delany, writers whose work does interest me and about which I have written several times at this little old website of mine.

Cinema (Red Planet on Film): Devil Girl From Mars (1954). I love this movie. If I had to choose a dozen movies to take to a desert island for the rest of my life, this would be one of them. Many will find this a disturbing admission. “How,” some people would wonder, “could a sane man, a competent author, say such a thing about this movie … in public even?” Those who are familiar with this film will remember that the story seems to revolve around the kidnapping of earthmen to take to Mars for breeding purposes—which nearly all the summaries of the film focus on right from the outset.

Fantasy (Sorcerers Skull): What would Middle-earth be if presented in a more pulp fantasy (not just Robert E. Howard) sort of way? You could do a really comprehensive overall, sure, where maybe only the names remain the same, but I think a few tweaks here and there would make a big difference. Just take a look at things that are already pretty pulpy: 1) a fallen age following the sinking of a “Atlantis”; (2) Orders of beings with some more advanced and others more degenerate than others; (3) a lot of ruins strewn about.

D&D (CBR.com): Dungeons & Dragons is one the oldest, most beloved traditional gaming series in history. For over forty years, gamers have taken on the roles of human barbarians, elven druids, dwarf paladins and half-orc bards — or whatever other brilliant mix of races, classes and personality traits they could conceive. It is a game perpetually limited only by the players’ and dungeon master’s imaginations. However, when Gary Gygax created the game, he didn’t come up with everything from scratch. Rather, he read the most popular books in the fantasy genre at the time — and many underrated books that have since faded into obscurity — and picked the elements of fantasy best suited to springboard off of.

Art (DMR Books): Artist Tom Gianni died on March 30, aged sixty years old, from cancer. His day job was working as the top courtroom sketch artist for several Chicago TV stations. However, what he did off the clock falls squarely in DMR Blog territory. First, though, let’s look at that courtroom job–believe me, it has relevance. This is what Tom’s own website says: “He has drawn Mafiosos, corrupt politicians and serial killers. He recently covered three high profile trials: the trial of Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, the Jennifer Hudson family murder trial, and the trial of the notorious Drew Petersen.”

Science Fiction (Free Beacon): David Drake’s books always seem to carry a blurb from the Chicago Sun-Times—a line extracted from an old review that claims Drake has a “prose as cold and hard as the metal alloy of a tank.” He “rivals Crane and Remarque” as a writer of military fiction. And there you have it: The Red Badge of Courage (1895) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1928) are joined by Drake’s tale of intergalactic mercenaries, Hammer’s Slammers (1979).

D&D (Skulls in the Stars): The Dragonlance Game (1988), by Michael S. Dobson, Scott Haring and Warren Spector.  Here’s a boardgame that was a huuuuge deal when it came out, but I was somehow unaware of until I saw a used copy come by recently! It probably wasn’t on my mind when I was a teen, as I was into RPGs, not board games. The board game is based on the hugely successful Dragonlance novels and D&D modules that started in 1984 with the released of Dragons of Despair, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

Weird Western (David J. West): I’ve got a short weird western tale in the newly released A Mighty Fortress anthology. It is a Porter Rockwell short titled, The Tears of Nephi. Its a little light on steampunk, but I put in a little – the collection as a whole has the unexpected grouping of being Mormon Steampunk tales, and was initially inspired by the incredibly awesome Dave Butler.

Sensor Sweep: Haggard Art, Paperbacks, David Drake, Lankhmar RPG published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[marcusssanderson]

Goals Quotes: 41 Inspirational Quotes on Setting Goals

Our latest collection of inspirational goals quotes that will remind you of the importance of setting goals in your life. These goal setting quotes will inspire you to achieve.

Goals can encompass all sorts of things, personally and professionally. The most important thing is that they are realistic. We need to have a plan, and that we can break them down into more sensible, small and manageable steps.

Too often, we only celebrate a finished product and not all the small successes along the way. If we allow ourselves to do that, it keeps us motivated, proud, and moving forward.

Below is our collection of inspirational, wise, and thought-provoking goals quotes, goals sayings, and goals proverbs, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

Famous Goals Quotes for Success

1.) “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.” – Jim Rohn

2.) “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” – Zig Ziglar

3.) “It’s better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than at the top of the one you don’t.” –  Stephen Kellogg

4.) “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

5.) “In all things that you do, consider the end.”- Solon

6.) “All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.” – Orison Swett Marden

7.) “Everybody has their own Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.” – Seth Godin

8.) “The greater danger for most of us isn’t that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo

9.) “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.” – J.C. Penney

10.) “Intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you.” – Andy Andrews

Goals quotes to help you pursue your dreams

11.) “Life is short, fragile and does not wait for anyone. There will NEVER be a perfect time to pursue your dreams and goals. ” – Unknown

12.) “I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply all my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.” – Og Mandino

13.) “Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”- Viktor Frankl

14.) “If you raise your standards but don’t really believe you can meet them, you’ve already sabotaged yourself. You won’t even try; you’ll be lacking the sense of certainty that allows you to tap the deepest capacity that’s within you… Our beliefs are like unquestioned commands, telling us how things are, what’s possible and impossible and what we can and cannot do. They shape every action, every thought and every feeling that we experience. As a result, changing our belief systems is central to making any real and lasting change in our lives.” – Anthony Robbins

15.) “The significance of a man is not in what he attains but in what he longs to attain.”- Kahlil Gibran

16.) “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we always win out.” – Ronald Reagan

17.) “A goal is a dream with a deadline.”- Napoleon Hill

18.) “Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving.” – Dennis Waitley (as quoted in Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog)

19.) “A man should have any number of little aims about which he should be conscious and for which he should have names, but he should have neither name for, nor consciousness concerning, the main aim of his life.”- Samuel Butler

Goal Setting Quotes About Achievement

20.) “Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.”- J. Howes

21.) “Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.”- Brian Tracy, Eat that Frog

22.) “Most “impossible” goals can be met simply by breaking them down into bite size chunks, writing them down, believing them, and then going full speed ahead as if they were routine.”- Don Lancaster

23.) “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”- Robert Browning

24.) “Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.”- William Shakespeare

25.) “Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right.”- Aldous Huxley

26.) “He who would arrive at the appointed end must follow a single road and not wander through many ways.”- Seneca

27.) “Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than before.”- Polybius

28.) “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Pablo Picasso

29.) “The virtue lies in the struggle, not in the prize.”- Richard Monckton Milnes

30.) “Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”- Seneca

Goals quotes to inspire success

31.) “Your goal should be just out of reach, but not out of sight.”- Denis Waitley and Remi Witt

32.) “I am always more interested in what I am about to do than what I have already done.”- Rachel Carson

33.) “However brilliant an action may be, it should not be accounted great when it is not the result of a great purpose.”- Francois de la Rochefoucauld

34.) “A good archer is known not by his arrows but by his aim.”- Thomas Fuller

35.) “The going is the goal.” – Horace Kallen

36.) “Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at mediocrity will be far short of it.”- Burmese Saying

37.) “To reach a port, we must sail—Sail, not tie at anchor—Sail, not drift.”- Franklin Roosevelt

38.) “It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.”- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

39.) “In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.”- Author Unknown

40.) “Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark.”- David Ogilvy

41.) “There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind has achieved the second.”- Logan Pearsall Smith

Which of these goals quotes inspired you to achieve today?

Accomplishing goals can be one of the greatest feelings we experience. To achieve a major stepping stone, or to complete a long term project, is an extremely satisfying feeling.

Most importantly, we must give ourselves credit and celebrate the small victories, as we march towards our goals. I hope these goal setting quotes reminded you of why we need to live with purpose.

Which of these goals quotes resonated with you best? Do you have any other favorite quotes to add to the list? Let us know in the comment section below.

The post Goals Quotes: 41 Inspirational Quotes on Setting Goals appeared first on Everyday Power.