#usually I'll edit it down and just save a few of the most interesting or neat sounding 30 second clips. So that later maybe I could throw

[eyivibyemi]

✧ I won’t really write descriptions for these, but see original post tags for explanation/commentary on the song snippet ✧

[andiftheycare]

AU where Suguru’s an overworked salaryman and Satoru keeps stealing his umbrellas as a bad attempt at flirting.

Or the you swan he frog meme but make it a fic

☂️ Part one here, and also on twt

☂️ Part two point one here, and on twt. Part two point two here.

Notes: I resisted posting this bit because I wanted one scene TM to be part of this update. However, this is now 2k so it's too long for a tumblr post so the scene I wanted will be in the next update (I'll try to update every Sunday moving forward!). More romancing and more umbrellas to come. If you like this and you'd like to be friends do interact!! let's be friends!! also as usual it's highly unedited etc will be edited once it's on AO3.

Tags to be aware of: AU, squint and it’s a reincarnation au (more on this soon), office AU, pals I think this will be tagged "Mature" for part 5 :D

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

“Are you looking for a date?” 

Mimiko sits in front of him, hands clasped on the table, while Nanako nods next to her, posture more lax but expression less open. Suguru is hit by the memory of his parents sitting him down and trying to convince him to attend a couple of omiai.

The picture’s so close it makes him smile. 

“We know, like, you’re not old old.” Nanako says, heavily implying Suguru’s next to pension age. “And we talked about it.”

“You… talked about it?”

They exchange a glance. Brief. Quick. Suguru knows what it means when they team up like that. They’re up to mischief. 

“We made a list of people you could date.” Nanako continued, opening her notes app but not showing her screen. “Because you can do better than that—“

“Put that on your umbrella,” Mimiko concludes, palms now open, legs uncrossed. “It’s very…”

Where Mimiko aims, Nanako shoots “Lame.”

Drop dead silence follows, while Suguru struggles, briefly, to connect the dots, until his most recent sticker comes to mind, and he thinks that idiot. Printing shit like that and having his way with Suguru’s possessions. 

“I’m not interested in dating,” Suguru explains, well knowing he’s losing so many points in the eyes of his once doting daughters “It’s to deter criminals from —“

“You know, most of my friends think you’re hot.” Nanako grits that through her teeth, disgust seething from her words. She moves a hand around her face, then “They’d steal your umbrella just to find in you the love of their life.”

“That’s… concerning.”

Mimiko nods. “We don’t want to pressure you, but we thought…”

“If you’re not, like, finding someone because…”

Another glare is exchanged. This time they slightly bow their heads, and Suguru straightens up on his chair, offers them a smile but doesn’t reach to caress their heads. They don’t like that anymore. 

“It’s not because of you.” 

The twins’ shoulders reflexively drop.

“Now, have you finished packing?”

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

The flat is eerily quiet for the rest of the weekend. Mostly, Suguru spends it catching up on some sleep, trying to ignore how tense he feels, how tired he still is after he wakes up in the afternoon to an empty stomach.

Despite the spasming requests of his body, though, he can’t seem to keep anything in, the nausea coaxing him into fasting after a few bites of anything that isn’t plain. 

Suguru doesn’t mind it. 

That’s part of his summer routine, getting asphyxiated by the city heat so much to the point his body rejects nourishment. He’ll get over it soon. 

What’s new it’s the lingering taste of rotten food he awakens to in the morning. It’s worse when he dreams, which is happening with unexpected frequency, and which leaves him in a bizarre state of nostalgia, despite Geto not remembering much of it.

So he sits on the floor of his living room on Saturday night, an untouched open beer in front of him - admittedly, a bad idea - and a couple of texts from Mimiko and Nanako, going through the basic yeah we arrived safely, grandad’s fine but grandma says he needs to get his eyes checked, connection’s terrible as usual.

Have fun, Geto types back, and saves for himself the promises he can’t keep, like, I’ll come with you next year, or I’ll make it to the summer festival next weekend.

Mimiko and Nanako spend most of their summer holidays with their grandparents in the house where Suguru grew up. It’s near where the twins were born, too, so they can visit their parents’ grave and enjoy those seasonal friendships that last less than a month, but seem to revamp with the same strength every time they are reunited. Mostly, they can have someone around rather than rot in their city flat, and enjoy some breeze and fresh watermelon and nights full of stars.

Suguru hasn’t been back in years. Not properly, anyway. The summer’s also one of his busiest times at work.

His phone lights up — 

stuck at the airport 

It’s so boring 

Send help

— and he watches the succession of texts populating his screen. 

After unlocking it, Suguru’s also met with a selfie of Gojo resting his chin on his hand, disgust written all over his face, shades resting on the top of his nose.

They canceled my flight

I can’t do anything about it

Can you, like, come and pick me up?

Gojo sends his location. He’s pinned somewhere far south. 

On what, a giant flying dragon?

Do you have one? 

Don’t be ridiculous 

Suguru takes a sip while Gojo types. The electric fan on the tatami barely moves hot air around him. There’s a memory that isn’t his in his mind, of a younger Gojo lying in front of a fan, moaning, asking Suguru to make it stop, use your weather curse or something, please, Suguru, please and Geto frowns at his fan, at the phone and the open can and then the memory is gone. The absence in the room takes roots in him. 

(“Take off your clothes. That’ll make you feel better.”

“Take them off me yourself, you coward.”)

So short fun story which isn’t neither short nor fun is I’m here for a work gig and there’s a storm

Can’t book a hotel because they’re all full 

Can’t go home because now home is terminal 5

Not thinking, Suguru calls him. If he they have to keep texting, he might as well —

“Satoru.”

“Suguru?”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

A breath. Another one. How close is his phone to his mouth? “Well, if this isn’t a fun development.”

“It’s just a phone call.”

“Suguru.”

“Uhm?”

“So are we on a first name basis now?”

Suguru hangs up. Gojo sends him a voice note that’s just him laughing, then video calls him. Suguru should probably take that as a cue to go to sleep at a normal hour, instead of entertaining the maniac on the other side of the country.

“What?” Gojo prods closer to the camera as if that could get him closer to Geto. “Are those earrings?”

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

Nothing gets stolen on Monday. There are now two evil curses protecting his umbrella, on top of the Omamori. 

Maybe that’s the answer. The blessing doesn’t have to counterbalance evil energy; it has to be outnumbered by it. Maybe his grandma would’ve had an opinion on that power imbalance, too.

Yuki, for sure, has one “Oh, are you looking for a special someone?”

She catches him as they enter the building and he’s closing the umbrella, “Or are you craving crab?”

Politely, Suguru smiles at her as they walk to the elevator “You never told me what’s your type.”

“Because that’s unprofessional to ask.”

They press the floor button on the elevator. Yuki leans on the mirror, folding her arms “Well, you know how it is. They keep denying that promotion because you don’t have a family.”

Geto likes Yuki. In the measure where you can like your manager and work well with them and respect the trajectory of their careers. And he knows she’s right, that having two children helped him immensely in progressing, that getting a partner would grant him access to better insurance, a better job, because if you have to provide for a family, then, you need more money. They’re a traditional company after all.

And Geto isn’t old. But when he’ll be in his thirties, he’ll get pushed into marriage by the higher-ups. Those are the rules. Yuki is, once again, doing the company’s bids. 

And she’s right. Geto hates her for it. 

“You aren’t married either.”

“I’m a woman,” Yuki says, the elevator going up and up “I wouldn’t be here if I was.”

Geto shakes his head. “How’s that fair?”

A grin. “Get a wife already.”

The doors open. “You sound like my dad.”

“I’ll set you up.”

“Now you sound like my mum.”

“Smart woman.”

Suguru lets the conversation go as he mostly does when Yuki’s chatter derails, before she gets back into work mode and disappears into a string of endless meetings.

And so the week begins again. Not that Geto remembers the week before, or the one before that. It’s interesting what stress does to your brain, how the repetition of an endless circle of moments stretched to be all the same can deeply mess you up. Yet Suguru’s pass the phase of worrying about the blurred lines of his job - he just does it. He knows that his actions in that building have no meaning in the real world if not enriching the rich, or pleasing some of his bosses, or fattening his bonuses. The latest he can’t complain about, really.

But he doesn’t even sleep at his house, most days, and weekends are for recovering and spending time with his daughters and skimming through the upstanding admin, so it’s hard, sometimes, to remember he’s a person.

Because that requires energy the same way that excitement and joy and anger do, and he’s saving all the bits of it he has to be a decent person when he can.

So he doesn’t date — doesn’t have the time to — and whenever he wants to fuck he can find someone. He can always find someone. Again, another thing that requires a fully functioning brain, another thing he doesn’t miss, that he doesn’t think about much. 

Unexpectedly, he looks at his umbrella, tucked next to his drawers. How silly it is, the whole thievery thing, how it annoys him in a way that’s out of proportion, because that’s what happens to your feelings when you don’t feel them — once they’re out, they’re out in a big way. How, though, there’s something tucked in his anger. There’s 

A message pops up. 

You don’t need to return the suit 

I take you’re back.

Did you miss me?

Suguru turns his phone so the screen’s facing down, a smile cracking on his face. Nanami stares suspiciously at him for the rest of the day.

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

“You’re weird.”

Suguru puffed out a cloud of white smoke. Nanami shakes his head, “I didn’t know you could smile.”

“That’s rude.”

Nanami shrugs “Didn’t know you could smile and mean it.”

“Didn’t know you cared.”

“No one should be that miserable for their job.” He says, with an unflinching expression. 

“You don’t smile much either.”

“I never feel particularly inclined to smile at you, senpai.” 

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

The neighborhood gets quiet past ten at night. When the other salary men hit the karaoke rooms and the company drinks and runs home, Yuki abandons the office with a “Go home, Suguru!” and a cigarette already between her lips, lights flickering above her head.

And with that, the office floor’s quiet, and Geto knows that at some point around that time, Gojo will be browsing the sweet section of the downstairs Konbini, mistaking sugar for nutrition.

“It keeps me awake,” he says once to him, distractedly. “The taste’s better than coffee.”

Geto disagrees, says he’s stupid, says he needs to sleep, and that’s a weird memory to have, because while that one’s real – Geto lived that conversation and stole Gojo’s last gummy from his packet – it also feels like part of multiple conversation they had in a past life.

Another thing Suguru doesn’t believe in. 

He stretches and looks at his screen’s clock, and gets some more work in. He wants that promotion without marrying, which is why he’ll spend July living in the office, clean clothes stocked up in his locker so he can stop going back home. Hopefully his shirts won’t get too crumpled. 

For a second, he thinks about Gojo’s suit hanging in his wardrobe. After all, he might need to go back to his apartment for it.

“Have you lost weight?” Gojo blinks at him from behind his shades.

Geto unwraps his plain onigiri, sitting down. The rain hits the plastic covering them in the outside sitting area of the convenience store. Gojo leans closer, face scrunching and eyes squinting “Like, why are you barely eating your —“

With a gesture that comes with ease, Suguru places the palm of his hand on Satoru’s chest and pushes him back on the chair. Suguru takes him on, from the way his forehead relaxes to the long second he spends looking at Suguru’s hand moving away, and he feels warm. He wants to know what else he’d let his hands do to him.

Suguru clears his throat. “I haven’t.” 

Gojo leans back, legs open and hands in his pockets, “You like soba, right?”

It’s his favourite dish. Suguru, however, hasn’t told him that. “Like, in general?”

Satoru nods. “There’s a restaurant ten minutes from here. If you, uhm, fancy a real meal. It’s open all night”

“Stop hitting on me.”

Satoru grins “Thought you liked it.”

“In your dreams.”

At that, Gojo falters. So unlike him. So unlike the fragments of the boy that visits his sleep. Suguru stops chewing, his stomach grumbling in displeasure. 

“What if you do like it? In my dreams, I mean.”

Throat tight, Suguru follows the movement of Gojo’s lips, drops of rain hitting the asphalt, Gojo’s brief silence rendered inaudible. “Do you dream of me often?”

There’s something unsaid, because Suguru dreams of him every night. When he closes his eyes, he sees blue ones smiling at him and feels sand under his toes. He doesn’t know how it makes him feel, having all that knowledge about a version of Gojo Satoru who doesn’t exist. 

“What if,” Satoru breathes, a sly grin thinning his lips “What if you were younger in my dreams?”

“How much younger?”

“Seventeen.”

Suguru halts. Gojo hides behind his glasses, which are square and not round today. “That’s young.”

“You have shorter hair, too.”

“Weirdly specific.”

The grin smothens into a smile. “And bigger earrings.”

The onigiri lies abandoned on a piece of paper. The air is muddy and warm, and Suguru’s shirt sticks to him like a second skin. Instinctively, he touches his naked lobes. Earrings are not part of his company’s dress code. "Interesting."

“But,” Satoru says, looking up to the rain, “I don’t get to see much of you as you are now, in those dreams.”

“What?”

“It’s weird, isn’t it? Like I don’t know what you looked like in high school. I bet you had acne.”

“I never had acne.”

“Liar.”

Suguru breaths in. “What’s your point?”

“Why don’t I dream of you?” Satoru relents, as if annoyed. “Why do I dream of this teenager I don’t know?”

Suguru’s mouth grows dry, at that, heartbeat jumping in his ears. He’s dizzy. “Soba, uhm?”

Satoru’s knees jerk up. “What does it have to do with –”

“I think I might want to grab some. If you want to...”

Gojo’s on his feet before Geto can finish his sentence, mood shifted into something bright, and for now, Geto doesn’t need his dreams to tell him how to feel about this aggravating man.

[metalmewtwo-kxb]

Pokemon story/art/ask-blog for Benta the Mewtwo

Set in an apocalyptic future where most humans have disappeared and only pokemon remain. And the world is not as it had once been.

Benta, a pokemon who has existed for a long time now, has wandered the crumbling cities and empty roads looking for others who might share his ideals of rebuilding what is left of the world. Perhaps even track down the humans, if there are any left. However, the pokemon all seem to be at odds, more focused on hoarding land and food for survival. Many more are feral and vicious.

As others may find out, he is no ordinary mewtwo, and he might very well be the only one of his kind in a world full of ghosts. But is he the only wanderer? Or are there others?

And is it possible to save this future?

⚠️ Under Construction ⚠️

⚠️ Comic Pages 9-12 In Progress ⚠️

⛔️ NO NSFW ⛔️

General Itinerary (in no particular order) :

🧩 rp reply (if/when I have any)

- Thinking I'm gonna limit myself to one a day with these (or as often as I can manage) since I'm a very tired goose with limited internal motivation lol. I love role-playing! It just takes some thinking and energy. If I ever have more than one thread at a time, I'll make a weekly schedule 📅

✏️🖍 asks and/or art responses

- the art side of these can take anywhere from a day to a few days, depending on what I do exactly style/complexity-wise. Obviously can't do art replies all the time, but sometimes I could get inspired to do something other than text replies! 💕

🎨 comic art

- For the main story! The style for this is different and more uniform than what I'll be using for asks, so it definitely takes longer. I don't typically post until I'm done with a illustration/page set, so it can take a long heckin time. If one part one is 8 pages, I'd say it would clock in at two or three months before it's posted (as long as I'm not sick or somethn). I'm okay with posting peridoic snippet updates from my favorite panels though!

Temp. Edit: I've lowered the number of pages in each part to 4 since I need an easier goal to reach at a time. There's still 24 total! I just need simpler intervals. :T 🖼

Beyond this I have work and need me time, but always thank you, and I appreciate the interest! Benta is one of my comfort OCs so I'm treating this blog about the same. I want it to be a fun and cozy space while I build the apocalypse story lol.

#️⃣ tags

This is a list of tags to search on my blog for my art and writing (which will update as they come up):

- ;mun - my general babble, updates, and so on

- ;poké art - all posts involving pokemon sketches and drawings

- ;pokedex - posts pertaining to the story's pokemon and their lore. These pokemon are usually "new" species, not those that are already well known. However, sometimes special pokemon characters will make an appearance

- ;rp - written replies to roleplays. Kind of recommended since some lore will likely only appear in these, and they can be a fun read for those that like to do so (the rp partner's name will also be included in the post's tags) 👍

- ;response - ask responses! Chances are they contain art and scribbles. And maybe not, depends on how I feel

- Benta - self-explanatory, posts containing content of my mewtwo OC Benta (this does/should include roleplay threads and asks, so it's more generalized and not very concise)

- ;UntilTheEnd - the comic and main story for Benta and other characters that we'll meet along the way! (Set in an alternate universe, so don't expect very much anime/game continuity lol)

- ;drabbles and chapters - more written content that can either have something to do with an established AU or with context of the main story. Typically smaller snippets, but potentially a longer chapter set. I'm a faster writer than a drawer, but I enjoy both- so this is just another means of keeping up fun content 🫶

💬 About the mun:

Age: 29

Pronouns: she/her/they/them

Occupation: A menace to modern society :V *cough* artist/writer/author *cough*

Hobby: Literally just bothering my sister and siblings like a sneaky little gremlin.

Pokémun-sona: Zoromun. Info post -> here

More is tba!

Thank you for the visit, and have a wonderful day!

(main -> @ draconic-hydra )

[johndhu]

Moar Judy X V Thoughts,*spoilers!* Some Due to be in fics (some nsfw under the cut)

V's Nicknames for Judy: Babe, Jude, Judes, Judy Booty (after her infamous drunk text).

Judy's Nicknames for V: Babe, Mi Calabacita, Loca, Val (only when they're alone and even then usually only whispered in her ear)

Judy likes to flop down in V's lap. Typically leads to fingers buried in hair, getting lost in each other's eyes, quiet afternoon dozing.

V donated most of her car collection to the Aldecaldos, but she kept her original ride, Jackie's Arch and used a good chunk of her savings to buy a tractor trailer. With some work by Claire (Who decided to join the family) it's become Judy and V's combined home/garage/armory/bd editing studio.

After they stop V's ticking clock with the help of Panam's expert, V still suffers from occasional migraines. Judy's always there with a blanket, water and blackout curtains for the trailer.

Judy tends to hum to herself, especially when she's in a good mood. She doesn't realize she's doing it until V says the song and artist.

V proposes during a diving trip. She sneaks out early and hides the ring in an interesting spot. Later on when they're both under together she points out the box like "Hey, what's that?" it says "Forever?" under the lid. When Judy turns back to look at V she's awkwardly trying to float on one knee. "Umf! Fuck! Probably shoulda practiced this part." Judy swims over and hugs her tight. "Goddamnit V! You just had to go and make me cry inside this helmet!" "So...?" "Yes! Yes you stupid gonk!"

They both got small Aldecaldos tattoos when they joined the family. When they got married they also had a small line tattooed on their hands half and half so that when they hold hands it spells out "'Till the toll of the bell, then I'll meet you, in heaven or in hell."

For their first anniversary, Judy gives V a shard with the BD of their first date, bad stuff like the relic malfunction edited out. V gives Judy the old poleroid camera they found during the dive, lovingly restored in secret.

Most of the time they make love rather than fuck, but it depends on the evening.

V's a big time service dom. She loves the soft longing in Judy's eyes when she's tied up and V is teasing her. She likes to relax and let judy take the wheel sometimes though.

Judy is a switch. She's either a playful Dom, a brat or the sweetest pillow princess depending on the mood.

Judy's friends in the Mox and her time spent editing has taught her a few pole tricks. She surprises V with a dance on her birthday.

[audreycritter]

Hi! I am a long-time fan, and I have been thoroughly enjoying “and I know you’re thinking of me.” I wanted to ask about your writing and editing process. Your writing is so beautiful—do you just sit down and pop out these gorgeous chapters?

first off, thank you so much!! 💜

my writing process is that i usually have to mull and think about potential interactions for a bit before i can write. it's really hard for me to write if i don't have some bit that hooked me -- it can be a line, a dialogue exchange, some physical motion. it's really hard for me to write through something if i don't have a detail or two that i'm trying to capture.

editing is minimal, usually. i might write an entire scene or most of one, decide it doesn't work or it's going the wrong direction, and then scrap it. (i have a fear of losing work so i saved all my scrapped scenes in another doc 😂). but that doesn't happen that often for me-- usually, if i finish a chapter, it gets minimal edits for clarity. those are usually based on beta feedback or my own read-through, because every time i go into my document i reread the immediate previous scene before i start writing and fix anything that feels off or unclear.

my writing is usually very driven by emotional arcs (i don't think that's a surprise), so a lot of my thinking through the story before i write is teasing out what threads to follow and deciding which interactions best serve those. i have a few friends i'll ask for help deciding potential directions if i'm stuck, but even then, i feel like a lot of my writing isn't driven by "make up the next thing to happen" but "figure out the next natural step for the arc that's most interesting."

usually in my life, i'm Writing or i'm not writing much at all. i don't get a lot of satisfaction from sitting and making myself do a few sentences at a time when it's boring or frustrating, so i simply Do Not. if i do have a scene I want to get down, it might be a bit of work to find that groove (bc of tiredness or being busy or distracted), but it's often pretty self-compelling and i'll write 2-4k at a time.

thank you also for asking!

[ravenwolfie97]

okay i have to talk about this because it's been really bothering me lately and i need to say something before i explode

so lately i've been noticing on many videos, shortform or otherwise, that they include subtitles! awesome! super helpful and cool

but idk if it's always been a problem and i'm only noticing it now, or if it's gotten particularly bad lately, but... recently a lot of those subtitles are really really bad

slight tangential anecdote: i used to do some freelance captioning work in between real job hunting, and it was a good experience. i was already interested in doing it, obviously, but i was coached on proper captioning etiquette and guidelines to make it look as nice and readable as possible while also transcribing the audio as best as i could before my superiors would touch it up. so i do know a thing or two about proper subtitling, but even if you didn't you would Know that there are some serious problems right now

i'll give a few non-specific examples (bc i'm too lazy to hunt them down to show you). there is a pretty popular (i think) youtube shorts personality who mostly does reaction-based videos, like i think it's actually mostly tiktok stitches reuploaded to yt shorts. but anyway this person, along with most other tiktok people who have subtitles for their lil internet rambles, are probably only basing off of their voice, like there's some kind of auto-caption that gets most of the words right, save for a couple small ones. i can understand that especially for the reaction/vlog crowd who are just trying to pump out videos, but like. i also follow john and hank green. they also reupload their tiktok stitches to yt shorts and have subtitles. and guess what? they're flawless. immaculate. you Can change them. or maybe they just talk better idk my point still stands that there is issue here stemming from having the computer do it with minimal to no touch-up. which leads me to my next example

one of the first nails in the coffin recently was this one pokemon youtube shorts guy i kept getting where he'd look into old game saves. all of the videos are subtitled, but similar to the tiktoks, it appears to be transcribing the voice on its own. what's worse and the most important here is that - remember - this is a series of pokemon videos. saying a pokemon name and expecting an AI to understand what that is out the gate is insane. and it doesn't. any time a pokemon's name is said, it just spews out words that are vaguely similar-sounding standard english words. and it's never the same each time too, which is fun. this is where taking the time to edit or even give a smidge of a damn to the craft of your video really would mean a lot, because for as many as i've seen it turns me even more off every time i see those shitty subtitles. but unfortunately that's not the worst i've seen in the last few days

the one that hurt me so much i physically could not stand it, to the point that i left a Comment on how bad it was, was an edit of a streamer's twitch VOD. normally, this streamer uploads snippets of their streams to yt shorts and has really good and well-edited captions there! i usually have nothing to complain about from this guy. but this one particular video... i don't know if it's because it's an older VOD and someone's just been holding on to it for months, or if it was a huge rush job, or What. but this video had literally the worst captions i had ever seen. they were just slapped down in chunks, not even lining up with the people who were talking, a negligible amount of punctuation, literally the barest minimum of effort. but that's not all! let's not forget that this is an edited clipshow, and there are Effects and Transitions for not only the video itself but the text as well! so SOME amount of effort was put into this because it got actually edited into a decent-sized video instead of just being a small clip. it's literally makes me sick i am so unhappy about it

main point, TL;DR, moral of the story: for the love of all that is holy, please remember that captioning is literally an accessibility feature. some people cannot hear or are unable to listen to videos sometimes, and i can't imagine what a hearing-impaired person who relies on subtitles to engage with videos would think watching either of my last two examples. what makes it worse, too, is that i can't even tell these people to hire someone to do it for them, because oftentimes they DO have people to do that work for them. and they still fuck it up. and then they continue on, to churn out more content. ugh just take a moment to remember that captions are not just for engagement. they're a tool, and some people can use only those as their guide through your video. don't make it impossible to parse. the purpose of them is to be read and understood. and you can't do that if the sentences are in overlapping chunks or if your words are too non-standard to be translated by a computer

[freebooter4ever]

Are the lines on your drawings stylistic choices or are they measurement/guiding lines? Either way, they are cool, but just wondered. I dont understand drawing at all, might as well be a magic spell to me. I was looking at the pencil (?) sketch of Malkin with the cheesecutter hat on.

i, uh, definitely did not google 'cheesecutter hat' until after i saved out these images. :/ sorry about that. if you'd like the other one broken down, i can do that too lol. my reading comprehension when im tired is kinda lazy i just saw 'cheese' and imediately thought 'omelette'. SO here's the 1) initial sketch, 2) 'clean' sketch, and 3) final lines for the omelette boy drawing instead:

also i have had a cumulative of about 9 ish hrs of sleep total for the past two days so keep that in mind for if this explanation makes no sense, its not my fault. :( anyway! the way i draw definitely has changed over the years but currently im really trying to focus on the line i "see" rather than the one that is actually "there". i've been applying this to my writing for years (story vs happening truth) and you know it never occurred to me that i could do it in my drawings too till like...a few years ago. in general these lines seem to form the planes of the subject. if you google 'stanford bunny' you can find an easy example of a 3D surface turned into triangles. I do this too - see things in relative triangle proportions, except i've been doing it long before i knew how computers worked. i cant begin to tell you how long d*sney and cartooning's obsession with round building blocks of anatomical structure fucked with my brain until i finally decided i could cast that teaching aside completely.

ANYWAY sorry off subject again. so we have these sketchy under lines, and usually as im trying to find the proportions and form of the subject these lines end up being where the light/shadow hits. here i saved out the 1) 'flat colors', 2) the 'light', and 3) the 'shadow' parts on their own (i lightened the background for the 'shadow' so its easier to see):

the light is like four or five 'overlay' layers of pale yellow/orange. you can see how each of these layers follow one of those sketchy lines i did initially. and the same with the shadow but instead its a dark red color set to 'multiply' for each layer. and when you combine everything together you get:

some bullshit :). anyway you know that anniversary edition of beauty and the beast that featured the version previewed to nyc audiences in 1990 with the glen ke*ne sketchy keyframe animation of the beast's transformation? i watched that - must have been sometime after i graduated college - and i felt robbed that THAT version was never presented as a final piece. the 'unclean' drawings had so much more life and movement and intensity to them. tldr i like the messy lines, i hate 'inking' with a passion (HATE. IT.), and when i finally allowed myself to stop giving a fuck drawing became way more interesting. but my art is shit and i will never be glen k*ane so i dont really feel like the best advocate for this "style". alas. there was this one artist on tumblr who i fucking loved whose sketches were SPECTACULAR but the asshole racists in the m*c*ha*nz*o fandom bullied her off tumblr and ive never been able to find her art anywhere else since. she was also very negative about her 'unclean' sketches and it made me so sad. there was also this other artist whose sketches were awe inspiring but all she drew was p*rn and well...we all know what happened on tumblr in december 2018.

also i 100% stole the lighting scheme from The Bear which is currently one of the most gorgeous shows on television right now in my opinion

im really really sorry if this makes no sense, if im feeling motivated maybe i'll try again when my brain is fully functioning but with the actual 'cheesecutter hat' doodle ^_^

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Books Into Movies: The Sea Wolf (1941)

First things first ... let me start by saying that this has been one of the hardest posts I've created so far in terms of narrowing down which pictures / videos to use for a Tumblr post. This is a movie that was adapted from a book. One of the main characters is a writer. One of the characters reads a lot of books and finds inspiration in books. Characters discuss books, and there are still shots and loooooong panning shots of books.

In conclusion, there are lots of colorful characters, and lots and LOTS of books.

So, that's why I'm going to be outsourcing a little more than usual, because there was SO MUCH about this movie that I wanted to share, and not enough space to share it!

Okay, so I'll start with a quick overview: This movie was one of many adaptations of this classic story by Jack London, but it's also considered one of the best. It stars Edward G. Robinson as "Wolf" Larsen, the captain of the Ghost, a ship with a very bad reputation. His memorable entrance reveals just how cruel of a man he can be.

Joining Captain Larsen on the ship (some more willingly than others), are Ida Lupino as Ruth Brewster, John Garfield as George Leach, and Alexander Knox as Humphrey Van Weyden. Oh, and I'll give special mention to Barry Fitzgerald as Cooky, the character I most wanted to suffer a terrible demise as quickly as possible.

Humphrey and Ruth wind up on the ship after their boat has an accident and the Ghost's crew rescues them. George joins the crew of the Ghost because he has no other options. Ruth and George are both running from the law, which makes them especially vulnerable.

Everyone has their own reasons for despair, but one thing is for sure: Being on the Ghost is bad luck for everyone.

When Humphrey goes into the captain's quarters, he discovers to his surprise that this cruel brute of a man has quite a library in his cabin. This is important because it creates an uneasy relationship between the captain who loves books, and Humphrey the author who has started writing about his own experiences on the Ghost.

One of the captain's books is a fancy edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, illustrated by Gustav Dore (if you're interested in buying one of these today, you'll discover that they cost A LOT!!!):

And this book has some passages underlined that seem to mean a lot to the captain (these lines will later be yelled back and forth between Humphrey and the captain during their arguments):

Meanwhile, Ruth and George are forming a bond of their own. They both have a criminal history, they're both desperate to escape the Ghost, and most importantly, since a transfusion of his blood saved her life ... could you get any closer than that?

Oh, and because I'm entertained by old Hollywood optics, I would like to point out that while both of them are SUPER-DUPER ATTRACTIVE, George is sweaty but Ruth is not. Because, you know ... ladies don't sweat???

And now, here comes another of my favorite sloooooow panning shots! The crew had enough of the captain ruling over them with an iron fist, so they had a mutiny, which FAILED. This shot shows everyone on board waiting to see what the consequences will be:

Time passes, and things get worse. There are only a few people left on the now-sinking ship. The captain is still consumed with Humphrey's book, and how he will be portrayed in it:

In the end, we're left with our two young lovers on a lifeboat, who just discovered that there was an island on the other side of that fog bank. Thank goodness they're saved!

And thank goodness for foundation, or powder, or whatever Ruth is using to keep looking so lovely:

If you would like to watch the 1941 film version of The Sea Wolf, you can check out the DVD from the New York Public Library, you can rent or buy it online, or you can watch it the next time it airs on TCM!

If you'd like to take a deeper dive into The Sea Wolf, you can also read the original Jack London story and learn about the differences between the book and movie versions!

ETA: Of course, I should probably mention that the trailer for this movie BEGINS AT THE LIBRARY!!!

[comicaurora]

whats your edit/revision process like?

Writing-wise? It's pretty loose. When I initially storyboard I usually prioritize getting down the dialogue with only basic sketches to fill out most of the accompanying visuals. Then during the lining and coloring phases I hide the dialogue layers so they don't obscure the art, and when I finalize the visuals and re-show the dialogue layers I move 'em around to get them to fit where I want on the page. This stage is also when I tweak the dialogue if it doesn't feel right. Changes are usually pretty minimal - the spirit of the dialogue doesn't shift, but the specific phrasing might be adjusted, or I might drop a sentence or two that feels over-explain-y or is obscuring art I like.

Honestly, most of the dialogue editing happens during the storyboarding phase, long before I ever touch the final visuals. A simple rephrase won't veer the story in a different direction and can sometimes make it clearer what the character is thinking and feeling in the moment, but if I change what a character is thinking it'll change how they'll react to upcoming events. Last night I spent a full worknight building out one storyboarded scene, and most of that I spent tweaking one dialogue box in one panel, because I knew a character was feeling a specific emotion but I had to decide what flavor of that emotion to use for their dialogue. Apologetic, accusatory, flatly hopeless - all of them implied a different direction they'd move in in the next few pages. In fact, the one I chose ended up leading into a tonally very different resolution for the scene than the one I'd been originally considering. If I'd saved that for the edit I probably would've needed to redraw a full page and a half.

I almost feel like I do the whole process kind of backwards. Long before I put anything on the page I've already hashed out and reworked the bulk of the scene until it's got everyone where I want them and I know where they're starting and where they're ending up.

When I'm building out more storyboards I'll usually go back several pages and reread what I've already gotten so far, both to look for any parts that feel like they need reworking and to sort of prime my brain with the question "alrighty, what happens next?" I do this pretty loosely and I don't know how well it'd work for everyone, but I get a lot of mileage out of just sort of unfocusing and wondering what I expect to see in the next panel or on the next page - a character enters, but do they deliver a line, make an important facial expression, wordlessly take action or collapse? A conversation is heating up - do they reach a conclusion, do we cut away or does a monster attack interrupt them? The scene is wrapping up - do we pan up to the sky, match cut to a new environment or follow one of the characters? Any option can work, so I go with the one that feels most interesting or that sets up the most stuff for me to work with later. Rereading also helps me check for dangling plot threads I expect to see resolved so I can weave them back in to wrap them up.

Basically I do everything in my power to avoid having to redraw more than one or two panels at a time, but I also literally never write scripts to work off of before I start storyboarding. which means the vast majority of editing and revisions happens in the pre-art storyboarding phase.

[isimp4hawkz]

The Thief

(Hawks x Fem OC)

this is an old fic of mine, back when i first got into hawks (what have i become?) i never published it. please bear with my undeveloped writing :} and on behalf of my pre-obsessed self, i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i did writing it.

-Edited slightly-

-Not 100% canon-

-Some aspects may seem far fetched-

Words: 2k

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Hawks’ POV

Recently, I've been cycling through a continuous loop of circumstances whereas every time that I'm about a millisecond away from saving someone in danger- the same, new, and hot pro hero swoops in right on the knick of time and steals my shot.

A spontaneous looker of a woman who went by the hero name Tundra. I hadn't ever heard of her before the little debut she had as of last week, as goes with most rookies. But this one was quick to gain her prominence in this city.

Do I honestly care all that much? Not really.

I think it's cool when a brand new hero who's fresh out of their side-kicking days steps up and climbs through the ranks, earning themselves a little popularity with the citizens as they answer their calls for help.

And to be frank, I've been taking it easy these days. More than I usually would. Out on the beaches during the day, and partying all throughout the night. Free time was scarce for me. I definitely won't put off having a good time while I still can.

Sure, if someone happens to be in danger on the way to the club, or down on the twisting roads that lead down to the shore, I swoop in and save the day.

The locals around here had basically memorized my name from years of service, but I was afraid that my name had become a blur in the mixture of countless other hero's.

Hell, maybe I'm just being dramatic. It's not like they could actually forget me of course. I'm the number 2 hero in all of Japan, how could you forget me?

You'd think that taking a short hiatus would gain me some sort of up in demand from the fans, but it was the exact opposite of that. I had fallen down to 4th in the approval ratings, instead of remaining proud in my little silver throne.

All because of her...and my own laziness.

And then, I decided that that was enough fun...to some extent...for now at least. It was time to head back into the city, and reclaim my throne—or, at least try to.

I settled onto the roof of my favorite building, it was the tallest one around here. If I wanted to catch a crime in progress, here would be the optimal place to start, where I had an eagle eye view of the city.

It’s funny, being up on this tower reminds me all too much of when I first met the vixen for myself.

An interesting encounter it was.

This is how it went;

I grunted when my wings had suddenly twitched with premonition midair. It was a natural reaction that occurred when something was about to happen, usually abruptly without much warning, a small shiver that pulsated through every single one of my feathers in the blink of an eye.

Instantaneously, two flashes of white sped past me in a blur of haste, followed by a gust of wind that physically made me wobble in my flight.

Ahead of me now flew someone. With a pair of wings as white as snow itself, feathers littered with black markings.

"Woah-" I uttered as I regained my balance, blinking in shock.

They were soon just a barely vivible spec in the distance.

'Huh...Well that's new. Can't remember the last time I saw another winged person besides...'

That person's name was long since lost in my memories. Last I heard, they'd transferred to another hero agency in distant city.

I'd only shrugged it off.

It was best to just continue my leisurely flight. I was in no rush, after all. I've waited this long to get back into the game, what's a few spare minutes of taking my time got on me?

The office building stood tall, barely piercing the sky. It's thin structure made it look like just the faintest breeze could make it topple.

A draft of wind blew viciously against me. It was much cooler up here, the air was naturally a bit thinner. Not that I wasn't used to it, but it had been well over a week since I'd gone here.

I exhaled peacefully as I took my perch on one of the building's edges, gazing down at the city. The sun was beginning to dip into the horizon, lighting the land with tranquil variants of orange and pink. People looked like mere ants from up here, scurrying aside toy vehicles.

The sunsets always looked so nice from here.

Most would see this as a time to be at home and prepare themselves for bed. But for a villain, it was happy hour. A time for iniquity to prosper in the shadows.

'Now then, let's see if we can find any-'

"Hey there." A voice had spoke from behind me, causing my feathers to stand on edge and bolt me into the air on instinct with one strong flap. I immediately whirled around, dumbfounded.

A woman stood before me. The pearly white pair of wings sprouting elegantly from her back and dotted with black markings taking me back to moments ago. They fluttered subtly as she studied me.

'That's strange...why didn't I sense her?'

She sported an inviting smile on her face, yet I could tell by the look in her eye that she was unsure of what to think of me. "Sorry for startling you. Come up here to wait for the stars?" She asks as she looks thoughtfully into the distant sky.

Her eyes shone a sharp grey that caught the sinking glow of the sun. The costume she wore wasn't exactly loose against her skin, ivory feathers imprinted into the fabric around her waist. Curves hugged in all the right places. Rather stunning.

'A hero?'

I must've been staring in a daze for too long, because she'd cleared her throat, shifting her weight from one leg to another in a little rocking motion.

I honestly didn't know what to think of her myself. I've never seen her before.

Mild curiosity somehow got the better of me in seconds. I'd've liked to get a bit of information off of her for my own self pleasure. A little flirtatious prodding would do the trick just fine.

"Now why would I waste my time lookin' up there when there's a much better view down here?"

She sucked in her cheek, never breaking eye contact with me as descended back down onto the platform so we were at the same level, hands dug deep in my pockets. Slapping on one of my signature lazy smirks, I continued, "So tell me, what's a beauty like yourself doin' all the way up here on this fine evening?"

My feathers had suddenly puffed up. It had startled me, but I managed to play it off with a small stretch.

That only happened whenever I wanted to give off a sense of superiority towards another individual, among other things.

She eyed my new display curiously. "Y'know, I could ask you the same—In fact I already did, actually—minus the little pick up line of course." She avoided the question, responding with a little quick-witted remark. It was hard to tell if she was hiding something, or if she's just being cautious.

"Well if you'd really like to know, I'm on duty. This is where I come to sort of survey everything."

She nodded, agreeing that that was a reasonable answer, and when I asked her about her own intentions, she responded with, "Oh, similar reasons. You're looking at a newbie trying to find her way in a foreign country, all while taking steps towards her dream of making something of herself.”

"New here huh? Excuse my manners, or lack of. Allow me to introduce myself. Wing Hero: Hawks." I gave her a curt bow, "Last time I checked, I'm still in the top 10 heroes in the country."

She gives me a strange look after taking my words into consideration. "Hawks..." The way my name rolled off her tongue as she sounded it aloud for herself made me swallow a lump. "In the top 10 you say? Never heard of ya—Granted, I've never really heard of anyone around these parts." She looked over into the horizon, rubbing her bicep. She seemed deliberately captivated by the colors settling onto the land.

'So she claims to be new to the country...'

I wouldn't doubt it too much. The honey color etched across her skin would definitely make others think twice about where she's from. There's also a small accent lingering at the back of her tone, I find it sexy.

Still, I'm rather curious about her, so I'll say something a bit more patronizing as an experiment, testing the waters or whatever. I bring my arms behind my head, looking over at the sunset. "Don't feel bad about being in the blind side. A newbie wouldn't know much about me in the first place unless they're some kind of huge fan, or even a stalker."

Then the look that burgeoned in her eye enthralled me. A corrosive flare. It spoke clear words. 'I don't like when people assume things about me.'

I almost bit my lip. 'That's hot.'

She sighed out nasally. "I can assure you, I'm neither one of those. Owl hero: Tundra." She barely spat that out as she crossed her arms, unintentionally making her breasts bulge in their bindings. "I've been on official duty in this city for over 72 hours now." She looked aside.

'Well that explains the wings.' Wouldn't a quirk like that be manifested from up North? But her skin and accent...She's a living cocktail.

And so I pressed on, chuckling. "I knew it. That cluelessness is bound to stem from lack of experience."

She raised an eyebrow as she met my eyes again. "Excuse me?"

The calmness in her voice was almost unsettling. It threw me for a loop. I genuinely can't think of any other female I've meet who could keep such a level-headed reaction up while being involuntarily insulted.

Those reactions were coaxing me to push her buttons. 'Let's see how far you'd go to remain in complete, professional control...'

"Don't take it personally, pigeon, it's just a fact." I was mostly betting on the bold assumption that she wouldn't take that nickname too kindly, and boy was I right.

"Pigeon?-" Her eyes flared along with a trembling fluff of her feathers. From the back of her throat came a short, rumbling sound resembling a hoot. Telling me I was crossing boundaries in a coherent avian language. Her pupils constricted, staring daggers straight through me.

'Hm. Definitely got bird of prey in her. Or maybe that's just her.'

I cooed mockingly in response, my wings unfurling widely to fan at her. Come at me.

The tension in the air weighed a ton as we stared each other down like natural enemies for a few lengthy seconds.

She seemed to have taken that as a challenge, but to my disappointment, she was quick to recompose herself, allowing her once erect feathers to relax against her back with a curt roll of her shoulders. Her eyes dilated back, though still a bit on the small side as she looked at me. I could feel it in every barb of my feathers, she was ready to tackle me a few moments ago.

It was sad to say that I found myself mildly disappointed. Mildly because to put it short, that reaction would've had my tail wagging if I were a dog. Well worth the effort it took to bring it to light.

She huffed out a breath. "You know what? I should probably be on my way. I'm wasting my time here. Good evening, Hawk man."

And with that, she calmly whirled around, unintentionally flashing me a great view of her juicy thighs and ass as she stormed off to the edge of the building, not forgetting to dramatically spread her wings.

Every step she took made those thighs shake. Holy fuck.

I had to will myself to not stop her. This urging curiosity to know more about this woman was certainly bubbling in its wake. Can't be the last time I'll see her. I don't think I'd allow it, actually.

She didn't look back as she jumped off the edge of the building, swooping down into the depths of the city.

I sighed, eyes promptly returning to study the calmness below. 'She's got a bit of a fire to her, doesn't she?'

"I'll stick a bit of a fire up your ass." A faint slur of mumbles drifted through the wind, making me blink confusedly as it reached my ears.

When I turned to look, there was no one.

[lunawolflight]

Spies In Disguise, "alternative course of the story" (FANCREATIONS)

Hello there!

So I'm still fangirling over Spies in Disguise, I knew I was going to really like the movie but not LOVING it so much! In fact I saw it a second time just two days ago eheh x3

I don't usually do this, but I wanted to share with you a little "alternative course of the story". There will be SPOILERS of course, you've been warned, if you want to read GO SEE THAT MOVIE! (If you want eheh, believe me it's really good)

Okay so, my favorite part was the Venice's part, all of it, but more specifically the part where Killian kick Walter out of the moped and when he's about to kill him. Now, my "alternative course of the story" is from start from this point:

Walter spear bread's crumbs to Killian and all the pigeons "attack" him, but instead of run away, Walter, took by the adrenaline and a courage that has grown for had being with Lance, he put first the track on Killian and then steals the database from him.

Little discussion from Walter's choice: this bravery has been earned thanks to the admiration he had towards Lance and, the more time he passed with him (other then prove his inventions) he starts to have a little more confidence in himself and, in the "birdnado" scene, he took by this courage that has grown inside him and face directly the bad guy, stealing the Agents' Database (before taking it I imagine that Walter at first is scared but then he takes conscience of the situation and face Killian).

After he runs away with Lance and the rest of the flock, Killian now directly concentrate his attention towards Walter and from then on he became a target like Lance (also he remember that the kid called Lance's name so he suppose that the two are a team or work together). Then there's the scene that's like the movie where Killian flees away from Marcy and the other agents.

In the submarine, Walter is totally excited for had take from the bad guy the database and he's really proud of that while Lance, like in the actual movie, rethinks about the huge risk Walter had take, also because (I haven't specified it before so I do it now), Killian injured Walter while the kid was stealing the database (I imagine it could me the arm or the shoulder).

It's not a bad wound, Walter bandages himself quickly, still it's not so superficial and even if Walter is more concentrate on his victory, Lance starts realizing how much he's putting Walter's life in danger (like in the movie). Anyway, the scene goes on like in the movie, Lance doesn't tell his feeling to Walter, he compliments to him, the two hugs (ASSGDBDHEB LOVE THEM), Lance lays an egg and there Walter realize the formula to bring Lance back to normal.

Now that we arrived at this point, Walter propose to bring the database to Marcy and prove Lance's innocence to the agency and so stop all together Killian.

Lance immediately refuses because that's the first thing Killian would have expect and they can't let expose theirselves or, imaginary conversation:

"Dude, that's the first thing robot hand would expect us to do and so you-!

*clear his throat*

We and the rest of the agency will be in danger."

So after some more thoughts and ideas, the two decides to hide the database in a place safely far from Killian's location and Walter propose to add a protection to the files but Lance refuses, without explaining the reasons. The two hide the database, go to the island to stop Killian and here there's the same argument between Lance and Walter, in this case Lance points out also the wound that the kid earned and that he wasn't to be an agent, Walter refuses but Lance tranquilized him and send him away to protect him.

Same dynamic from then on; Lance goes to Killian to destroy the machines but eventually he reveals to have more of them and hits the spy unconscious.

Once he woke up there's the revelation part and then Killian wants to know where the files are, Lance of course doesn't talk but then Killian mention Walter and then Lance freeze.

Now I'm getting a little be into my own "story's style", but anyway, Killian pressure Lance talking about why he would had had a to do the "dirty job" for him (since he of course doesn't know he was a pigeon) since he "flies solo" and such, imagine an evil and chilling speech from him eheh x3

Now here, I can't decide between two choices, and one of these it's because I'm falling too much into my own "angst style" and it would totally turn into one of my story eheh xD

Well anyway, this certain first choice, is that Killian reveals to Lance to had capture Walter with one of his drones ('cause he had placed lookout drones and thus tracing the boy) and, from both of them, wants to know where the database is and since his revenge is towards Starling and wants to see him suffer (also he thinks that the kid would have break out first), he decide to tortures Walter and after a bit of pressure, the kid doesn't talk but after awhile Lance breaks down and reveals the position of the database.

Seeing how Lance revealed the care for Walter, Killian keeps him as a guarantee and goes to get the database and eventually kill him in front of Lance, but Walter is able to escape before they get back to Lance and like in the movie Killian tries to kill him with the drones but Walter saves himself.

From now on the things progresses is like in the movie with a bit more confront in the scene where Walter frees Lance.

The second choice it's like in the movie with a little changed dynamics: Walter is about to get back for Lance and Killian treats to kill him if Lance doesn't talk, after a lot of pressure Lance talks but Killian doesn't eventually keep his word, sends the drones to kill Walter, he's alive and the movie goes on.

So yeah I let my imagination slip on the writing again, in my mind things gets a lot more interesting and I'm not too good to put them on a proper writing eheh. One thing I'm not really convinced on is how Lance reveals the database to save Walter, I think that in the contest of the movie Lance would have find another way to not sacrifice the agents, his character reveals to me that he would have do anything to not sacrifice anyone, but I think that for Walter he would have done it, adding more deepness to their relationship, even though Walter wouldn't have agree on that since, like he shows in the end, he would totally sacrifice himself to save the others. Gosh if the movie would have follow my own idea it would at least be a two hours or more movie xD

Maybe I some things that I exposed may have other solutions or maybe don't even make sense, but after all the movie came out just few days ago and this "alternative continuation of the story" came up in my mind two days ago indeed eheh.

Well I've write another poem spending pretty much two or more hours for it and I enjoyed doing it, hope to not have done too many grammar errors I need to fix my english better eheh x,3

Oh good that's all I had to say, I'll probably make some fanarts since I'm really into the movie, GOSHHHHH

*I didn't choose these picture because I love these scenes and the fact that I just exposed such an an angsty concept doesn't imply that I really love Walter, NONONONO*

EDIT: I wanted also to clarify why I imagined this topic, I forgot to mention it my bad eheh

Anyway, I imagined it would have been cool to bring to Killian more attention to Walter since he's the real protagonist of the movie (with Lance as a co but the story is the most centered about him, his idealogy and the wait he has to face through the whole film). Plus, I find that Killian could at least failed a mission for just one time and made him involve with Lance and Walter as primar targets that interfeer with his plans. (Also I love writing and imaging angst so yup)

Sorry if I forgot to add this part of my fancreation, I'll also reblog it so the one that already read this will have a double check x,3

[hegodamask]

I think you've already talked about this before but I couldn't find the post on your Tumblr, so I was just wondering what your process was for making animated gifs. Like what methods you use to make them, what software you use, etc? Also, what parts do you find most fun or difficult or challenging? I've started making some animated gis, and while I don't know if I'll ever be nearly as prolific as you are, I was interested in learning more about them.

Oh hey! Thank you!! I don’t think I’ve ever gone through the process of how I make gifs in detail before, mainly because I don’t use Photoshop so I just assume my advice won’t be helpful to anybody. I don’t know how helpful this will be to you, but I’ve done a little step by step walkthrough of how I make a gif with a few general pointers thrown in. I was gonna try and keep it brief but it turned out much longer…..sorry.

I’ve put what I find most difficult and fun at the end, so you can just skip to that if you want.

As for the rest, here goes….

So, background: I taught myself how to make gifs using Serif Photoplus X2 because we used their products in highschool. Then a few years later, I updated to Photoplus X7 (made hardly any difference though). Serif doesn’t even make the Photoplus range anymore (they still sell X8 but it’s rubbish and crashes a lot, and their new product Affinity doesn’t even let you make gifs!). I’ve tried to use Photoshop in the past and everyone says it’s better, but I’m stuck in my ways like the stubborn old woman I am.

Anyways, when I want to make a gif I start off by capturing screenshots for the frames. I’ve always used GOM Player and their “Burst Capture” option to do this. GOM Player lets you choose the format your images are saved as and where you want the frames saved to. I have a special “captures” folder for temporarily storing the files in. So for example, these are my frames:

A good general tip for making gifs with any software is to use the best quality video you can find. Most of the stuff I make is with 1080p or 720p quality. I find it helps when it comes to colouring and making the gif look clearer.

Once I have my captures, I copy them into my animation “canvas” (or SPP file) which has a base colouring I’ve already made on it. It’s kind of like a PSD on Photoshop. I select my captures and drag them onto the canvas which looks like this:

The canvas is 1080p, the same as the captures but everything will be resized later. I originally captured 100 screenshots here, but I’ve decided to use only 40 in the end because I want to make a 540px width gif. If I used all 100 frames for a 540px gif it would end up being way over the 3mb limit and it wouldn’t work on Tumblr.

Now this is where the time consuming work comes in for me. Once my captures have been copied into the SPP file, they actually become layers which I have to turn into gif frames (if that makes sense). So at the moment they look like this

But I don’t have any actual frames yet at the bottom of the screen. So what I do next is go to the layers tab at the top of the screen and click “hide layers”, making them all invisible

Then basically what I do next is create a frame at the bottom and assign an individual capture to it by clicking the little grey square (making it visible again). So as you can see, my first frame is for my first capture/layer. The next frame will be the capture/layer on top of that.

So yeah, that means I create each frame individually. It’s veeery time consuming but you get quicker at it the more you do it (it’s also faster to do on a laptop touch pad rather than a mouse.). 

Once I’ve created all my frames, I reselect the colouring layers at the top so they’re visible on every frame. It should look like this

Next, you need to crop your gif and resize it. I want my gif to be 540px by 270px so I put 54.00 and 27.00 into the crop feature to get it accurate. This allows me to crop the canvas into the right dimensions.

Once I’ve cropped the canvas, I then go to the Image tab at the top and click “Image Size…” and set the image size to 540px by 270px. I usually ignore the Print Size bit.

540px is the best size for a full width Tumblr gif, anything bigger or smaller will make your gif look blurry. This gifset is a good guide for making sure Tumblr doesn’t blur or crop your gifs.

My gif is almost ready to be exported. But I want it to look clearer, so I sharpen all the layer/captures (yes, individually again). I have no settings for sharpening, but I find using the standard “Sharpen” effect under the “Effects” tab is enough. 

Once I’ve sharpened everything, I get to the colouring and exporting which is the biggest challenge for me. Photoplus’ options for exporting gifs are limited, so the only decent export options are these

“Web-safe” and “Ordered” makes the gif look like this

“Optimized” and “None” makes it look like this. Okay, but the background looks low quality and patchy

“Optimized” and “Error Diffusion” is the only one that to me, looks the best quality. That’s probably why it produces the bigger file size too (the gif below is 2.78mb)

But there’s other downsides to Error Diffusion which I’m still trying to figure out to this day.  Like how it makes parts of the gif “glitch” (that’s the only way I can describe it) or look extra fuzzy. The only way you can fix it is by playing around with the colouring. And by “playing” I mean adjusting and previewing until you want gouge ur eyes out :)

I think that’s why I like giffing The Terror so much, because the film they used has a grainy texture to it, making it easier to hide all my Error Diffusion sins. Though there’s been many times I’ve posted something and hoped no one’s noticed all the mistakes. 

Some general tips for colouring

Unless you’re going for a certain effect, emphasise on the colours that are already in the shot. In my gif  above for example, I turned up the blues and cyans.

Use Levels or Curves instead of Brightness and Contrast.

Zoom in on your gif to spot any Error Diffusion glitches.

Be mindful about whitewashing POC, especially if you’re following the pastel gif trend.

Look at how other people colour their gifs and use PSDs for reference but don’t rely on them too much.

Colouring can increase or decrease the gif file size. If you need to get below 3mb, try toning down super vibrant colours. If the shot you’re giffing is dark, make it a bit darker. If it’s light, make it a bit lighter. 

If all else fails, just make the gif black and white.

Reading all this back makes how I make gifs look like a nightmare lmao. But I’ve been doing it this way since like, 2012 and i love it. I started out making very bad Star Wars and Lady Gaga gifs but as time has gone on and I’ve gotten better, I’ve found I enjoy making things for smaller fandoms much more. I like that if I want a certain set or edit on my blog, I can just go and make it (with varying degrees of success) instead of waiting for someone else to do it.

You appreciate the work that goes into making a movie or show when you make gifs too. Like, you notice subtle little things in the actors performances or something the cinematography is trying to convey. You get to revisit a scene in detail and then share it with everybody else and if you’re lucky, watch them scream in the tags get some nice comments.

There’s lots of other stuff I like about making gifs but I’ve rambled on far too much so I’m just gonna shut up for now. But I think I’ve covered all the important stuff. I don’t know how much of a help I’ve been (there’s still stuff I don’t understand myself) but if there’s anything else you want to know just drop me a message. Good luck with your own gifs!! I’m sure you can do  a much better job than me!

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No one wants to talk about this, but we all should be. - The EVERYTHING short PART 1 (original research by u/atobitt on Reddit) - If you've heard about Gamestop, you should read this to get a better idea what's really going on.

source

part two here;

4/4/2021 EDIT: Just got done watching this review (2:09:37) from George Gammon and Meet Kevin. As pointed out by George, the link I posted below talking about the submitted repo amount was ONLY showing the NY Fed's total for that day. According to his own research, he suspects that $4 TRILLION is pumped through this market, EACH DAY.

4/1/2021 EDIT: GREAT NEWS APES! u/dontfightthevol has been reviewing my post and helping me address weaknesses! I take this as REALLY good news as we move another step closer to exposing the TRUTH. Furthermore, I am making updates that take speculative connections out of this post.

The first one being the WSJ article covering BlackRock, where the fed has tapped them to purchase bonds for the government. These bonds consist of mortgage backed securities and corporate bonds- NOT TREASURIES. While this does not destroy the concept within the post, it DOES remove a link between the speculative relationship of BlackRock and Citadel. Citadel is still shorting bonds, other hedge funds are shorting bonds, BlackRock just isn't buying treasuries from the government. There are plenty of other financial institutions lending out their treasury bonds.

We are still discussing the post and I will make updates as they are available.

STAY TUNED!

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TL;DR- Citadel and friends have shorted the treasury bond market to oblivion using the repo market. Citadel owns a company called Palafox Trading and uses them to EXCLUSIVELY short & trade treasury securities. Palafox manages one fund for Citadel - the Citadel Global Fixed Income Master Fund LTD. Total assets over $123 BILLION and 80% are owned by offshore investors in the Cayman Islands. Their reverse repo agreements are ENTIRELY rehypothecated and they CANNOT pay off their own repo agreements until someone pays them, first. The ENTIRE global financial economy is modeled after a fractional reserve system that is beginning to experience THE MOTHER OF ALL MARGIN CALLS.

THIS is why the DTC and FICC are requiring an increase in SLR deposits. The madness has officially come full circle.

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My fellow apes,

After writing Citadel Has No Clothes, I couldn't shake one MAJOR issue: why do they have a balance sheet full of financial derivatives instead of physical shares? Even Melvin keeps their derivative exposure to roughly 20%...(whalewisdom.com, Melvin Capital 13F - 2020)

The concept of a hedging instrument is to protect against price fluctuations. Hopefully you get it right and make a good prediction, but to have a portfolio with literally 80% derivatives.... absolute INSANITY.. it's is the complete OPPOSITE of what should happen.. so WHAT is going on?

Let's break this into 4 parts:

Repurchase & Reverse Repurchase agreements

Treasury Bonds

Palafox Trading

Short-seller Endgame

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Ok, 4 easy steps... as simple as possible.

Step 1: Repurchase & Reverse Repurchase agreements.

WTF are they?

A Repurchase Agreement is much like a loan. If you have a big juicy banana worth $1,000,000 and need some quick cash, a repo agreement might be right for you. Just take that banana to a pawn shop and pawn it for a few days, borrow some cash, and buy your banana back later (plus a few tendies in interest). This creates a liability for you because you have to buy it back, unless you want to default and lose your big, beautiful banana. Regardless, you either buy it back or lose it. A reverse repo is how the pawn shop would account for this transaction.

Why do they matter?

Repos and reverse repos are the LIFEBLOOD of global financial liquidity. They allow for SUPER FAST conversions from securities to cash. The repo agreement I just described is happening daily with hedge funds and commercial banks. EDIT: Inserting the quote from George Gammon: according to his calculations, the estimated total amount of repos are $4 TRILLION, DAILY. The NY Fed, alone, submitted $40.354 BILLION for repo agreements on (3/29). This amount represents the ONE DAY REPO due on 3/30. So yeah, SUPER short term loans- usually a few days. It's probably not a surprise that back in 2008 the go-to choice of collateral for repo agreements was mortgage backed securities..

Lehman Brothers went bankrupt because they fraudulently classified repo agreements as sales. You can do your own research on this, but I'll give you the quick n' dirty:

Lehman would go to a bank and ask for cash. The bank would ask for collateral in return and Lehman would offer mortgage backed securities (MBS). It's great having so many mortgages on your balance sheet, but WTF good does it do if you have to wait 30 YEARS for the cash.... So Lehman gave their collateral to the bank and recorded these loans as sales instead of payables, with no intention of buying them back. This EXTREMELY overstated their revenue. When the market started realizing how sh*tty these "AAA" securities actually were (thanks to Michael BRRRRRRRRy & friends), they were no longer accepted as collateral for repo loans. We all know what happened next.

The interest rate in 2008 on repos started climbing as the cost of borrowing money went through the roof. This happens because the collateral is no longer attractive compared to cash. My favorite bedtime story is how the Fed stepped in and bought all of the mean, toxic assets to save the US economy.. They literally paid Fannie & Freddie over $190 billion in bailouts..

A few years later, MF Global would suffer the same fate when their European repo exposure triggered a massive margin call. Their foreign exposure to repo agreements was nearly 4.5x their total equity.. Both Lehman and MF Global found themselves in a major liquidity conundrum and were forced into bankruptcy. Not to mention the other losses that were incurred by other financial institutions... check this list for bailout totals.

But.... did you know this happened AGAIN in 2019?

Instead of the gradual increase in rates, the damn thing spiked to 10% OVERNIGHT. This little blip almost ruined the whole show. It's a HUGE red flag because it shows how the system MUST remain in tight control: one slip and it's game over.

The reason for the spike was once again due to a lack of liquidity. The federal reserve stated there were two main catalysts (click the link): both of which removed the necessary funds that would have fueled the repo market the following day. Basically, their checking account was empty and their utility bill bounced.

It became apparent that ANOTHER infusion of cash was necessary to prevent the whole damn system from collapsing. The reason being: institutions did NOT have enough excess liquidity on hand. Financial institutions needed a fast replacement for the MBS, and J-POW had just the right thing.. $FED go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

"but don't say it's QE.."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 2: Treasury Bonds

Ever heard of the bond market? Well it's the redheaded step-brother of the STONK market.

The US government sells you a treasury bond for $1,000 and promises to pay you interest depending on how long you hold it. Might be 1%, might be 3%; might be 3 months, might be 10 years. Regardless, the point is that purchasing the US Treasury bond, in conjunction with mortgage backed securities, allowed the fed to keep pumping unlimited liquid tendies into the repo market. Surely, liquidity won't be an issue anymore, right?

Now... take the repo scenario from the Lehman Brothers story, but instead of using ONLY mortgage backed securities, add in the US Treasury bond: primarily the 10-year. Note that MBS are still prevalent at 19.1% of all repo transactions, but the US Treasury bond now represents a whopping 67%.

For now, just know that the US Treasury has replaced the MBS as the dominant source of liquidity in the repo market.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3: Palafox Trading

Ever heard of Palafox Trading? Me either. It's pretty much meant to be that way.

Palafox Trading is a market maker for repurchase agreements. Initially, they appear to be an innocent trading company, but their financial statements revealed a little secret:

Are you KIDDING ME?... I should have known...

OF COURSE Citadel has their own private repo market..

Who else is in this cesspool?!

I made this using the financial statement listed above, showing all beneficiaries of the GFIL

Everything rolls into the Citadel Global Fixed Income Master Fund... This controls $123,218,147,399 (THAT'S BILLION) in assets under management... I know offshore accounts are technically legal for hedge funds.... but when you look at the itemized holdings of these funds on Citadel's most recent form ADV, it gives me chills..

Form ADV page 105-106....

Ok... ok.... let me get this straight....

The repo market provides IMMEDIATE liquidity to hedge funds and other financial institutions

After the MBS collapse in 2008, the US Treasury replaced it as the liquid asset of choice

Citadel owns 100% of Palafox Trading which is a market maker for repo agreements

This market maker provides liquidity to the Global Fixed Income Master Fund LTD (GFIL) through Citadel Advisors

80% of its $123,218,147,399 in assets under management belong to entities in the Cayman Islands

Ok.....I tore the bermuda, paradise, and panama papers apart and found that all of these funds boil down to just a few managers, but can't pin anything on them for money laundering... However, if there EVER were a case for it, I'd be extremely suspicious of this one...

The level of shade on all this is INCREDIBLE... There should be NO ROOM for a investment pool as big as Citadel to hide this sh*t.... absolutely ridiculous..

The fact that there is so much foreign influence over our bond & repo market, which controls the liquidity of our country, is VERY concerning..

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 4: Short-seller Endgame

Alright, I know this is a lot to take in..

I've been writing this post for a week, so reading it all at one time is probably going to make your head explode.. But now we can finally start putting all of this together.

Ok, remember how I explained that the repo rate started to rise in '08 because the collateral was no longer attractive compared to cash? That means there wasn't enough liquidity in the system. Well this time the OPPOSITE effect is happening. Ever since March 2020, the short-term lending rate (repo rate) has nearly dropped to 0.0%....

https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/treasury-repo-reference-rates

So the fed is printing free money, the repo market is lending free money, and there's basically NO difference between the collateral that's being lent and the cash that's being received.. With all this free money going around, it's no wonder why the price of the 10 year treasury has been declining.

In fact, hedge funds are SO confident that the 10 year treasury will continue to decline, that they've SHORTED THE 10-YEAR BOND MARKET. I'm not talking about speculative shorting, I mean shorting it to oblivion like they've shorted stocks.

Don't believe me?

Hedge funds like Citadel Advisors must first locate the treasury bond in order to swap them for cash in the repo market. It's extremely difficult to do this with the fed because they're tied up in government BS, so they locate a lender in the market. These consist of other commercial banks and hedge funds.

NOTE: I MADE A COMMENT ABOUT BLACKROCK SUPPLYING TREASURY BONDS AND THIS IS NOT TRUE. UPON FURTHER REVIEW ( CREDIT u/dontfightthevol ) THESE BONDS CONSIST OF MBS AND CORPORATE BONDS. WHILE THE US TREASURY DEPARTMENT IS INVOLVED, THEY ARE NOT SUPPLYING TREASURY BONDS.

So financial institutions keep treasuries on reserve for hedgies like Citadel to short. Citadel comes along and asks for the bond, they throw it into Palafox Trading and collect their cash. So what happens when they need to pay for their repo agreement? Surely to GOD there are enough bonds floating around, right? Not unless hedge funds like Citadel have shorted more bonds than there are available.

Here's the evidence.

There have been 3 instances over the past year where the repo rate dipped below the "failure" rate of -3.0%. On March 4th 2021, the repo rate hit -4.25% which means that investors were willing to PAY someone 4.25% interest to lend THEIR OWN MONEY in exchange for a 10 year treasury bond.

This is a major signal of a squeeze in the treasury market. It's MAJOR desperation to find bonds. With the federal reserve purchasing them monthly from the open market, it leaves room for a shortage when the repo call hits. If commercial banks and hedge funds haven't purchased more treasuries since first lending them out, short sellers simply cannot cover unless they go into the market and PAY the bond holder for their bond. It's literally the same story as all of the heavily shorted stocks.

Still not convinced?

At the end of 2020, Palafox Trading listed $31,257,102,000 (BILLION) in GROSS repo agreements. $30,576,918,000 (BILLION) were directly related to repurchasing treasury bonds....

https://sec.report/CIK/0001284170

But what about their Reverse Repurchase agreements? Don't they have assets to BUY treasury bonds?SURE.. Take a look..

https://sec.report/CIK/0001284170

SeE tHeRe? I tOlD yOu ThEy HaD iT cOvErEd..

Yeaaaah... now read the fine print. (part 2)