#yo first artwork of 2022

[diezmil10000]

2023 art summary + thoughts on my own art progress under the cut!!

(template by HedgeCatDragonix on deviantart)

so i've been doing this for 10 years :P

i'm not posting these pics in high quality, they're somewhere on the internet if you want to scavenge for a bit. i didn't start taking art seriously until late 2015 and i honestly don't like looking back at old drawings. i still like my 2022 art summary but it wasn't until this year that i'm proud of all my finished artworks.

my art journey is complicated. i'm not one of those artists who can say they've been drawing for all their lifes. i used to trace pokémon in my school agendas but that was it. around 2013, a couple of friends invited me to their Skype server where we used to draw each other's ocs and make art memes and stuff - it was fun and cringe in the most positive way i can say it :] i didn't know shit about art and i took pride in drawing on MS Paint with a mouse just because it was hard.

(all of my drawings until may 2018 were made with a mouse)

when i was 15 yo i got into Love Live! and i decided to get better at art because i didn't want lesbian fanart to be made only by creepy cishet men. at some point i watched this video from Sycra and it rewired my brain. i understood that i needed to actually practise and understand what i was doing, and that i wasn't going to improve just by observing. its follow-up video also helped me a lot, i remember watching it on the day it was posted jskhfdjdfd.

and so fast forward until 2021 approx. i spent all of those years practising drawing in my traditional sketchbooks, so my improvement was steady. the only problem, and in retrospective i see it as a Big Problem, is that i was grinding mindlessly. by that i mean that i copied artists i liked and i drew again and again stuff i was bad at, but i didn't think too deeply about it or analysed my own art to look for faster ways to improve it. i also don't take feedback well so i didn't ask for it either, which further slowed down my progress.

on top of it, that just made me better at drawing, not at illustration. i firmly believe that a good drawing is hard to ruin but i could have made my illustrations way more interesting if i had started going wild with colors and effects way earlier. i don't exactly regret my choices because at the end of the day it's just my hobby, and i've been praised for drawing a lot and for challenging myself to practise drawing traditionally, so i want this to be read as introspection rather than complaints!!

the reason why 2021 was a big change in my art is because in november i did this monstrosity:

i got an Android tablet to be able to draw in class and took the challenge alongside my friend Nico, who also did their own Huevember. hola si estás leyendo esto Nico, aunque lo dudo :) i can't say that any of the drawings made me better at anatomy, or composition, or colors. i can't say that they solidified my knowledge, either. but they planted a seed in my brain that would fully bloom in late 2022, which is the seed of hating the finished result of some pieces so much that i forced myself to improve.

everyone has their own motivation to get better at art and i've always thought that mine was a healthy one (i want to draw more lesbians, that's all). however, i've had a very solid 2023 and now i don't cringe at any of my pieces, plus i can notice any mistakes they have without wanting to delete them from existence - and i could only get there because at the end of 2022 i told myself i wouldn't make any more ugly illustrations. like, period. i didn't want to get anxious every time i had to look back on my own art.

i also learned that no ammount of compliments from others would magically make me like a piece i see as mid at best. of course, i appreciate every single nice comment i get (genuinely, i get very happy knowing that other people love my work), but gratitude doesn't fix a skill issue.

so, late 2022, many things happened. first i got cancelled on twitter over a drawing of my beloved mizuki from project sekai (this info will be relevant later). then i spent a whole month doing this other monstrosity that is to this day the best thing i've ever done. i haven't peaked it (yet):

this comic actually made me improve and solidify my skills. it wasn't a class assignment, or a collaboration, or anything more than a headcanon i shared with a friend - it was pure brainrot over Revue Starlight and it made me put all my cunt into it. this was also the point at which i started filling in blacks with the bucket tool instead of picking a very dark color, which is a big part of my current style :3

the thing about people cancelling me is that i had to distance myself from fandoms and eventually change accunts, which also affected how i perceived my own art. even if i draw for myself, at the end of the day i still draw characters that are loved by many people, so i disabled comments and stopped interacting with other artists of my fandom circles. that led me to go on hiatus at the start of 2023, knowing that it was time for a fresh start (my art accounts were 5 years old anyway).

that period of time made me think a lot about my finished pieces. since i wouldn't post them until i had a new account, i would stare at them for longer than ever or make small changes even if days had already passed. letting my mind rest from illustrations i had been working on and knowing i could change them whenever i wanted was a big step forward.

i realised that for the past years i had been in a hurry to post my drawings as soon as i was done with them instead of appreciating them. that was a turning point for my mindset. this was also past the time i decided to stop making ugly art, but i hadn't really taken any measures to get better. so i changed the wording of the challenge: i can make ugly art but i can't post it if i don't like it.

it doesn't sound epic, but for some reason it worked. every time i was in the middle of making a drawing that looked kind of ugly, i changed it until it looked right. not perfect, but good enough to avoid cringing in the future. some times i had to redraw it from scratch with a more interesting pose. some times i needed to add a background or a graphic element to make the characters pop. and somewhere on that period, i went wild with colors and effects, and a lot of times that saved a piece that would otherwise be boring.

i have to thank Revolutionary Girl Utena and Revue Starlight for making me experiment a lot during my hiatus. both pieces of media, one being the daugher of the other, give artists so many visual metaphors and interesting topics to work with. the revstar brainrot had been there since the junnana comic, but rgu was something i had been meaning to rewatch for a couple of years and it hit me like a fucking train. it also made me create one of the comics i'm the most proud about:

then i got into homestuck and my art got. well. stuck!! >D< but it was okay because i wasn't making ugly drawings anymore. i was putting into practise a lot of things i had been learning or experimenting with, especially regarding colors and character interactions. and the yuri was delicious hmmmmmmm.

the rest of 2023 was very linear in terms of art but not so much in terms of fandoms (?). which is fine, honestly, but i was also glad to get back into Fire Emblem: Three Houses in late that year because when i first got into it in 2019 i didn't have the skill to draw everything i wanted to draw. and i still haven't drawn all the yuri scenarios that i've been cooking in my mind, but i have until forever to do it!!

so for 2024 i want to study some stuff i feel i'm still lacking in. i think i've always had a good eye for composition, but i've never actually pushed it in my finished illustrations - they depend a lot on the poses because i've always been prioritising drawing over everything else. that needs to change this year.

i also want to get better at drawing characters from extreme angles. i've always felt like my poses are a bit flat and i think i can study photos taken with wide angle lenses to improve at that.

and of course i still want to draw faster, which is something i've always struggled with. i think i have a good rhythm of "producing" art (excuse me for the poor wording), but i'm still too slow for the kind of artstyle i want to achieve, which includes having a looser lineart and less details in irrelevant areas of the drawings. i think that overdoing the lineart actually hurts my illustrations, because everything ends up pulling the viewer's attention with the same energy. i also think messy artstyles are neat.

i promise i'm not crazy and i don't hate what i do. in fact, it's precisely because this year i managed to make some pieces with that kind of feel that i know where i want to aim. special mention to the junnana comic because i haven't been able to replicate that lineart ever since.

examples:

as for the stuff i like about my current artstyle, i definitely want to keep the way i color!! and by that i mean the method i have for applying filters that make my colors pop. i could maybe play more with textures too.

i also like the way i depict intimacy, and people have praised it too. thank you for noticing. it's the yearning that's doing it, not me. but i don't think i'll ever change the content (?) of my art, i eat breathe and speak in yuri. if anything, there are still some ways of conveying feelings that i haven't been able to draw because i lack the skill to do so, but i'll keep trying ;)

i honestly didn't expect this post to be this long. i've been writing for hours now and i'm not sure my thoughts are coherent for anyone that isn't me. i also can't grasp the idea that some people know me from fanart i did in 2016 while others started following me last month, time is wild and it's an extra dimension of complexity that i don't know how to account for when i write stuff like this.

but again, as i do with art, i've written this for myself. it's been nice to put my thoughts in order. i think i've only talked about art in depth with like 5 people and it's always been in casual conversation. no creo que estéis leyendo pero Nahia y Henar os amo y he aprendido mucho de vosotras.

thank you for reading until the end if you have. i hope you have not only a nice day but a nice year. let's meet again in the future.

[dustedmagazine]

Yung Kayo — Holy Grails (self-released)

What is going on with Yung Kayo? Barely four years ago, the Washington, D.C. rapper born Malachi Green was plucked from the SoundCloud backwaters by Young Thug to learn the trade as part of the Young Stoner Life stable. After a string of stray singles and leaks, 2022’s DFTK arrived as complete as one could hope for a debut at this level of hip-hop recognition. There were Yeat and Gunna features; Eartheater showed up; some of the leaks made it. A star was born. But like Young Thug himself (though for entirely different reasons), things have gone largely quiet since — or they had, at least, until the night of Thanksgiving in the U.S., when he dropped Holy Grails on the eve of his 21st birthday.

That’s the most intriguing part: He dropped it, not YSL. It’s unclear what his status is with the label at this point, though he’s wearing a YSL chain in the Korn-like artwork detailing production credits. Why this is self-released and coming now, with almost no fanfare or advanced warning, remains a mystery likely cloaked in the usual monetary disagreements and legal wranglings that make for boring reading but also often make or break an artist’s career. You don’t want to get stuck on a leash in a label interzone where nobody knows what to do with you.

On the other hand, that certainly never stopped Kayo’s mentor. Perhaps he’s learning not just the trade, but the tricks, too; whatever the case, we may never get the whole story. What we do get is 16 tracks highlighting both Kayo’s versatility on the mic and, maybe even more than that, how completely he gels with producer Warpstr, who’s as crucial to Kayo’s future-forward delivery as the man himself.

That’s not a recent phenomenon, as the album showcases. In fact, the other notable thing about Holy Grails is how much of a grab bag from his back catalog it is; the oldest songs here predate DFTK (“Jedi” has been on his SoundCloud for more than four years; “Taycan Key” and “All In” have been up for three) and a few more have been floating for a while now. Kayo’s last correspondence, “Bye,” is nearly a year old at this point. But you wouldn’t know it given a listen front to back — the sounds often pair bright, 16-bit videogame synths with barely modulated low end to great effect. Credit most of that to Warpstr, who’s listed as producer for 13 of these; Pi’erre Bourne (“Flex”), Arkman (“Heads or Tails”) and Maaly Raw (“Cold”) are the lone exceptions. Two well-known names (Bourne’s “Yo Pierre, you wanna come out here?” tag is practically ubiquitous in contemporary hip-hop; Maaly Raw has been a regular presence on Lil Uzi Vert albums) and one less so (Arkman’s worked with Kayo a bunch, but most of their tracks together are still unreleased) don’t do anything to disrupt the flow of the record.

That sonic stability foregrounds Kayo’s willingness to experiment with sing-song flows and various rap speeds as he sees fit. His natural ear for melody has always been good, and it’s as prominently on display here as it’s ever been, though his actual voice is more unbothered by digital alterations than DFTK was. The most dramatic singing-versus-rapping dichotomy comes on “In My Room,” which takes lessons from the brooding 808s & Heartbreak-era Kanye West and introvert-mode Drake before pulling the rug out halfway through and diving head-first into some aggressively delivered couplets. It doesn’t take long to see what’s in the tank here. He’s hungry, sure, but his bars also don’t come wrapped in the cartoonishly outlandish delivery that Thugger’s did in his heyday. He strains to reach those heights on songs like “Rockstar “or “Psych Out.” They’re among the best songs of Holy Grails, but they’re also demonstrations of the ceiling.

Ultimately, Yung Kayo’s greatest asset is morphing what he can do to the beat backing him. Nowhere is this better displayed than on undeniable closer “All In,” which is as addicting a song as he’s ever made and one of the two songs (along with “Tell Me”) that got me paying attention to him in the first place. A pleasantly unexpected surprise, Holy Grails both serves as a reminder of why we were excited about him in the first place and widens the question of what he can do next — and where he can do it.

Patrick Masterson

[kaikamahine]

@quensty​ did this meme and is v. v. good at making all her memes v. compelling, so I came onto Tumblr dot com and entered Text into the Text box like a person who does Posts on Tumblr.

Put your spotify ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs. I use spotify only under extreme duress, so you’re getting my all-purpose phone music library, bc i'm a caveman who still youtube-to-mp3s all her songs one-by-one.

.

🎙unholy (ft. kim petras) by sam smith. still waiting for someone to cover this song with the pronouns changed. i just think it’d be a more interesting song if it was daddy left at home with the kids while mommy got up to morally dubious alchemical shenanigans with kim petras in the body shop. the beat fucks too hard to be wasted on some man.

🎙watch me by the pom poms. there was a long stretch of 2022 when my phone playlist was nothing but jinx song after jinx song. a few have become True Loves with rent free residence. see also: headshot and she’s got a gun.

🎙vacation by vitamin c. maybe u just need to listen to vitamin c’s vacation from the critically acclaimed movie pokemon (the first movie) (1999) and then you’ll calm down.

🎙freaks (ft. savage) by timmy trumpet. complete and unironic banger. no i will not elaborate. yes you’ve heard it before.

🎙mafia by kelis. jilco rewrote my brain chemistry and now i’m a cooler, sexier person, that’s all ✌️

🎙undergang by heldom & danheim. while stuck doing warehousing a few years ago, i got SUPER into the shamanic proto-viking category on spotify, a love affair that came to a screeching halt when spotify’s next trick was to pull a neo-nazi podcast out of its algorithmical hat, but not before i got some good beats to take home like a boyfriend hoodie. yikes.

🎙run boy run by woodkid. yo! still!! fucking!!! slaps!!!!

🎙reload by m.i.a. not a break-up song but it’s a break-up song to ME, you feel. you got some nerve / talking shit about me! / well that’s okay / your shit’s tired anyway 👋

🎙what a man gotta do by the jonas brothers. what? sometimes a lesbian yearns. mind ur business.

🎙the blue whale by steven price. the single best piece of auditory artwork ever composed, and i do say this having listened to hans zimmer’s ‘coward.’ steven price did not have to put his whole ass prussy into a 2015 bbc nature documentary about predation tactics in wildlife, but he did it for me specifically, knowing i would listen to it and be transported five inches to the left of my body every time. wild.

.

You’re supposed to tag people, etc, etc, but those of you who like doing these memes know who you are and should consider yourselves tagged! go forth!! 💚💚

[levbolton]

Mokumoku Ren interview

Source: Chanmei for Real Sound, 5th July 2022

The manga The Summer Hikaru Died has exploded among Generation Z via TikTok, Twitter and other social networking sites. It has sold over 200,000 copies in just three months since the first volume was released and is currently nominated for the 'Next Comic Award 2022' in the web manga category. (Voting is open until 11 July).

What if one day your friend who is always next to you is suddenly replaced by a completely different "something"? This story begins with such a bizarre transformation. The story is peppered with unintentionally chilling horror elements, such as a claustrophobic country town, eerie folklore and unexplained incidents, but also vividly depicts the complex emotions that swing between Hikaru, who has become "something", and Yoshiki, a boy who cannot leave his friend's side. 

Horror or bromance? ....... How was this work, which captivates readers with its depth of story and overwhelmingly high level of artwork that is hard to describe in one word, created?　We interviewed the author, Mokmoku ren. (Chanmei)

The inspiration for the idea came from my high school days

Q: First of all, how did you come up with the idea for The Summer Hikaru Died?

Mokmoku Ren: I first came up with the idea when I was in high school. When I was studying for exams, it suddenly occurred to me that it would be nice and interesting to have a manga like this. I didn't want to be a manga artist at the time, but I always liked thinking about stories and detailed setups.

Q: First of all, how did you arrive at the serialisation?

Mokmoku Ren: It was like ...... where I constructed the stories I wanted to read in my head, so at first I had no intention of showing them to anyone. So for the first few years after I came up with the idea, I didn't even put it in writing, let alone in comics. Then, around January last year, I happened to have some spare time, so I drew a picture of what I had in my head. When I posted the drawing on Twitter, it got a lot of buzz, and that's when I was approached by the editorial team.

New readers from TikTok, not just "buzz".

Q: First of all, even before the first volume of the book was released, cosplay videos of the characters were being posted on TikTok and became a hot topic. How did you feel when you experienced the 'TikTok buzz'?

Mokmoku Ren: Suddenly the Twitter response got better and I was like, "What's going on?" I thought, "What's going on?" and then I heard that I was getting attention on TikTok. So, I first tried the TikTok app and watched a lot of videos, and at first I was a bit surprised at the generation gap, or at the fact that "this is what kids are like nowadays" (.....). I was a bit surprised (laughs). (laughs) When I looked at the comments on the videos, I felt a similarity to myself when I was in high school, and it made me feel nostalgic, like 'things don't change all the time'.

Q: First of all, what were some of the most impressive comments?

Mokmoku Ren: There were many different comments, such as "This author is definitely psychic!" or "I'm concerned about what's going to happen to this author" or "I'm worried about what's going to happen to me". Also, I can't remember where I saw this, but a reader had her own father read her work, and she said, "My father used to see these ghosts too! He said, "My father used to see this kind of ghost too!", which was a bit funny (laughs).

Q: In addition to the cosplay videos, the famous manga-introducing TikTokers were also pushing this work very hard, weren't they?

Mokmoku Ren: I think a lot of videos related to The Summer Hikaru Died were getting a lot of attention, and I was really grateful that the manga introduction TikTokers were explaining in great detail about the appeal of the work and where to read it. Thanks to that, it didn't just get popular, but it was connected to the work and the number of readers increased.

Q: First of all, has the TikTok Buzz triggered any changes in your Twitter follower base?

Mokmoku Ren: The TikTok Buzz led to a huge increase in comments from young readers on Twitter. Until then, I had the impression that there were a lot of adult readers, so I'm very happy to have young readers like this. I think they will read it for a long time to come, and I hope that The Summer Hikaru Died will become part of their youth. ...... I still love the manga I liked when I was in junior high and high school, and I'm still very much influenced by them. So I would be happy if I could be a part of that kind of existence.

Influences from 'Honkaku', 'Shin-Mimibukuro' and 'Here it Comes'.

Q: First of all, what did you like when you were a student?

Mokmoku Ren: I loved 'Tokyo Ghoul' and read it a lot. I read a lot of other things, but I was often impressed by battle manga like those in Weekly Shonen Jump and Weekly Young Jump.

Q: First of all, The Summer Hikaru Died has strong elements of human drama and horror, rather than battles.

Mokmoku Ren: In manga, I like battles and used to read them a lot, but my overall tendency is to like horror. I've really loved horror ever since I can remember, and I used to watch and read horror stories and films all the time. Maybe because of that, I've always wanted to draw horror.

Q: First of all, what is your favourite horror film?

Mokmoku Ren: I used to watch a lot of 'Honsaku' (Really Scary Stories). I also love the TV drama Shin Mimibukuro, which has influenced me a lot. I also love the film "Here it comes" and its original stories "Bogiwaan ga, kuru" and "Shishiriba no ie" (The House of Shishiriba), as well as horror novels by Itomo Sawamura. The words "Bogiwaan" and "Shishiriba's House" are so scary that you feel like, "Eh, what? They are very scary (laughs). (Laughs) I like novels that have a kind of 'unexplained unpleasantness' in the expression of the bizarre or so-called ghosts.

Unexplained unpleasantness, onomatopoeia ...... Commitment to expression

Q: First of all, from the 'ku' scene (see image), I felt the 'unexplained unpleasantness' that Mokmoku Reng-sensei was talking about. It was very scary (laughs).

Mokmoku Ren: This is because, as well as the 'Honkaku' and 'Shin-Mimibukuro' books I mentioned earlier, I also like the occult board on 2ch, 'Why don't you collect scary stories that are so frightening they'll scare you to death? 

Q: First of all, in terms of your drawings, are you particular about horror expressions?

Mokmoku Ren: I often get compliments on the way I draw onomatopoeia. I try to use expressions that you don't see very often, such as "sha-sha-sha-sha". However, I am quite conscious of whether it works properly and effectively as an expression.

Q: First of all, there was already a huge amount of onomatopoeia from the drafting stage.

Mokmoku Ren: I wanted the onomatopoeia to stir up a sense of dread, so I wanted the reader to be able to read it clearly. There are ways to draw these onomatopoeias by hand, but I thought it would be better to use digital typesetting because the reader would see them even if he or she didn't want to. Another reason I chose to use typesetting was that my handwritten text would have been half as scary.

Q: First of all, I can sense your extraordinary attention to visual expression, such as wanting the reader to be able to read the onomatopoeia clearly.

Mokmoku Ren: I put a lot of thought into that. When there is something I want the reader to read, such as onomatopoeia, I am conscious of the proportion of the onomatopoeia in the story and how much of it is going to reach the reader's eyes.

Q: How would you describe the features of the characters?

Mokmoku Ren: veins and sweaty ..... I don't use expressions like that very often. For example, if there is a scene where a character is shocked or impatient and walks away from a scene, I might say that he bumps into a chair as he walks away and the chair falls over with a thud. I want to express the emotions of that moment in action, without using marks such as veins or sweaty sweat. In this way, the sound is quite important, not onomatopoeia as I mentioned earlier.

Horror and bromance have a strong affinity

Q: We have asked you in detail about the expression of horror, but how do you balance it with the bromance elements such as the friendship and love between Yoshiki and Hikaru?

Mokmoku Ren: Actually, I keep the horror low key. There are times when I really want to draw something scarier, but I'd rather draw something that appeals to the emotions, like 'kuru kuru kuru kuru ......', rather than just making it scary. I want to draw something that appeals to the emotions. I also think that in terms of appealing to emotions, horror and bromance are a bit similar.

Q: Horror and bromance are similar. ......

Mokmoku Ren: The feeling of resemblance is probably related to the 'suspension bridge effect'. In psychology, it's like you're more likely to develop romantic feelings for someone you meet in a place where you feel a strong sense of anxiety and fear, like on a hanging bridge. In the case of horror, it is the thrill of not knowing what horror will happen next, and in the case of bromance, it is the thrill of "what should I do ......" when, for example, you get into a fight with a friend and the atmosphere turns nasty. It's like we have the same physiological arousal of excitement, so we can mistake the cause for the reason. When I actually draw, I think that horror and bromance have a high affinity.

Chapter 11: "I knew I was going to come up with a good illustration", as recommended by the editor in charge of the story.

Q: First of all, please tell us about your favourite scene and the scene you had difficulty with.

Mokmoku Ren: The last scene of the first volume. It's the end of the first volume, so I was very particular about the tempo and rhythm of the story. In terms of difficulties, I always have a hard time thinking about the structure of the story. I can think of many things I want to depict and many stories, but I have a hard time connecting them one by one or asking myself, "Which part shall I focus on first?" So I consult with the editor in charge of the story.

Q: First of all, what are the upcoming highlights?

Mokmoku Ren: Episode 11, which will be released on 26 July. I put a lot of energy into drawing it.

Editor in Charge: I thought from the stage of the name meeting that the drawings for episode 11 would definitely be good, but the drawings were really great (laughs), so I hope everyone is looking forward to it.

Q: First of all, please give a message to the readers.

Mokmoku Ren: Only one volume has been released and the story is really in the early stages, so please visit ....... I'm sorry to be nominated for the Next Coming Manga Award 2022 in the web manga category in such a state, but I'm very grateful. In the future, new characters are scheduled to appear, and I think they are going to be very good characters (laughs). So I would be very happy if you could continue to keep a warm eye on me.

Other Mokumoku Ren interviews translated: 

CREA (7th Nov 2022) | Da Vinci (5th Nov 2022) | Kono Manga ga Sugoi 2023 | Real sound 31st December | Real sound 5th July

[jabberwockjamboree]

after 1000 years my nostalgia lives again

[demonslayedher]

General thoughts and recall on the 2022 Osaka version of the Kimetsu no Yaiba Gotoge Koyoharu Exhibition, which is probably pretty similar to the Tokyo version from last year. No other images below the cut, as photos were only allowed in the above spaces, but you can scroll through photos of the gallery on the official homepage. There's wasn't a lot of previously unseen art or Taisho Secrets, nor was there much original colored artwork, but lots of thoughtful displays of the original manga pages.

The exhibit stated with the 3D display of a fictitious "Volume 0" cover, among all the other 23 manga covers. There were English translations for a lot of the section headings, but I can't remember them so I'll throw in simple translations here. The first section was about Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, Inosuke, Kanao, and Genya, highlighting some of their introductory, iconic, and character growth moments. This section's focus was "Bonds: Brother & Sister, And Their Friends." While in general they were going for drama in the large wall displays, along the bottom there was a smaller border composed of a collection of derpy faces. I appreciated that greatly. At the end of this section, there was a small section for other people who support them, like at Mt. Sagiri and in the Swordsmith Village. There was also a small 3D statue of the image in which the Kamaboko members are all chibis stacked on top of each other. Better that image than any of them biting each other's heads.

Section Two had my favorite layout and design: "Demons: The Extremes of Humanity, The Extremes of Sorrow." This had our first 3D display as part of the wall decor, and in my humble opinion, it was the best. Truly gruesome detail in the Muzan flesh crawling up out of the wall and across the ceiling. What really got me was how this room had four pillars (no pun intended) with two different sides dedicated to some of the Upper Moons, with one side showing them at their worst as demons and the other side showing their sorrows as humans and their death scenes. Very nice touch. That led into the Infinity Fortress display, with the twangs of Nakime's biwa playing as she flashes in the displays. There's also a short display dedicated to Muzan and Kagaya's conflicting worldviews.

Section Three: "Pillars: The Absoluteness of Breath" also had fun 3D displays for each of the Pillars; my favorites were Mitsuri's and Sanemi's, because seeing the full length of Mitsuri's twisty sword was fun and I liked all the details of the wall getting torn to bits by the Wind Breath effects. These sections were also my favorites in the Pillar section for two kind of dumb reasons. In observing the original manga pages close up, I really liked the panel from Chapter 123 in which Mitsuri has just woken up and is declaring how precious the Demon Slayer Corp is to her and how she won't let any of them die as she strikes a pose with her sword in the air. Based on the leftover draft pencil marks, it seems this was one was the many places where cute characters were original drawn with longer limbs and had them shortened, but what I found more endearing than that? I really, really can't be sure about this, but it kiiiiinda looks like Genya was added in after the rest of the panel was drawn. His face was already funny, but now I find it even funnier. As for a nice memory in the Sanemi section, this was where I happened to enter at the same time as two ladies in "Shinazugawa Sanemi" and "Tomioka Giyuu" baseball shirts who whispered to each other, "IT'S HERE." This stuck out because talking was not allowed at the gallery, and when I turned my head, I saw that the lady in the Sanemi jersey had a big beetle toy pinned to her shoulder. Excellent touch, lady.

Section Four: "Ties: Betting It All" was just... rubbing in all the pain. Reminding us of all the loses. You know the cover of Chapter 180? Seeing that life size hurt, yo. Also, the amount of white-out used on the Seventh Form of Thunder Breath? Respect.

Section Five: "Time: The Breaking Dawn of A Thousand Years" was dedicated to the Sunrise Countdown arc and I was hyyyyyyped. It might just had been my impression, the draft pencil used seemed so much more heavy-handed through these pages. I tend to be quite heavy-handed with my sketches as well, so I felt this area strongly, but I also felt humbled for ever having spent over a decade of my life dreaming of being a manga-ka. I have too much respect and awe for this craft to ever find myself so foolish ever again. Also, there is now one particular variety of screen tone that now triggers me to get emotional after seeing the patterns of its use.

Quick interjection here to say that HOLY FUDGE, LOOK AT HOW ALL THE TATAMI ARE HAND-DRAWN. I thought those were screentones, but nooooooo, it's the black lines first and then whiteout on top of them, so they all fit the necessary angles exactly. AAAAAAAAAAAH.

Final Section: "Succession: Exceeding All The Months and Years" was dedicated to Tanjiro's internal battle with Muzan. Yeah, there was a 3D wisteria display. How could they not.

Omake: Obamitsu and Flame&Sound duo images like have already been leaked a lot, and The Legend of Zenitsu stuff, Chapter 205 stuff, and then I had to return to real life.

[stardustsynchro]

[RD/SST1] Saikyo Starter Deck

 We’re revealing the cards from “Saikyo Starter Deck”, that comes as a bonus with the May 2022 Issue of Saikyo Jump!

Note: This not the same as the Starter Decks announced for mid April or so.

RD/SST1-JP001 Transamu Rainac LIGHT

All Other Information is SECRET

RD/SST1-JP002 Sevens Road Magician RD/SST1-JP003 Multistrike Dragon Dragias RD/SST1-JP004 Max Raider RD/SST1-JP005 Savage Claw Tiger

RD/SST1-JP006 Stone Dragon Level 7 EARTH Rock-Type Normal Monster ATK 2000 DEF 2300 全身が岩でできているド��ゴン。岩石の攻撃は��力だ。 (Translation: A dragon whose entire body is made of rocks. Its rock attack is powerful.) (EN: A dragon formed by huge boulders that are also used to attack the enemy.)

RD/SST1-JP007 Blue Falcon Tengu RD/SST1-JP008 Innocent Lancer RD/SST1-JP009 Emperor of the Land and Sea RD/SST1-JP010 Spike Seadra RD/SST1-JP011 Flying Kamakiri #2 RD/SST1-JP012 Uraby RD/SST1-JP013 Constructor Warrior Shovelon RD/SST1-JP014 Silent Assailant RD/SST1-JP015 Checkrael the Sun Angel, Yo RD/SST1-JP016 Bean Soldier RD/SST1-JP017 Water Magician RD/SST1-JP018 Giga-Tech Wolf RD/SST1-JP019 Hitotsu-Me Giant RD/SST1-JP020 Dosodon RD/SST1-JP021 Cycliptron RD/SST1-JP022 The All-Seeing White Tiger RD/SST1-JP023 Thunder the Thunder RD/SST1-JP024 Shaman Octopus RD/SST1-JP025 Aromagmabear RD/SST1-JP026 Whispering Fairy RD/SST1-JP027 Kuribot RD/SST1-JP028 Kuribot (First Alternate Artwork) RD/SST1-JP029 Kuribot (Second Alternate Artwork) RD/SST1-JP030 Skull Servant RD/SST1-JP031 Monster Reincarnation (LEGEND) RD/SST1-JP032 Blades of Divine Wind RD/SST1-JP033 Pierce! RD/SST1-JP034 The☆Power-Up RD/SST1-JP035 Bleach Mortar RD/SST1-JP036 Hammer Crush (Alternate Artwork) RD/SST1-JP037 Counter Cannonball RD/SST1-JP038 Emergency Return RD/SST1-JP039 The☆Barrier RD/SST1-JP040 Mystery Handcuffs

Source: YGOORGANIZATION

[visualandpublicart]

Yo Soy Chinatown, Salinas | I am Chinatown, Salinas

Exhibit & Public Art Installation

Yo Soy/I Am Chinatown, Salinas engages the power of community through histories, storytelling, and first-hand accounts of Chinatown as home, cultural landmark, and complex socio-cultural microcosm. This exhibition is part of a two-year-long community public art and exhibition project in partnership with the Visual and Public Art Dept. at CSUMB and made possible in part by a grant from The Creative Work Fund, a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund that is also generously supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Yo Soy/ I Am Chinatown, Salinas features a series of daguerreotype portraits that bring us face-to-face with the socio-cultural concerns, histories, and stories of Chinatown. Binh Danh’s new body of work includes a public art installation, collaborative community engagement, and an art exhibition that displays a complex 19th Century photographic process as a tool for empowerment and a medium for examining socio-cultural and political issues that affect marginalized communities. Danh’s work explores the historical context of Chinatown, Salinas through community-sensitive work that employs first-hand perspectives to identify the complexities of revitalization and cultural preservation efforts alongside issues of racial disparities, exclusionary ordinances, and the criminalization of neighborhoods, communities, and public space.

EXHIBIT ON VIEW: OCTOBER 3 – NOVEMBER 18, 2022

PUBLIC ARTWORKS ON VIEW: OCTOBER 1, 2022-MAY 30, 2023

_______________________________________________________________________

[calyxaomphalos]

The Ghosts of Windy Ridge

The morning of day 4, turn #13

four components location #19 - archaeological site (5) - Cloudbreak Mound neighbor #3 - Andy (6) item #1 - clearly broken event #3 - upsetting news/gossip

4 April 2022, Monday Morning

I'd learned about the Cloudbreak Mound when I made my left-into-U-turn two nights ago on the way to find out what was beyond Thompson Gap Mine. It was a little sign and it barely penetrated my consciousness at the time, but last night in the bath, the relaxing brought up all kinds of thoughts from the night before. Being well-rested, I made the effort to get up before the sun and go watch the sunrise from the Mound.

In the lightening dawn, the little sign was easily spotted. Another quarter mile down the road and the Mound was apparent. It looked almost perfectly conical, except rounded off at the top, which was easily twenty or more feet above the surrounding land. I figured it was maybe half a football field across at the base, depending on where one decided to start measuring.

I parked my car in the small lot and paused at another informational sign. The Mound was a burial mound of the pre-Columbian people of this land, discovered in the first part of the 19th century, excavated for the first time in the latter part of the 19th century, then re-excavated and properly conserved in the 1980s. Looking at the stairs carved into the side of the Mound, my first thought was, "White people put those stairs there."

Climbing to the top of the Mound seemed the ideal way to watch the sun come up, which should be any second now, given how light the sky had gotten. Something on one of the steps made me stop and take a closer look. It was a small handful of playing cards. I recognized it as the Alchemy deck, as I left one just like it back at home in California. It was six cards; three threes (diamonds, spades and clubs), a six of spades, a ten and a queen, both of hearts. I tucked them into a pocket and kept climbing. A few minutes later I was just a few steps short of the top when I heard a voice call out my name.

"Hey, Serren! What brings you out here this fine Monday morning?" It was Andy Z the blacksmith, seated cross-legged on a small inflatable tuffet, facing toward the east.

"Come to see the sunrise, and check out the Mound," I answered as I completed the staircase.

"Pull up a patch of ground and have a seat, unless you brought something to sit on."

"Ah yes, I forgot about that," I said, lowering myself onto a patch of grass that I hoped wasn't too damp. The sun was just now visible and we both watched in silence as it cleared the horizon.

"So Hank mentioned the other day that you read Tarot. Can you tell me anything about these?" Andy then pulled out another set of cards clearly from the same deck as the ones I'd found. His stack was a bit larger than mine. He'd found nine cards.

"Yeah, this is just an edgy, goth deck of playing cards with some fun artwork. They can be used like Tarot for sure, but anyone who is doing 'real' divination can read just about anything," I explained. Then I added, "If I had to guess, I'd say these cards belong to young Dani dressed in black."

"Aye, seems like a reasonable guess. You've met them, eh? I'll bet they like you," Andy said, clearly working at getting the pronouns right. "I'm not sure Pastor Mitchelson thinks very kindly about Dani, even if they are old Pastor Isaacs' grandchild."

I laughed a bit under my breath remembering Dani calling him "Pastor Dick," but then grew angry as I flashed back to my first night in town with Pastor Dick throwing me out of "his" church. I took in a breath and then said, "I'm not sure I think very kindly about Pastor Mitchelson, either," and then related the story of that first night.

"To be somewhat fair, we have had problems with rowdy strangers coming into town and stirring things up, but those have been high school boys, mostly. The kind of guys that ol' Pastor Dick probably knows a thing or two about," Andy said. "No offense, here, Serren, but you don't look like a teenage boy."

"None taken, at least not from you. Pastor "Dick" though, yeah, I find him rather offensive. Anything the townsfolk can do to petition the greater Baptist church organization? Report the guy or something?" I asked.

"People will say it's too soon, give the guy a chance. Me, though, my money's on him having connections, being able to mostly write his own ticket. Windy Ridge First Baptist is a pretty plum gig, really."

The sun was well up now. Andy stretched and stood up, then held out a hand to help me up. "Time to go get back to work. Here, hang on to these and give them to Dani if you see them," Andy said as he handed over the cards he'd picked up.

"Have a great day," I said. "I think I'm going to look around here a bit more, see if I can find any more of these cards. See you later!"