beepbeeppotato

[beepbeeppotato]

Wish I could show yall the video but this is the best I could do I’m testing things because I’m gonna start a YouTube channel where I just draw stuff Hope u like https://www.instagram.com/p/BwiaM9rAv8l/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=q36ccrk2ybzs

[beepbeeppotato]

Animation art from Disney’s THE BLACK CAULDRON (1985).

Part 2 in the next hour…

[beepbeeppotato]

Just got back from a lovely trip home to the Philippines 🇵🇭 These are doodles I drew on the 16 hr plane ride I had 😭 I hate flying now I’d post pictures of my trip but honestly I didn’t take much so here’s some shit art of 1950s/1920s ladies instead https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv20b8lAeD3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=tjwoj1a5gv6e">https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv20b8lAeD3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=tjwoj1a5gv6e

#characterdesign #sketch #1950s #1920s #aesthetic #drawing #illustration #doodle #pencil #wip #anime #animeart #animegirl #art

[beepbeeppotato]

PSA: Never think your art is shit or comparing it to other artists. Keep going and keep practicing and you’ll get better than me. I promise. Also, these ocs were from my fuckin weeb days where I thought since I could draw girls with huge eyes that I could draw anything. Don’t be weeb beepbeep. Honestly I would go back in time just to beat the shit out of my weeb self. Much love ❤️❤️❤️ . . . . . . . . . www.instagram.com/p/BvbzaylAPXb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=g1fjviatnphf">https://www.instagram.com/p/BvbzaylAPXb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=g1fjviatnphf

#improvement #improvementmeme #artimprovement #art #animeart #animegirl #wip #sketch #drawing #pencil #lineart #oc #originalcharacter #characterdesign #originalart #illustration

[beepbeeppotato]

GUIDE: NAMING A TOWN OR CITY

This post was originally from a FAQ, but since the original link is now defunct, I am re-posting it here.

There are many things to keep in mind when naming the town or city in your novel:

1) Genre/Theme/Tone

It’s very important to consider the genre and theme of your story when choosing a town name. Take these names for example, each of which indicates the genre or theme of the story: King’s Landing (sounds fantastical) Cloud City (sounds futuristic) Silent Hill (sounds scary) Sweet Valley (sounds happy and upbeat) Bikini Bottom (sounds funny) Radiator Springs (sounds car-related) Halloween Town (sounds Halloween-related) Storybrooke (sounds fairytale-related) 2) Time/Place It’s also important to consider the time and place where your story takes place. For example, you wouldn’t use “Vista Gulch” as a name for a town in Victorian England. You probably wouldn’t use it for a town in modern day North Carolina, either. Vista is a Spanish word and would normally be found in places where Spanish names are common, like Spain, Central and South America, the southwest United States (including southern California), Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Florida. 3) Size/Settlement Type An isolated town of 300 people probably won’t be Valley City, but a sprawling metropolis of 30 million could be called Windyville, because it could have started out as a small town and grew into a large city. 4) Geography Words like gulch, butte,and bayou tend to be regional terms. You probably wouldn’t find Berle’s Bayou in Idaho, or Windy Butte in Rhode Island. Words like mount, cape, and valley are dependent upon terrain. Most of the time, you won’t have a town named “mount” something unless there are hills or mountains nearby. You wouldn’t use “cape” unless the town was on a cape, which requires a large body of water. 5) History Is there a historical person or event that your town might be named after? The Simpsons’ hometown of Springfield is ironically named after its founder, Jebediah Springfield. Chattanooga, Tennessee is named after the Cherokee town that was there first. Nargothrond, in The Lord of the Rings, is an Elvish town with an Elvish name. 6) Combination of Words

person name + geographical term = Smithfield, Smith Creek

group name + geographical term = Pioneer Valley, Settlers’ Ridge

descriptive word + geographical term = Mystic Falls, Smoky Hill

person name + settlement type = Smithton, Claraville

landmark + settlement type = Bridgton, Beaconville

Word Lists

Types of Settlements

Geographical Features

Place Words

Common Suffixes

Other Descriptors

[beepbeeppotato]

I spent three weeks in a mental hospital and what I discovered there I feel like should be put into words.

we are not who you think we are.

the boy with turrets told the funniest jokes

the girl who raked her nails up and down her skin could create the most exquisite drawings

the girl who abused drugs had the wisest soul

the boy with schizophrenia had the biggest heart

the girl who tried to kill herself told the boy with insomnia stories to help lure him to sleep

the boy who wanted to kill himself had the deepest passion for cooking

the girl with slits and scars all over her body dried my tears and told me I was beautiful

the boy with anger issues gave the warmest hugs

the girl with bulimia told everyone every day that they looked beautiful in their bodies

the boy who was a compulsive liar told us that he wanted us all to get better, and that he was for once telling the truth

the girl who almost drank herself to death stood up for anyone that felt they were feeling bullied

the boy with social anxiety made sure nobody sat alone at meals

we are not who you think we are.

[beepbeeppotato]

Crap Cutting Core Characters

10 11 vital questions to ask yourself about your character before you start writing.

Internal 1. What do they want and why do they want it? 2. What scares the hell out of them? (Alone? Dark? Poor?) 3. What did they believe by the time they were 10? (Big boys don’t cry?) 4. What is their fundamental truth? (Family first? Good things come to those who wait?) 5. What makes them happy?  (What do they think will make them happy?)

External 1. What are their family relationships like?  2. Who do they look up to? 3. Friends - people typically hang out with others who are like-minded    4. Is there anyone they do/don’t trust? Why? 5. How do they talk? (Distinct voice, tone, style, make them stand out - formal, laid back, intellectual, do your research if you decide to use a speech disorder)

+1 Do they have any medical conditions that would have an impact on any of the answers above?

[beepbeeppotato]

First, thanks for writing your blog, it’s really helpful! Second, any tips on how to stick to your character(s) and their personalities? I have a hard time defining and sticking with their traits. Thank you!

 Thanks so much for your ask (and for the compliment!

Sticking to Your Characters’ Personalities

Sometimes, it’s definitely hard to define and commit to a character’s personality. There are several reasons this might happen in the first place:

You’re not satisfied with this character’s development.

You want to include more personality types in your story.

You’re easily sidetracked with different personality ideas.

Your character’s image is constantly changing in your mind.

Any of these reasons and even some others are absolutely valid reasons for having an issue like this. If you think you’ve fallen victim to the second or third bullets, check out this post on the issue and how to fight it.

But, as is the popular phrase, knowing is half the battle. Once you’ve figured out why you’re having a hard time sticking to this character’s personality, finding a way to fix the issue will be exponentially easier.

Defining your characters is another battle in itself. If you want to get a general idea of what your character is like some traits that you can build off of, check out this post on general personality-building. 

It’s hard to figure out where to go once you have a base built, but consider this: how much of the deepest recesses of your character’s mind to you expect to know without having written them? Practice writing this character, either in or out of their point of view. Working with them and their personality before you put them into your actual story is a fantastic way to flesh them out and learn more about them.

Or maybe some part of your mind is telling you that this character’s personality doesn’t jive well with the story. If you think that’s why you’re changing their personality around, then don’t be afraid to do a little digging and figure out what part of it doesn’t fit in. Then go through, change it, and try again to write it until you think you’ve got it right. Admittedly, this is the most time-consuming of the methods suggested so far, but it’s still effective and a good route to take.

If you truly want to define your characters, then you need to know their defining moments. There’s a difference between telling us a character is brave and telling us that this character ran back into the danger to fight the evil dragon. By showing us that, we know they’re courageous. Once you’ve created your characters, pick some of their most important traits and figure out the biggest thing that would define that trait. Maybe you don’t include that exact event, but something on a smaller scale would really let us know that this character is the real deal and that you’re committed to their personality.

And, if all else fails, perhaps consider the idea that this character simply isn’t the right one for this story. It’s not… the most satisfying idea, I know, but sometimes it happens. Have no fear, though, all hope is not lost! Maybe this character wasn’t right for one story, but maybe they’re perfect for another. Save your character somewhere, and maybe a story will come along later and they’ll fit right in. No matter what, don’t delete the characters you’ve worked so hard on.

That’s all the advice I have for this topic. Hopefully it helped! If you have any follow-up questions, please don’t hesitate to leave another ask and I’ll get to it ASAP! Happy writing, and good luck!

[beepbeeppotato]

Hi tumblr.

I’m an aspiring artist/animator, as you can see I am clearly no good at either but I felt proud of this. And since I can’t post it to Instagram...here it is. Enjoy.

Also, if you wanna tell me something I did wrong (or right I guess), PLEASE tell me. I really wanna get better.

K. Thanks. Bye.

#animation #animated gif #2d animation #anime #anime girl #anime art #anime gif #original #digital art #digital drawing #digital animation #digital anime art #man i’m just using all the hashtags #dancing #sort of #i did my best #i did a thing

[beepbeeppotato]

Behind the Scenes: Combat Writing

Some of my stories tilt slice-of-life because I love character development. But I also secretly really love writing combat scenes. They take a lot more time to write because of the movement complexity, but there’s something rewarding about crafting sequential action solely out of words.

I cut most of my fanfic teeth writing Forgotten Realms fics, back in the day. Don’t look them up. They’re not on my current account and they were pretty terrible. But I learned a tremendous amount about how combat flows, particularly since I liked writing Artemis Entreri. Between him and Drizzt, there’s 4 swords to track during a duel.

The two also break a lot of rules about how you can legit fight with blades. Salvatore worked as a bouncer at a bar earlier in his life, and you can tell he was used to fighting with fists instead of weapons. Zaknafein’s iconic move of crossing scimitars and kicking, for example, is physically impossible, according to real combat experts. One of the most important things about writing fights is understanding the weapons being used. You can fudge a few things, but pick and choose those carefully.

10 Quick Tips for Combat Scenes

I’ve shared a post previously with really fantastic suggestions for writing combat. I want to summarize a few of them here in a tl;dr version.

Stick to short words/sentences. Sentence flow impacts action flow. Don’t get bogged down in needless details.

Utilize all 5 senses, particularly smell. Blood smells. Bile smells. Everything that spills in fights smells. Your character should react accordingly.

Adrenaline. Works. Against. You. It makes you alert, but it also impacts your concentration and control. It’s even worse when it runs out.

Seasoned combatants usually have more chill than someone new to it.

Keep introspection to a minimum. Fighters don’t have in-depth internal conversations without becoming very distracted. Unless you want to distract them. Then write away.

Make sure you do write some introspection after a fight. There’s always an emotional comedown, especially depending on the results.

Research the armor/weapons being used. Self-explanatory. Lots of swords in particular are used different IRL than in media (see below for more details on shotels).

Characters must roll if they jump from a height. Otherwise they’re going to ruin their knees. Take this from someone who jumped from ~12 feet of scaffolding during a theater production once. I didn’t break anything but I also didn’t walk anywhere for about twenty minutes after.

A sword/hand-to-hand duel does not last an hour. A few minutes tops, sometimes only a few seconds. Fighters tire swinging swords, and as soon as someone slips up, it’ll be over.

People bleed very easily. Blood gets everywhere. Research blood loss and how much a person can withstand if they’re going to get sliced/stabbed.

Weapons Feature: Shotels

Shotels, which are the blades Malthael carries, originated in Ethiopia. You can learn more about the history of the weapon here.

Most of how you see Malthael fight with shotels in Reaper of Souls is impossible for a human being. The first time we see him in the game, he cleaves two heads cleanly off. Shotels aren’t made for and cannot do that. He can do this because he’s a giant Archangel with incredible physical strength. He could probably do this with whatever weapon he carried. It’s a visually striking piece of Fantastical BS.

Shotels, instead, are described as “stealth weapons”. They’re designed for speed and dexterity. The curved blade allows the attacker to sneak the weapon around shields or other defenses and strike the defender’s back. The back is host to a whole bunch of vital things: the spine, the kidneys, etc. A shotel wielder strikes quickly, incapacitates the defender, and leaves them to bleed out.

They’re not particularly nice weapons. (Not that any is.) But the style is intended to ruin a defender as quickly as possible. They’re not a flashy blade designed to terrify or impress. They’re designed to allow you to win with a single strike before the other person even reacts. They’re also flexible weapons, and are crafted to bend somewhat with a hard strike, allowing continuity and fluidity of movement.

This all makes a great deal of sense given a) Malthael’s physical design (particularly as the Archangel of Wisdom) and b) what we see of him in the Wrath animation.

Compared to his siblings, Malthael is pretty thin. He’s not a brawler or a heavy-weapons fighter. His size and build would grant him speed. He needs fast weapons.

In Wrath, we see Malthael fight deflect attacks without using a weapon. He also doesn’t wear much armor because he doesn’t need to; he doesn’t plan on ever being hit. Again, this suggests he’s more of a duelist. Shotels can be used to deflect attacks due to their curvature, which we see him do in the RoS opening cinematic when he redirects El’druin.

For these reasons, you’ll see the Malthael in my stories fight more like a rogue than any other stereotypical fantasy class. He’s a master of movement, precision, and dodging. He doesn’t wear much in the way of combat armor as a mortal, because it would hamper his movement more than it would protect him. He’s a blade dancer, and by the time you realize he’s approaching you, you’re likely already dead.

Of course, he’s also squishy as hell, and a good combatant would adjust their style to that accordingly.

Edited to add: the one piece of Fantasy BS that I kept is him using the shotels as throwing weapons (as we see in Wrath). Again, when he’s an Archangel, I’m sure he could throw anything and embed it in a wall. As a mortal, I’m assuming the blades are a) angelically powerful but keen as hell and b) he’s not going for precision at that point, if he’s throwing one.

Thanks for reading this take on combat writing and shotels in Diablo!

[beepbeeppotato]

To be a better writer...

Just because a character says or does something considered “wrong” doesn’t mean the action/thought is automatically romanticized and that the author is endorsing it. Writing unrealistic consequences for that action/thought is where the trouble begins. If consequences can be escaped, then it helps to be clear as to how and why it worked out like that in the end (and even then, there may be secondhand consequences that the character can’t shake off so easily).