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dailyadventureprompts · 2 years

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How do you make so many of these so consistently? Do you have a patreon?

Drafting the Adventure: My Process

I was jokingly going to leave this blank because writers block be like that sometimes, but then I realized the question of consistency in writing is actually something a lot of DMs and other creators who follow this blog can benefit from. Appeals to utility have always been the way to get me to do anything, so lets crack in and see what people can learn from the messy inner workings of my process.

Step 1: Inspiration

While I often describe my work as “writing down stories inspired by cool fantasy art”, my process actually begins long before I sit down at my desk to actually write anything. Though trial and error I’ve determined that I’m at my creative best when my brain is swimming in stories, even if they have 0 relevance to what I’m going to write about. I’ve almost always got an audiobook or podcast on while I’m doing mundane life upkeep, and I keep a phone note app or actual notebook within easy access at all times. These last two are essential, as sometimes an idea or story snippet will come to me and then linger around for years, just waiting for some other concept to magnetize to and create something amazing. Every time I get a quarter of a way through a notebook, I transpose the content to a google dock, that way I can have easy access to anything I’ve written down over the ages.

Step 2: Subject Matter

Choosing the right image is an artform in and of itself, as you need something with enough thematic richness to communicate an idea, while at the same time being vague enough to be flexible, in case I have a particular idea in need of an image. Early on I also made the mistake of just collecting images in my drafts folder, leading to a several thousand image backlog that I had to sift through whenever I knew there was ONE PARTICULAR image I wanted to use for a thing. I’ve since rectified my mistake and keep a separate blog specifically for art, which I can specifically tag to search through easier. I also use the “post to tumblr” browser extension to make image acquisition just that much speedier.

Step 3: Story Seeds

After I’ve got my subject in front of me, I study the image to generate a few base ideas: what’s the mood? the vibe? the unstated tension? where would this image fit in a larger story? these things provide the raw material for my writing and help me fill out details that I never would have dreamed of. I also figure out if any of my several years worth of idea backlog would fit into this in any way, and if changing a detail or two could massage a previously good idea into a great one with accompanying art.

Step 4: Gamifying

This is a d&d blog after all, so once the story starts to take shape, I start thinking about how I can turn these narratives into actual adventures. Is there a dungeon involved? a dare to test the party’s skills? maybe a mercantile opportunity to take a gamble on? The best adventure formulation is about dangling a reward out of the party’s current reach, then figuring out what challenges, twists, and pitfalls they’ll need to navigate to get there, while simultaneously setting them up to go on another adventure with a different reward after they’ve achieved the first.

Step 5: Actually writing.

Putting actual words on the page is perhaps my biggest hurdle, both because I suffer from chronic brainfog and because life can so often be too hectic to write. I’ve found that making a habit of writing ( every day for half an hour while I'm having my morning tea) is enough to generally get past my initial hurdle. I triage my projects, focusing on small light ideas when I don’t have the energy saving the big ones that’ll require a lot of work for good writing days or bitesized chunks. Some sessions are about limping along with as much as you can manage, while others are about riding that flow wave and getting as much done as you can. As for making that writing good, I’ve got a whole tag full of different ways to improve your adventure writing, so give it a read and take what you need.

As for a Patreon, I do indeed have one https://www.patreon.com/Villain4hire, and a ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/villainforhire. I'll admit, I've left both of them on the backburner for quite some time both because I had life stuff ( moving etc) and because my ever looming podcast project would necessitate an overhaul of both.

#drafting an adventure #D&D #D&D adventure #Homebrew Adventure #Adventure #DnD #dm tips #dm advice #dm tools #Dungeons and Dragons #prompt postage #writing advice #it's a process

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superman86to99 · 3 years

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Superman #84 (December 1993)

Superman takes a short Paris vacation! Like, one day short. What's the worst that could happen?

Oh, man.

So, for the past few issues, we've been hearing about children being abducted in Metropolis. Now we see that they're being kept inside a giant toy house by some creepy bald man in Quasimodo clothes who seems to be obsessed with toys -- a "Man of Toys," if you will. Side note: no wonder the children haven't been found... all the articles about them are just gibberish! (See clip below.)

The kidnapper thinks that these kids' parents don't deserve them, and that they're much better off here, in an underground hideout with a man who threatens to starve them if they don't play with him. (And I do mean literally play, with action figures and stuff.) Meanwhile, as these children cry for help, Superman is having the time of his life. While helping move a stranded ship with some huge-ass chains, Superman spots a sunken galleon with a treasure chest inside and fantasizes about keeping the booty...

...before turning it over to the authorities anyway, the big boy scout. Then, he wakes up Lois at 6 AM and tells her they should go to Paris right now, which usually means your significant other is having a mental breakdown, but in this case they can actually do it. And so, after deciding that he deserves to use his powers for fun every once in a while, Superman and Lois drop everything and fly to France with super-speed for the rest of the day/issue.

Anyway: back to the child abduction! Cat Grant and her son Adam attend a Halloween party at Adam's school, but there's a disturbed weirdo in a hideous costume lurking among the crowd. Yes, I'm talking about Jimmy Olsen in his Turtle Boy suit.

Shortly after that, a guy in a dinosaur costume (see, all the creeps are dressed as reptiles) lures Adam out of the party with the promise of "superb video games." What child could resist that? Of course, that turns out to be the kidnapper and Adam ends up in his hideout along with the rest of the missing children and, worst of all, not a single "Lextendo" console.

The kidnapper gets angry at Adam when he refers to the toys at the hideout as "old-fashioned junk" (he was REALLY looking forward to those video games), and even angrier when Adam tries to free the other kids. Adam is brave and puts up a good fight, but...

And those were Adam Morgan's final words. "Uh-oh."

Next, we have a pretty harrowing scene of Detective Turpin letting Cat know Adam’s body was found, and Jimmy and Perry White taking her to the morgue to identify the body (most people probably wouldn't bring their former boss to something like that, but Perry sadly knows more than most about losing a kid). As for Lois and Clark, they were gone so long that the Daily Planet had time to print a headline about the murders. The issue ends when the lovebirds walk into the office smiling like two people who just spent the night fooling around in Paris... only to feel like jackasses when they find out what happened.

To be continued!

Character-Watch:

And that's it for little Adam Morgan who, unlike the also tragically diseased Jerry White, didn't even get any post-death appearances. Adam went from a little kid scared of Superman, to a huge brat, to a character who was approaching likeability as of last week. That's why I hate it when DC kills off young characters like Adam or Liam Harper: in long-form storytelling, children represent potential. Look at how much Wally West or Dick Grayson evolved over the years compared to their mentors! Sure, there's a huge probability that Adam would have ended up disappearing from comics for 25 years anyway, but who knows, maybe we'd now know him as Teen Gangbuster or something. GangbusTEEN.

This issue also represents a turning point for the kidnapper, who is never named or seen clearly in the story itself but I don't think I'm shocking anyone by spoiling the fact that he's Toyman (it's in the cover, for one thing). In his last two appearances before this storyline, Toyman helped Superman save some kids from Sleez and looked genuinely sad to learn about Superman's death, so this is a pretty dramatic change for the character. We'll find out why he went from big softy to child killer in Superman #85 (but don't get your hopes up).

Plotline-Watch:

The most disturbing part of the issue, all things considered, is still the part where Toyman climbs into a giant crib and hugs a huge stuffed bunny. Look at serial killer Tommy Pickles here:

Don Sparrow says: “Even with the upgrade, Toyman is still just a man in a suit, a common complaint about Superman’s rogues gallery.” Funny you should say that, because I JUST shared an old Wizard interview in our Twitter in which Dan Jurgens talks about how Doomsday came out of his frustration with the fact that most Superman villains are dudes in suits (plus other interesting tidbits from the era, like how it was actually Roger Stern’s idea to bring back Hank Henshaw, so check out that link!).

Don again: “The entire Superman storyline of this issue feels like filler. Diving for buried treasure and soaring off to Paris -- it all feels like wasted time next to the Adam storyline.” I have a theory that the entire ship sequence is there as an excuse to put Superman in those big chains and make that Spawn joke (which I didn’t get until now, since I’ve always read this issue in Spanish).

Superman says that pulling that big ship was "a little easier than expected" -- that's either another hint that there's something going on with Superman's powers since he came back, or a subtle dig at the state of American ship manufacturing.

Another adorable "window tap" scene for the books, and this is the sexiest one so far. Is it me or has Jurgens started copying more than just Teri Hatcher's hairdo from Lois & Clark? (For anyone who thinks Lois has gotten implants, I refer you to this clip.)

While in Paris, Lois asks Clark if he's ever wondered what would happen if his rocket had landed in other countries. Don: “Clark’s conversation with Lois sounds like a bunch of concepts for Elseworlds stories. We eventually would see a Russian Superman, and a British Superman, but not yet the French Superman. (Hire us, DC!)” Yep, got my French Superman pitch ready, Jim Lee. Or just let us do Russian Superman again, since Red Son wasn’t even the first time you published that idea.

Don once more: “Another thing that makes no sense about the ‘new’ Toyman is his resentment of technological toys—when in previous appearances he himself had deadly high-tech toys to vex Superman over the years.” I especially resent his hatred of video game consoles. Incidentally, I wonder what types of games are available for Adam’s beloved Lextendo. Star Lex 64? Mega Man Lex? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles & Lex?

No one is more upset at Lois and Clark for going AWOL than Whit. NO ONE. He's so furious that his usually grey mustache turned black.

Patreon-Watch:

As always, shout out to our patrons, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month’s exclusive Patreon article was about the recently unearthed sequel to Superman 64 for the PlayStation, featuring Metallo, Parasite, and Lois looking even hotter than in this issue:

Hot damn. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!

And believe it or not, Don Sparrow has even more to say about this issue. Read his section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

I should start off my section with a big caveat: I flat out hate this issue. There were several weird decisions made in the post-Death-and-Return era (most of them along the same lines of making the Superman titles more grim-and-gritty), and this story was one of the worst of them. My theory is that, despite the praise and record-breaking sales of the Death and Return storyline, the Superman creative team felt pressure to have more extreme storylines, perhaps in response to the wildly successful Image books coming out at the time. Between this story, and the upcoming “Spilled Blood” storyline, the Super books take a hard—but temporary--turn into more violent and upsetting storytelling—even though these stories are by the same writers as the previous few years. While death has always been a part of comics, and Superman comics was no exception, there is a jarring glibness and unfeeling toward the way violence is handled in these pages that is quite different from the stories that preceded it. It’s made all the more jarring by the fact that well-established personalities suddenly veer wildly out of character, Toyman chief among them.

We start with the cover, and while it is technically well-drawn (by the familiar team of Jurgens and Breeding) it’s also a very upsetting visual. I think they should have gone with the pieta type pose with Adam and Superman, OR the scary badass bowie-knife Toyman (who apparently has a Cheshire cat smile now) but not both. But the cover is a good hint at the tonal dissonance of the comic within.

We open with a splash of the now-extreme 90s looking Toyman, with his serial killer shaved head and spooky cloak, ignoring the pleas of hungry kids he has locked up in a tiny jail cell for days at a time (if that sentence doesn’t ring alarm bells for how wrong this is for a Superman story, I don’t know what will). For much of the issue Toyman’s eyes are obscured by glare on his lenses, further de-humanizing a character who was once one of Superman’s more empathetic bad guys.

We cut to Superman tugboating a huge tanker with giant chains and it’s a cool visual (one repeated in the Batman V Superman film). It feels especially out of place to focus on, given how upsetting this issue is otherwise, but throughout the whole comic, Lois is drawn smoking hot, especially on the two page spread on pages 9-10.

The scenes depicting the actual murder, while still wildly out of place in a Superman comic, are well done, and give a real sense of darkness and menace, which I suppose is the intent. Perhaps my least favourite visual is the Big Bird stuffie, silently bearing witness to what’s about to occur.

The edges of the panels on get more slashy and off-kilter (to me, looking very much like the layouts more typically seen in Image comics of the day) and I suppose I appreciate the restraint of how little Dan Jurgens shows of the death of a child, showing only a bloody slash on a black background. This is still a pretty baroque image for a Superman comic, but certainly less violent than it could be, given what is happening.

Cat Grant’s silent horror is well staged, and powerful in its way. Lastly, Clark Kent bending in sorrow and regret is a powerful image.

While this issue is handled marginally better, and more maturely than other comics on the shelf at this time, I still believe it is one of the biggest mistakes of the era. Giving a long-established character an unceremonious death for shock value is gross on its own, but making it a child definitely crosses a line for me. Making it worse is that, while the Toyman is a criminal and a killer, he has shown in past issues (a similar kidnapping storyline involving Sleez) that he genuinely cares for the well-being of children. So for a long-time reader, this also felt like a betrayal of a long-established, fully developed character. Adding to the ugliness of this is that Adam dies heroically, trying to free the children who have been caged, unfed, for days, but even in that regard, he fails. The headline at the end of the issue confirms all the children are dead. Adam’s death did not buy the other kids enough time to get away. It was all for nothing. Had Adam died, but the other children lived, maybe this issue wouldn’t leave quite as bad a taste. [Max: It’s weird because it’s all told in a way where it’s told in a way where it would make sense, narratively and within the story universe, that the other kids survived, but then it’s almost casually revealed that nope, they died too. A scene of one of the kids relaying Adam’s heroism to Cat in a future issue would have gone a long way.]

Superman doesn’t come off well in these pages, either. It’s honestly the type of story they should just stay away from, because the more you think about all the calamity that is going on around the clock, the less defensible the whole Clark Kent persona becomes. Superman carving out time to romance his fiancée directly led to the preventable deaths of innocent children—how do you come back from that?

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I’m always looking for hints that perhaps Jimmy or Perry know Superman’s secret identity deep down, and Jimmy’s anger at Lois and Clark on their return to the Daily Planet offices would seem to give that theory some credence, as he’s as angry at them as if he knew Clark really were Superman. Either that, or he’s ticked that it fell to him, and none of them to escort Cat into the morgue. [Max: Has this issue finally converted you to the “Jimmy is terrible” side now, Don?]

I don’t think I’m the only one who disliked the new Toyman—SPOILERS BE HERE: years later, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns retconned this whole story, reverting Schott into the criminal who over-relates to kids, rather than the child-killer of this story. Apparently the infantile Schott, who speaks to “Mother” a la Norman Bates, is a robot so lifelike it fools even Superman, and the “Mother” he’s constantly replying to was the real Winslow Schott trying to recall the malfunctioning robot. [Max: That’s one Geoff Johns retcon I really didn’t mind, even if it felt kind of derivative of his similar “all the Brainiacs are robots made by the real Brainiac” reveal.]

#superman #dan jurgens #josef rubinstein #toyman #cat grant #adam morgan #dan turpin #whit #gangbusteen #super luthor fighter ii turbo championship edition

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mintbees · 5 years

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Have you ever thought “man, i wish i could see more of mints work, and also support him with money?” well look no further because I finally got around to it and made a ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Patreon *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ For as much as a dollar a month you can get tons of content you usually dont get to see! sketches, WIP’s, sketchbook pictures and broken pantheon concept art! Speaking of broken pantheon, at the Queen rank you get broken pantheon pages a week before uploading schedule! Thats like, double the content you get now! Pledging or spreading the word would really be appreciated, im mentally and physically ill and thus unable to get a job like most other teens are starting to do at my age. My ultimate goal is to be financially independent so i can move out of my less than ideal parental home and come out as trans. Just a single dollar a month would get me closer to that. And no matter what amount you pledge, you’ll get a little kiss from me. <3

#patreon #im really excited about this!! itd mean so much to me if you started helping me make money!

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stormsingerstudios-blog · 5 years

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Homecoming ~Morenatsu Revisited~ (Release #1)

Happy holidays, everyone!

It's been a long development process, but we've finally made it! Me and the rest of Stormsinger Studios are proud to bring you the first release of Homecoming!

After some extensive pre-release testing and a stream preview courtesy of our friend Deckerlink, we feel it's finally ready for the public. A lot of hard work and dedication has gone into this project, and I personally couldn't be more proud of the results so far. We hope all of you enjoy the experience as much as we've enjoyed making it!

As stated in previous posts, Homecoming is a radical reimagining of Morenatsu, so please understand what it actually is. Going in, be prepared for many in-progress elements, especially on the art side of things. Homecoming is a ground-up remake of the Morenatsu we love, and many artistic liberties have been taken with the source material. We know that isn't to everyone's preference, but the intent of Homecoming is to provide a new, updated experience for old fans and newcomers to Morenatsu. For most of us on the development team, Morenatsu was a first experience coming to terms with who we are, and we want to provide the best experience possible for people who are in the same situation as we were all those years ago. If even one person plays our game and learns to love themselves for who they are on the inside, well...I consider that a victory.

A-Anyway, links are after this next section, where I'm updating the FAQ I made way back when we first announced this project.

Have a good rest of the year!

~ Dzahn

+++++ FAQ +++++

1. What is Homecoming?

A. Homecoming is a ground-up recoding of what we've already finished for Revisited. We're also increasing the game's resolution to a widescreen format, so everything should look cleaner and more organized. Essentially, think of this as a soft reboot for the Revisited project and a remake for Morenatsu as a whole.

2. Why stop developing the old version?

A. We believed it was a necessary step forward. Many issues started mounting as we developed Revisited, such as pressure from hardcore fans of the original to not change, disregard for the hard work we've put into the project, and resulting bloated code/file size trying to accommodate everyone. Starting fresh gives us the opportunity to make the experience we can feel proud of, ensuring every aspect stays consistent and the best it can be.

3. Will this change the story?

A. Yes, quite a bit, but ideally still keeping enough that it "feels" like Morenatsu. Revisited originally started out as a project to bring Morenatsu to a more accessible platform and correct grammatical errors. Along the way, it morphed into a project that tried to update the stories and give them more emotional depth. The same quality of writing you see in Revisited will continue on into Homecoming. We are embracing the “adaptation” aspect of the project, though. This means that areas where we feel there needs to be a change, such as the inclusion of female sprites, we will be making adjustments. Entire routes from the original are being rewritten from scratch to match the quality of routes released later in the game's lifespan (Kounosuke, Shun, Kouya).

4. You keep using the word "adaptation". What do you mean by that?

A. Like when your favorite movie gets a modern remake, or an old classic television show gets a new revival, we see Homecoming as an opportunity to remake Morenatsu and give another spin on the classic storylines.

5. What does this mean for us who want the old art, music, and storylines?

We're making Homecoming because we love Morenatsu and feel another artistic direction will achieve the themes we're aiming for. We're not trying to spite anyone, as rumors have stated.

Other projects have popped up who meet the "don't change anything" expectations better than we ever could. Stormsinger Studios won't be the ones doing this for you, but if you want to experience the game the original creators intended, I highly recommend checking out rtlstien's Revival port: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26153752/

6. When can we expect updates for Homecoming?

A. We're all very busy people. Even this first release took a lot longer than I anticipated. Since we're not on any payment plans like Patreon (and have no desire to be), game updates are going to be on the old fashioned "when it's done" schedule. We'll try to keep you up to date in places like FA and Twitter, but due to our crazy schedules it would be foolish to force strict deadlines.

7. What has changed going from Revisited to Homecoming?

A. Homecoming aims to remake Morenatsu with a different goal. We desire to make a game that connects with people personally, makes them feel like things will get better in life...because eventually everything does. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we're restructuring Morenatsu to better achieve that theme.

Coming from Revisited, Homecoming will feature new sprites, CGs, music, sound effects...basically, new everything! The resolution has increased to a widescreen format, so everything has the chance to look better and feel more modern. As stated before, the storylines have been updated to aim for a theme of "Hope". Finally, most Gallery features from Revisited will be ported over to Homecoming over time, though they won't necessarily be there at first.

8. Why is the protagonist an Arctic Fox now?

A. I get this one a lot, so I'll copy/paste my most recent answer to this question: I've been pretty apprehensive about the species change (and writing out humans in general) because I knew it would be hands down the most controversial aspect of the game. So far it's been very polarized, which I expected, but I've also seen plenty of people come around to the idea as the days progress.

I wanted to remove humans from the setting because it does two things for me: It makes worldbuilding easier with not having to explain why a vastly inferior species (humans, as written in the OG) are able to coexist with superpowered beastmen (allowing me to better justify reasons why these characters would love Hiroyuki in the first place), and the concept of "if everyone is furry, nobody is", which is to say that it's up to the reader to interpret everyone the way they wish. If you want to see the characters as abstracted humans, then you're more than able to. If you want to see them as humanoid representations of their species, you're more than welcome to as well.

In short, I made the decision to remove humans from the setting because I believe it gives me more room to write interesting characters and scenarios. It provides a different perspective on things that the original game didn't have, and I believe that's reason enough to justify the change. Keep in mind, Homecoming is a "remake" and not everything is going to be (or even intends to be) exactly the way it was in the source material.

== Additional response from Frostclaw: One of the biggest things people tend to ask is "Why an arctic fox?" and though Dzahn answered the reason we made him a kemono, it wasn't exactly stated why we made him an arctic fox in particular. The truth is, we were looking for a species that wasn't represented as much in Morenatsu. Ultimately, fox was chosen, which seemed to go well, as foxes generally tend to be cute, albeit rather silly. Given that it went with Hiroyuki's personality, it just seemed to fit. However, the suggestion to make him an arctic fox was mine, for a few reasons:

1. The yuki portion of his name. Yuki, as some people may or may not be aware, is Japanese for snow. 2. Arctic foxes are an uncommon sight in Japan (though you can see a few at Zao Fox Village). They aren't native to the region. 3. Hiroyuki is extremely sensitive to the heat. Since arctic foxes have a thicker coat of fur, it fits well to make Hiroyuki an arctic fox.

As it stands, Hiroyuki is a set species, and there are no plans to allow for a species change (as that would require intensive programming and rewrites of story elements). Additionally, his kitsune heritage also will be playing an important part to the story. I can't say much about it now, but please look forward to it sometime in the future.

+++++ Release 1 Features +++++

+ Game recoded from scratch, featuring updated art along with an increased resolution

+ Tons of new and remixed writing, including three "events" that were never seen in Revisited

+ New UI

+ Most of Act 1, will take you to the end of August 6th

+ A complete soundtrack with functioning Music Room

+ New options to tailor the experience to your needs, such as enhanced adult content controls

+++++ Downloads +++++

https://stormsingerstudios.itch.io/homecoming-morenatsu-revisited

+++++ Cool Links +++++

Homecoming ~Morenatsu Revisited~ Discord Server: https://discord.gg/WTjM3S5

Homecoming Soundtrack Playlist (assorted):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLjQbwdUtaxNekKAPzMx3Aw/videos

Deckerlink's preview stream:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk16fWOi0mA

+++++ Our Pages +++++ DzahnDragon (Project Director, Lead Writer, Coder): https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dzahndragon/ https://dzahndragon.tumblr.com/ https://twitter.com/DzahnDragon https://www.twitch.tv/dzahndragon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHwk40OW_bVzPqP6GBTU1qQ Devilizer (Art Director and Assistant Writer): https://www.furaffinity.net/user/devilizer/ Lesli-Chu!? (Composer and Assistant Writer): https://www.furaffinity.net/user/leslichu/ https://soundcloud.com/user-141917326 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLjQbwdUtaxNekKAPzMx3Aw Frostclaw (~Revisited~ Manager and Assistant Writer): https://www.furaffinity.net/user/grompyryokin/ https://www.the-gcn.com/ HypoNova (Assistant Artist)

#morenatsu #homecoming_morenatsu #stormsinger_studios #dzahndragon #morenatsu_revisited

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jinbeizamezama · 5 years

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Concept art for a werewolf dude.

Commission Page ・ Patreon (Patreons get to see art a full week ahead of the public, along with other benefits)

Longass description under the line -

-Cain (No last name idk maybe he used to have one but he stopped since he became a werewolf. maybe cain isnt even his birth name and he gave up his human name for this one.) -Male -Werewolf -Somewhere 27-32 years old -Probably aorund 6'2"-6'4" he's a tall doggo

Born human, was turned werewolf somewhere in his teens, learned to hate humans because people wouldnt stop trying to kill him. Ran into a myth or two who mistrusted him at first because he looked human but eventually they're friends yay. At first he could only change during the full moon like classic werewolves (as well as he's weak to silver like classic werewolves) but he was given bands that when put on, he had more control over himself and can change whenever he wants. However he is still stronger during the full moon, and can only go true beast mode during the full moon even with the bands. (Bands are made of tough enchanted (werewolf?) leather with some enchanted metal in it. The set includes, as seen, a collar, two bands on each hand, and a belt. Might also include bands around the feet, but those aren't pictured so idk.) The bands also let him change form while preserving his clothes so he doesnt rip them every single time and run out of clothes. He also wears steel gauntlets that are used for guarding, but he doesn't use them as often as he should.

Stage 1 - Unchanged, he appears similar to how he did as a human. Differences being his eyes are a bright yellow, he has sharpened teeth, and his hair is greyish like his wolf fur. He can't change his eyes or his hair (without contacts or dyes at least) but with the bands equipped he can change different parts of his body to wolf parts, and he usually has his tail out so people know he's not just a weird human. Still vulnurable to silver, but it'll only hurt if it actually touches his flesh past the skin, if it just touches his skin he's fine he'll just be annoyed.

Stage 2 - Changed without the aid of the full moon, he remains almost the same size as he is as a human. His jacket stays on unless he strains too much and tears it, the gauntlets also stay on, but he loses his pants. Speed and strength is up, and he loses the ability to speak. He loses some self control and acts more on instinct and impulse, but not to the point where you can't talk to him and reason with him (unless he's too worked up.) He is more vulnurable to silver, and if it touches his skin it'll burn him, but it's still not too bad where he'd have to leave a room if there's silver. He usually only enters this stage when he needs to fight or hunt.

Stage 3 - Only atainable when the full moon is out, and when the full moon is out he can't control his transformation and is permanently in this state until the moon is gone. This stage is nearly twice as large as stage 1. He keeps all of the attributes of stage 2 (loses the ability to speak, upped speed and strength, lost self control and mostly works on instinct and impulse.) But those traits are increased, for the most part. The bands stay on, but he loses his clothes along with the gauntlets. He loses much more self control, and is more like a very large very dangerous but intelligent dog. He has more trouble communicating in this state, but he will listen to those he trusts if they manage to hold his attention long enough to get through his thick skull, otherwise he's unpredictable. Because of this whenever the full moon comes around he usually locks himself somewhere where he won't be able to get out until he gets his human hands back to unlock the lock, or he'll stay with someone he trusts who can keep him calm when he's in giant wolf mode. If he does get out on his own, chances are he'll run around the forest hunting until he returns to normal. Unless he finds people, then he'll probably try to hunt them. (I imagine friends of his friends/people who know of him have learned some kind of defensive maneuver if this ever happens, maybe a particular phrase to repeat loudly so he knows they're not a threat or prey, or some kind of visual sign.) He is also most vulnurable to silver in this form. Silver will incapacitate him if it breaks his skin, but if it just touches the skin then it'll burn and cause him to cower.

Personality-wise he's pretty closed off, not many people know him and he doesn't interact with many. To most he's just that scary looking wolf guy, the reason you shouldn't run around during a full moon if you hear a wolf howl. However contrary to the usual depictions of werewolves, he doesn't actively enjoy fighting. He doesnt' hate it, he'd just rather be hunting or exploring, he only fights to protect himself/people he cares about or if he needs to scare people away. He always feels terrible whenever he wakes up from stage three and finds he's hurt someone, most of the time anyways. (more development later idk.) He also enjoys chewing on bones until they snap. But he hides this because 'haha of course you like chewing on bones you're a big dog' so if anyone catches him chewing on bones he'll just say he's sharpening his teeth or he wants the marrow.

#Full Drawing #Concept Art #Original Character #Cain #Werewolf

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amymethvenart · 6 years

Photo

Commission Copper And Crystal Dragon by Mad--Munchkin

My boyfriend is really into DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) and asked me to draw his favorite dragon ( Copper ) with mine, (crystal ). I made the crystal dragon more cat like and softer than they appear in the game to give her a more feminine look. The copper dragon is more traditional but I had him giving the crystal dragon a cheeky smooch on the forehead. I thought it was cute.

Interested in a commission?

A commission is a piece of art that you request an artist to make in exchange for payment.

This can be anything from pet portraits, creature concepts, youtube thumbnails, original characters, comic covers,...anything at all! Here are some examples I have done recently. You can see more of my artwork on my Etsy Shop as well as in the Deviantart Gallery.

Ordering commissions from me just just one of the many ways you can show your support and keep this youtube channel and my business going. It also helps with living expenses and convention trips. You can also purchase ready made art prints from the Etsy Shop, and the Ebay Shop. You can also become a Patron on my Patreon page and win exclusive rewards including video topic suggestions, convention exclusive items and more! Etsy Shop; www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MadMunchk… Ebay Shop; www.ebay.co.uk/usr/mad-munchki… Patreon; www.patreon.com/madmunchkin

Of course, continuously watching the youtube channel, ( liking and commenting on my videos and following my content on other websites is also support in itself. Remember to also follow the Mad Munchkin Facebook page and the Deviant Art Gallery to stay up to date and informed on how I have been doing and what I plan on doing in the future.

If you are interested in ordering a commission here are the options available to you;

At the moment there are three options available to you; 1; Sketch

Starting from just £30, a sketch is a black and white piece with a plain background, perfect for more simple concepts or studies for you to further develop or colour for yourself later. Of Additional characters and props cost just £20 extra. 2; Coloured Sketch

Starting from just £50, a coloured sketch is a coloured illustration of a character on a plain background. Perfect for using as PNGs to use on your own background or youtube thumbnail. Additional characters and props cost just £25 extra.

3; Full Coloured piece

Starting from just £200, full coloured piece is a fully shaded rendered and coloured piece of art with a background and one character. Perfect for comic or book covers or youtube thumbnails. Extra characters and props are £100 extra. 4; Youtube Thumbnail A brand new item for 2018! Starting at £100, a youtube thumbnail is exactly what it says on the tin. Similar to a full coloured piece though with a simpler finish these are perfect for making your youtube videos stand out! Additional characters cost just £50 extra.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Please note that I run a first come first serve policy. If you wish to have your commission done for a certain date, an additional £20 must be paid along with the deposit of the commission. This will push your commission to the top of the list to ensure your commission is completed in time. Please allow at least 14 days for the commission to be done. Remember if your commission is not a priority order the time that it will take to be completed will vary due to commitments, convention trips and video schedules.

What I will draw; PG suitable content Humans Animals/ pets Original Characters Fan Art What I will NOT draw Blood and Gore Sexual content Drug use or alcohol abuse My OCs with any OCs. (sorry)

Please note I will not draw anything that would not be considered Safe for Work. In other words I will not draw any content that is not PG13 suitable. This includes drug abuse, Alcohol abuse, sexual content including nudity, and extreme violence and gore. If the subject of a drawing goes against my morals, religious or political beliefs I will negotiate with the client and come to some sort of compromise.

PRICES AND HOW TO PAY

My Prices are in British Pound Sterling, though I do take foreign currency. You can use an online currency converter to see how much your commission order will cost in your currency. When placing an order for a commission I ask for customers to pay an upfront deposit of 50% of the total cost of their commission order. This deposit is non refundable so please ensure that when you place your order you are able to pay the rest of the cost of the commission when the commission is completed. I take all payments via paypal.

Please remember than if you post the commission online to credit me as the original artist so I get credit, exposure and further custom.

If you are interested in ordering a commision, please send me a private note here on deviantart, tweet me on twitter, pm me on facebook or send an email with full details of your commission order to; [email protected].

Thank you for the ongoing support and I look forward to hearing from you.

#dragon #wings #fantasy monster couple crystal copper

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writeinspiration · 6 years

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suggestions for a young writer? im 15 and i just started seriously writing about a year ago~ since then I've written mostly poetry but I really write other stuff like short stories or plays too! but i always have trouble making my ideas ideas into something and just deciding how or what i want to write. and i get so worried that i lose motivation! i think that i first want to tackle trying to make characters/a simple short story. advice, tips, or tricks? thank youuu!

Hi! I’m glad you’re ready to get started! Beingeager about writing is the best. Writing a poem is a lot like writing a shortstory, so you’re on the right track. Good writing is precise and almost lyrical.

It can be really difficult to maintain motivation.Most people will advise you to write every day, which is good advice, but it’sjust not always feasible. The more you write, the better you will get!

Personally, titles and concepts and characters areall equally likely to get me started on a project. A cool title might pop up inmy head, and then I develop what story and characters go with it. Or I’ll havea concept that I’ll develop and label. Other times, I start with a characterand figure out who they are and what they do.

Here’s my most popular post regarding charactercreation: https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/158687382194/how-do-you-create-characters-or-do-they-come-find

Keeping motivated can be really difficult whenyou’re unsure of your capabilities as a writer. But the more you wait to putyour ideas to the page, the harder it will be to pick things back up. Onceyou’ve gone a week without writing, one more day seems like nothing. One moreweek, one more month… where does it stop?

I’ve seen people suggest leaving off in the middleof a sentence. When you do that, you are setting up for success. You alreadyknow exactly how that sentence will end and where it will lead. So once you sitdown with it again, you can hit the middle of the sentence without staring at atotally blank page.

I have a lot of different posts and tags that mayhelp you out!

Writer’s block and depression (1), and again (2), and some pick-me-ups (3)

First drafts don’t have to be good.

Write a whole bunch of crappy sentences if that’s what it takesto get a good one.

Don’t let it get you down. Just get it done.

Your big ideas are worth pursuing.

This post in particular will likely resonate with you and how you feel right now: https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/132168477614/ive-been-trying-to-write-for-years-unfortunately (full text included at the very, very bottom of this post)

More below the “Keep reading” line!

Important links:

Big projects on the way!!

Feedback survey for WriteInspiration & WriteInspiration product survey

IT GETS BETTER (now on Wordpress too!)

Feeling generous and want to thank me for my work on this blog? Then please click here and donate via PayPal!

You can also become a patron of me on Patreon.

Don’t have a dime to spare? That’s totally fine! :) Thanks for your support~!

Click here to get a random “Why Aren’t You Writing?” post!

You can buy my stuff!

Useful tags:

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/search/young– stuff relating to young writers and characters

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/search/inspiration– inspiration

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/search/motivation– motivation

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/tagged/depression– depression

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/search/characters– everything relating to characters

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/search/writing+prompt

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/search/prompt

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/search/rapid+prompt

– writing prompts

Specific posts that address some of your concerns:

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/144610505447/if-you-see-a-need-fill-it– If you see a need, fill it.

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/152075979524/fuckyeahyoungadultlit-tachycardiia– diversity in YA lit

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/132168477614/ive-been-trying-to-write-for-years-unfortunately– starting to write

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/131428782622/cliches-in-ya-romance– clichés in YA romance

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/131034862609/lizardpeopledearreader-honestly-if-stephanie– There’s always someone worse.

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/104205593649/jetpack-johnny-rose-for-a-tenner-actually– Curiosity is important.

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/23740953643/setting– starting with setting

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/151665809147/learning-the-essentials-of-plotting-your-novel– plotting

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/149405245039/i-have-an-insanely-bad-time-writing-dialogue-any– dialogue

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/169191903744/behind-me-is-infinite-power-before-me-is-endless– possibilities

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/167418537238/startledoctopus-ronibravo-i-started-writing– any reason to start writing is a good reason

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/96119396642/cranky-crustaceans-pupukachoo– Pixar’s rules for storytelling

30THNOVEMBER 2013

QUOTE REBLOGGEDFROM BLOTS& PLOTS WITH 105,191 NOTES

Young writers should read books past bedtime andwrite things down in notebooks when they are supposed to be doing somethingelse.

— Lemony Snicket (via blotsandplots)

14THDECEMBER 2012

The question for each man to settle is not what hewould do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; thequestion is what he will do with the things he has. The moment a young manceases to dream or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and resolutely looks hisconditions in the face, and resolves to change them, he lays the corner-stoneof a solid and honorable success.

— Hamilton Wright Mabie

7THNOVEMBER 2017

PHOTO REBLOGGEDFROM FIXYOUR WRITING HABITS WITH 2,493 NOTES

[Image transcript:The Rules of Writing

1: Write crappy first drafts.2: Words don’t bleed. Cut them.3: Write now. Edit later.4: There are NO mistakes–only creative opportunities.5. Don’t think. Just write.6: Rules? There are rules?]

Starting to write:

https://writeinspiration.tumblr.com/post/132168477614/ive-been-trying-to-write-for-years-unfortunately

deathtotheselfie asked:I’ve been trying to write for years. Unfortunately I’m very young and theschooling I’ve received on writing is nothing like I what I write about. I’monly 14 now, but little phrases and ideas bounce around in my head. Howeverwhen I write I feel like it’s not good or mature enough because of my lack ofexperience. I can’t tend to think of original plots as I’m just surrounded inother people’s work. Do you have any advice on plot development? And do youthink I should continue trying to write?

Hi! Your question makes me quite sad. If you liketo write, then you should pursue it. It’s that simple.

School doesn’t help much in terms of creativewriting. Over the summer, when I was little, my mom would make my sister and mewrite short stories. It kept me in the habit of writing even when school wasn’tin session.

(Wanna know a secret? I often got stuck halfwaythrough my story, so I’d coerce my sister into showing me hers. Then I wouldwrite the same events but in my own words. I did this for quite a while onesummer. Maybe two.)

Not only does school keep you ridiculously busy,but it also doesn’t like teaching creative stuff much either, because math andscience are deemed as more important than anything related to the arts.

All those negative voices banging around in yourhead along with all the good ideas you have? You need to learn to silence them.Those things are what you are being trained to think.

Here’s what nobody seems to know about writing:you have to start somewhere. No one starts off as an amazing writer.

People expect writers to have this magical well ofintuition, but honestly, it just comes from practice.

You know that thing about practicing 10,000 hoursin order to become a master at something? It applies to writing, too.

Writers write.

You need to watch and write things down–what youobserve can be the basis for characters or plot or whatever. Eavesdrop on astranger’s phone conversation to get a peek into other people’s lives. Sit on abench in the mall and watch people go by.

Do you know how babies learn? They observe otherpeople doing things and then try to mimic them.

I don’t mean that fledgling writers are babies, ofcourse, but I mean that you can get your best work by reading other people’swork.

Figure out what you like to read, what you don’t liketo read. And then ask yourself WHY.

What is it about that book you hated? Was it thecharacters? The plot? The slow story-telling?

What did you love about that one book? How did itmake you feel? What parts made you feel that way?

I was in middle school when I began reading a Series of Unfortunate Events (I’m25, for comparison’s sake). Do you know what my writing sounded like while Iwas reading those? Lemony Snicket. It wasn’t on purpose, but that’s just whathappened. (Also for comparison’s sake, I now have had a short story publishedin an actual anthology and completed a 60-page poetry collection as my creativethesis, as well as a book that I’m trying to get published.)

The more you read, the more you gain. If you readenough books, then you’ll have influences from all over that create a uniquewriter: you.

You are the sum of everything you have ever reador seen or thought about.

Yes, you’re a teenager. But that doesn’t stop youfrom observing the world and teaching yourself to understand other writers’work.

If you want to write something but are worriedthat it sounds too much like somebody else, then figure out why it sounds thatway. Is it just you that thinks it sounds that way? Or do other people tell youthat as well? Find out what it is that makes it sound like that. Is it thenarration? The plot? The themes?

Regardless of your answers, you are able to makeit unique to you.

You are a writer, and whatever you write will beyours and yours alone.

As far as plot development goes, I find thatoutlining helps. I don’t always keep to the outline, but askingyourself “Then what happens?” after each event that you write down is thebest thing you can do for yourself.

A plot is a series of events. If you know whathappens naturally after something, then you write that down. It also helps ifyou understand WHY something happens.

She goes to the mall.

Then what happens?

She ends up going home and crying in her room.

Why? What caused this? What physical actionscaused her to want to leave the mall? What mental actions occurred because ofthe physical actions?

She runs into someone she used to be best friendswith, and they get into a fight. This makes her feel disappointed in her friendbut also unsure of herself because she doesn’t know what she has done to makeher friend act that way. She places the blame on herself instead of on herformer friend. This is because she has been told growing up that everything isher fault and that her younger brother can’t do anything wrong.

See what I mean? And it’s okay to ask yourselfwhat you would do in that situation. But your characters are not you. Theyprobably won’t react like you would. And that’s okay and important.

As I told my students last year, ask yourself WHYand HOW after each sentence, after each paragraph, after each plot point, aftereach whatever. It will keep your story going until it reaches its naturalconclusion.

Okay, this ended up being way, way longer than Iintended it to be, haha. But I’m completely serious and obviously verypassionate about this. And I can say way more on the subject at the drop of ahat, so if you have any more questions, then just give me a shout. :)

Best of luck. And don’t stop writing.

I mean it. :)

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americanmcgeesalicefc · 6 years

Photo

Here’s the newest (on time) Patreon update:

“Sooo much going on these days! I’ve been running around and working like mad since returning to Shanghai. Here’s the breakdown: 1) I’ve adjusted the Patreon Tiers - removed the $50 and $100 levels and compressed those into a single $75 tier. In that tier you get a Chaos Necklace (one time) and a monthly art print. I’ve also added (per Patron suggestion) a $35 tier which, every three months, grants you a previously released art print of your choice. If you were at the $50 or $100 level previously, please manually change your pledge to a new level.

2) Added a Patreon goal at 555 Patrons (we’re at 400 now) where we’ll print, number, and autograph an “Inmate Certificate” and mail that to all 555 Patrons. If you’ve seen our Mysterious Collector Certificates then you’ll know the sort of thing we’re talking about…

3) Chaos Necklaces have left the factory and are on their way to our logistics partner in Shenzhen! That means we’ll soon start shipping those to Mysterious customers and Patrons who are (were) at eligible levels. These things are gorgeous - your patience in waiting for them to be manufactured will be handsomely rewarded!

4) Tons of progress being made on setup and prep for Pirate Jam 2018. We put together a Facebook page for the event and are working on route maps, gift bags, and other fun stuff. Maybe we’ll offer some Pirate Jam branded stuff for sale at Mysterious… anyone interested? In case you aren’t aware, Pirate Jam is a game jam I put together in Thailand where we invite developers from around the world to hop aboard a fleet of sailboats for a week of sailing, coding, and fun in the sun. Arg, matey!

5) Moving quickly towards production-ready cards, book, instructions, and boxes for Out of the Woods. Really excited to see elements like the collector level wooden card box… Want to get your hands on all the OOTW stuff? Head over to the pre-order shop and grab your game, book, playmat, etc - NOW!

6) Uhhh… there was something else we were working on…

Shit. I forgot…

Dallas the Blunderhand? Palace of Underpants? Chalice of Plundered Spam…

Oh! Alice in Wonderland! Right…

So, Joey sends along a bunch of artwork which we’re refining for inclusion in the EA Presentation…

*6-9*

We’re pushing to have a selection of key images which sell the overall concept plus smaller supporting images which communicate the game play. Added to this will be sections outlining our plans for funding, marketing, development, and leveraging of the IP (merch, film, etc). Martin and I are starting to shape the presentation now.

We’ve also had several meetings and calls with various parties interested in helping us crowdfund, wanting to invest directly, and/or offering their development/publishing services for Asylum. Lots of good progress all ‘round!

We’ll have another live stream this week over on my YouTube channel so keep an eye out for the timing announcement. That should be posted around various Facebook pages, twitter, etc, tomorrow-ish.

From Shanghai with Brrrrr,

-American”

#american mcgee's alice #alice asylum #mad hatter #Alice Liddell #out of the woods #alice in wonderland #queen of hearts

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ellamaughan · 3 years

Text

Personal Film- week 1 08/03/2021-

Based on the 12 principles of animation, we have to create a short 2-3 second animation this week based on our creative interpretation of what the 13th principle could be.

Project brief:

As an individual, create a short sequence in response to the question - 'what is the 13th Principle?' - using a bouncing ball motif.

Duration: 2-3 seconds

Deadline: 15th March

No Colour - Must be BLACK & WHITE

Incorporate your 13th principal as text

I started brainstorming ideas of what I could research about and found myself being interested in claymation and the use of Plasticine to animate with. With this in mind I started to research some inspirational artists and how they make their work:

Artist 1: Alexander Unger

Alexander is a stop motion artist who works with clay and other various objects to create his work. I found his work when browsing Instagram. He is a 28 year old from Sweden. Quote from his Patreon: “ The feeling of creating something from scratch with my own two hands and seeing it come to life is something that I will never get tired of.”

https://www.instagram.com/guldies/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZqIQmdSa1E

https://www.patreon.com/guldies

I found Alexander��s work to be very inspirational in the sense of his use of some of the principles. For example: Squash and Stretch. I also liked his use of sound design because it really made his work come to life. I found his Instagram and YouTube pages which I have linked at the top.

What I could take from his work as inspiration:

I think within my animation, I want to incorporate the principles, like Alexander has done. It makes his work look smooth and realistic based on the movements. I also like his unique bright colour choices. However, in the project brief it stated we could only use grey scale so for this week its more about the movement rather than colour too.

Artist 2: Margaret Scrinkl

Margaret Scrinkl is a Illustrator, animator at Margaret Scrinkl. She creates beautiful hand cut out paper art, using paper and a scalpel. Her animations are also made by using paper.

https://www.scrinkl.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYuY9YrO9-8

https://www.scrinkl.com/tagged/processscrinkl

I found Margaret’s work when browsing for some paper artists that seem inspiring for the project. My teachers suggested using paper cut out for the animation so, I wanted to have a look to see if that could be an option for me. I like Margaret’s use of bright colours and friendly ‘child-like’ appearance. She creates very intricate work and there is a lot of detail.

What I could take from her work as inspiration:

I think visually her work is really lovely to look at, so maybe I could try and make my work visually nice so it captures the audiences attention. I also like her use of simple animation movements. However, I feel more drawn to using Plasticine for my animation.

Artist 3: Ben Treat

Ben Treat is a young self taught animator who works with clay. He posts a lot of behind the scenes to his animations so his audience can see his thoughts and process. He creates animation shorts which are very inspirational.

https://www.instagram.com/franticframes/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5uewak1o_RlHbU_10iGliw

I found Ben’s work on Instagram, while looking for inspirational artists to follow. I found his work interesting because I like the concept of working with clay. His animations looks smooth and he has a good sense of the 12 principles of animation.

What I could take from his work as inspiration:

I have noticed that some of his work is looping, which I think looks really nice from the audiences perspective. I think I might incorporate this into my work so that my animation looks smoother.

#personal

0 notes

cyberkevvideo · 4 years

Text

Throne of Night - New Special Material: Gunzarak (True Mithral)

In Book 2, the (unfortunately) last published book for Throne of Night, we were introduced to the concept of “true mithral”, also known as gunzarak. It was a special processing of mithral that allowed you it to mimic some of the properties of adamantine. We even got a really interesting weapon in the form of an axe. We were also given a minimal amount of lore that this style of processing was a closely guarded secret to a specific clan of dwarves, and that its secret had long been lost over time.

Sadly, that’s all we got. It can be assumed that in Book 3, where we see the party finally find the lost dwarven city, that we would get either a sidebar or even an appendix that explained what true mithral was, and its pricing for armor and weapons. Sadly, this would not be the case. At least as of today’s entry.

Today, I’m going to give you my rundown on how I would have released it. I would like to say that I did not come about these numbers willy-nilly. I contacted some friends and acquaintances from the table top industry, who far more adept and knowledgeable at this kind of thing than I (not to mention decade long veterans) , and had them give me their opinions, then I went marketed it to more than a half-dozen players to get their take on it.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

All images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus

I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who are looking to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so.

Finally, before I get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

Deep within the Zaraketh Mine, after solving a dwarven puzzle, what appears to be a mithral greataxe can be found by the party. To their astonishment, it’s actually an axe made of a new special material, gunzarak.

The provided lore says: But for all the dark elves’ skill in working this strange metal, it was in the forges of Dammerhall that the dwarves learned the secret of elevating mithral to its full potential. They could create an alloy that was lighter than aluminum, stronger than adamantine, as perfect a metal as this world has ever known. This was gunzarak (in dwarvish lit. the true gift of the earth) or “true mithral”. Even the drow had never seen its equal and it was Dammerhall’s gift to the world. Even today, centuries after the last sword of true mithral was forged, many a dynasty counts among its greatest heirlooms these dwarven blades and armors.The secret of making ‘true mithral’ was lost with the fall of Dammerhall. The dwarves too jealously guarded their secret and when calamity fell, the secret was lost. Perhaps there will never again come forth a smith capable of making gunzarak. Perhaps this jewel of dwarven lore is forever beyond the kin of mortals.

As written, the magic axe reads as thus:

The Axe of Horath Rocknose Aura moderate conjuration and transmutation; CL 10th Slot --; Price 27,320 gp; Weight 6 lbs. DESCRIPTION This is a +1 keen dragon-bane greataxe made of gunzarak (true mithral). It counts as both being made of adamantine while possessing the weight reduction of mithral. For the purpose of damage reduction it is considered as both an adamantine, silver and magic weapon. CONSTRUCTION Requirements Craft Arms and Armor, creator must know the secret of working true mithral, keen edge summon monster I; Cost 13,660 gp

Given its stats, it’s obvious that this was to be a major boon in Book 3. It can also be assumed that if the axe is shown to the stone golem blocking the secret passageway to Dammerhall, that’s part of the key needed for bypassing the guardian.

From a designer stance, this item has a few issues in the math and wording, but that’s okay. What’s important is that you can still discern its capabilities and what the author was trying to convey when he made it.

With what’s provided, and a little reverse engineering, we are able to deduce that, theoretically, gunzarak is worth 775 gp/lb. This is a little more than 1.5x what mithral costs (500 gp/lb.). That sounds reasonable enough.

Over the past month, I’ve had multiple discussions with some fellow game designers, as well as a bunch of players that I know. The reason being is designing special materials is a balancing act that many aren’t very good at. The conversations went from “treat this like a magic item and make the lowest cost be 1.5x the price and add the highest base, or at least add an additional percentage to the total price” to “adamantine in Pathfinder 1e and 3.5 was overpriced, so unless that gets fixed, you won’t get a proper price for this material.” What was also mentioned was that it was nice that this replicated both mithral and adamantine as a whole, like a magic item, what was special about it? What made it its own material that people would covet? Sure it was both mithral and adamantine, but you could find magic items that would made things better and cheaper, or even psionic powers or spells that could do it better, for cheaper, and not have any sort of weaknesses short of being dispelable. “True silver”, another special material (from Paizo), is processed to the point it was immune to rusting effects, so why wouldn’t true mithral have something similar, if not exactly the same? Again, all valid arguments.

In the end, after all the conversations had completed, this ended up being the final numbers and abilities. As such, I’d recommend the additional property be added to the axe in Book 2.

Gunzarak (True Mithral) Mithral that's been masterfully refined and processed, making it lighter than aluminum and stronger than adamantine. Armor: Heavy and medium armor are treated as one category lighter. ACP is reduced by 3 (to a minimum of 0), Dex bonus is increased by 2, and ASF is reduced by 10%. Grants untyped damage reduction 1/— (light), 2/— (medium), 3/— (heavy) Weapons: Ignore hardness of less than 20. Considered adamantine and silver with regards to bypassing DR. Special: Always considered masterwork. Immune to rusting effects. Hardness 20; Hit Points 30 per inch Armor Costs: Light (+6,000 gp), Medium (+15,000 gp), Heavy (+22,000 gp) Weapons and other items: 775 gp/lb.

It shouldn’t need explanation, but just in case, “rusting effects” include that of rusting monsters and the rusting grasp spell. Also, true mithral isn’t adamantine, even if it counts as such, so it won’t have the same ‘hit points per inch’.

I know that some people are going to argue that it’s way too cheap, but it’s honestly not. Adamantine is way too overpriced, and you fail a single save against a rusting effect and that PC is out their armor. Not to mention, given any other price point, you’re better off taking mithral armor and wearing a belt of Con for the additional hit points or something that can regenerate your heal in some way. Anything else would just be considered a waste of money. I know, the players I talked to schooled me pretty hard in that regard, and broke down the math. Not to mention, if you allow 3PP products in home games, a psychic warrior with the biofeedback power has DR 2/— for 1 minute/level, and can augment that to make it even higher. If you can turn that same power into a permanent magic item, it costs 8,000 gp to buy, but only 4,000 gp to make. It’s about being practical with your money at higher level, and crafting items takes a long time when it’s in the high, high thousands.

That said, if you feel it should be significantly higher, like say: Light armor +6,500; Medium +16,000; and Heavy +28,500 gp, which were the original prices I was suggested to go with, then so be it, but don’t be surprised if the party tries to sell the items for something cheaper and more practical, and bank the rest of the gold. Even more so if they’re playing with the kind of GM who is very strict about the wealth table, and being even 1 gold piece over it means you’re “broken” and no longer allowed an allowance until such time that you become high enough level to earn gold again. And, yes, those GMs absolutely exist, and players take that into consideration when it comes to their purchases. I will mention that my original prices were actually lower (14k and 20k for medium and heavy), but I was quickly talked out of it.

Again, this is what the decision came to be after multiple conversations with fellow TTRPG game designers (most having previously worked for Paizo) and players who’ve all played in very confining and restricted wealth games. In the end, we were all able to walk away happy. I have absolutely no idea how much Gary originally intended this material to cost, and I’m more than curious, but he had connections with Paizo as well (namely the director and lead designer, Jason Bulmahn), so it’s possible that our numbers aren’t all that different.

Segway: For anyone curious what a more practical cost for adamantine would be, Purple Duck Games published it as 750 gp for light weapons, 1500 gp for one-handed, and 3000 gp for two-handed. Armor was 4000, 8000, and 12000, respectfully. When it came to gunzarak, it was quoted as likely being 6000, 12000, and 18000 for the different armors. Weapons would probably start at 800 gp, to make it more of a round number, and different from adamantine. Mithral was also dropped to 350 gp for light weapons, 700 for one-handed, and 1400 for two-handed. Armor was 1000, 2000, and 3000. It sounds cheap, but the new Pathfinder 1.5 system they developed removed arcane spell failure.

Getting back to the original subject though, in Book 3, the party was supposed to discover the art of how to process the mithral, and I would bet that like in Book 2, the axe the PCs find is a key to a safe or another puzzle, that has that exact formula for how they’d do it. As to what that process is, I’ll leave it up to the GM. Their game, their rules. They would know best how it should be done in their own home games in their own home world.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

With that, the “Throne of Night” AP is complete. At least for now. All the known monsters have been identified and given stats (or linked to stats), the gunzarak is fleshed out a little more, an alternate race (that we should have seen in Book 3) was provided, a couple of extra monsters were added for additional encounters, more items were designed or showcased, and Mike’s fantastic art was shown off. Not to mention an entire AD&D adventure converted to Pathfinder 1e to help anyone finish their game without having to rely on books that don’t exist, and still give the AP some sense of finality. If there’s any more than that, I’ll do them as they come by may. At the very least, there’s more than enough to do your own game and give it a respectful ending.

If anything more if required, I made a resource page and posted a link on the Paizo forum for everyone to access. It has all of the relevant posts, additional adventures that could be used, suggestions and ideas from other GMs who homebrewed the rest of their own game, etc. A treasure trove of information for anyone needing it.

I thank everyone for coming with me on this journey.

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yukipri · 7 years

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Full list of Tier adjustments + other general content changes for October on my Patreon

Posted on my Patreon as well!

So I know I've been talking about some changes I'll be making to the Tiers all month, but here's a final big comprehensive post about the final changes, and the exact wording of the new Tiers starting tomorrow. There are a few big changes, and a few minor ones. Many of the changes are made around my concern that I've been burning myself out with $1 content without providing enough to higher Tiers, along with the realization that as important as they are and how necessary the $1 Tier of pledges is, I unfortunately cannot sustain myself on them alone.

I hope all of the following changes sound fair. Quick list of big changes:

- NSFW Comics will be moved from $1 -> $5 Tier. NSFW illustrations will remain on the $1 Tier. I still plan to maintain my goal of one NSFW post every week, and comics and illustrations will likely switch off every other week. On weeks that have consecutive comics, I'll take one of the NSFW frames from the comic and put it on the $1 Tier without context, so $1 Tier folks WILL get at least one NSFW illustration every other week.

- Weekly Inferno pages for the $20 Tier. This is to hopefully push myself to work more actively on Inferno, even if it's bit by bit. The goal is at least one page a week, though once I get rolling it'll likely come more frequently. The images will be low resolution and watermarked like public posts, and will be available to all Tiers and publicly once the full chapters are done. High-Res versions will eventually be available for download to the $20 Tier.

- Story spoiler Headcanon posts for the $20 Tier. These will be only text form, but rambling headcanons about story elements in my AUs that I likely won't be able to get to in comic form for a while. My immediate plans are to dump some Future!Verse stuff in the Rewind Future era (post canon timeline, pre-getting together), so like the rest of the Yurio Presenting arc (since i dunno when I can finish that), Yuuri and Phichit's past in Detroit, etc. all the way to how they got to deciding they'll have a poly relationship, and possibly going into HCs about their various engagements/weddings. All of this stuff has been long planned out since before I started posting about this AU publicly and I had been hoping to draw it out in comic form, but until then...Here. NOTE: that these will not be concrete ideas, and I may still change them considerably before cementing them in AU canon through comics.

The rest beneath cut!

- Hypothetical store access. So I'm still kinda eh about adding this in the Tiers because I have yet to actually open a store, but the itch to create merch has been getting stronger. As a new merch seller though, I at first need to ensure the quality and production process of any merch I make, so any first rounds of merch will be extremely limited quantity (I'm talking single digits). If I deem the merch to be sellable professional quality, I'm offering it to you guys first. I'll make it available to $20 patrons first, and if it doesn't sell out within a few days (I'll set a time limit) I'll open to $5 patrons, then $1 patrons. Any larger pre-orders I do thereafter will likely also have a set limit because I doubt my ability to manage large orders, and patrons will always have access to those before the public as well.

- Tutorials/concept art - Were originally big things in the $5/$20 Tiers, but I've found that I haven't been able to produce much in these categories. If and when I do produce them, they'll likely be available in the $5 Tier, UNLESS they have major long term story spoilers, in which case $20.

- Advance access to major comics for $20 deleted - I just don't have enough of these to really feel it's relevant as a Tier reward, and with Inferno pages going up as I draw them, it seemed redundant so I took it out ^ ^;

AGAIN, if you would like to downgrade/delete your pledge due to these changes or for any other reason, please wait until your current pledge has been processed on October 1st.

Formal Tiers Starting October 1st

Formatted New Tier

Old Tier for comparison

Bronze medal Tier

$1 or more per month

View WIPs, abandoned work, sketches, and unposted content not currently publicly available but may be at a later date.

View higher resolution less watermarked versions of some content, including Patron requests.

There will be 2-3 posts of the above types of content weekly.

NSFW illustrations, at least once every other week on Friday. These will be explicit NSFW and will never be available to the public.

Have access to my private patreon community.

Be able to view some of my publicly available art on a better platform. Because let's admit it, Tumblr is oftentimes NOT the best image viewing platform...

All art will be low-resolution + with my url.

OLD TIER DESCRIPTION:

View some (but not all) of my rough sketches, WIPs, never-to-be-completed works, and misc art not currently publicly available but may be at a later date.

SOME OF THE ABOVE ART WILL BE NSFW, mostly nudity/heavily suggestive, many of which will never be available to the public.

Have access to my private patreon community.

Be able to view some of my publicly available art on a better platform. Because let's admit it, Tumblr is oftentimes NOT the best image viewing platform...

All art will be low-resolution + with my url.

Silver medal Tier

$5 or more per month

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS

NSFW Comics - Some explicit NSFW, but with some short story for context! Almost all of these will be set in my Future!Verse ABO AU, though many will be vague enough to imagine out of context. Will be posted at least once every other week on Friday.

Be able to vote on polls, limited only to patrons this tier and above. Types of polls may include choosing what I draw, or general opinion polls that will influence upcoming content!

Be able to submit one request per month. I will choose one of the submitted requests from the pool to draw!

Art process/tutorials! This includes being able to see my sketches, lineart, and flats prior to their completed versions, and possible step by steps and explanations of specific techniques I use. I'll explain my art process to you in depth! ^ ^

OLD TIER DESCRIPTION:

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS

Art process + possibly tutorials! This includes being able to see my sketches, lineart, and flats prior to their completed versions. I'll explain my art process to you in depth as you follow the steps ^ ^

Be able to vote on polls, limited only to patrons this tier and above. I will draw the winning options!

Be able to submit one request per month. I will choose one of the submitted requests from the pool to draw!

Gold medal Tier

$20 or more per month

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS

Advance pages of my Inferno Yuri No Ice AU comic. I will be posting these to this Tier as I finish drawing them. While they'll be low resolution and watermarked, these pages will not be available to the public until I'm done with the entire chapter. The goal is at least one page per week!

Story spoilers! Lengthy text headcanons of untold story for my AUs which will only be available to the public and lower tiers when I make them into comics, which may not be for a very long time!

Access to my much higher resolution, unwatermarked versions of my comics. They will still have my url on the side, but it will no longer obscure the images. As you may or may not know, I've had a LOT of problems with art theft and am especially protective of my comics I hope to one day sell hard copies of. I trust you to protect my work, and grant you advance access to these HQ images. They'll be sent to you in a link at the beginning of the following month.

Early access to unreleased concept art of my AUs such as costume designs and world building for the Inferno AU and Future!Verse ABO AU. These may or may not ever be available to the public, but either way you'll be able to view them way in advance!

Submit as many requests as you want to the monthly request pool to up your chances of yours being chosen!

Get first notification when new merchandise is available in my store. Many of these items will be available in EXTREMELY limited quantities (single digits) and will likely take a long time to restock if they ever do at all. Get your hands on them before they're available to the public! They'll be available to lower Tiers in order after this Tier.

OLD TIER DESCRIPTION:

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS

Early access to unreleased concept art and stories of my AUs such as costume designs and world building for the Inferno AU and Future!Verse ABO AU. These may or may not ever be available to the public, but either way you'll be able to view them way in advance!

Advance access to major comics posts. You'll be able to view my more serious comics posts at least a week prior to me posting them to the public!

Submit as many requests as you want to the monthly request pool to up your chances of yours being chosen!

Legend Tier

$50 or more per month

This tier is primarily just for people with excess $$ who want to support me and my art, and I can't think of much else to offer but my sincerest thanks ;A;

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS

A monthly physical postcard of my art sent to your address with a personal hand written thank you note from me....

May include some surprise freebies! ;D

OLD TIER DESCRIPTION:

This tier is primarily just for people with excess $$ who want to support me and my art, and I can't think of much else to offer but my sincerest thanks ;A;

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS PLUS

A monthly physical postcard of my artsent to your address with a personal hand written thank you note from me.

What is wrong with you Tier

$100 or more per month

This tier is primarily just for people with excess $$ who want to support me and my art, and I can't think of much else to offer but my sincerest thanks ;A;

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS

The monthly postcard will be sent in an envelope!

I will also send a hand-drawn sketch of a character of your choice.

May include some surprise freebies! ;D

OLD TIER DESCRIPTION:

This tier is primarily just for people with excess $$ who want to support me and my art, and I can't think of much else to offer but my sincerest thanks ;A;

ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS

The monthly postcard will be sent in an envelope with a hand-drawn sketch of a character of your choice.

Interested in becoming a Patron? Check out my Patreon HERE!

#YukiPri rambles #Patreon #long post #longpost

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colorguardsweetheartblurrsgirl · 6 years

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Shattered Remnants--Undertale AU Update... and other things!

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates. Honestly, I got really busy with school lately, but I’ve been working and tweaking my written forms of the comic. While making my first few pages by hand. I was holding back on major art for a while to see if I could save enough money for an art tablet to help me better color the pictures faster then using my laptops mouse pad. (Yes I know I could invest in a cheap mouse, but my history with them is many lost pieces (port or mouse) and disappointed running times (how long battery lasted, or it lasted before refusing to work), and many other reasons I won’t get into... Huh.... Lets just say mouses and me, specifically wireless mouses just never have had a healthy relationship (at least not for several years).

Besides I like the feel of at least having physical control through feeling through the pad. Where a sudden jerk of the mouse can mess a whole thing up, it’s more controlled this other way)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anyways, I wanted to inform you that I’ve been lately working on a fun little present for Christmas with my characters. Although I started this late in the season when the idea for it came to me. So I’m not sure i’ll have it entirely finished for Christmas, but I’ll do my best to have it out soon. With it, I’m also planning a surprise for you by New Years.... What is it??? Well you’ll have to wait and see ;) But it may or may not be a preview, or first few pages of the comic. I will not admit to which, but in the next week or two look out for a update from me...

However, I’m planing on making a patreon page. School is important and I am struggling to find a second job to help pay for it, which means less time spent on this comic i have a long plan for. While I’m in the works of possibly creating another comic I hope to submit to webtoons when I get the right tools to complete my work faster.

But this said my main focus isn’t on the comic seeing I’m focused on finishing school for now... But it would help having a patron to pay for art supply's in the future...

However I don’t want to sound like I’m petitioning/pushing for this at the moment, seeing I have nothing to show for it...

As for the original characters picture I promised you. I have it, I was working hard on it... Even evading computer updates to keep up certain pictures of settings... When I finally updated and realized I really craped out my computer which now restarts every time I close it and open it back up.... Lets say me and computers always have a love hate relationship... It’s just I’m the one who does the dumb no brainer thing last minute. It kinda deterred me for a while. But i’m looking at my half finished page of them and I should have it done soon.

I still have considered the character greet comic, just to get to know my original characters in this.I just haven’t made time to make it. I plotted out ideas and questions that could be asked. I just got lost between everything I didn’t really put the effort into it as I hoped. By looks of things, if I manage to do it around the posting of the first few pages, I should have something like this closely following. Although I won’t make promises....

On another note the other comic I mentioned. I originally intended it as a Fanfict to a ride that I always loved. Although being a ride it was more inspired by things in it and not became my own story original characters, while mentions to the lore in it... I’m considering making a test comic for it. Though I can’t say I’ll post it any time soon, as like I said, if I’m to make it I have to have saved for a art tablet.... But just let me know if your interested. It’s a ghost story tied with mystery. I always loved mystery and supernatural themed stories growing up and this one has a fun twist to a famous ride and it’s lore. Just if I get enough interest i might post the art I already created out of fun for the story, or recreate some scene.... I just thought I’d add this little message in as well.

BUT DO NOT FRET..... I couldn’t possibly leave this message high and dry without showing something... So instead of posting just a another long worded message that might fall on deaf ears... Instead I decided to post early concept art of the first chapter... This was the early in progress page (not taken with my best camera) art concept of the Season 1 Chapter art.... The other picture is a snapshot of my work in progress for the work I did in the musical setting I spoke of as a fun mini comic I believe in a previous message. (Although that could be a message I never posted that’s probably still sitting in docs... in that case Whoops) Anyways early on in making this comic I started a fun musical themed comic with characters of this comic. It started as a fun step back from the harder more depressing tone of Shattered... Besides I grew up on music and musicals. So I couldn’t resists... This is just an idea of my unpainted bare bones of my comic. This is hardly how the final project will look. Both pictures are somewhat old as some things have changed and in these and been fixed. But I felt they still looked good to show (and that way I don’t spoil the final version) Anyways see you Lovely's... Have Very Incredible Holidays Whatever you Celebrate, A VERY MERRY FABULOUS CHRISTMAS,

AND EXTREMELY WONDROUS HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Sincerely Blaze (BlurrsGirl/Sweet<3)

#Undertale #UndertakeAU #undertale au #undertalecomic #undertale comic #undertale community #ShatteredRemnants #ShatteredRemnantsAU #ShatteredRemnantsUndertaleAU #UndertaleMusical #Undertale Musical #UndertaleMusicalSpinOff

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titleknown · 7 years

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Advice On Making Good Open Species Part 2: Specifics!

Welp, your old uncle Title felt a lack of zing in the last one of these, on the subject of making good open species, but he couldn’t quite figure out why. Until he realized, hey, you’re going a bit too broad here! Sure it’s useful advice for starting out, but not as much for honing in on a concept and making it work!

So, I’ve decided to do an advice guide on some more specific archetypes of open species, the kind that aren’t really done much in the world of Open Species, but which I’d like to see more of. And I’ll try to ensure that by giving some advice on a few design archetypes I haven’t seen much of, and some pointers on how to make your creations the best they can be to make a splash!

Past the break y’all!

Well, because I cited it directly aesthetically in the last one, I figured I might as well start, off with Ugly species designs. To be clear, when I say “ugly” I mean designs that are in the spirit of the grotesque designs of creators like Ed Roth and Basil Wolverton, grotesque; hideous fleshy things that’d be the antidote to the cutesy stuff that usually populates the Open Species arena in the same way that; again; Rat Fink was the anti-Mickey.

But, the secret to making a good Ugly/grody design I would say; at its core; is the fact that; on some level it has to be appealing. It can be ugly; nasty; grody on many levels, but it has to have something to make it likable to make it work. Take a look at Rat Fink or Roth’s other hot-rod driving lunatics or; for another example; large chunks of the the Ninja Turtles or Toxic Crusaders toylines that took after that aesthetic.

A lot of the tricks they used were mainly in giving the designs a dynamic “energy,” every nasty fold and greasy pockmark conveying a sense of movement and get-up-n-go, aided by bright colors. And personality-wise they were aided by being exubertant and fun. As nasty and gross as these things could be, you could tell they enjoyed what they did, and they were having a good time.

So, keep those design factors in mind when designing your own. But, speaking of things connecting to motors and customization, there’s also the issue of mechanical species. Things like the Transformers or; if you want to stretch the definition of species; the Terminators.

These show up shockingly rarely in the world of Open Species, perhaps because of perception that robot “models” would be a separate thing from species. But, I would wildly disagree, because of how “species” is just a robot model made of meat. But I digress.

Anyway, a design tip that feels vital here would be: How was it made, by what was it made for, and by whom? Because, that will determine a lot of what they do; what they look like, and what their general outlook is.

Form follows function in character/creature design, though in development I might also advise you to do the reverse as well. IE, come up with a basic concept; then wonder “How would this have come to exist?” and, following that, “What would that add on to the design/how would that shape what it looks/acts like?” Even if the creators are unknown or they emerged from the chaos of the modern world ala Digimon, those factors still exist.

Thirdly, Symbiotes. Specifically, stuff that latches onto stuff and acts like armor/garb/gear/shiny bits. They are highly underrepresented; perhaps for being so esoteric, but quite versatile in terms of concept, thanks to how many different ways they can attach and; via interacting with the host; how they can be spun-off as characters!

But, a thing you always need to think about for such things is how do they attach to the user? The alterations to the user that’d inevitably result would alter their all important shillouette from a design perspective, so you need to make sure that alteration’s a good one. Make sure it can feel cohesive with the body, even if it’s grotesque, it still can “fit” like a glove. Like a MegaBlok attached to a Lego, it may look grotesque and “off,” but it’s still gotta fit.

For example, Venom literally started out as a costume in appearance, the Guyver’s patterned on armor and in Parasyte it’s the user’s body itself that is altered by its carrier instead of attaching bits. Use clothing and; for gnarlier ones; IRL internal/attaching parasites/symbiotes/mutualists as examples when thinking about “How will this fit onto a person”

Perhaps also think about concealability if it might be a narrative concern; whether it be because this new species is mutually disliked by other sentients or if simply there’s a “masquerade” going on. How would this species as you’ve designed it find a way to conceal itself if need be?

Finally, for now, aliens. Well, more specifically, a specific type of alien. Cinematic Genre-Pastiche Aliens to be exact.

While there are aliens in Open Species as of now; they tend to stick to the aesthetics of the more general Open Species “look” so-to-speak. But, I think there’s opportunities there. But the most important starting point I must give is; know what era/subgenre you’re pastiching.

Like, are you going for Paul Blaisdell-type 50s bug-eyed monsters? 80s-type Alien knockoffs? Neville Page-type blandness because you’re boring as fuck? Then try and hone down what in terms of how they look; how they act; what they do; ect that gives that area of alien design its unique “feel” and try to do that. Even study the sorts of science they used; obsolete or not; or special effects technology from the era, because in a fair few cases they were designed via form-follows-function and you can reverse-engineer a lot aesthetically from that.

Also, unless you’re going full-on speculative biology, in which case @jayrockin or @cmkosemenartwork would be better to ask for advice than myself, think less about specific details in terms of plausibility and moreso about how they capture the feel you’re going for.

Like, if you’re making a 50s-type space-kaiju, nobody gives a shit if it violates the square cube law, because it looks cool as hell. And that goes for a fair few other archetypes, as mentioned to me by my friend @cartoondogjpeg, sometimes trying to be “realistic” or plausible with your details stifles the imagination, so ditch it if it’s holding your designs back. For an example of what happens when you aren’t doing that, look at Neville Page…

So yeah, that’s it. If you want me to make more articles like this, hopefully minus the lateness, maybe support me on Patreon; where I post previews and polls for backers, and you can even have me do a piece of art or writing for you at the higher tiers!

I’ll probably be doing a Part 3 sometime this week, if only because I feel I still didn’t cover enough ground here, and have plenty more basic ideas...

#open species #design advice #writing advice #creature design

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sassiperere · 7 years

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I could not make this shit up if I wanted to I have just gone trough the most surreal experience of my life

so today was my first day with the basics of animation course. real fun real doozy. theres only 5 people in it.

One of them is the one I will refer to as Ollie to hide his name. Ollie is like, 40 or something. He's always been very in touch with art but his family wasnt exactly rich and everyone is like a truck driver so he didnt have a lot of support. He moved from São Paulo to Gravataí, a city very near the one I live, Porto Alegre. He's mainly a comic artist and he did some other animation courses but never formerly studied the basics, hence why he's in this course

He mentioned he has a DeviantArt and that he does commissions and earns a good buck from them. During interval I went to talk to him and see if I could get some tips on how to raise visibility so I can get some money with my commissions.

You Will Not Believe What Happens Next

He told me pretty much how to make a commission anouncement post and all that and he made sure I wrote there what I could NOT draw because the internet was weird. To which I replied yeah I know

And this dude

He just looks at me and asks dead serious

"Do you know what vore is?"

I could not make this shit up if I wanted to.

He asked me if i knew what vore was and how it was heavily requested

He told me about this story of this guy who commisioned him 40 comic pages and later cancelled. Ollie found out why the dude cancelled a few days later: some very famous furry artist did an auction in his Patreon and this fucking madman fucking offered to pay 1000 dollars per page and he commissioned 3 pages of furry vore.

He paid 3000 dollars for furry vore so he had to cancel all other commissions

Other iconic points touched in this conversation I had with Ollie were: "Do you know what furries are? Draw them" "There's a type of furry that is very popular: ponies. Especially my little pony ones" "Another big hit in the market are elastic girls. If you draw elastic furries you're set then"

I was in utter disbelief. This isn't even the worst part

This class was being taught by a man well in his 50s/60s who was a pioneer in brazilian animation and also a younger guy in the industry and founder of the movie company providing the courses.

These two aren't really aware of the informal art market, they don't know how commissions work. For them, earning money via art is either by pitching your idea to channels and getting funding for a series or movieor like, contracts with other companies as illustrators. They don't really know about commissionsguys

Now rewind back to when Ollie asked me if I knew what vore was, to which I replied I did.

Then the pioneer in animation and an elder citizen makes the million dollar question

"I don't know what that is. Can you tell me?"

This thing happened right in front of my eyes. it happened and I was just in utter disbelief it couldnt be happening

Ollie immediately answered, he didn't bat an eye explaining what vore was to the teachers and the other 3 students.

Everyone's jaws hit the fucking floor

No one understood. No one could fully grasp the concept of a human being paying money for someone online to draw that for them just for the sake of having it. No one could comprehend the deeply complex mindsets of deviantart users. The gasps of raw surprise were endless

We are hitting the thrilling conclusion of my tale

Our activity today was to draw model sheets for a character we'll animate throughout the course. Ollie proclaims "I will draw my furry"

and I was like ok dude you know what that's fine there'a no problem with that. I myself actually drew a furry, I drew my inkling OC

And I was just you know its cool this guy aint so bad.

when we got to the classroom, this manshows me the artwork of the furry he was gonna draw and thats when it hit me

that's when I realized exactly what type of human I was interacting with this whole time

He showed me the most generic, anime furry fish bullshit with balloon tits I have ever seen.

i realizedi finally understoodt

his is the type of being i was interacting.

I've always seen these types of drawings online and I was like oh dude thats fucking embarassing no way anyone actually IS like this right????? how foolish.

how foolish of me.

You know those DA accounts with a bunch of neon colored titty furries with inflation fetish and weird elastic girls and boobs that take up the entire fucking screen?

I know the man behind the magic.

I have met in real life a person who sits on his computer and makes the conscioous choice of drawing that kind of content.

One could argue that he’s only doing it for the money but he chose one of those weird fish titty characters to animate throughout the course. He chose that of his own volition.

Either I have met someone who proudly draws fish balloon titties and thinks its perfectly ok or he’s just so dead inside for dealing with fetishists online that he no longer wants to hide it.

#long post #sassi says it #please read this tale #im still in fucking disbelief

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