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wesimpforxiao · 3 years

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Say My Name and I’ll Be There: 5.2

Author’s Note: I saw this on pinterest and thought it applied to Xiao XD P.S. Do you readers like that the story is in 2nd POV, or should I change it to 3rd person? My thinking is this POV allows me to get away without mentioning appearances or a chosen name so ya’ll could be put in OC’s shoes?

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Is it just me, or is he looking my way? You caught Childe in the act while you and your team retreated into the opposite tree line after Aether had taken the dragon tooth. Something didn't feel right. The trees seemed to close in on you like tunnel vision. Was he planning on attacking you with the skirmishers at his side? Was he going to show his true colors now? Is it time to face death?

He dismissed the soldiers and retreated from the direction you had all spotted the skirmishers in the first place. He made a point to cast a meaningful glance your way.

I can't let it happen now, you looked to each of your teammates as you all ran through the snowy woods. If he brought all of those Fatui agents on board with taking you out, the entire group would be overwhelmed. The sheer cold puts us at a disadvantage. Bennett could get hurt. Xiao can't fight with his full strength. When was the last time Aether and Childe sparred? I can't rely on those results to protect me either.

No one was paying attention; you could slip away and try to strike a deal with the Harbinger. Bargain for Xiao's freedom and safety. You were hypersensitive to the weight of your coat on your shoulders, and the crunching of snow beneath your boots. He can't hurt us now...not now!

You peeled away from the group and they continued to run towards a cave several hundred yards from their current position. No one had heard you. When you finally reached the first firepit, you found Childe waiting next to it.

"Oh there you are, ojou-chan! Did you get the tooth? Where are the others? They didn't run into trouble, did they?" He greeted you with his signature friendly stature.

"Drop the act, Childe." You came to a halt maybe ten feet from him, with your back to the firepit. It warmed your body significantly and you could finally feel your fingers and toes again. He was on the far end of the open area.

"Whatever do you mean, ojou-chan?" The mask didn't crack.

"We're alone now. Is that what you wanted?"

Childe stared at you for a moment before breaking out into a loud fit of laughter. "Oh ojou-chan, you know me so well〰" He took a couple steps toward you. "You should know I've been meaning to talk to you."

"That's close enough." He stopped. "I know what you're after."

"Oh?" A dangerous glint sparked in his eyes, one that you've never seen before. "Enlighten me then."

"I don't want Xiao dragged into whatever mess you brought upon us. Whatever your plan entails, it ends with me."

"A noble sacrifice for a man that will not love you," he smirked. "Why do you try to protect him when he can clearly fight for himself?"

"He's been through enough already," your hands closed into fists as you recalled his horrific past. "I'll go with you, but only if you give me your word you won't take him too."

"Ha! I feel no need to fight you, ojou-chan." The sincerity in his voice attracted your gaze back to him. "I don't wish to hurt you."

"Huh..?" That's out of character. Is this some sort of trap?

"I...have other goals in mind. They require your cooperation, of course. And your cutting of ties with the adeptus."

"Cutting ties? Why would I do that?" Your brows furrowed.

"My loyalty lies with the Tsaritsa, but I have a special interest with this mission after meeting you, ojou-chan," he made his way closer, and you stood in total confusion. "I will personally see to it that you will not get harmed at all in Snezhnaya. It all depends on your answer."

"You...I don't get what you mean. What answer? What exactly are you asking of me?" Whatever it was, you sure as hell weren't going to agree with it. But as soon as the questions left your lips, you knew.

He does like you.

Childe took note of the realization--and the fear--on your face and continued. "Surrender is a valid option, I promise I'll be gentle. This is a simple route that avoids all the fighting and pain. All you need to do is allow me to love you, and I won't harm your friends. You have my word."

"L-love me?" The words left a terrible taste in your mouth. "I...I could never! I could never love you, either! You killed my Granny...you stole her house from her frail hands. You...You!" Your sword made a metallic sound as it was unsheathed.

Childe inhaled and manifested his bow. He nocked an arrow onto his finger and drew the string to his cheek. "A most expected answer, ojou-chan. Thank you for strengthening my resolve. This will be much more enjoyable now." Whatever turmoil that shone in his eyes was long gone and replaced with pure malice. "Let's make this a fair fight." The arrow shot into the fire and extinguished it.

"Tch." You ran toward him as fast as you could in the snow, and crossed sword with lance.

"Not bad," your opponent grinned with satisfaction. "Where'd you learn this technique from?" You somehow managed to keep up with his unrelenting blows thanks to the muscle memory that belonged to Xiao. "I don't recall the adeptus ever training you."

"Ngh!" He landed a kick to your stomach and you fell into the snow. Childe let you get back up, completely high on the thrill of fighting you and more than intent on dragging it out so he could watch your fighting spirit diminish. I may be keeping up with him, but I can't land a solid blow like this. You slowly removed your two remaining jackets and tossed them into the snow next to the extinguished firepit. If I can somehow finish the fight quickly...You knew it was a hopeless battle. A fight between a non-vision wielder and a harbinger that wields both vision and delusion? Complete and utter self-annihilation will ensue.

"I admire your tenacity, comrade," he watched the jackets fall. "But now that I have my answer, there's no reason to wait any longer." He shoved his lance towards you when your guard was down.

"I won't let you hurt him!" You swung your blade to parry, and a sudden blast of material sent the two of you flying backwards into the snow. Your vision was suddenly looking into the tree canopy. "Ugh, wha--?" You sat up to find ice shards scattered across the snow. Something cool and metallic sat in your free hand. You opened your palm to reveal what you least expected.

A vision.

You stared at your hand with bewilderment while Childe rose to his feet with a mixture of shock, admiration, and annoyance. "I see. An unexpected development," he remarked with cold eyes. "It's a shame you won't have the chance to wield it properly against me. He drew his bow and aimed for your chest. Another block of ice manifested before the arrow could pierce you.

You placed the artifact into your jean pocket, and you rose to your feet with a newfound confidence. Maybe you could beat him here and now. Images of Xiao's fights involuntarily crossed your mind, and a lance of ice materialized in your hand. You held it so that the tip pointed directly at Childe.

Another clashing of blades, this time converting Childe's into an ice sculpture. But not before you had managed to freeze his leg into the snow for a hot second. You ducked at his swings, parried his attacks, and followed through with a sequence of your own--or rather Xiao's--attacks. It looked like you were gaining the upper hand until Childe caught your blade in his gloved palm.

"Thank you for the entertainment, ojou-chan," he growled. "But this is where it ends for you." Did you really think he hadn't studied your newfound techniques during your previous fighting session? So naïve of you, ojou-chan. You can't use the same tricks twice.

You retracted your weapon and lay waste another blow. He easily parried it. You engaged in a combo before swiping your feet at his legs; he leapt away before you could knock him down. You were frustrated now, your movements becoming sloppier with each passing movement.

There's the real you, he mused. His frozen blade dug into your dominant shoulder with such force that he had you pinned to a tree. He felt nothing but sadistic pleasure course through his veins at the sight of you squirming in pain.

"Gah!" A shriek escaped your lips and your lance dropped from your hand. You tried to claw the spear out of your body as he stalked ever closer to you.

"I don't even need Foul Legacy to kill you. You could never defeat me, not even in your wildest dreams," Childe stalked towards you as he twirled a new hydro polearm behind his body, stopping once its blade pressed against your neck. He could kill you in an instant, and he would if he wasn't required to bring you alive.

You were seething with anger and hatred. It was stupid of you to go after him on your own, to seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict when you knew all along that there wouldn't be one. It didn't matter now. Your anger subsided, shoulders releasing themselves from the tension in your muscles once you thought of an idea. Even the pain in your dominant shoulder seemed to subside a bit. Your sudden change in demeanor made Childe's grip loosen for a moment as he questioned the newfound peace emanating from you.

Your eyes closed and your lips curled into a smile. Adeptus Xiao, you called to him in your heart.Please hear me and answer my prayer for protection.

A sudden gust of wind blew against your back, and Childe faltered. He looked to you for an explanation, and you met his gaze through his mask. "I know, but he can."

Xiao burst into Childe at an incredible speed, knocking him square into another tree. The trunk splintered in half from the force. He conjured his polearm and held its blade at Childe's throat. "Why the sudden politeness in your prayers?" He called out over his shoulder without taking his eye off the Harbinger. I'm cursed with hearing her rambling whenever I'm gone, and only now she speaks politely to an illuminated adeptus? Despite that thought, he actually loved hearing your voice reach his ears.

"I-I don't know.." WAIT, he COULD hear me all this time?! Blush further tinted your pink cheeks that were red from the sheer cold.

"Tsk," Childe spit blood onto the snow and glared at the yaksha.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't decapitate you here."

Childe wasn't going to give him a reason and debated on conjuring his polearm instead. Here he was, about to die at the hands of the damned yaksha, and all because he had decided to give you a chance to 'escape' a portion of the hardship that awaited you. Signora would lose what respect she had for him if she ever found out. Oh well.

"Ngh," you writhed against the tree. Your feet were just inches from solid ground, making this injury all the more painful as you hung from the lance. You couldn't move your dominant arm anymore. Xiao let go of Childe's collar and moved to your aid. He slipped your other arm over his shoulder so he could relieve the pressure off of your injury, then yanked the spear out without warning. Your shout of pain scared the nearby foxes away.

Xiao gave the Harbinger one last glare before he lifted you in his arms and took off at an incredible speed. It was only a matter of seconds before the two of you caught up with the rest of the group, who were waiting just inside a small cave that held mysterious lab equipment.

"Be careful," the yaksha set you on your feet but refused to remove your arm from around him.

"There you are! W-where'd Childe go?" Bennett paled when he saw your injury. "Here, let me see that." Aether, Paimon, and Xiao exchanged knowing looks while Bennett examined your shoulder. "You should sit down. This isn't anything I can't fix!"

"What happened? Did Childe...?" Aether trailed off once he returned with a bowl of water from a boiling pot.

"Mn," you winced when Bennett peeled your shirt off of your bloody skin. "I thought he was conspiring with those agents when we were making a run for it, so I followed him."

"A foolish decision," Xiao grumbled. He took the water from Aether and held it to your lips.

"Were you at least able to find anything else out about his plans? Or Signora?" Paimon spoke up. "It's not worth getting hurt over if you just throw yourself in harm's way like that."

"I thought he was going to..." your eyes flicked to Xiao's for a split second before they fell to the ground. '--Hurt you,' you wanted to say. But the yaksha would not hear of it if you said something so foolishly naïve. You were just a measly human after all, with little knowledge of fighting and a large heart that wanted to protect those around her. A big heart could only go so far; it proved useless in your battle today. Or did it? You nearly jumped up when you remembered, "I have something! I got something from this!" Your loud yelp scared the daylights out of Bennett, and he nearly yanked the stitch out that he had just put into your skin. You dug into your pocket and pulled out the artifact.

"Is that--?!" Paimon and Aether sprung to their feet simultaneously.

"A vision?" Xiao's eyes widened slightly. And a cryo one, at that.

"So cool!" Paimon spun around with excitement. "You're officially one of us now! Er, not that you weren't to begin with--"

"Congrats," Aether nodded and flashed you a toothy grin.

"Yeah, congrats!" Bennett also flashed you a bright smile and observed the trinket in your palm. "Wow, we're like, polar opposites!"

"Heh, yeah," you nodded with a faint smile. Your eyes found Xiao's, which were locked onto your vision. "Xiao?"

"You received a blessing from the very god that's hunting you. Do you not find that odd?" His lack of enthusiasm made your chest ache in disappointment.

Was he not proud of such an accomplishment?

"Yeah now that you mention it," Paimon held her chin and thought. "It is really weird. Why would she make her target more powerful? Wouldn't that just make it more difficult for her to capture you?"

"Did Childe say anything about it?" Aether prompted.

"No," you shook your head slightly and pursed your lips. "He seemed as surprised as I was."

To be blessed with the cryo vision, one must commit an act that revolves around love, Xiao's brows furrowed. Had she done something on the behalf of her grandmother, or is this all in the Cryo Archon's plan? It never crossed his mind that you had gotten it on his behalf.

#genshin impact #xiao genshin impact #genshin impact xiao #xiao x reader #fanfiction #xiao fanfiction #xiao one shot

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doublerainebow · 3 years

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Artist Resources (Part 1?)

This is basically just going to be a bunch of resources I have found to be useful. I can’t say that I’ve used all of them, but I’m sure they’re all worth checking out.

I’m also gonna try to put a detailed description for most of the links so you have a better idea of what you’re getting. I apologize in advance if some of them are redundant lol

(I put “Part 1″ if in the case I make another one)

~Links to Tutorials, Tips, Resources, etc~

Another Resource List -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Apparently, the post isn’t mobile-friendly, so it’s suggested to view this on Tumblr browser. Has a bunch of other links. I’ve checked out a few of them (mainly the copyright stuff lol), and it seems that some of the links may be a bit outdated. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check out the links.

Arms and Legs -- Leads to another Tumblr post. A handy tutorial on elbow and knee placement.

Art & Game Dev -- This leads to my personal playlist of a bunch of YouTube videos. Has a bunch of tutorials and interesting videos that I’ve collected over the course of a few years lol.

Blamblot -- A website that contains resources and tutorials on comic lettering. This is primarily in reference to western comics, but it doesn’t help to take a looksie.

Commission Calculator -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps artists to stop selling themselves short.

Comparing Heights (hikaku-sitatter) -- A height comparer for centimeters.

Comparing Heights -- A height comparer for feet and inches.

Mouth Shapes and Lip-Syncing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Useful for... drawing mouth shapes.

Reference Angle -- Useful for when you’re trying to map out a face from an odd angle.

Soft Proofing for Printing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps when you’re trying to make prints of your artwork.

Textures -- A website full of different and mostly free textures. While this website is made for 3D texturing, it can also be useful for 2D drawings. Signing up gives you 15 free credits everyday, and you can use those credits to download some textures for free.

The Models Resource -- A website of models ripped from a wide array of games.

The Spriters Resource -- A website of sprites ripped from a wide array of games.

The Textures Resource -- A websites of textures ripped from a wide array of games.

~Links to Stock Images~

Please check out whatever policies they may have for their images before using them!

(not sure if any of them are active anymore as I followed some of these accounts a long time ago when I used to be more active on Deviant Art lol)

adorkastock (formerly senshistock)

anatoref -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Has a bunch of hand photo references

charligal-stock

HumanAnatomy4Artist -- Does contain nudity

null-entity

PhelanDavion

RobynRose

~Links to Other Artists~

Akihito Yoshitomi -- Yoshitomi is a mangaka who has tutorials on manga making. He also has an insightful series in which he drafts and draws a 30-page manga in 18 days. Remember that every artist works differently and his process may be different from another’s.

Drawfee -- Drawfee is an improv drawing show of four artists: Nathan Yaffe, Jacob Andrews, Julia Lepetit, and Karina Farek. While they don’t have tutorials in a sense, their videos explain the different processes they go through as they draw. They also occasionally provide tips, tricks, and resources in their videos. They do have another channel and a Twitch channel where they host drawing classes in addition to other fun shenanigans.

EtheringtonBrothers -- Has a bunch of useful and eye-catching tutorials called “How to Think When You Draw”.

Mark Crilley -- Mark is a comic artist, specializing in manga, who has a bunch of tutorials about anatomy, perspective, comic making, and other things.

Miyuli -- Miyuli is an artist who posts tutorials on their Twitter. Their tutorials range from anatomy to clothing to other things. They even have a few books of art tips. Currently (as of the time of posting this), their 2018 version is free for download, so I highly recommend you download that. Some tips may be outdated, but they should still be helpful.

Whyt Manga (Twitter/YouTube) -- Odunze is a comic artist, specializing in manga, that has a bunch of tutorials on manga making and drawing characters of color.

~Links to Free Programs~

Blender -- A free 3D program if you’re into 3D modeling and such. I also personally haven’t used Blender (I use Maya lol), but I know it’s a respectable program.

Krita -- A free painting program if you can’t afford Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. I personally haven’t used Krita, but I have recommended it to a few friends and they have positive reviews about it.

Paint Tool SAI -- Okay, this one isn’t free, but it’s a significantly cheaper painting program where you don’t have to pay a subscription. It’s 5,500JPY (~50 USD). I’m not sure how well it still works on modern computers (the last update was 2016), but I still use it here and there because I love the pen tool feature it has, and it still works like a charm for me.

~General Tips From Raine~

Raine admits that she’s guilty of not following her own advice, but Raine hopes that the tips that she does know will be beneficial to someone who will follow them. She’s also going to keep all her tips under the cut so as to not make this post a huge wall of text (even though it technically already is lol)

Also, if you have some resources, tutorials, tips yourself, please feel free to send them to me and maybe I’ll make a part 2 to this post!

ALWAYS LOOK FOR REFERENCE. This should really go without saying. You can’t draw from life if you refuse to observe life itself.

If you can’t find the exact thing you need, MAKE YOUR OWN REFERENCE. Time and time again, I can’t find something exactly that I need. So instead, what I do is that I take pictures of my own reference. Sometimes I even grab a friend and take pictures of them doing whatever it is I need.

Have a mirror handy when you’re drawing. Sometimes what you need is actually right there in front of you.

Having trouble drawing something? Do some studies. Take the time to understand what it is you’re drawing. I can’t remember the exact story, but I heard that the people who were working on Tarzan were having a hard time drawing his hands. So, what they did was spend a few hours looking at hands to try and understand how they work.

IT’S OKAY TO STUDY THE ART OF OTHER ARTISTS. Just as we look to the old masters as a reference, it’s definitely okay to look at modern-day artists for reference. Just don’t go copying exactly everything that they do, or worse, trace what they do. Just don’t do it... at all.

Not every line needs to be realized. The viewer of your work will automatically connect the dots.

DO NOT TRASH YOUR OLD DRAWINGS. Please, never ever do this. Your old drawings have value to them, even if they look terrible to you. Old drawings may hold ideas for things you could do for the future. They also serve as a way to see how far you’ve come as an artist.

GETTING BETTER AT DRAWING TAKES TIME AND EFFORT. You’re not gonna get better overnight. It’ll take months, or even years, to feel like you’re a competent artist, and even then, you’ll still have room for improvement.

DON’T LOOK DOWN ON YOURSELF IF YOU’RE TAKING A LONG TIME TO GET BETTER. It’ll be better for your mental health in the long run.

Alternatively, DON'T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER ARTISTS EITHER, ESPECIALLY TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER. You know the struggles it took for you to get where you are, so don’t go putting down other people when you’ve been in their shoes once.

KEEP DRAWING. If you’re not making an effort to get better, then you’re not going to be better. I get that it’s hard to find the inspiration to draw (I’m very guilty of this), but just keep trying. It doesn’t have to be big or spectacular. You don’t even have to post it if you’re the type who likes to post their art stuff.

Try to find references from real-life. It’ll help you better understand form, lighting, shadows, etc., especially if you’re going for a more realistic kind of art style. Otherwise, finding reference from things like cartoons, anime, comics, etc. are just as good.

Try new things. Try new art mediums. Try a different art style. Switch up the way you do things. Maybe you’ll hate it, maybe you’ll like it. Who knows if you don’t try.

Watch time-lapses (or speed draws/speed paints) of other artists!

Pinterest and Google are your friends if you need tutorials or references or whatever.

If you’re offering commissions, DO NOT WORK UNDER YOUR LOCAL MINIMUM WAGE. You are literally devaluing the work you actually put into a piece.

I like to think I’m an aficionado of Photoshop, so feel free to ask me questions on how to achieve something! I’ve used Photoshop for about 11 years now and know my way around the program. On another note, I do recommend setting custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop because the default shortcuts are terrible (in my opinion), and because having custom shortcuts increases the speed of your workflow.

Because I’ve been seeing this a lot lately in Twitter, you’re never too old to start in art. Art is just one of those things that anyone can pick up at any age because the only thing you really need to get good in art is time, diligence, and patience.

Try not to post hi-res images of your artwork to prevent art stealers from selling your artwork in high resolution.

Always, always, always add your signature and watermark on your artwork. I like to add my signatures and watermarks in places that’ll be hard to erase or crop out. I’ve also seen people add their signatures and watermarks in creative ways (ex. on a character’s shirt). You need to protect your work in an era where people will just blatantly steal it and make profit off your work.

Tag List

@reality-is-often-disappointing

#artists #artists on tumblr #artist tips #artist resources #art resources #artists of tumblr #art tips #art tutorial #raine rambles and muses #raine can art

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fictionadventurer · 3 years

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Have you seen the new little women movie? If so what do you think of it?

My initial thoughts on the movie are here. I just rewatched it for the sake of answering this ask. My thoughts can be summarized as follows:

This is a beautiful movie. So much loving focus on the things and the textures. The clothes are extremely Pinterest-and-Hallmark-movie aesthetic rather than anything remotely resembling history, but it’s hard to mind when every character is wearing three different textures and patterns at all times and giving the eye so much to look at. (Also, I was knitting during rewatch, so the knitwear was especially satisfying).

But I’m still not sure it succeeds as a story. Much like the outfits, there are so many different bits and pieces layered together, with different textures and colors that make it interesting to look at, but I’m not sure they come together into a coherent whole. Individual scenes could be good, but it was hard to connect emotionally to any of the characters when the backstory was chopped up into so many pieces.

I found it easier to differentiate between the past and the present this time--I finally figured out that the golden light is for childhood and the blue light is for adulthood. Noticing that also made me like the ending more, which I’ll get to later.

I liked the dancing scenes a bit less. They were a little less joyful and emotionally uplifting than I remembered. I did find it interesting how Jo and Laurie’s dance at their first meeting turns into a sort of silent film for part of it, until Meg intrudes and brings them back into the real world by telling them about her hurt ankle.

I liked the Meg and John story less. Emma Watson just doesn’t seem very motherly or wifely. However, the ending scene of the silk subplot was very touching and one of the few scenes in the movie that showed the self-giving side of marriage.

I still wish there had been more focus on the virtue development part of the plot--the “Meg falls to vanity” scene falls kind of flat because Laurie is just scolding her for...wearing a fancy dress? In a way that makes it seem like he’s just scolding her for being feminine and liking pretty things. We don’t have the context to make it clear that she’s bending her morals for the sake of being liked. The scene does set up a contrast between Laurie-the-moral-guardian and Laurie-living-a-life-of-vain-pleasure in the very next scene, but it’s not enough to make the Vanity Fair scene work on its own.

And why didn’t the movie have more of Mr. March? Let us see the marriage that has shaped the girls’ ideas of what marriage is supposed to be.

I found it interesting that the devoted spinster Aunt March who believes in marriage as a purely economic concern rejected offers to enter Meg’s wedding dance twice. She keeps herself but missed out on the joy.

I found Amy and Laurie slightly more believable as a couple. Though when Amy has the struggle of “marry for financial gain or marry for love”, it’s rather too convenient that the resolution is that she decides she’s really in love with a different rich guy than the one she was going to marry solely for his money.

Beth was a lesser character than I remembered (both in terms of screen time and emotional impact). However, I did like her role in the story far more because she’s kind of key to some of the themes (which I’ll get to in a moment).

I still hate Jo changing her mind about Laurie. It makes her choice of Bhaer seem like she’s settling for second-best.

Now’s the point where I’m going to talk about the themes and the ending. Which was the primary reason I wanted a rewatch--to clarify my ideas about this movie’s message and resolution.

SPOILERS AHEAD. FAIR WARNING TO ANYONE WHO HAS NOT ALREADY BEEN FRIGHTENED AWAY BY THIS WALL OF TEXT.

This movie is about three things: Marriage, Art and Money. Money is necessary to survive. Marriage and art can both be a source of money, but they are also pursuits that should be entered into out of love.

This movie harps and harps upon the fact that marriage is an economic proposition. It’s the most stable way for a woman to get money. She also gets love, ideally. But where the movie falters is focusing so much on the getting part of marriage and rarely on the giving. Laurie wanted to marry Jo because he wanted to get her love. Jo’s “I’m so lonely” scene specifically has her say that she wants to be loved, but not to love--she wants to receive rather than give. I’m not sure there’s any indication that either Jo or Laurie ever give or give up anything when they finally do enter into matrimony. It seems that they just get who they decide they want. Amy gets a rich husband and gets a man who loves her, but what does she ever give up for him, aside from another man who she also did nothing to love?

The silk scene with Meg and John is one of the few times where we see a married couple giving to each other, rather than focusing on what they get out of it.

Art, too, is a love that can be turned toward money, and most of the characters have this out of balance as well. Jo loves writing, but she wants to be seen as good, and she mostly cares about the money that she gets out of it. Amy gives up art completely when she realizes she’s not a genius. “I’d rather be great or nothing” is the exact opposite of doing art for the love of it--what she cared about was getting praise rather than giving something of herself to the world.

Beth is the only one who understands the giving nature of both love and art. She performs for no one’s praise or payment--she plays because she loves music. She’s the one who gives up her time to bring the donations to the Hummels when her sisters are caught up in their own pursuits. When she gets the piano, her sisters are the ones who are caught up in admiring it as a thing, but she runs off (without any of her sisters even noticing, too caught up in the wealth in front of them) to thank Mr. Lawrence because she recognized the love behind the gift.

Jo starts to understand the importance of love within art after Beth dies. We have the lovely scene of Beth encouraging Jo to do her writing for someone--give of her art. When Jo returns to her writing, the camera beautifully focuses on the For Beth at the head of the manuscript--Jo is not writing this for money or praise, but out of love for her sister.

I like the ending much better than I did before. I can see the golden sunlit ending as the “real” end of the story, because I noticed the lighting trick. When Bhaer is leaving the March house, Jo is standing in the blue light, but Bhaer is in the golden light. It’s as if Jo sees that a life with him could provide the same level of happiness that she knew in childhood.

It’s still odd that her family has to convince her every step of the way that she’s “in love”. But because of the lighting trick, I can more easily believe that she really did want to spend her life with him.

That dumb scene with the publisher is what ruins everything. We had Jo writing her book out of love. We had Jo deciding to give Bhaer a reason to stay. But it’s derailed by this weird focus on money. Jo keeps insisting that she’s “selling” her heroine into marriage, and that she’s willing to sacrifice her artistic vision just because this ending is what sells. I feel like if they’d cut out all that stuff about the contract negotiation--which seems only to have been put in because Gerwig wanted to show off this bit of trivia about Alcott’s business acumen--the ending would have been a million times more coherent on a plot and thematic level.

I can believe that the sunlit ending at Plumfield is Jo reaching happiness by giving of herself to others. Everyone is using art to give to others--Bhaer is teaching music, Laurie’s teaching some kind of drama class, Amy’s teaching painting.

The shot of the gold leaf being stamped onto the cover of Little Women, which had seemed like the final stroke saying “this ending is fiction” now seems to be saying that “this is the way the story really ends.” It’s helped by the fact that after Jo gets the book in her hands, we cut to the image of a group of little girls playing pretend--it’s Jo being satisfied in her book not because it’s her achievement or a source of money, but because she knows it will inspire another generation of little girls. Thus we can have Jo achieving artistic and personal fulfillment by publishing the book and teaching at Plumfield.

If it wasn’t for that contract negotiation scene, there wouldn’t even be a question of what the real ending was supposed to be. There’s only one version that shows Jo prioritizing the giving part of art and marriage over any selfish gain, and I hate that the ending muddles it so badly for the sake of misplaced meta-feminism.

#little women #little women 2019 #answered asks

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arsnovacadenza · 4 years

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So I finally played The Wolf Among Us

Being the big bad wolf fan that I am, I’d been dying to get my hands on the game after seeing images of Bigby floating around pinterest. Then I found out it was discounted around 50% yesterday and I knew I GOTTA have it.

Here’s a not-so-short rundown of my thoughts since no one’d read my full review anyway. Also, bear in mind that I never read the graphic novels so I’ll be judging the characters and plot solely on the first and (currently) only game. Spoilers under the cut!

The good:

Bigby. God I ENJOYED playing as him. There was great satisfaction being able to play this rough, potentially dangerous character and see him grow into this person that Fabletown finally grows to accept. During my first playthrough, I wasn’t able to play him as a brutal, full blown anti-hero because I need to keep him on the community’s good side. I’m definitely gonna replay the chapters and choose the more violent options and see him go full badass wolf on everyone. Speaking of badass, I constantly kept thinking to myself “Wow, I’d LOVE to play as him in an action game.” That one big fight scene against Bloody Mary made me go “You’re doing great, sweetie! Keep it up!”

The story definitely got me hooked. There wasn’t a time when I wished a speed button was available unlike Hashihime in the Old Book Town where I got bored during a sex scene.

It didn’t remind me of Happily N’ever After and its forced self-awareness that borders on annoying. Mini rant: I love when stories are set in a world where fairy tale characters meet and interact with each other, but that doesn’t mean every work that does it interests me because the handling of the theme may not quite work (for me at least). I haven’t rewatched Shrek, but I never rolled my eyes every time they make a joke about a fairytale character. I never watched Once Upon a Time but I feel it’s gonna be a pretty mixed bag? It’s just weird seeing all these adult characters taking the whole thing seriously and not in an endearingly self-aware kind of way. The Wolf Among Us kinda did it nicely in that yeah, these were fairy tale characters. Let’s see them work their way as poor people living in New York. I like how they take on the poverty angle because it kinda reminds me of my country, sorta.

To my surprise, the fight scenes DID IT for me. It’s satisfying to be able to beat the shit outta people I wanted to punch from the very beginning of the game (the Tweedles and Mary. Boy I wanted to see them banged up real badly). To be honest, I never played these Telltale games and I had my doubts about the combat mechanics. Turns out they were done pretty well. Also, I can’t shut up about the final brawl against Mary because....Big Bad Boi.

The meh:

Most of the character designs didn’t wow me. I could name the characters whose design I liked: Bigby, Georgie, Flycatcher, Bluebeard. The rest? Not so much. Some characters like Nerissa were a hit-or-miss while the rest are predictable (Bufkin, Crane, etc) or completely forgettable (Faith and Vivian’s design. Faith’s was at least memorable because her introduction was). The worst one, to me, was Bloody freakin’ Mary. Her design was simply underwhelming. I absolutely adored her true form, but her glamored form was simply...not there. I understand they don’t want to play the edgy up to eleven which was probably why they didn’t make her tattoo-ed up like Georgie (which is a shame because her emblem has a cool design. Imagine the cool tattoos she could’ve had), but her design was just half-assed (to me anyway). Not gonna lie, I actually was hooked up by her first appearance —a tough looking enemy with big butch energy —and then she opened her mouth and she sounds like fucking Bayonetta. This is probably just my personal taste, but I hate the femme fatale villain trope to death and I hate seeing this masculine lady sounding like a generic seductive villainess. Plus, I didn’t see her much during my playthrough so she ended up NOT coming across a real threat or a worthy opponent to Bigby, just a violent bully I need to get through.

The love interest character’s development was a mixed bag. I didn’t hate Snow White (like some people seem to do), but I was disappointed that she drifted away from Bigby before she gets the chance to solidify herself as his equal and partner. I know she marries him in the graphic novels, but I didn’t quite root for them to be together in the game. Mostly because of the boss-employee dynamic they had towards the end of the game, but it’s also because I also started to see how she didn’t grow to be somebody who understands Bigby and the plight of the non-human characters of Fabletown (case in point being Mr. Toad and TJ). She keeps saying that she does understand what life is like for people like Holly and I did sympathize with her when she talks to Bigby about her wanting to make Fabletown a better place, but the plot cuts her development once she has to act as Deputy Major in Crane’s place. She eventually becomes affixed as a cog in the machine. Sure, she’s needed to keep the system running, but her insisting on going by the (outdated) book just didn’t work I kept getting reminded of Louis from Beastars and how got his character development was. In Louis’ case, he started out as an covert bigot who strongarms his way to obtain authority, thinking he’d be able to make the world a better place. He does make good out of it, but we also see him coming to terms with his vulnerability which leads him to reach out towards other people with the same goals. Simply put, he changed from a know-it-all who wants to change the world so they’d suit his own views better to someone who genuinely wants to make a difference for other people. This....kinda doesn’t happen with Snow White. It’s probably because the POV (who stays on Bigby the entire time) or they’re saving her character development for the sequel; we can’t really tell until Season 2 comes out.

Speaking of which, how does being a giant, fearsome wolf in disguise reflect on Bigby’s relationship with other animal characters like Mr. Toad? I thought there was some potential in contrasting Mr Toad’s inability to afford glamor and Bigby having his lycantrophy knife handed to him by Snow. I imagine the animal townsfolk would take jabs at him having the privilege to remain constantly human without having to constantly return to the 13th floor but it never happened.

The resolution of the Crooked Man’s plot felt rushed and I was disappointed with how they handled the organized crime plot. It was built to be a grand scheme beyond Crane and the murder of the girls, but they resolved it way too quickly. It’s probably just me, but when you have organized crime and financial exploitation by (persumedly) a mafia, do you expect the villain to have their ass handed back to them in two chapters after their buildup?I mean, during Bigby and Crooked Man’s confrontation at the factory, I kept expecting the Crooked Man to make his escape after the battle against Mary — him being immediately dragged to court was anti-climatic. Does it really take that short a time to take down a big, magical mafia boss? Shouldn’t he have other witches at his beck and call (the secret lab at Johann’s place definitely hinted at that!)

I won’t refute if somebody brings up the lack of diversity in the entire cast. As far as I know, there was only one black person and they didn’t do anything with her character. I thought It would be nice if we get to see POC characters like Aladdin or Yeh-Shen (or replace Aladdin with Sinbad or Ali Baba if we want to go for total accuracy). It doesn’t help that the predominantly white characters look generic. Heck, some of the girls could have some variety in body shapes. For example, why not make Holly be a big beautiful woman? If you don’t want to make her morbidly obese, at least make her look heavier. You know, because she’s a troll. No, her wanting to look beautiful by concealing her troll form doesn’t work. Her wanting to be her own kind of beautiful (especially according to Troll standards) can be contrasted nicely to Lily having to wear her human skin because she needs to cater to her clientele, thus further emphasizing her lack of choice in her employment to Guido (and by extent the Crooked Man).

How long has it been since the exodus? Why is the Fabletown government still this terrible? I really want to be able to see the demographic at a bigger scope. For example, I’d like to see more of the dynamic between people like Bluebeard and the people at the Business Office. Also, what’s up with people with various problems going straight up to the Business Office? Do they not have accountants? How do they handle the legal stuff with the mundies? Who’s handling legal? The organization at the Business Office is just...weird. I thought they’d have some sort of higher council since I thought they’d need a bigger power to keep more powerful magic beings (like the witches) in place. Are things done better in the graphic novel?

Some of the animation lagged/look really janky on my Envy 13 laptop. Also, I encountered a bug at the beginning of some chapters where choices show up when they don’t need to, as well as some weird cuts during scene. Had to exit and reboot the game to proceed.

That’s all I can think of now. Feel free to send an ask so we can gush about the husbando material that is Bigby Wolf if you have other opinions!

#the wolf among us #snow white (twau)#bigby wolf #the crooked man (twau)#twau spoilers #the wolf among us spoilers #by the way hashihime isn't that bad check it out if you like lgbtq+ visual novels #or just yaoi #because it still handles stuff like consent issues wrong #also #where is red riding hood #is she going to be a boss or something #like jeanne was to bayonetta in the first game?

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wickedbananas · 6 years

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Looking Beyond Keywords: How to Drive Conversion with Visual Search & Search by Camera

Posted by Jes.Scholz

Let’s play a game. I’ll show you an image. You type in the keyword to find the exact product featured in the image online. Ready?

Google her sunglasses…

What did you type? Brown sunglasses? Brown sunglasses with heavy frame? Retro-look brown sunglasses with heavy frame? It doesn’t matter how long-tail you go, it will be difficult to find that exact pair, if not impossible. And you’re not alone.

For 74% of consumers, traditional text-based keyword searches are inefficient at helping find the right products online.

But much of your current search behavior is based on the false premise that you can describe things in words. In many situations, we can’t.

And this shows in the data. Sometimes we forget that Google Images accounts for 22.6% of all searches — searches where traditional methods of searching were not the best fit.

Image credit: Sparktoro

But I know what you’re thinking. Image SEO drives few to no sessions, let alone conversions. Why should I invest my limited resources into visual marketing?

Because humans are visual creatures. And now, so too are mobile phones — with big screens, multiple cameras, and strong depth perception.

Developments in computer vision have led to a visual marketing renaissance. Just look to visual search leader Pinterest, who reported that 55% of their users shop on the platform. How well do those users convert? Heap Analytics data shows that on shopping cart sizes under $199, image-based Pinterest Ads have an 8.5% conversion rate. To put that in context, that's behind Google’s 12.3% but in front of Facebook’s 7.2%.

Not only can visual search drive significant conversions online. Image recognition is also driving the digitalization and monetization in the real world.

The rise of visual search in Google

Traditionally, image search functioned like this: Google took a text-based query and tried to find the best visual match based on metadata, markups, and surrounding copy.

But for many years now, the image itself can also act as the search query. Google can search for images with images. This is called visual search.

Google has been quietly adding advanced image recognition capabilities to mobile Google Images over the last years, with a focus on the fashion industry as a test case for commercial opportunities (although the functionality can be applied to automotive, travel, food, and many other industries). Plotting the updates, you can see clear stepping stone technologies building on the theme of visual search.

Related images (April 2013): Click on a result to view visually similar images. The first foray into visual search.

Collections (November 2015): Allows users to save images directly from Google’s mobile image search into folders. Google’s answer to a Pinterest board.

Product images in web results (October 2016): Product images begin to display next to website links in mobile search.

Product details on images (December 2016): Click on an image result to display product price, availability, ratings, and other key information directly in the image search results.

Similar items (April 2017): Google can identify products, even within lifestyle images, and showcases similar items you can buy online.

Style ideas (April 2017): The flip side to similar items. When browsing fashion product images on mobile, Google shows you outfit montages and inspirational lifestyle photos to highlight how the product can be worn in real life.

Image badges (August 2017): Label on the image indicate what other details are available, encouraging more users to click; for example, badges such as “recipe” or a timestamp for pages featuring videos. But the most significant badge is “product,” shown if the item is available for purchase online.

Image captions (March 2018): Display the title tag and domain underneath the image.

Combining these together, you can see powerful functionality. Google is making a play to turn Google Images into shoppable product discovery — trying to take a bite out of social discovery platforms and give consumers yet another reason to browse on Google, rather than your e-commerce website.

Image credit: Google

What’s more, Google is subtly leveraging the power of keyword search to enlighten users about these new features. According to 1st May MozCast, 18% of text-based Google searches have image blocks, which drive users into Google Images.

This fundamental change in Google Image search comes with a big SEO opportunity for early adopters. Not only for transactional queries, but higher up the funnel with informational queries as well.

Let’s say you sell designer fashion. You could not only rank #1 with your blog post on a informational query on “kate middleton style,” including an image on your article result to enhance the clickability of your SERP listing. You can rank again on page 1 within the image pack, then have your products featured in Similar Items — all of which drives more high-quality users to your site.

And the good news? This is super simple to implement.

How to drive organic sessions with visual search

The new visual search capabilities are all algorithmically selected based on a combination of schema and image recognition. Google told TechCrunch:

“The images that appear in both the style ideas and similar items grids are also algorithmically ranked, and will prioritize those that focus on a particular product type or that appear as a complete look and are from authoritative sites.”

This means on top of continuing to establish Domain Authority site-wide, you need images that are original, high resolution, and clearly focus on a single theme. But most importantly, you need images with perfectly implemented structured markup to rank in Google Images.

To rank your images, follow these four simple steps:

1. Implement schema markup

To be eligible for similar items, you need product markup on the host page that meets the minimum metadata requirements of:

Name

Image

Price

Currency

Availability

But the more quality detail, the better, as it will make your results more clickable.

2. Check your implementation

Validate your implementation by running a few URLs through Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. But remember, just being valid is sometimes not enough. Be sure to look into the individual field result to ensure the data is correctly populating and user-friendly.

3. Get indexed

Be aware, it can take up to one week for your site’s images to be crawled. This will be helped along by submitting an image XML sitemap in Google Search Console.

4. Look to Google Images on mobile

Check your implementation by doing a site:yourdomain.cctld query on mobile in Google Images.

If you see no image results badges, you likely have an implementation issue. Go back to step 2. If you see badges, click a couple to ensure they show your ideal markup in the details.

Once you confirm all is well, then you can begin to search for your targeted keywords to see how and where you rank.

Like all schema markup, how items display in search results is at Google’s discretion and not guaranteed. However, quality markup will increase the chance of your images showing up.

It’s not always about Google

Visual search is not limited to Google. And no, I’m not talking about just Bing. Visual search is also creating opportunities to be found and drive conversion on social networks, such as Pinterest. Both brands allow you to select objects within images to narrow down your visual search query.

Image credit: MarTech Today

On top of this, we also have shoppable visual content on the rise, bridging the gap between browsing and buying. Although at present, this is more often driven by data feeds and tagging more so than computer vision. For example:

Brahmin offers shoppable catalogs

Topshop features user-generated shoppable galleries

Net-a-Porter’s online magazine features shoppable article

Ted Baker’s campaigns with shoppable videos

Instagram & Pinterest both monetize with shoppable social media posts

Such formats reduce the number of steps users need to take from content to conversion. And more importantly for SEOs, they exclude the need for keyword search.

I see a pair of sunglasses on Instagram. I don’t need to Google the name, then click on the product page and then convert. I use the image as my search query, and I convert. One click. No keywords.

...But what if I see those sunglasses offline?

Digitize the world with camera-based search

The current paradigm for SEOs is that we wait for a keyword search to occur, and then compete. Not only for organic rankings, but also for attention versus paid ads and other rich features.

With computer vision, you can cut the keyword search out of the customer journey. By entering the funnel before the keyword search occurs, you can effectively exclude your competitors.

Who cares if your competitor has the #1 organic spot on Google, or if they have more budget for Adwords, or a stronger core value proposition messaging, if consumers never see it?

Consumers can skip straight from desire to conversion by taking a photo with their smartphone.

Brands taking search by camera mainstream

Search by camera is well known thanks to Pinterest Lens. Built into the app, simply point your camera phone at a product discovered offline for online recommendations of similar items.

If you point Lens at a pair of red sneakers, it will find you visually similar sneakers as well as idea on how to style it.

Image credit: Pinterest

But camera search is not limited to only e-commerce or fashion applications.

Say you take a photo of strawberries. Pinterest understand you’re not looking for more pictures of strawberries, but for inspiration, so you'll see recipe ideas.

The problem? For you, or your consumers, Pinterest is unlikely to be a day-to-day app. To be competitive against keyword search, search by camera needs to become part of your daily habit.

Samsung understands this, integrating search by camera into their digital personal assistant Bixby, with functionality backed by powerful partnerships.

Pinterest Lens powers its images search

Amazon powers its product search

Google translates text

Foursquare helps to find places nearby

Bixby failed to take the market by storm, and so is unlikely to be your go-to digital personal assistant. Yet with the popularity of search by camera, it’s no surprise that Google has recently launched their own version of Lens in Google Assistant.

Search engines, social networks, and e-commerce giants are all investing in search by camera...

...because of impressive impacts on KPIs. BloomReach reported that e-commerce websites reached by search by camera resulted in:

48% more product views

75% greater likelihood to return

51% higher time on site

9% higher average order value

Camera search has become mainstream. So what’s your next step?

How to leverage computer vision for your brand

As a marketer, your job is to find the right use case for your brand, that perfect point where either visual search or search by camera can reduce friction in conversion flows.

Many case studies are centered around snap-to-shop. See an item you like in a friend's home, at the office, or walking past you on the street? Computer vision takes you directly from picture to purchase.

But the applications of image recognition are only limited by your vision. Think bigger.

Branded billboards, magazines ads, product packaging, even your brick-and-mortar storefront displays all become directly actionable. Digitalization with snap-to-act via a camera phone offers more opportunities than QR codes on steroids.

If you run a marketplace website, you can use computer vision to classify products: Say a user wants to list a pair of shoes for sale. They simply snap a photo of the item. With that photo, you can automatically populate the fields for brand, color, category, subcategory, materials, etc., reducing the number of form fields to what is unique about this item, such as the price.

A travel company can offer snap-for-info on historical attractions, a museum on artworks, a healthy living app on calories in your lunch.

What about local SEO? Not only could computer vision show the rating or menu of your restaurant before the user walks inside, but you could put up a bus stop ad calling for hungry travelers to take a photo. The image triggers Google Maps, showing public transport directions to your restaurant. You can take the customer journey, quite literally. Tell them where to get off the bus.

And to build such functionality is relatively easy, because you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are many open-source image recognition APIs to help you leverage pre-trained image classifiers, or from which you can train your own:

Google Cloud Vision

Amazon Rekognition

IBM Watson

Salesforce Einstein

Slyce

Clarifai

Let’s make this actionable. You now know computer vision can greatly improve your user experience, conversion rate and sessions. To leverage this, you need to:

Make your brand visual interactive through image recognition features

Understand how consumers visually search for your products

Optimize your content so it’s geared towards visual technology

Visual search is permeating online and camera search is becoming commonplace offline. Now is the time to outshine your competitors. Now is the time to understand the foundations of visual marketing. Both of these technologies are stepping stones that will lead the way to an augmented reality future.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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future-self-journey · 7 years

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Mount Post-Mortem

Tools Used

First things first, I use pencil and paper to sketch out all of my concepts.

For the modeling part, since I learned to use Maya at school back in 2012, I’ve decided to continue on that way for this project.

Photoshop was a pretty obvious tool choice for me for painting the texture.

During my time working on my project I discovered 3D Coat, and decided to include it in my process since it is super super efficient for uv mapping and texturing.

Finally I used Maya to render some high resolution images of the mount, and then I uploaded the project on Sketchfab.

Complementary tools used :

Huge amount of WoW references : to take inspiration from already existing mounts in the game in order to get closer to Blizzard’s style and to understand how they make textures.

Youtube/CubeBrush : a lot of tutorials about modeling animal anatomy, about painting materials.

ArtStation and Sketchfab 3D-models : to understand better construction of the wire-frame and topology.

Maya plug-in “UV Nightshade” : it could help a lot organizing your uvs in maya.

Process

Concept idea, inspirations and intentions : I have been an avid WoW player for years and am constantly inspired to create artwork based off of the game’s lore. Ever since I started studying game art I’ve always wanted to make assets for World of Warcraft but never took the time or felt ready for it.

This exercise provided me the opportunity to create an asset from concept to final presentation within an art style I have always admired.

In order to create the best concept I could, I took the time to gather images that I could use as references and draw inspiration from. I gathered images of Shadowmoon Valley (vegetation, Draenei and orcs props), about cartoonish fox illustrations and real anatomy sketch of foxes and deers.

After that I made a reference image with my main inspirations :

Then I started to sketch a bunch of ideas for the mount, trying to not choose the final design too early. The more iteration you make, the stronger your final choice will be.

After creating several varied conceptual drawings, I created a more detailed sketch of the chosen drawing, keeping in mind that I could let myself change it if I thought of a better idea afterwards.

After creating the initial sketch, I created a basic colored version to test the composition. I didn’t want to waste time getting bogged down on small details that might change later.

Modeling in 3D : I started by making a block out for the body, and then adding the props on it. I worked on all the pieces a little bit at a time to make sure the proportions matched up well. Watching Youtube tutorials also helped me when creating the body since this was the first time I have modeled something animal related.

What methodology I will use next time :

Make a block out for the entire project

Check volume/sizing according to your modelsheets or your concept reference,

Add Detail once to every part of the model, but keep an eye on your polycount,

If your polycount allows it, add detail a second time on more important parts of the model.

UVs mapping : UV mapping can often be a long and drawn out process for some people. After some testing, I found that using 3D Coat’s UV unwrap tools was definitely the easiest method to use. I switched between 3D Coat and Maya’s UVs editor while painting the texture. At this time I also decided to add the halo part on the horns and the legs (last minute idea).

Texturing : The texturing process was a little messy for this project. I spent too much time focusing on the color and details of individual props instead of the harmony of the entire model. After a few missteps I was able to find a process that worked well and completed the texturing. Even after the model completion, I was able to gather the feedback that I had received online so that the next model I create will be even better.

What methodology I will use next time :

Make a greyscaled base,

Insert details (still in greyscale) and check the contrasts,

Add the ambient occlusion,

Add color gradient layers for every distinct materials in the texture,

Add details as beams of lights and reflection on metal material.

Rendering and exporting to Sketchfab : Considering the mount is shadeless (because the lighting and shadow information is painted in the texture), it was pretty quick to set the render up in Maya and in Sketchfab . The final model has the following textures :

I made a kind of a turn-over thing in Maya in order to have high resolution images of it for my portfolio. Since there were no light and the texture was 2K px, they were quick to do.

Sketchfab viewer link :

https://sketchfab.com/models/0f7d31106f4f44ecb01b04bbd750d811

What went right ?

The final result looks quite well like what I had in mind at the very beginning, even if I changed/added a lot of things along the way.

I was able to get pretty close to the style used in WoW and have high hopes that I will get even closer in future projects.

Since I didn’t give myself a deadline on this project, I can’t say I failed at timing, even if I think this project took me a LOT of time (about few month on it). But regarding the fact that I almost started from scratch (on a knowledge and technique aspect) and that I had to re-learn a lot of thing through the way, it was normal for me to take that much time.

What could have gone better ?

This project was the very first personal work/concept I’ve done after 4 years break, so I forgot a lot about technique, shortcuts and methodology like I said earlier. So in consequence there is a lot of stuff I could have done better/quicker, here are the main stuff that made the journey longer and harder to me :

Time management : at first I was splitting my time between several projects, so I worked only few hours per day on the mount, I think this distract me a little. Sometimes it is better to focus on one thing to be more efficient. I also went back and edited several assets after watching tutorials, which cost me additional time.

Methodology : That is the big black spot in that project, like I said, I forgot a lot about methodology and how to start a project. So it made me lose time on almost every step of the project.

Conclusion and Closing Remarks

This project was a big jump into questioning my skill level, knowledge (or at least what I remembered from school) and capacity to keep going despite the difficulties.

It was a huge learning/re-learning experience and even if there was mixed feelings along the way, and even if at the end there is a lot of aspects about this mount that could be perfected, it was a successful experience for me.

Why ? :

I got back into my habits in Maya. I even learned new shortcuts I didn’t know back at school. Being comfortable with your software is essential.

I learned to use new software which simplified my life so much and will on future projects.

It forced me to search for new techniques of painting and I now understand better how to make textures quicker and more efficiently.

It helped me trust my instincts and taught me that sometimes not all advice is good to follow, and to trust a little more what I’ve learned in school even if this knowledge might be considered old-fashioned now.

It allowed me to meet generous people in the art community, who gave me encouragement, feedback, tips and helped me get through it.

Thanks to all the folks that helped me, followed me, watched my streams along the journey that this project was. I hope this post will encourage some of you to keep going if you encounter difficulties achieving your goal.

The harder, the better the result will be ! Or at least you’ll learn something from it.

Images /Tutorials /Artist I used as references :

Ashleigh Warner’s work on Warlords of Draenor - https://www.artstation.com/artist/ashdoodles

Coloring with gradiant maps by Marc Brunet - https://youtu.be/wUeQsUJTz8I

Model a dog by Jeff Slominsky - https://youtu.be/j5aFJzn-ZYQ

My Pinterest board : https://fr.pinterest.com/mhagnusgame/p-vall%C3%A9e-dombrelune/

You can follow me on and see more of my work on :

Twitter : https://twitter.com/MhagnusGame

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/mhagnus_pauline/

ArtStation : https://www.artstation.com/artist/paulinep

DeviantArt : http://thegreenchick.deviantart.com/

Sketchfab : https://sketchfab.com/PaulinePouchtajevitch#

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stripedigital · 5 years

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52 Graphic Design Terms: Learn the Lingo Like a Pro

Take a look at any company and the first thing you notice is what? The graphics, right? Whether it’s an ad, a social media picture, brochure, flyer etc. A picture is generally worth a thousand words but in this case it’s worth at least 52 graphic design terms.

These 52 graphic design terms will help you navigate through the world of graphic design with ease. Knowing which terms have what meaning and how they will apply to your digital marketing campaign are vital to any company. With so many graphic design terms out there it can all get a bit chaotic, which is why I’ve decided to separate them by four categories to make it a little easier to sift through: color, design, type and branding.

Graphic Design Terms Related to: Color

Let us get started with the first thing that draws our attention, color. As discussed in one of our recent blogs 10 creative graphic design tips for social media we mentioned how important color was in a social media campaign. Now let us get into which terms have what meanings and why it’s important to your digital marketing campaign!

1. CYMK

This is the perfect color format for your print products. CMYK is a 4-color printing process made up of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. These colors work best on print object. Ever wonder why you pick a beautiful color on the screen only to have it print in a shade other than what the screen showed? Chances are you’ve picked the wrong color format, luckily now you know the difference!

2. RGB

When dealing with anything digital RGB is the color format you need to aim for. RGB stands for red, green and blue, these three colors are perfect for any type of digital screen.

Hues, Tones, Shades, oh my!

3. Hue

Hues are the purest form of original colors. They are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.

4. Shade

Shade is the addition of black into a pure color.

5. Tint

Tint is the addition of white into a pure color.

6. Tone

Tone is known as the addition of gray into a pure color.

7. Saturation

Take a second to think of all the bright and colorful pictures that you see on websites or social media platforms. Chances are the designer behind that image saturated the picture to make it look more appealing to the eye. Saturation is the intensity and vividness of a color.

8. Gradient

Gradient is a gradual change from one color to another. This type of graphic design approach is exactly what Instagram did when they changed their logo.

9. Hex code

A hex is a six-digit number that follows a hashtag. It is used to represent colors and often what graphic designers use in computer design programs.

10. Palette

A color palette is more than just the range of colors used in a design. These are colors that work well together and will bring your brand together. Think like how Joanna Gaines has a distinct color palette she uses for her farmhouse remodels.

These next few terms can seem a little daunting and hard to understand. Don’t worry, I’ve included a nice little graph to explain visually what them mean. I mean this is a Graphic Design terms article after all.

11. Monochrome

A monochromatic color palette uses various tones with only one color.

12. Analogous

Analogous colors are known as colors that are adjacent to one another on the color wheel (Example: red violet, red and red orange).

13. Complementary

Complementary colors are opposites on the color wheel. This is almost like a contrast and will give some of your graphics that extra “POP!”

14. Triadic

Triadic colors are three colors that are spaced evenly on the color wheel. One color will be the dominate color, the second will support, and the third will be the accent color.

15. Pantone

The “Pantone Matching System” is a standardized color system, created especially for identifying each tone with exact precision. Thus, every color included in this classification is numbered with the goal of simplifying the process of using an exact color tone in designs and prints.

16. Warm Colors

Warm colors can be found on one half of the color wheel (reds, oranges, yellows and pinks).

17. Cool Colors

Cool colors occupy the other half (blues, greens and purples).

18. Color Theory

The study of how colors make people feel and their effects on a design is known as color theory. Color theory is used to explore the best types of colors to work in different design instances. For example, choosing a pastel scheme for a website that needs to feel soft. Or picking red and yellow for a magazine ad that needs to evoke energy.

Graphic Design Terms Related to: Design

Now that we have your colors fully color-ed. (see what I did there?) Let us move on to the design aspect of your digital marketing campaign. These next few graphic design terms will help bring your campaign a little closer to being the best.

19. Contrast

Contrast is when one element is completely different from another. Your designer may use color, shape, texture, size or typeface to create contrast.

20. Balance

This graphic design term is very important when keeping your audience engaged as the aesthetics of your page will either attract or repel potential consumers. Balance is the placement of elements on the page so that the text and graphics are equally distributed.

21. Mock Up

When graphic designers are creating a mock up, they are creating a realistic representation of how the design will look when full size.

22. Negative Space

Any space that surrounds the elements of your main design is called negative space. It is important to have this in order to give the eyes some “breathing room”. You’ll often notice that the most well known logos and brand designs involve a great deal of negative space. Remember, negative space doesn’t always mean white space.

23. Opacity

Opacity is when an object lacks transparency. Think of a black circle. That circle with a high percent of transparency lets you see what lies behind it. Whereas when you apply a higher opacity it is becomes more solid.

24. Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a neat little technique that many designers are taught to use to determine a graphics focal point. Using a grid of three rows and columns, focal points are indicated where the lines overlap. Designers use this as a guide to determine where to place important elements in their design. This is especially important to your digital marketing advertisements because with the amount of ads out there today, you want to make sure your ads are the ones that stand out to potential customers over competitors.

25. Scale

Scale is the size of an object in relation to another element.

26. Texture

When it comes to design, texture can refer to the actual visual tactility of your design. Want your design to have a mirror or cut out effect? Texture on your graphics can do this. A texture is defined as the feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or a substance. And in design a texture can mirror that.

27. Golden Ratio

The Golden Ratio is a common ratio that is found in life that is usually used in design to create pleasing and natural looking elements in your work. Many people use it when creating logos, graphics and even website designs.

28. Knolling

Knolling is when you arrange different elements at 90-degree angles from each other and then photograph them from above. This amazing technique creates a very symmetrical look that will give your customers a pleasing feeling.

29. Skeumorphism

Try saying that three times fast! Skeuomorphism is when a digital element is designed to look like a replica of the physical work. Think of the calculator app on your phone. It looks a lot like the real thing, right? Well, that’s Skeuomorphism. The more you use this technique, the better you can resonate with potential customers through a computer screen, phone, or tablet.

30. Image resolution

With all the graphic design terms this might just be one of the most important digital ones. The detail of an image is based on the number of pixels in the picture – which is known as resolution. When an image looks clearer then it has a higher resolution. When the resolution is lower it can become pixelated. The higher the resolution the better the image. The better the image the more likely a potential client is to stay on your page a bit longer because you look more professional and they trust you. Poor quality images immediately make your business lose credibility with anyone that sees them.

31. JPG and PNG images

These might look like the same to you but both are image formats for different purposes. A JPG format contains a plethora of colors and is great if you plan to share images on social platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. However, PNG is the perfect candidate for supporting better quality photos, such as logos, and great for keeping the quality of an image.

32. Vector images

Vector images are made up of points, lines, and curves using a mathematical equation which means the image can scale in size without losing any quality. Meaning they won’t get blurry when scaled.

33. Raster Images

Raster graphics are composed of pixels on a grid. They are great for special effects, color correction and manipulating photos. However, raster images are resolution-dependent, which means that images cannot be enlarged without degrading their quality.

Graphic Design Terms Related to: Typography

Ever look at a those articles that poke fun at the bad typography in logos and signs? That is why it is critical to know these graphic design terms and how to apply them to your logo – so you won’t become one of those spoofs! Below are some key terms that will help you to avoid being caught on those roast articles and score you a spot on the “Best Typography” list.. if there was one of course!

34. Typography

Typography is the visual component of a written word.

35. Kerning

Kerning is the adjustment of space between pairs of letters in the same word.

36. Tracking

Tracking is the alteration of space for entire words and blocks of text.

37. Leading

This is the space between two lines of text, also known as the “line-height”

38. Font

A font is a group of characters in a certain size and style. Think Arial Bold, Arial Italic, Arial Regular.

39. Typeface

A typeface is a family of fonts. Think Times New Roman, Arial, or Cambria.

40. Serif

Serifs are the small flourishes at the end of the strokes in some letters. (Example: Times New Roman)

41. Sans Serif

Sans means “without.” A sans serif font has no serifs, meaning no small flourishes. (Example: Arial)

42. Slab Serif

Slab serif have thick, block serifs. (Example: Courier New)

43. Script

A typeface that uses a flowing, cursive stroke.

44. Typographic Hierarchy

This is a system for organizing the texts in a web page that creates an order within the content thus allowing readers to easily scan and find what they are searching for. It guides the eyes to where each section of content begins and ends.

45. Lorem Ipsum

Lorem ipsum is dummy text used by web designers as placeholder text. This is used when the final copy is not yet ready. It has enough distribution of letters which allows it to look like readable in English language.

Graphic Design Terms Related to: Branding

On to the last section of our graphic design terms, branding. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. Learn how these graphic design terms actually pull together to help make your digital marketing campaign stand out from the rest! Keep reading for the final graphic design terms to finish fueling your brain with all the design savvy words there are to know!

46. Brand Identity

Your brand identity is a visual representation that describe the values, mission and background of your company. This will include logos, business cards, memos, packaging design, etc. This will outline your brand in its entirety. Making sure your brand has the proper, fonts, colors, emotions, logos and aesthetic will ensure that you’re building brand awareness in the best way possible.

47. Logotype

A logotype is the name of a company that is designed in a visually unique way for use by that company. Most of the time when people refer to a logo, they’re referring to the brand’s logotype not the actually mark. Examples include: Google, Disney, Coca-Cola.

48. LogoMark

A logo mark usually doesn’t contain the name of the company it is more of an abstract representation that your company uses, usually in a symbol or mark. (An example would be Nike, Target, Apple)

49. Collateral

Your brands collateral pieces are the physical, visible objects that have been created to represent your specific brand. Collateral can include things like brochures, flyers, social media ads and even digital and print signs at an event.

50. Grid

A grid is evenly divided columns and rows that will arrange elements for a company in a consistent way. Whether it be for social media layouts, website layouts or just day to day activities. Grids are used to align design elements in a more efficient and accurate way.

51. Trademark

A trademark is a symbol, word, phrase, or design that you can use to distinguish your products or goods from those of competitors. Most companies will need to apply for this.

52. Mood board

Mood boards aren’t just for New Year’s Resolutions and self proclaimed goals! These boards are great when putting together images, text and other visual elements that can and will define your brand. When words simply aren’t enough to describe your brand, mood boards are perfect.

Wrapping Up

Phew, that seems like a lot doesn’t it? Don’t worry you can always come back to reference if need be. But these graphic design terms will not only help with your social media campaigns but your entire marketing campaign as well.

Now that you are design savvy in the graphics department put these graphic design terms to use and make your company’s marketing campaign outshine the rest! Don’t want to do it yourself? Consider working with one of our design professionals. Now you’ll be able to speak his/her lingo when it comes to creating designs for your digital marketing campaign. Contact us today!

Know some graphic design terms we missed? Comment below and share, let’s keep this thing going!

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