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#(by the way all the drawings are based on google references)
therobotmonster · 1 year
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Please don’t use midjourney it steals art from pretty much every artist out there without any compensation. I didn’t know this at first and tried it but then during the creation process i saw water marks and Getty image logos (though I’m sure they’ve hidden that now) so it’s definitely stealing.
No, it isn't. And you've taken the wrong lesson from the Getty watermark issue.
AI training on public facing, published work is fair use. Any published piece could be located, examined, and learned from by a human artist. This does not require the permission of the owner of said work. A mechanical apparatus does not change this principle.
All we, as artists, own, are specific expressions. We do not own styles, ideas, concepts, plots, or tropes. We do not even own the work we create in a proper sense. All our work flows from the commons, and all of it flows back to it. IP is a limited patent on specific expressions, and what constitutes infringement is the end result of the creative process. What goes into it is irrelevant, and upending that process to put inspiration and reference as infringement is the end of art as we know it.
The Getty watermark issue is an example of overfitting, wherein a repetitive element in the dataset over-emphasizes specific features to the point of disrupting the system's attempts at the creation of novel images.
No one denies that the SD dataset is trained on images Getty claims to own, but Getty has so polluted the image search functions of the internet with their watermarked images that the idea of a getty watermark has been picked up the same way the AI might pick up the idea of an eye or a tree branch. It is a systemic failure that Shutterstock and Getty can be so monopolistic and ubiquitous that a dateset trained on literally everything public facing on the internet would be polluted with their watermarks.
Watermarks that, by the way, they add to public domain images, and that google prioritizes over clean versions.
The lawsuits being brought against Midjourney and Stable Diffusion are copyright overreach being presented as a theft tissue. The facts of the matter are not as the litigants state. The images aren't stored, the SD weights are a 4 gig file trained on 250 terabytes, roughly 4 bytes per image. It runs local, does not reach out to image sources over IP. All you've got are mathematical patterns and ratios. I would go so far as to say that the class action suit is based on outright lies.
But for a moment, let's entertain the idea that what goes into a work, as inspiration, can be copyrighted. That styles can be stolen. That what goes in defines infringement, rather than what comes out. What happens then?
Well, the bad news is that if Stable Diffusion and Midjourney were shut down tomorrow, Stable Diffusion is in the wild. It runs local, it's user-trainable. In short, the genie isn't going back in the bottle. Plus, the way diffusion AI works, there's no way to trace a gen to its sources. The weights don't work like that. The indexing would be larger than the entire set of stored patterns.
Well good news, there's an AI for that. The current version is called CLIP Interrogator And it works on everything. Not just AI generated, but any image. It can find what style it closely matches, reverse engineer a prompt. It's crude now, but it will improve.
Now, you've already established that using the same patterns as another work is infringement. You've already established that inspiration is theft. And now there's a robot that tells lawyers who you draw like.
Sure, you can fight it in court. If it goes go to court. But who's to say they won't just staplegun that AI to a monetization re-direction bot like youtube has going with their content ID? Awesome T-shirt design you uploaded to your print-on-demand shop... too bad your art style resembles that from a cartoon from 1973 that Universal got as part of an acquisition and they've claimed all your cash. Sure you can file a DMCA counter-notice, but we all know how that goes.
And then there's this fantasy that upending the system would help artists. But who would "own" that style? Is that piece stealing the style of Stephen Silver, or Disney's Kim Possible(TM)? When you work for Disney their contracts say everything you make is theirs. Every doodle. Every drawing. If the styles are copyrightable, a company could hire an artist straight out of school, publish their work under work-for-hire, fire them, and then go after them for "stealing" the style they developed while working for said corp.
Not to mention that a handful of companies own so much media that it is going to be impossible to find an artist that hasn't been influenced by something under their control.
Oh, and that stock of source images that companies like Disney and Universal have? These kinds of lawsuits won't stop them from building AIs with that material that they "own". The power goes into corp hands, they can down staff to their heart's content and everyone else is denied the ability to compete with them. Worst of all possible worlds.
Be careful what wishes you make when holding the copyright monkey's paw.
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baggvinshield · 8 months
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the Raphael we need but don't deserve etc
Okay babes, I'm bringing my catholic schoolgirl education and googling skills fully to bear on this one. Our Arch/Angel Raphael has been hiding in plain sight all along, and they aren't Crowley. Aziraphale is Good Omens' Raphael.
(Possibly this was theorized like 3 yrs ago during my tumblr hiatus so like apologies if I'm just repeating meta, but most people seem to think Raphael is Crowley(?????), and not our best b*tch 'Raphale.)
The Angel Raphael
Let's start with this scene of Raphael in Eden talking to Adam and Eve:
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That's an artist's depiction of John Milton's Paradise Lost, which I read in high school 100 years ago so you don't have to. Milton wrote that God asked the angel Raphael to warn Adam and Eve that they would be tempted to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Here's another depiction of the same.
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This angel, with his pale hair, is not a bad likeness for our Aziraphale. Milton is kind of a big deal when it comes to cultural angelology, so it's more than fair to consider his work.
Note that Milton does NOT call Raphael Archangel. Just angel. More on that later.
The Angel Raphael is also called Azariah or Azarias in the Bible when he goes amongst humans in disguise.
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Raphael is also noted as an important angel to humans in particular.
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Interesting! It's his job to heal the earth after the angels fuck it up, you say?
Raphael from the christianized tradition is most likely based on another angel.
The Angel Israfel
There is an angel in Islamic tradition to whom Raphael is considered the "Christian" counterpart, and that angel is called Israfil. Or, Israfel.
As far as word roots, prefixes, and endings go - we have now compiled all the parts to get Aziraphale's name. "Az" from Raphael's secret human identity, "sra" from Israfel, "raphale" from literally the name Raphael with 2 letters transposed, and to cover that, the homonym-y way that "Israfel" and "Aziraphale" rhyme. It's like a portmanteau. The show even gives us "Mr. Fell" as Aziraphale's human name to really cement this. Say this out loud: Israfel, Mister-Fell.
So Aziraphale is Israfel is Raphael.
But Raphael is an archangel in the Bible and in western cultural tradition. Right, let's cover that. I've got 2 options, and they don't even contradict one another.
Aziraphale was an archangel before being demoted to Principality. This would explain his position on earth & his interactions with only (as far as we see) other archangels. He wasn't a super high level archangel like Gabriel (prince of heaven) or Michael and Uriel (or Crowley*cough*) but more like Saraquel or Sandalphon.
Good Omens has it's very own angelology canon that draws from sources like Milton & Abrahamic religions but does what it wants when it wants to, and guess who just got promoted to archangel? If it isn't our babygirl Aziraphale. And supreme archangel at that! This also covers the cherub with the flaming sword at the Eastern Gate of Eden - Good Omens is leaning on Milton rather than the Bible for that bit. (Actually if you read Genesis, God sticks that cherub there after Adam and Eve are cast out of Eden, to guard against humanity returning, so that angel can't be Aziraphale anyway.)
So that's how we get our (newly promoted) Archangel Raphael in Good Omens, and square the lore with Aziraphale's place in Eden and his role with humanity.
Wanna know something fun about Israfel?
Israfel's role, among other stuff, is to blow a big horn that basically uhh... Destroys all life? Yeah, he kicks off Armageddon & Judgement Day. Possibly, christian belief is similar about Raphael but it's unclear.
I'm not gonna get into trying to join up Islamic beliefs about this with christian beliefs about armageddon as written in the biblical Book of Revelation (which is absolutely in play in Good Omens btw, Azi even references it in S1) because I'm super duper far from qualified to do so. But, my understanding is that Israfel destroys all life, Resurrection Day happens, then Judgment Day happens (which is also what the Book of Rev says that the Second Coming of Christ has come to do, judge all souls etc) and then Israfel blows his bigass trumpet again and um. restores all life. New earth, new heaven, etc.
So that's interesting in light of things like: the Resurrectionists, s2's theme of bringing people back from the dead/only pretending to kill them, Gabriel's prophetic moment talking about the dead walking the earth, catching bullets in your teeth but not dying, measuring miracle strength by how many people it could literally raise from the dead, etc.
Anyway who's excited for season 3?!
Oh yeah and TLDR Aziraphale is Raphael who is Israfel. Raphael is not Crowley.
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justheblueberry · 4 months
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handbinding of A Study in Scarlette by kittebasu
There are people who want to live forever, and then there is Shinichi, who just wants to live a little longer than this.
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this bind has been in my head since i first read the fic like, three years ago. i dreamed up so many ideas for it, for so long, and now it's finally done! the typeset was actually done in early 2022, back when i was still using google docs, but it went through a few iterations because i was just. so. fiddly. with every aspect of this book. it needed to be perfect (as close to perfect as i, an amateur bookbinder out of my depth, can get) and it had to be absolutely over the top, to reflect the insane amount of love and care that the author put into the fic itself.
the first time i read this fic, i barely knew what detective conan was, much less all of the intricate plot details; i was just along for the ride, but by the end i was completely invested. i went back and watched through the anime as well as a few movies (it took me six months) and then read the fic again. and then a few more times. kaishin and the world of dcmk has utterly gripped me. it's 100% this fic's fault and i love it so, so, much.
i went through a few iterations of visual designs and i'm really happy with the little details i managed to squeeze in.
the entire color scheme is based around red, because 1) it's a murder mystery, 2) for scarlette shinamoto (and the title of the fic as well as the original holmes novel it references), and 3) the irony of "lady red" actually being red. the secret fourth reason is that i think red/gold is a super sexy color combo.
i sewed the textblock with red thread to reference holmes' "scarlet thread of murder".
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another detail i love is the five yen coin bookmark, it was one of my first ideas and it turned out even better than i thought.
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i wanted the endpapers to evoke a sense of the white marbled floor of the ballroom, with the glow-in-the-dark kaitou kid caricature being the luminol on the floor, and the little pops of red looks like blood that's been mixed in. i lucked out in that the other side of the endpaper was like a lavender-purpley color, i like to think of it as a little wink wink nudge to the color of the actual Lady Red.
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the chapter pages got a few reworkings, but i'm happy with the illustrations i ended up doing for each of them. the chapter titles are one of my favorite things about the fic, each one has so much meaning packed into it and flows so beautifully, and i wanted to put as much care into making them pop as possible.
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the cover was a linocut carving i designed and carved, which i then printed onto the bookcloth, and ironed on htv on top.
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i also threw in a couple of my drawings of my favorite scenes.
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this is getting way too long, so i'll end it here. i'll have a separate post detailing the process every step of the way, if anyone wants to take a closer look. this fic is kind of directly responsible for getting me into fanbinding, so it's safe to say it altered the course of my life. i now spend way too much time (and money) looking at book stuff.
kittebasu, if, somehow, you see this and would like an author copy, i would be honored to make one and ship it to you; i would be overjoyed to gift you with any art i have the ability to make, because the fics you wrote have irreversibly altered my brain chemistry, and being able to give back in any capacity would be a dream. (thank you.)
a few postscripts:
i am not selling any copies of this fic. partially because i believe in the gift economy of fandom as well as firmly keeping fanbinding a hobby that will stay unmonetized, but also because it took me months (years, if we are counting when i first finished the typeset) to finish this and i do not have the strength.
however, if you are also a fan of this fic and would like a copy, i honestly, fervently, encourage you to give fanbinding a try! renegade publishing and its discord server are an absolutely wonderful and free resource. i knew nothing about bookbinding and had zero materials when i first started, but i've learned so much thanks to the lovely people there. if you're still apprehensive about getting started, i'd be willing to share my typeset of this fic as well as answer any questions about the making of this book if you DM me.
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cycat4077 · 3 months
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Gator's room: foreshadowing & clues
I went back to take a look at the scene of Gator in his room. While the "flag", girly posters, blaring heavy metal and handcuffs were an immediate stand out to all of us, I wanted to have a look to see if there were any other clues to who Gator is.
First up, here's his room:
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SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT FOR EPISODES 1-8
Let's look a little closer at the obvious foreshadowing.
Based on the previews and the Instagram post from the makeup artist (along with the subtle nods to Oedipus), it appears Ole Munch is going to torture Gator. We see him holding a knife to his eyes, and in the original trailer, Gator is bloody and blindfolded while being led by a noose.
Gator's own posters, decor, and drawings seem to depict this fate.
#1 The poster immediately behind his shoulder depicts a man with no eyes - potentially gouged out.
#2 The drawing below it has the eyes blocked out in colours that suggest necrotic (dead) tissue.
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#3 The animal skull on his wall obviously has no eyes.
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The Oedipus parallel and removal of his peepers were foreshadowed right in Gator's room from episode 3.
Linda's fate (mommy issues)
We learned in the last episode that Linda is dead. Roy tells Dot that he can burry Dot right next to Linda. When Dot confronts Gator and tries to win him over via his mother, Gator gets visibly emotional and shaken. We see hope and heartache run through him simultaneously. I think Gator knows instinctively that his mother is dead, but some small part of him hopes she is still out there.
I also think Gator's drawings depict his mother.
#1 This drawing not only depicts a person with eyes blacked out, but the drawing is clearly of a woman - possibly a corpse. She has breasts and long hair but is drawn in purples, reds, and blues; colours that represent bruises, blood, and dying flesh.
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#2 The other drawing with missing eyes is also of a woman. This drawing once again has long hair, but she is smiling.
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Perhaps Gator accidentally saw his mother's dead body. He has a drawing that represents a scary corpse (reality) and one that represents an almost comical one. Maybe the smile is how he tries to remember Linda - dead but somehow still smiling for him.
Other little things
#1 Robbed of childhood innocence. Gator's room is filled with "tough boy" items: swimsuit model photos, car photos, alcohol, heavy metal posters, etc. But he also has children's toy cars. The hot rod photos are in direct contrast to the toy cars on his shelf. The boy trapped inside the man. A boy robbed of his childhood by abuse and traumatic events.
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#2 Jack Skellington. I'm probably one of the only people on the planet who have not yet watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, but the Jack Skellington parallels go beyond just the mask Gator wore. To me, it looks like he also drew Jack - and yet another reference to death. The skull's mouth is sewn shut too, just like Gator is sworn to obey his father and not speak the truths about what Roy has done.
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#3 Red or Blue Pill? Again, I have failed to watch yet another classic film: the Matrix. But this poster seems to be a clear reference to it, I think.
According to Google, "The red pill and blue pill represent a choice between the willingness to learn a potentially unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in the contented experience of ordinary reality with the blue pill."
And if there's anyone with the last name of Tillman who will be forced to see reality (and potentially change), it is Gator. Gator will likely be forced this "red pill" by Ole Munch, either finally seeing the reality of his father's ways, or by becoming the next sin eater.
Whatever the outcome, the poster must have some sort of meaning!
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That's all for now 😊 But I really love all the subtleties in this show! It's fantastically written and acted, and Joe is doing such an exceptional job playing this mutli-layered and morally ambiguous character of Gator!
***EDIT***
A post by @familyfriendlyhoho got me thinking about the drawing on Gator's wall. I was thinking that his drawings represent his dead mother, Linda and that he may have accidentally seen her corpse. The post theorizes that:
"I feel like Gator knew Linda was dead. but worst, I feel like Roy showed it to him."
And I think that this is the most-likely scenario. Roy is sinister enough to do something like that to his own son. I can imaging Roy telling Gator to stop being a loser and become a winner and, to drive the point home, he could have led Gator to Linda's corpse warning "this is what happens to losers".
If so, Gator's drawings would depict the corpse he witnessed. Even here, before Gator gives himself the "I'm a winner" pep talk, we see him glance towards the drawing - a reminder of what happens to losers. He then feels the need to convince himself that he is not one, despite what his father says.
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thishazbinamistake · 3 months
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Howdy!
I am here to talk about Viv's horrible character designs.
From an animator perspective, they suck.
Here's why
1. The characters have way too much detail
For animation, more lines equal more work. You're going to be drawing them over and over, and it just creates more stress and work for the animators.
For example, I took one of the most egregious designs in HB (Beelzebub) and simplified it to be animation friendly.
(Can't send it here but I'll probably make a post about it or something.)
2. There's too much of 1 color
WHY IS THERE SO MUCH RED??
Especially since they're in a primarily red background, they don't stand out AT ALL.
Like how am I supposed to see them if they blend in to the background??
3. I have no idea what half of them are supposed to be
Charlie is based off a doll?
Alastor is based off of a deer?
Katie Killjoy is based off of a praying mantis?
Angel Dust is based off of a spider?
Beelzebub is supposed to be well... Beelzebub?
When designing characters, they need to be clear on what they're supposed to be! And no, explaining it on Twitter does not count.
4. The animation reference sheets are garbage
No wonder there's so much animation errors. There's no facial expression sheets, lip sync guide, nothing. It's just a 4 angle turnaround sheet where the character is in complex poses all the time.
If you Google Lackadaisy's animation reference sheets and then look at HB's, it's like night and day.
I'm more than willing to send some examples (along with the edit I did) if you want
So yeah, what are your thoughts?
These are all great points! I think you summed up the main problems very well, but I'll elaborate on each of them. I'm no expert at character design or animation by any means, but I'll do my best to explain my points!
First of all, like you said, the character designs are way too complicated. Anyone who knows even the slightest amount about animation knows you want to simplify and streamline your designs as much as possible to make it easier on the animators. Vivzie is way too obsessed with her Deviantart OC lookin'-ass character designs to actually do this, even though it would seriously help to make the animation process way faster and easier. Beelzebub is seriously the best (or worst?) example of this.
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I feel so bad for the poor souls who had to animate this. There are just way too many moving parts here, from her multiple arms, her wings, her markings, to her freaking lava lamp hair and tail?? It's just awful. And so many of Viv's designs suffer this problem, I could go on and on.
Like, I think it actually is a nice looking design, as a still image. Maybe not for the demon Beelzebub, but as a general furry OC, I think she's cute. But that's beside the point. I would love to see your redesign of her!
Next, the RED. So, most of the characters we see in Helluva Boss are red-skinned imps, which has been a common depiction of demons for centuries. One big problem I have is that there's little contrast in these designs. Let's look at our three main imps.
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Aside from some white and yellow highlights, they're all mostly red and black. Their color palettes aren't distinct in the slightest! And, I mean, come on. Red accessories against what's almost the exact same shade of red skin? Really? It just doesn't look good. A little contrast here and there goes a long way, like... maybe make Moxxie's bowtie blue? Or Blitz's pendant green? I don't know, anything to help each character stand out, and help give them more visual intrigue.
It doesn't help that most of the backgrounds are primarily shades of red, too. Here's a few screenshots I found that really show this problem.
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Look at all that fucking red. Like you said, there's such little color variation that the characters blend into the background. Now, to be fair, I did specifically choose these screenshots because I think they really highlight the problem, but this really is what so much of the show looks like. Granted, we do have a bit more variety in the different rings of Hell, each with their own main color, but this is still too much red, considering how much the color comprises the main characters' designs.
Next, like you said, Vivzie is really bad at making characters actually look like the things they're supposed to look like. Let's take Alastor as an example!
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Oh boy! More red and black. So, Alastor here is supposed to be a deer. What's the first physical characteristic that comes to mind when you think of a deer?
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Yeah, those big, impressive antlers! So... where are his? Oh, they're those tiny little forks on his head that are almost entirely obscured by his stupid emo hair. Like, come on! Giving him bigger antlers would have made him look so much cooler and more intimidating, and it would have been a great focal point for his design! It's such a missed opportunity. (I know he has bigger antlers in his scarier "demon" form, but you still could have made these a little more impressive.) And don't even get me started on those ears... they look more like fox ears or something. Like you said, a good design shouldn't need to be explained through supplementary material. We should be able to tell what a character is supposed to be just from looking at them!
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Another great example is Angel Dust, who, despite being a spider, lacks so many distinct features we associate with spiders! He only has six legs instead of eight, he doesn't have pedipalps or chelicerae, and he also lacks that big old spider booty, which I think is such a missed opportunity, considering he is supposed to be in the sex industry. He isn't even remotely shaped like a spider, he looks more like a fuzzy stick bug or something.
Part of me feels like Viv is too afraid to make her characters look unique, so she just goes with the same, skinny humanoid design for just about everything. It's such a shame, because I really do think she is a talented artist who can make some really interesting designs. But then again, she also gave us Beelzebub, so... maybe not.
As for the reference sheets, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough but I couldn't find any official ones for the main characters, so if you could send those my way I would appreciate it! Though it honestly wouldn't surprise me if they were bad. I did look up Lackadaisy's and found them pretty easily and...
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This is so freaking comprehensive and detailed, it's incredible! Look at all those poses and facial expressions!
Comparing Vivzie's works to Tracy's feels kind of unfair, since Tracy has been working on Lackadaisy for 17 years, and it really shows. This is leaps and bounds above Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel in quality. Rocky's design is tight; it's detailed, but not overly complicated. There isn't an obnoxious overuse of highly saturated colors, and there's such nice contrast between his fur, his eyes, suit, and tie, making his design very nice to look at. You can also tell so much about his personality and the world he lives in just from his appearance. It's such a good design, and Rocky is just one example from Lackadaisy! All of Tracy's designs are memorable and stand out from one another, unlike so many of Vivzie's characters, whose designs honestly feel interchangable.
So much thought and care has gone into Lackadaisy, and I seriously cannot wait for the full series, as well as all the other amazing indie animated series that have been coming out recently. It's sad that Helluva Boss is seen as the pinnacle of indie animation, when there are so many other series out there that are just.. better! Lackadaisy, obviously, but we've also got Digital Circus, Murder Drones, Monkey Wrench, and so many others that deserve way more appreciation than what Helluva Boss receives. And that's just from an art direction standpoint, we aren't even talking about writing. That's a whole other can of worms.
All of that being said, it's obvious that a ton of love and hard work went into Helluva Boss, and I hold absolutely nothing against the animators and artists at Spindlehorse. These poor design choices are a hallmark of Vivzie's art style, and they're simply working with what they've got. There is such wasted potential here because it feels like Vivzie is too afraid to step outside her comfort zone and design something that isn't a brightly colored, sharp-toothed twink, or skinny anthro wolf girl.
Anyways, that about wraps up my thoughts. Thanks for the ask, this was fun to delve into! And again, I'd be very interested in seeing you post your redesigns! 👀
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onesidedradiostatic · 20 days
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If I may contribute to the Alastor body pillow saga with a reference to both how Val is an artist and an anon I sent way, way back… Valentino making sexy Alastor art for Vox in a desperate effort to get his internet connection and cell service back. And to maybe not have to sleep on the couch tonight.
What’s extra funny is Viv actually canonized what Alastor’s arms and legs look like (in fully SFW art!!). It comes up if you google image search “Alastor hooves” as this is how people first found out Alastor has hooves. But if Valentino is anything like the real life NSFW artists drawing Alastor, he has not seen this and will get it entirely wrong. Not the hoof part, those will still be hooves. But the rest… nope! It makes me feel better about seeing NSFW Alastor art cause then I can just say it’s Vox’s fantasy version of him. Oh, they drew him with someone else? The Killers’ Mr Brightside starts playing. “And it’s all in my head, but she’s touching his chest now, he takes off her dress now, let me goooo…”
(reference to this ask about val being an artist)
OKAY SO yes I have seen that image LMAOOO. I haven't. seen nsfw alastor art though (not properly anyways I might have glimpsed and skipped over some fast before LMAO). so sorry to see I don't really have an idea of what you're talking about. honestly I think any sexy alastor art created by valentino would just be promptly and constantly corrected by vox depending on how much he knows based on their past friendship and/or his stalking, like he may nitpick on the tiny details. (it started to get annoying after a while so val stopped doing it except in cases where he desperately needed his wifi back. so vox only gets it when in arguments with val. this is why he has to look to other sources like lucif-- /shot)
also seeing sexual or romantic art of alastor being as just part of vox's fantasies is so real though LMASDSHKSL because same!!!
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marsupialmenace · 7 months
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I am incredibly tired and unwell, but I think I've finally cracked so this is very much a vent post, BUT:
I desperately want to take "Romani Dick Grayson" away from fans until they can learn to be nice. Specifically non-Romani fans.
I've seen so many terrible, invalidating, frankly stereotypical and racist takes from people who are 'claiming to be sensitive' to Romani people.
I don't particularly get upset about peoples headcanons, or the desire for diversity (because I have those desires/HCs too!). It's when I see the 'has to' or people arguing their headcanons about Dick's Romani heritage without the experience or the knowledge to do so beyond their five-minute google search that I get upset.
I saw a nice piece of fanart before that had Dick drawn tanned, and it had a reply on it to the effect of "thank you for drawing Dick brown, he's romani." It makes me sad to see people say things like that, that 'Dick has to be brown', because my pale white ass is also Romani. However, on the flipside, if someone draws him too pale, I see people attack the artists and calling them racist in vagueposts for drawing him 'wrong' (white-appearing) despite it being completely possible for a Romani person to be white.
In another place I saw someone refer to the Graysons as 'definitely travellers, so they couldn't be Romanichal'. Are you saying that Romanichal (English Romani people) are less Romani? I don't really understand the need to exclude other Romani people from the 'list Dick could be descended from' based on...whether on not you (royal) consider them 'travellers'.
Not to mention, the word 'Travellers'. Travellers is used in a derogatory way to the Romanichal in the UK, or at least in my area it is, there is a turn of phrase to avoid calling someone a slur in public, people say "Oh, that ones a travelling girl" or "They're travellers" and it has all of the implications with it.
Romani people are diverse, and we're not limited to a skin colour or religion, we all have different culture and traditions and languages, yet I see people insisting Dick has to fit into a box of a 'specific Romani'.
I don't really care for it in fic, I filter out the 'Dick Grayson is Romani' tag. I don't care for it in comics, because it has always been done poorly. I don't care about peoples HC's, 'cause even if I disagree, they can't affect me.
But to see real people talk about a comic book character using words, stereotypes, and phrases that hurts other real Romani people to attack or build up their own worlds/HCs is just so frustrating.
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Ninjago Oc Secret Summer 2024!
What is a Secret Summer? - It's basically a Secret Santa (A secret gift giving event) but in Summertime/Not-December instead! - For this event, you'll be secretly assigned someone to draw/write a gift for based around their oc(s) - It's very important that no one knows that you are making them a gift and vice versa, that you don't know who is making you a gift!
Are there any rules?
- Absolutely no N/S/F/W or Suggestive content is permitted for prompts, gifts, or references. This is /not/ an 18+ event.
- No direct contact with the person you're making a gift for; you can communicate through me or someone helping run the event, or ask through anon on tumblr if you can.
- No AI art/writing, Gacha edits, face claims, picrews, or bases will be permitted for oc reference submissions or gifts.
- Oc x Canon and Oc x Oc ships are 100% allowed.
- Fankids, sonas, and self inserts are also allowed; my only rule is that fankids of Lloyd x Canon ships are not permitted.
- Please respect requests regarding holiday or seasonal preferences when making a gift. Don't depict an oc participating in a holiday or seasonal activity that the creator asked not be depicted. - For the art portion, you must draw the character(s) you were assigned and they must be visible (feel free to ask for clarification).
How many ocs can be submitted total? - Three ocs can be submitted but only one is required.
What will I need for sign ups? - Refs or art that show a clear, colored depiction of your oc - OR at least two pieces of writing for said oc (does not need to be a whole fic. Could easily just be a quick blurb showing how they're written as a character) - Basic Information/Fun Facts about your character. This can be background information, relationships, likes/dislikes, age and height, personality, etc. - Suggestions or prompts for your gift giver. Stuff to help get their brain going. - Your blog name (not the name you go by but the url name. Like @/Ninjago-Oc-Appreciation, for example. Make sure it's a tumblr url, and not from any other social media).
What's the General Timeline for this event? - Sign ups will be rolling out April 14th and will remain open until the 21st. Requests can be made for small extensions if needed. - Assignments will be made sometime after the sign up forms close; posting week will begin late June (exact date to be announced with sign ups) - There will be exactly one week designated as a late period at the start of July.
How do I sign up? - In April, I'll post a google document where you can submit your ocs! There will be one for writing and one for art! - Please reach out to me after signing up in some way. This can be through messages, asks, comments, etc. In the past we've had issues with the forms, where they'd "eat' a submission, and I'd like to know when to check to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Event Tags
- We'll be using #NOSS2024, #NinjagoOcSecretSummer2024, and #SecretNinja2024 as tags for this event!
That's all! If you have any questions feel free to let me know, I tried to cover everything but I may have missed something!
Feel free to reblog this post and share with people who might be interested!
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zmeess · 1 year
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Hello! I love your art and how intimate it looks, with warm colors are bright, sharp lighting, but a softness in the unifying and blending of the colors, which tells me you likely put some of a base color into the more contrasted colors so they’re more muted and drawn towards a unified hue. It looks so good and is so cool! I especially love your use of line weight and direction to signify shape, like you did with the drawing of Essek and Caleb’s legs intertwining, you can tell, simply based on the direction of some of the brush strokes, where Caleb’s heel is pointing and how foreshortened it is to display depth. You are a master class artist my friend! I would like some advise tho, if you are willing:
I’ve noted the way you draw kisses and they look very passionate and close and realistic, and I don’t draw them that often and when I do I struggle with them. Their noses get in the way, or their lips look too parted, or I struggle drawing the shapes of characters so close to one another when any pressing, moving, or touching of skin warps the base shape in some way I can’t wrap my head around. And I can’t exactly get good references for the exact pose I’m imagining because I’m not going to ask 2 people to make out in front of me so I can take pictures. You can imagine how awkward that would be. So do you have any method or tutorial on how you draw characters kissing, hugging, close to each other, etc?
If not and you’re busy, that’s fine too. Just wanted to let you know I love your work!!! Thanks!
hi! thank you so much for your kind words 🥺 i've found that when i draw i kinda take what i do for granted (like a lot of artists do, from what i've seen online?) and when people tell me that this or that thing i did in my art is cool and Why it's cool from a technical standpoint it really puts things in perspective and lets me appreciate my own work more. so thank you!!
re: kisses, oh man i struggle with them myself big time! whenever i draw a kiss i usually end up redrawing the whole thing several times haha. i have to say that i use tons of references when i draw kisses, though not anything specific most of the time; i just google 'kiss' or something and spend a lot of time studying all the photos that come up. more often than not none of them are a perfect reference for what i'm looking to portray, BUT once i've looked at how two pairs of lips interact with each other in like twenty pictures i usually have a better grasp on the plasticity/weight/gravity/etc of the whole thing and am able to come up with a pose of my own.
one tip i can think of when it comes to drawing kisses (or any other instances of soft flesh pressing closely against soft flesh) is to make sure that any lines/colors used where the lips meet are not too dark. if the contrast is too high, or the line of your lineart is too thick it might look like a gap between the lips. very often leaving the lines very thin or even nonexistent helps me portray how closely something is squished against something else phdgjf
(gonna use my own drawings instead of pics of real kisses as an example like a total douchebag)
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another thing is that people often describe the way lips look in a kiss as a zigzag but i've found that making the zigzag flatter works well for me, if drawing a zigzag at all
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in fact, the closer/deeper the kiss, the flatter the line between the two pairs of lips would usually be; the more pronounced the zigzag, the more pursed the lips are, and so the kiss is lighter
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here too:
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not really a zigzag anyway tbh if you look at it
and the last thing that comes to my super super tired and sleepy brain rn is, squish the tip of the nose into the cheek. often looks very good hope this helps in some way?? it's a little bit in a jumble, real sleepy rn. thanks again for the complimenmts
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marsosims · 4 months
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hi, hello! hope you have a wonderful day and lots of fun with the new pack! i was wondering how to decorate/build in the new world to make it realistic bc i want to lean into the whole SEA flair without making too sterotypical i hope you know what i mean lol so some help from someone who's filipino like yourself would mean lots for me!!
Before I answer this question, I'd just like to preface that I am NOT an expert and I'm just sharing my personal thoughts and ideas :)
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marsosims' tips to decorating tomarang builds
Use references. I think this is probably the most important tip that I can tell you. Use references, you won't regret it! Whether it's from google earth, Pinterest, or even drawings - you have a TON of reference materials!
Here are some illustrations: Top image is a still from the movie, "Hayop Ka!", Bottom left from Arlo Jhan Bayot, Right from Albert Tan
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Here are some pictures - these ones are more or less middle class, but some shared characteristics between most of them are bright walls (usually cement, wood, and the occasional fake brick wall), fenced in yards (if you could call them that), wrought iron, and most importantly, plants.
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PLANTS. GO CRAZY. SEA countries are located in the tropics, which means that they have very diverse foliage... SO like go wild if you want to (especially if building in the more rural part of Tomarang). People will also have a lot of potted plants, like:
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(Bougainvilleas are usually a favorite - idk if the sims has any like it?)
OPEN LAYOUT FLOORPLANS. Most houses are open concept, and hallways for residential buildings are pretty rare in my opinion.
Another thing to note are dirty kitchens, which are basically outside kitchens that you do all of your cooking so that the smell doesn't stick to your things (this is important because as I said - most houses are open concept). Cooking inside is also pretty unpleasant because SEA COUNTRIES ARE HOTTTT.
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Use tiles. With interiors, I'd say that it usually varies but a staple in most homes are tiled floors, because they are cool (not in a fashion way and more a literal way) and are resistant to floods.
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I almost never see people have wooden floors unless the house was an ancestral house or the house is on the cheaper side (but even then, I usually see cement or tiled floors). If you do see some wooden floors, my bet is that they're one of those cheap linoleum / vinyl ones (idk what they are exactly)
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I also never see people use carpets or rugs - probably a bit too much of a hassle to deal with (but they do exist!).
As for walls, they're usually just left as cement or wood. Wallpapers weren't all that popular until recently during the pandemic when people got bored and started putting up wallpapers ksdhbfsd
Use wooden furniture where possible! Plus points if you use glass somehow. Most things are wooden, and usually do not match with each other. It actually drives me crazy at home because none of the wood tones match, but it's comforting in a way. You can see an example of this on the image above. If things weren't made of wood, they were usually plastic :)
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Display those trophies / certificates! Filipinos are VERY proud of their achievements. Feel free to display those trophies, certificates, etc. front and center of your homes, where guests can see them.
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These are all the things I can think of! I'm sorry it's a little rambly kscfksdfh I tried my best o7
If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them my way. ALSOO I'd just like to reiterate that these are just based on my personal experiences and thoughts and not everything I say may not necessarily be true for every SEA person (or even Filipino). OK BYE
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juliasgoodusername · 1 year
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Ley Lines Map for All the Gansey-core Girlies
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Have you ever wished there was an interactive map that not only graphs the ley lines described in TRC, but also has layers full of possible spiritual points, arranged in loose categories and sloppily curated by sheer force of mental illness?? Okay baby here you go:
FAQ under the cut 😘
Was this necessary?
Genuinely it was not. My investigations uncovered that Maggie Stiefvater does not really care about geography, nor does she remain consistent about the ley lines, so I can't even really say that it's book-accurate.
Example 1 - There are multiple understandings of ley lines. Some are circles, patterns, connect the dots, etc. but TRC goes with the definition of "perfectly straight" lines "that crisscross the globe" (The Raven Boys Chapter 2, Chapter 15). One of the big three lines connects Boston to St. Louis (The Raven Boys Chapter 22). And the main line also passes through Boston (see example #2)! But half of all the Pynch drama in Call Down the Hawk specifically blames Boston/Harvard for not being on the ley line. Hello?? It's on TWO of them!
Example 2 - Maggie makes it clear that the connection between D.C. and New York, which also connects to the UK and Pilot Mountain, is the main line that Glendower's squad traveled on (The Raven Boys Chapter 7, Chapter 22). The weird part is how after defining this line, all of Adam's ley line adventures place it directly along the Shenandoah National Park/Blue Ridge Mountains (Blue Lily, Lily Blue Chapter 2 + many other quotes I don't feel like looking up). There's no way to connect the DC-Pilot Mt line to Shenandoah, but I can totally see how Maggie Stiefvater would think it connects when looking at a flat map.
So yeah. It doesn't really matter, but thanks to my research we can CONFIRM that it doesn't really matter. You're welcome.
So why did you make this?
For fun...it wasn't exactly worth it. But by sharing it with y'all, hopefully no one else will make the same mistake.
What about line #3?
The third line never has specific connection points in the books so I basically made it up :) but I narrowed it down to 2 candidates, with my chosen line based on Ronan's mention of the "Pando thing" in Greywaren's epilogue.
How did you decide on/find points?
Honestly it was a lot of vibes. You can read in the description of the map how I started from certain resources, like all the stuff in the books, and other people's Google maps. My big discovery was realizing that UNESCO World Heritage Sites covered a lot of territory between history and nature, but before that I was literally googling things like "strange places Kentucky" and pouring through articles. If a place seemed weird and magical, I added it.
Yes this took forever. Easily 3x as long as the 300 Fox Way floorplan, if not longer.
Is this map complete?
I had other ideas for things I should add to it but I got tired, so nah.
You've put down everything from urban legends to alien sightings, but why don't I see many hauntings on the map?
Blatant author bias; I firmly don't believe in famously haunted houses! The vast majority of "haunted" places operate as tourist attractions, so if I took them at their word I'd have to also log Disney World for being the most magical place on earth, wouldn't I? Also Re: I got tired.
Can I copy this map / add to it / use it for reference?
Please please please please
I found a typo
I bet you did! I'm not even proof reading this post bestie.
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cyberweek · 4 months
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CyberWeek 2024 starts January 21st!
A weeklong celebration of our favorite edutainment program with artistic prompts everyday! The show first premiered on the 21st of January so let’s celebrate!
What sort of Art is allowed?
Any! Traditional/Digital art, Writing, Cosplay, Video edits, anything you can make! Anything you wanna make! Sew a doll, bake a cake, whatever! Sadly, prompts aren’t made with all types of art in mind, so feel free to interpret them however you want to fit your medium!
Rules! [New!]*
*Prompts are posted early this year, and I ask that you withhold from posting your entries until the day of! You may however start and finish them whenever you want!
Tag your post with #cyberweek2024! Or @ this blog! Or both!
Follow this blog and support your fellow Cyberchase fans!
No Lewd. No P*dophilia or inc*st.
No Tracing, Use of Bases or other assets without COMPLETE transparency. Credit your sources! Pinterest, WeHeartIt, Google etc are not sources. Find the artist, please.
*Use of AI is discouraged. Whether you submit only what the AI produces or use it as reference/inspiration. This includes both visual and text AI.
Angst, light gore/blood and etc are allowed. Try to keep it PG13. Everything will be tagged accordingly so remember to use Tumblr’s tag filter feature to your advantage.
OCs should only show up on the OC prompt if available.
Prompts
Jan 21 - Redraw
This year we start off right on the Anniversary! So, we'll do a redraw, and leave that up to how you, the artist, want to go about this! You can either redraw an old Cyberchase piece of yours or redraw a scene from the show itself! [Keep rules in mind!]
Jan 22 - Science
Cyberspace is FULL of science, even if it's sometimes entirely fictional and fantastical. Do you have a favorite scientific genius? Or is there a machine you think is really cool? Some sort of technology you wish you could have for real? It's time to blind us... with science!!
Jan 23 - Magic
Cyberspace may be full to the brim with science, but there are many things that simply unexplainable except by the total opposite of the spectrum... Magic! Who Biddi-Boppidi-does it best? Got a favorite magic spell? Maybe the real magic was the friends we made along the way.
Jan 24 - Summer
Last year we had the prompt "Winter," so let's flip that and have fun with a summer theme! It's time for some fun in the sun, a trip to the beach, a cute summer fit, a picnic, a hike, and so much more!
Jan 25 - Crossover
What is this, a crossover episode?? Yes! And you're in charge!! What characters do you want to see interact? Who do you want to see come to Cyberspace? Or who from Cyberspace do you want to see go where? When? Why?? Go nuts!! AAA
Jan 26 - Enemy
All right, we've had OTP, Friendship, and Family as a prompt! Once again it's time to completely flip the script with Enemy! Will you draw Team Hacker? Another baddie? The main goodies vs the main baddies? Or maybe two characters who just do not get along!! Remember to keep it civil and keep it fun, please!
Jan 27 - OCs
To close out our celebration of Cyberweek, let's have some fun with the little characters we've made up for fun! 😊
Questions/Comments -
Please send all questions about this event to the inbox. Anon will be off and questions will be posted in case others have similar inquiry. Please do not reply to posts or try to chat your inquirers.
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doodlebethel · 2 months
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Hello! I love your Loth cat designs! And wanted to make my own since Disney hasn’t renewed its loth/Tooka cat products and are sold out (Plus I like your designs waaaay better). My biggest issue is figuring out how to made the head of your cute Loth cats 😅 I’m not on and unable to get onto Instagram could you post the story on how you designed it on here or give me some tips on how to make one? -thank you so much :)
Also, I’m designing the pattern of this one after a cheetah, I also love how you did the striped tail so I’m going to do that with black and white longer fur at the end. (I’ll need to trim it some though.) but any tips you could give would be much appreciated! 😄
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Hi there! Thank you for reaching out, I will post roughly how I made the heads. However it's all the same techniques of making an art doll. There are great youtube tutorials out there which I watched to learn how to make my loth cats.
Long Post! Also heads up, they look really creepy until you put fur on them!
I used a styrofoam base for the head to keep it really light, loth cats have huge heads so it's important to keep the head light on the doll so it doesn't fall on it's face right away. Craft stores usually sell half spheres that I carved down to more of an oval shape to start.
I bought resin eyes on etsy and glued them on with hot glue. There are so many color options so have fun with them! I then used foam clay to add more shape to the face and make the eyes more natural looking. You can also probably use paper mache or another light air drying clay. But again keep the weight in mind.
I never worry about adding too many details as it will all be covered by faux fur, but having those shapes helps it look more realistic.
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Next you enter what I call the creepy monkey phase. I usually paint the face a natural skin tone or the color of the fur so you can't see any gray.
I then attach the head to the body fur using glue. Next I cover the face in masking tape and draw the fur patterns I want onto it. This is a common fursuit head making technique. I recommend looking that up for more details on how to do that, but the photo below shows the steps I did.
*Note! Pay attention to the fur direction, on my tape pattern you can see the arrows showing which way the fur lays, use real animals as reference.
I then glued it on the face using fabric glue or hot glue. The more you cover at this point the less you have to flock later.
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Once you have most of the face covered, you can cover any little gaps using a flocking technique. Basically laying down a layer of glue and then taking very short hairs of faux fur and pressing it into the glue. Again there are some great youtube tutorials on how to do it if you google "flocking art doll".
Below is my first loth cat showing how weird it looks. Trust the process! It will look silly and kinda bad right until the end.
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Trim up any extra hairs that get in the way of the face, and next comes my favorite part, making them look like loth cats and not nightmare creatures!
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I use sharpie fabric markers for the blacks and go around the eyes and mouth. This give them instant personality. You can also use some paints to add extra markings and color.
For the tail. I don't have any photos of the tail specifically, but here is the pieces of the pattern for the blue cat. The tail is basically just a rounded tube!
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Good luck with your build! I would love to see the final project!
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amalasdraws · 1 year
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Hello Amalas! I love your artworks coz they're so detailed and you can even make clutter look beautiful. I'd like to ask: what reference do you use for the background? Do you go outside and take pictures or sketch here and there? Do you use photo books? Internet? Coz everytime i look at your artworks in a bigger screen, it makes me feel like i'm transported to the place-- like i'm a passer-by or a fellow diner watching your character a few steps or tables away from where i am.
Awww thank you!! Okay This is gonna be a bit longer It’s a mix of a lot of things and a lot of the things around me. I not only love to draw cluttered places, but I also always kinda lived in lovely cluttered places. So a lot of inspiration is just taken from the things around me, my own memories, and the things I like.
My latest pic for example is something that is created by just an idea I have of a kitchen, based on things I know and things I’ve seen. I didn’t have a specific reference here.
I mostly always start with my characters and then very roughly sketch the room I have in mind around them.
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And based on this I create my perspective lines and map out the space a bit clearer. Measure my distance with the perspective lines and create my surfaces. 
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And then I go into lineart. First for the surface only.
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And when I have all my surfaces I only then go into my detailed clutter and add it all over time.
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As said, this kitchen was fully made up and only really got shaped into form on my canvas.But I for example have a gas stove and one of those espresso cans at home, so just a quick walk into my kitchen allows me to look up certain items if I’m unsure how they look.
But there are also a couple of items by now that I have stored in my own personal mental library. When you look at my pieces closely there are a bunch of items that I have in several of them. Poles, electric cables, a certain type of window, stacked bowls and cups, soda cans, etc And those are all items that I can draw by now without any reference. And then there are some new items that I have to look up, so I mostly just do a quick google search to get an idea on how they look. For example this bedroom piece was created like the kitchen above and just based on an idea I had in mind, rooms I knew or saw somewhere and then just created out of my head. I started with a rough sketch
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And then continued the same way as with the kitchen piece. But here I had some very typical late 90s items in mind, and as I could draw the bed, room, window, and some small details just out of my head, there were a couple of items I looked up on google to get the right look for them!
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So I created a small library from pics I found on google and just put them on the side of my pic to have them as a ref.It doesn’t have to be a perfect ref. Just a good enough pic to give me an idea of how an item looks like.
Sometimes I have an idea of a room but want something specific and it should look more or less authentic so I go on a google search for similar places.I still like to create my own version but I look at certain structures and items that those places have and try to incorporate them into my piece
Like with this one for example. I just used some photos from google that gave me a good idea of a place like this.
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Many of those items are still chosen from my mental library, but I also have some things I look up and some loose references. 
Keep in mind that I’m doing this for some time now! And I build up my mental library and how I want to draw things over time! This is not something that comes over night. It takes time! And it comes by repeating things and drawing them over and over.
I also love to take photos and when I visit new places or see something I like I take photos. One because I love to take photos, but also as a future ref. And some of those photos I use as loose refs as in the examples above. And sometimes I even pretty much just redraw them. Because I really like the structure, or want that specific look or even specific place!
For example I took this photo when I was in New York and as the Aran and Tao story takes place in New York I really wanted to create a place like this! A structure and street similar to the photo.
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And as you can see especially the train structure and street look is something I used for this drawing here
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So long answer short
It’s a mix of things!I have a good mental library by now, I like to draw the things I know and the things around me, and when I go for a certain city, or street look I like to work based on photos I took by myself and use them as refs.
And taking photos also helped me a lot with my background drawings. It gave me an idea of how my irl 3d street view looks on a 2d photo, an idea for lines and angles, what works and what not, and what to look for in backgrounds, what I like in city scenes, and what I want to create. Google photos can be helpful refs, but I like to use them more loosely to only give my brain a reminder again on how a certain item or space looks like. When I really redraw something or stay close to my ref I like to take my own ref photo, so all is my work.
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nualaofthefaerie · 6 months
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Who am I, and why I'll always show where Nuala is mentioned?
So hello guys.
I came to the realization that a lot of people on Tumblr do not know me, and I came kind of suddenly to you guys. So, allow me to tell you who I am and why I hope to become a big part of your "Sandman" experience. I will attach some pictures for references 🩷🪷
My name is Li. My main platform is Twitter. Most of my friends are there too. I hope I can make a lot of mutuals here, too. I came across "The Sandman" one year ago. Now, the Sandman is a wonderful piece of media for people to explore a plethora of dynamics they enjoy. For me, it was a bit of an adjustment.
Before reading the comic, I tried to stan Dreamling. However, for me personally, I very rarely enjoy dynamics with no women in them. That is, of course, me personally. I am not the one who should tell people what they should enjoy. Bi/Pan WLM and WLW, those are dynamics I truly enjoy. However, at the time, I was trying to fit in with what was popular. Truly, it didn't make me very happy because I just don't see it the way Dreamling shippers see it.
So I tried changing my angle. I tried to get into Calliope and Morpheus (I apologise, I do not know if they have their own little ship name). This one fitter me a bit better. However, I have personal issues with the concept of divorce, and I could never quite brush aside the fact that at the end... they were divorced. I even made a Calliope cosplay at the time and met Tom (loveliest person on Earth).
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(I envisioned this ballerina Calliope cosplay, and for the most part, I made it work. This was my VERY first attempt at anything.)
He kind of convinced me to just read through the comics. And I did. And it all really fell into place. And Nuala of the Faerie became my spark. I want to make it clear that I love Nuala so much more and so BEYOND Sandflower. She is just so exceptional, so complex. I became SO excited to explore what the Internet could offer on her only to get...nothing. Absolutely nothing. Whatever little official art there was (three-five drawings and it was usually not even Nuala centered, she was just there) and two three pen drawings on DivienArt made in 2010.
Now, one thing about me is that I am persistent as all hell. And it is completely out of line that Thessaly is a "main character," but Nuala isn't. So, in January, I had a very "If no one is going to do it, I will" moment. I began talking about her every day. Analysing, sharing panels, commissioning artists (uni student making commissions, I was kinda of crazy for that one. I made one commission once and then had 20 bucks left for the week to buy food) and every minute since January until today, I do it all for her. Because she deserves to be recognized. Nuala is no less than Lucien/ne or the Corinthian. I have an ask sitting in my inbox that I simply don't know how to answer:
"Why do you think "x" is more popular than Nuala?"
I do not know, to be honest. Frankly, I also try not to care. Because my love for Nuala is not based on bringing other characters of the Sandman down. I do this to uplift her to a status where one day, I won't be the only person on the Nuala tag (I was SO happy the other day when like five new people had made art, SO happy) and not the only one on the Sandflower tag (that is ONLY me for now). And until then, I will be the only one. It's okay. And when I no longer have to be, I will sit back and enjoy the fruits of my hard work.
This may appear very self-centered to those who do not know me, but those who do will tell you I work day and night for her. I have a 70k Sandflower fic, 50k of which is only its first arc, just sitting in my google Docs. I have sketches upon sketches. I talk with artists about more commissions and how to make it so she gets a new outreach. I have conversations and try to introduce her to as many people as possible until they notice her and care for her at least a fraction of how much I do. She inspired me to try sewing and really get to cosplay a SOLID version of her (still working on that).
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(I sewed most of the outfit and and it was my second attempt to do anything from scratch. I'll get better at it 🪷🌿🩷)
I like to think she would love it. She only ever longed to be loved. And I love my girl.
So much. We help each other every day. We exist together. And when her actress joins our little triangle, we will make the perfect fairy. The perfect personification of womanhood the way I see it.
My Nuala (Lala, Lali, Lalita, flower, the pearl, sun, if I missed any of my moots nicknames for her, hit me up).
So that's it, dear Tumblr. I am afraid you won't be able to mention Nuala of the Faerie without me because somewhere in May, we started co-existing.
And we are not going anywhere.
Love,
Li and Nuala 🪷🌿🩷
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Would it be weird to ask how you plan out your embroidery designs? If not weird and you have the time/spoons do you have any tips?
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Oh no worries, I am the OP! @handmadehazefromtheheart is my craft account. ^w^ You were referring to this post, right?
Asking isn't weird at all btw. I like questions. :3 Though I dunno if my answer will be the most helpful, since I'm still pretty experimental with my embroidery.
For the brain, I literally just doodled onto the fabric with a water soluble pen.
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For the latest piece before that, I traced the outline + important features of a picture I had of my girlfriend by holding fabric pinned in a hoop up to my laptop screen. Then I flipped the fabric around in the hoop so it was right ways up. I did the same with her music logo, which I made for her birthday this year.
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Mostly, though, I've been actually drawing out patterns on paper.
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I trace them onto the fabric using a white screen behind it. (I literally just Google "white" and open an image full screen.)
Getting the colors right is hard, but I'm getting the hang of it I think.
For the brain, I decided as I went which sections would be which shade of teal on the fly.
For the portrait, I gathered various shades of coral (the color of the InfiniTints prompt it was for) and then separated them into groups based on where I thought each shade would work best. I had a hair pile and a skin pile, and in each pile I determined which would be used for lighter areas and darker areas based on the picture I was using.
For the In Decay logo, I did pretty much the same thing but with whites and greys, though I haven't shown off the full thing yet. (I'm going to do that in a special way. :3c Stay tuned.) The mouse had the same process. The mouse was actually the first one I did it like that for, and I love how it turned out—and the fact that a duplicate made as a commission came out so nice after.
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You can kind of see on the clover pic above that I actually labeled it for where I wanted which shades of green. I should probably do that more.
I've mostly been working with long and short stitch, but working on this pre-made kit has helped me get a sense of how to use different kinds of stitches together.
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So far, the brain is the most deliberate in terms of different stitches.
[ID: A two second video showing off the embroidered result of the brain sketch near the top of the post. It's mostly satin stitch, but the outlines are all stem stitches, and there are French knots in some places next to backstitches and split stitches that swirl. /end ID]
I'd say I've improved a lot from my first attempt last year:
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Oh... I got away from myself writing that out, didn't I? I hope you got what you were asking for out of it! 😅
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