#I channeled all my sailor moon drawing experience for this
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@zelinkweek2021 Day 7: mortality - forsaken fates, lost eternities
A breath away's not far to where you are
#zelda#fanart#zelink#hylink#hylia#first link#zelink week 2021#my art#gotta draw fast#I channeled all my sailor moon drawing experience for this
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Fanfiction Year In Review - 2020
The rest of 2020 was rough, but I sure wrote A LOT! And that feels good.
1 List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:
Confessions to a Statue (Ladybug) - I’m lowkey shocked that this was finished in 2020. I feel like I wrote this one an eternity ago! It’s honestly not my favorite story, but I’m grateful to it for getting me writing in this fandom!
Stutters (Ladybug Reveal - Marichat)
An Open Secret (Ladybug for Gift Exchange)
Instagram (Ladybug Reveal - Ladrien)
Anything to Protect You (Sailor Moon for Gift Exchange)
Locked in a Closet (Ladybug Reveal - Sequel to MissNoodle’s wonderful work.)
New York (Ladybug Reveal - Ladynoir)
A Craving For Chocolate Milkshakes (Sailor Moon)
Eight fics in total! Four of them multi-chapters! Crazy!
2 Number of words written:
Written: 139k (as tracked by 750words.com)
Published: 105k (according to ff.net).
This is amazing! This is the first year (that I know of anyway - I’ve only been tracking for three years) that I broke 100k in one year!! I wrote every month, and I published at least one thing every month except August (I was moving in August).
I’m thrilled to see the written to published ratio as high as it is! It’s not something I’ve tracked before, but I always feel like I’m writing a ton and publishing very little, but it looks like that impression is fairly inaccurate. I’m publishing a lot more than I realized relative to how much I’m writing.
3 Your most popular fic:
My Miraculous Reveal Series has also gotten the most recognition of all my works this year, but it’s difficult to splice out which short is the most popular because I publish it as one series. Keeps my dashboard neater and gives the old ones a bit of attention whenever I post a new one.
4 Your personal fav:
I think I’m insanely proud of both An Open Secret and Anything to Protect You. As I published each chapter, I often had the thought “This is the best thing I’ve written!” And that feels good.
But right now, I am going to have to say an unfinished fic that I started this year - Restorative Justice - is my favorite. This is a fic that has pulled me out of my usual genre and gotten me closer to my life as a teacher. And it’s powerful and cathartic to turn these experiences into a story. I also really enjoyed exploring Chloé’s headspace. She’s just so angry, and like, this year that has been really easy to channel for some reason, and it all transferred to paper rather well. I’m kinda stuck in this fic at the moment though…
5 Your fav scene:
I literally cannot decide. I could maybe pick a favorite scene in each fic I finished, but just one?! Nope! I can’t do it. So here’s my favorite scene in the three works I’ve spent the most time on this year:
An Open Secret - the scene where Ladybug confesses to Chat Noir in the rain. The moment it all comes together for Adrien. I made myself cry.
Anything to Protect You - Honestly, this one is HARD to pick. I really like the UsaMamo kiss in the first chapter, but I also love the dates. Especially the moment where she tells him she’s Sailor Moon and he thinks she’s joking. And the cattery date.
Restorative Justice - Chapter 3 - Where Chloe and Marinette are screaming at each other. I found it so satisfying.
6 A fic or scene that challenged you:
Writing the festival scene in Anything to Protect you was an absolute slog! I was struggling so hard with trying to somewhat accurately capture a cultural event that I myself have never directly experienced (I did so much research - I read a lot, I listened to music, I watched videos), and at the same time not stall the pacing of the story or emotional anchor of the piece. It was so hard, but I was really happy with how it came out.
7 A line of writing you’re proud of:
From the most recent update of a Craving for Chocolate Milkshakes:
So she dove back into old habits and started drawing chibi-tuxedo masks all over her worksheet.
Go ahead. Do your worst.
He always had some playful or snide critique of her scribbles.
She waited a whole ten seconds before she realized the mental silence would not be filled. Because he wasn’t there. He couldn’t see her doodles.
She burst into tears.
8 A comment that touched you:
Honestly, this year it wasn’t so much what was in a comment, so much as it was when a comment arrived. Like when I was ready to tear my hair out arguing with the bank or insurance company, and then a review would pop up out of nowhere! Or when I was sitting next to my son at the hospital. Sadly, I don’t remember which comments were the ones that did this. But I think LitaKino had especially good timing more than once this year. And jennagrins as well! But there were so many others! I’m tell you all - comments are love!!
9 Something that inspired your writing:
There’s lots of the usual suspects - life, husband, children, students, etc.
But a lot of it this year has actually been reading other people’s stories and wanting them to keep going, or wanting them to have taken a different turn in the story arc. And then I have to open a doc a start a whole new fic! It’s kinda a problem honestly. I have thirteen active stories and another ten that I’m like - I would like to work on that, but it’s not happening at the moment.
10 Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):
That I finished four multi-chapter fics! (Though two of them it was just the last chapter). I think I’m proving to myself that I can be somewhat disciplined about what I’m working on, so that the projects I want to finish, get finished!
And I’m also learning that you can write a lot with just chewing away at it bit by bit. It’s not about the 3k word days. It’s about it being a habit. If you can write 100 words every day that’s 36k words in a year! I wrote an average of 378 words per day! My goal is only ever 200 words, but I try to have an unbroken chain. I did not succeed this year in that due to weekly work deadlines, but I came a lot closer than I ever have before.
11. Do you have any writing goals for the next year?
I read my goals from last year and laughed. (Apparently, I wanted to finish Chocolate Milkshakes by the end of January. Bwahahaha!) But that’s okay. I wrote a ton this year!! It just wasn’t where I expected it to be. So that’s what I want this year to be about. I want to focus on my own personal projects by not making commitments for exchanges or events.
I have three WIPs right now that are just far more personal than anything else I’m working on. And these three stories are the ones I want to focus on this year.
Invisible Wounds - (Ami/Zoi - Sailor Moon)
Restorative Justice - (Chloé POV - Ladybug)
Right Behind You (Unpublished Adrino story - Ladybug)
I imagine though that there will be one-shots that demand to be written in between, or one shots that will work me out of ruts, too. Or one shots that will explode into seven chapter outlines like jerks! Haha!
But overall, my main goal is to just try to write every day!
I tag the following people to tell us about your fic writing accomplishments this year because you’re amazing!! @tinacentury @floraone @starlingsinclair@mikauzoran @chronicallylatetotheparty @ladyofthenoodle @alexseanchai @galahadwilder And anyone else that wants to! And of course, if I tagged you and you don’t want to, there is NO pressure. I’ve just enjoyed doing this over the years, and wanted to share the joy!
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As an Internet veteran and draw-person, I really need to ask: what anime influenced you and many online artists circa 2000s? There's a specific style from those early 2000s webcomics and fanart I'm looking for and trying to replicate, and your old art fit in that "style", in my opinion. Thank you!
It’s hard to narrow it down, but it’s also not that hard to narrow it down. Anime was a much, much smaller industry back then. The “boom” was just beginning thanks to efforts by the Scifi Channel and Cartoon Network to bring anime to television in timeslots that people would actually watch.
So here’s your crash course in casual anime history, I guess, from someone who definitely isn’t like... obsessed with anime. Or isn’t anymore, but was back then.
For me, it all kind of started with, like... Dragon Ball, and this was a show that struggled to gain any traction at first. Where I lived, it aired at 5am on Sunday mornings. If you knew a kid that watched Dragon Ball, there was a solidarity there like, “Yup, you get it.”
Then DiC got the license to Sailor Moon and started airing it in the weekday morning slot I would typically describe as “right before you catch the bus.” You’d wake up around 6am, maybe 6:15, and watch whatever was on at 6:30 while you ate breakfast. As the credits were rolling, you’d head out to catch the school bus. Sailor Moon was what I remember doing that with the most. That combined with Dragon Ball formed my foundational interest in anime.
Around this time (1995, 1996) you were starting to see anime start to seep in to the mainstream elsewhere. There was a commercial I remember for, like, an anthology of anime classics like Akira...
youtube
And, y’know, when you’re like, 14 or 15 and you see a commercial like this -- cartoons! With blood! And nudity! It’s like, holy crap. Most of the classics we know today (Akira, Ghost in the Shell) were only really available via mail order like this back then.
More shows started getting localized for TV, too, like Ronin Warriors was one a lot of my friends got in to. It was considered “The Manly Sailor Moon.” And then there was, of course, Samurai Pizza Cats. Eventually Saban stopped dubbing Dragon Ball altogether and moved straight over to Dragon Ball Z, and that gained enough popularity that I think it eventually shook it out of its Sunday Morning time slot to somewhere a little more visible by general audiences.
Coming in to 1997 and 1998, anime was really starting to gain some momentum. The Scifi Channel had begin doing their “Saturday Anime” show, which aired at 3am every Friday Night/Saturday Morning. They probably figured it was one of the only ways they could get away with showing violent cartoons.
youtube
For me, this was where I got my first “real” taste of anime. They had a stable of about 5 or 10 movies and OVAs they’d run. Venus Wars, Vampire Hunter D, Project A-KO, Robot Carnival, Tenchi Muyo In Love (my favorite), Project L.I.L.Y. Cat, Beautiful Dreamer, Galaxy Express 999, Fatal Fury The Motion Picture, Record of Lodoss War, Dominion Tank Police, Roujin-Z, Demon City Shinjiku, Gall Force...
That felt like the bandaid got ripped off. Suddenly we were all buzzing about anime. Hey, have you heard about this movie called Ninja Scroll? There’s hardcore sex in it! No American movie, live action or not, could ever match the body horror of Akira! Hey, does anyone remember Robotech from the 80′s? That was actually anime, too! Wow!
Cartoon Network was smart enough to take notice and snatched up the rights to air Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z at reasonable, non-morning hours, and they dug out Voltron and put together a simple block of anime. I don’t even think it necessarily had a name, it was just an hour or maybe 90 minutes of anime a day, and it exploded. Right place, right time. So Cartoon Network expanded.
youtube
They added more classic anime, and some shows that were similar in tone, and called it Toonami. Robotech, Ronin Warriors, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, Reboot, Thundercats...
And this became the place to watch anime. Which is when we enter the era you’re asking about, the early 2000′s. This is where it starts to feel like a little too much to cover, because it came hot, heavy, and fast. There was a thirst for anime that was hard to quench because production companies were small and choosy about what they’d dub, but at the same time, a sort of gold rush was starting.
When I think of peak, classic-era Toonami, the stuff that really influenced me artistically, it was shows like Outlaw Star, Ruroni Kenshi, and Gundam Wing. I’m sure I’d also have friends speak highly of Big-O, G-Gundam, and Yu Yu Hakusho, three shows I never really got in to.
Eventually, Cartoon Network (and Williams Street, then called Ghost Planet Industries) began to realize that there was a growing library of anime they couldn’t show in the afternoon because it was too intense for the kids. There was also an undoubtedly vocal contingent of anime fans who were frustrated when their favorite shows had to be edited for broadcast. This gave birth to Toonami: The Midnight Run, the precursor to what would eventually become Adult Swim. The Midnight Run became home to uncut (or simply less-cut) episodes of afternoon shows that restored blood, alcoholic references, and the few cases of more extreme violence.
Midnight Run started getting exclusive shows, too. When I think about what Midnight Run (and later Adult Swim) was known for, it was shows like Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, and again, though it wasn’t really something I saw a ton of, Paranoia Agent.
Other networks did try to cash in on the anime craze. I think Tech TV/G4 tried to get in on things with Serial Experiments Lain and a few other shows, but to be honest, it never hit as hard as Toonami did. Then there was obviously the work of guys like 4KIDS, with the Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon shows on Saturday Morning, but those felt noticeably different in vibe and in tone (something that only got more pronounced when Kids WB started a Saturday Morning Toonami block that was even more aggressively sanitized than what could be shown on Cartoon Network).
Beyond broadcast TV, the stuff I remember being popular among my circle of friends were things like Tenchi Universe, Ranma 1/2, Slayers, Saber Marionette, and.... like, Di Gi Charat and Chobits? This was probably right around the era of Azumanga Daioh, too.
Unfortunately, much past 2003 or 2004 is where I started falling off of anime. The feeling of it being “new” and “special” was starting to wear off, and there was enough coming out that the standard of quality was beginning to drop. Whereas small studios like ADV and Manga Corps. could only afford to bring out the best of the best, we were starting to get junk like Duel Masters, Rozen Maiden and Tenchi Muyo GXP.
I remember friends speaking highly of shows like Bleach (heh), .hack, Full Metal Panic, Midori Days, Tenjo Tenge, Yakitate Japan, Eureka Seven, and Air Gear, but I can’t tell you anything about them, personally.
Either way, I’m sure I’ve given you more than enough to chew on.
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I was asked by @floraone about my personal experience about Sailor Moon, so enter at your own risk, it’s a reaaaaaaally long post. There’s a lot of ramblings, and some pictures 😅
Alright, some context.
I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina, 31 yo, born in 1988.
When I was a kid (7 or 8 y/o), during the summer break (which is December - March on this side of the equator) I attended what in Arg is called "colonia", which essentially is going on the weekdays to a club or school, meeting with other kids, and doing sports and going to the pool, supervised by teachers. It's the place your parents sent you in the summer in place of regular school, because they had to work.
All this to say, I started watching Sailor Moon on TV after these summer classes.I came rushing home, and while one of my parents fixed me lunch, I would turn on the TV to watch an episode of Sailor Moon.
I found it! Thank you, internet. It aired from 1996 to 1998, first in a channel called "The Big Channel" and then in "Magic Kids"
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Kids
If you go to the 1996 seccion in "cronologia" you'll see the mention of Sailor Moon being aired for the first time.
People my age, from my country, who had access to paid cable TV will remember these logos fondly:
About the dub:
Some of the names were changed for the latin american version. Rei and the outter senshi stayed the same, but Mamoru was called Darien, Usagi was Serena, Minako was just Mina, Ami was pronounced Amy, and Makoto was Lita (hence my handle, Lita Kino). I believe these names were the same as the English translations. Well, also, no one called them "senshi", instead they were "guerreras de la luna" (moon warrior, in it’s feminine form). Also, they were called "Sailor Scouts" (yes, in English), but I have no idea where this came from, probably from the English version?
Oh, and The Dark Kingdom was called "Negaverso", also no idea where they got this name.
Also, it's worth noting, when I say "latin american version", I mean that usually, voice overs are made in a neutral voice? accent?, that it's not from any particular american spanish speaking country. So it's not Mexican, nor Chilean, nor Argentinian, but a mix of all of them, and not one of them in particular. We all have a specific way of speaking the spanish language, not the meaning per se, but kind of the sing-song quality of the tongue. So, to spanish speakers, someone from Venezuela and Colombia sound really different, even if we all understand what is being said. So most movies and series in latin america are usually "voiced-over" in a way that will sound native to no one, and "neutral" to all.
(These are not made for Spain, that voice-overs are made in a distinctive spaniard accent)
About censorship
Recently, I've read about some episodes that were cut or smashed together in the english dubs, and from what I've read that was censored, that never happened in the Latin American versions.
I know that Michiru and Haruka were made to be cousins in some translations, but not in the latin american one. Though I know their dialogue was often modified and "softened" to imply their relationship, instead of saying it front and clear (this was modified in the Crystal dub, that they are more literal and use the word "novia", meaning girlfriend, in a romantic context).
The only outright censorship the classic anime had, as far as I know, was making Zoisite a woman, dubbed by a woman voice actor.
Daily life? Back then
In regards to my friends at that time, I know most of them were aware of Sailor Moon as a series, but I don't remember any of them being big fans.
There were tons of SM merch like school supplies (pencils, backpacks and such), but I don't think most of it was officially licenced.
This is an example of a fannypack from around that time, that I found in an online market page:
Oh, a really really cool thing we had was these magazines that came monthly (starting in 1996), that had a bunch of cute articles about the series and characters, a central page with a "poster", and a comic version of the anime series (that's based on a manga, yeah, I know 😅)
With these magazines sometimes came the movies in VHS format, and this is how I realized the movies existed.
Also, there was this book called "the friendship book", that had a bunch of quizzes and questions to write about your friends, all SM themed. Oh, I also remember it had a brief explanation of the "I Ching", and a simplified version to "play" with your friends, and try and predict your love life. I have no idea where my copy is, it's possible I lost it :(
Here’s the short comic in one of the issues:
I believe we had the manga, translated to spanish, and flipped so it would read from left to right, but honestly I was too little to care about it, so I can't give you a detailed description of the manga story in this country.
I only have only one edition from that time, that I bought when I was little, a 1998 Spanish (from Spain, not Latin American) edition of "The Lover of Princess Kaguya".
I was little so please don't judge me, but I found that this "comic book" (as I saw it at that time) being in black and white was the perfect place for me to practice colouring so yeah. I defiled it 😅:
About Crystal, I just found out it was dubbed in latin american spanish, I never knew It was never aired in Argentina as far as I know.
Turns out, some of the voice actors are the same that did the original series, mainly Usagi / Serenity / Queen Serenity / NQS (whose voice actor is the same that dubbed Lisa Simpson in the LA version of The Simpsons xD)
You can find more info, in spanish, in this page:
https://doblaje.fandom.com/es/wiki/Sailor_Moon_Crystal
I have no idea about an Argentinian fanbase, though I'm sure there are tons of fans here.
As I said, none of my school friends were particularly fond of the series, but as I grew up, I found tons of people who love SM as I did. Specially in the conventions world, there a lot of fan-made goods.
In regards to daily life nowadays, as a lot of my friends now are small-shop owners, and entrepreneurs, I've come to know and love a lot of people who make art for a living, sometimes SM related. Here are some of my favourites:
This is my favourite tattoo artist in the world. She’s an AMAZING ilustrator too. Would you look at that half sleeve? 🖤🖤🖤
https://www.instagram.com/bazanjara.tattoo/
Also, if you want to see the tattoo she did on me:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bykswm4AoWm/
She makes everything piggy 🖤🖤🖤
https://www.instagram.com/mundochanchan/
https://www.instagram.com/chanchanglobal/
She makes tons of stuff in air dry modeling clay
https://www.instagram.com/poteitos.cosaslindas/
He’s an ilustrator, sometimes makes pins and sticker with his art. It may look cute, but most of what he draws is scalotoglyc humor 🤭🤭🤭
https://www.instagram.com/brunancio/
I even had some friends make me a SM mate 🇦🇷:
In regards to SM being a big LGBTQ+ representation, I know Haruka and Michiru are big parts of that here as well. I know someone who has Neptune and Uranus' symbols tattooed as a nod to that part of her identity, for example.
I'm sure there's a lot more to SM in Argentina, but this is as far as I know. Hope it helps!
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World on Fire, Episode 5: Us-Versus-Them
Late May 1940—Early June 1940
Harry’s BEF unit has dwindled down to four exhausted men straggling through the fog. Belgium has fallen to the German invasion. Refugees and soldiers line the roads all the way to the horizon as hundreds, if not thousands, walk to the coast. Stuka screamers swoop down over them in a practice called strafing.
Harry’s unit picks up a lost French girl and her dog and later finds a group of shell-shocked soldiers and two Senegalese soldiers separated from their unit in Ypres. (Yes! Something that includes the colonial forces!) Stan is suspicious that some of the men could be faking their symptoms to hide that they’re German spies or British deserters, but Harry refuses to leave the men behind as the group makes a long and perilous journey to the coast.
Along the way, they stop at a field hospital in hopes that the shell-shocked soldiers could be treated, but the head doctor says the hospital is full to capacity and cannot take everyone. The doctor in question? None other than Webster O’Conner! The interactions between the Parisian characters and the soldiers are brief, but it’s always a delight when characters from different storylines converge.
So, exhausted and still covered in blood from the attack on the road, the soldiers set out again with only a vague order of retreat and a possibly false map on a propaganda flyer to guide them. The German line is pushing in, and anyone left behind will be taken prisoner...from the French soldiers guarding the perimeter to the wounded in the field hospital.
Uwe receives the first letter from the Institute. He yells at his workers for displaying Nazi flags (because they could get “caught in the machines”) and draws the attention of an employee who is a proud member of the Nazi party. He tells Claudia (still at the lake house with Hilde) of the news, and the two resolve to be strong for their daughter, no matter what happens or how they disagree.
Later, the Nazi employee reveals that she knows about Hilde and her hiding place. Enraged, Uwe reacts like I’m sure many parents would want to if their child is threatened. He follows the employee into the factory and strikes her face with an iron. Between the blow of the iron, her fall onto a table, and her final descent to the concrete floor, the employee dies of head trauma.
Now with an even more urgent problem, Uwe turns to Nancy for help, and it turns out Nancy has had some experience with carrying a corpse in the past. Like the backstory of Harry’s father, Nancy’s history is still kept under wraps. Did she report on the Spanish Civil War? Something in America? Maybe the next two episodes will involve an explanation.
Douglas and Robina continue to meet and see Jan. Robina starts to look at Douglas with something more than pleasantness as he bonds with Jan.
(Again, I ask, if their kids are broken up for good, can they get together?)
But this enemies-to-friends-to-they’d-never-admit-to-wanting-to-be-lovers relationship still has its hurdles, particularly how they don’t see eye-to-eye about the war. Then there’s Robina’s lingering prejudices.
ROBINA: I can’t make out if [Jan’s] dourness is a racial characteristic or his personal disposition.
DOUGLAS: I’m not sure the Poles are a race.
ROBINA: Well, they aren’t like us, are they?
(Oh, there’s an us now?)
Across the Channel, Lois is now visibly pregnant and is treated differently for it, something underscored by her conversation with her manager, who suggests that she stand still while performing.
LOIS: Are you saying I wobble, Ted?
A pilot tries to make conversation with her and Connie (suspicion is drawn to his “Canadian” accent) but is rebuffed. Lois makes a wonderful stink face.
Gotta wonder if Stan’s fear of spies is foreshadowing for that guy being a spy.
She later speaks with a pilot, Vernon Hunter, who is immediately drawn to her. He would be part of the RAF’s support of the evacuation, but his “kite” (plane) was damaged and needs repair. The two have tea and meet a few times over the next days.
VERNON: I meet a lot of men who think they’re strong, Lois, but I know strength when I see it. And you have it in abundance.
Polite and observant? A pilot and a gentleman? It’s like Vernon walked out of an old movie—complete with tilted cap and proper accent.
Before he leads his men out and her ENSA troop moves on to their next show, Vernon asks Lois if he can write to her. She gives him her address on an envelope originally from Harry, but she keeps the old letter. She’s starting to let go of Harry, but not entirely. Not yet.
(Let him go, Lois! You’re always so sad when you’re in a scene with him. Be with someone who makes you smile and reminds you that you’re already strong!)
He looks at her like she hung the moon. It’s great. (Possible spy is by the piano).
Tom is one of the sailors delivering soldiers across the English channel.
TOM: How come our ship is called HMS Keith? Keith isn’t the name you give to a fighting ship. All the other ships are called Atlantic, Calcutta, Dreadnought. And we get Keith.
His bitter monologue about the un-inspiring name of the HMS Keith is ironic for a couple of reasons:
1. Because apparently his experiences on the Exeter weren’t enough for him
2. Because the HMS Keith would be sunk on June 1st, so in a bleak sense of luck, Tom could switch ships then.
3. Because once again, Tom is taking part in a historic event and doesn’t treat it as such.
4. Because characters eventually do get on lifeboats for a ship that captures Tom’s imagination, the Calcutta.
After months and months of walking, Grzegorz finally reaches the coast.* But Tom, having no knowledge whatsoever of Grzegorz’s background or the long and horrible journey he has had, refuses him room on the lifeboat because he skipped the queue and German planes are likely to return any minute. The confrontation only escalates from there. Tom points his gun at Grzegorz, who desperately challenges him with “I am not afraid of death.” A soldier pushes Grzegorz into the water with a dismissive, “Go fight for your own country!”
This is one of several scenes that highlight how people can sometimes draw behind national, ethnic, and racial divisions in times of stress, and how others can choose to cross these boundaries. Along with reminding the viewers of the less heroic sides of Dunkirk (there is more than one account of someone trying to get to a boat shot by a person in that boat), it also brings out the differences between Tom, Grzegorz, and Harry.
In a later scene, a soldier starts a fight with Harry’s unit over the Senegalese soldiers because they are part of the French colonial forces (and thus, to him, France’s responsibility to evacuate). Instead of leaving Demba and Ibrahim on the beach, Harry fires his gun into the air and commands that the Senegalese men remain with the group.
But beneath all their dramatic declarations is the fact that all three of them want to live. So when German planes fly over the beach and begin to strafe and bomb the men in the lifeboats and on the beach, everyone runs for cover. Higher up on the beach, Grzegorz is able to duck behind a crate. Tom is without shelter and collapses. It is unclear if he is still living.
Across the English Channel, Douglas senses something is terribly wrong. Already anxious over news of the evacuation (which would have become public knowledge on May 31st, as far as I’ve read), he rushes to Robina’s to see if, as the mother of an officer, she knows more about Harry’s survival, and possibly Tom’s. Concerned with Douglas’s emotional state, Robina refuses him entry in the house.
One thing that caught my attention when I rewatched this episode was how, up until this point, Douglas has generally made certain to call his children “my Tom” and “my Lois” and Robina’s son “your Tom.” In his anxiety, he refers to his son as “our Tom.”
Alone at home, Douglas continues to spiral into a panic attack, trembling, crying, and even having flashbacks of the sounds of distant fire. Lois and Connie eventually find him and try to calm him down, but Douglas refuses to rest without knowing what happened to Tom.
The undercurrent of identity runs throughout the show, from Robina’s referral of Jan as part of a Polish “race” to the sense of class in the Bennett family to Albert’s sense of isolation. You could extend the us-versus-them to the compartmentalization Kasia uses to cope with the murders of soldiers or the way Nancy navigates life as an antifascist reporter representing a neutral America in Nazi Berlin. World on Fire encourages the viewer to examine the contradictions and grey areas.
On one hand, you have Harry.
Harry starts to do more overtly heroic things this episode. He commands the inclusion of the shell shocked soldiers and stranded Senegalese soldiers. He makes sure Stan’s gut wound is checked. More than once, he uses his body as a shield from German planes and attacks.
What if Geoff is a spy? What if staying behind with the shell shocked soldiers seals their doom? But what if he isn’t a spy, and what if the soldiers are all taken to safety? No longer frozen in panic and concern for his men, Harry is spurred to action because of his concern for his men.
And yet, this show does not pass Harry’s choices off as simply heroic and worthy of praise or conversely fall into the ‘goodness-is-stupid’ narrative. It makes certain to show that Harry’s compassion is both an asset and a potential danger to everyone around him.
As Vernon Hunter says, “About the only thing left to believe in. Kindness.”
As Geoff says, “You are kind.”
On the other hand, you have Kasia, who is also driven by compassion, but whose options for resisting and fighting Germans and Nazism are very different. The routine she has with Thomasz of luring soldiers into the ruins in Warsaw and killing them inside.
Kasia tells Thomasz that she cannot remember the faces of the men they’ve killed, and that is how it must be. It’s killing them inside to do this, but they cannot think of another way of avenging the Poles killed in the invasion and in the massacres since then. To make things worse, we as the viewers know the danger ahead. There will be no evacuation or backup for Poland anymore, and certainly no miracles for Kasia and Thomasz.
*For Grzegorz to reach France, he would have had to walk through Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. While it is possible that the British forces he met in the previous episode gave him a lift at some point between Konrad’s death and his last appearance in the episode, it still doesn’t answer how Grzegorz was able to cross through Germany. Even if between episodes three and four, Konrad and Grzegorz managed to get on a boat that would take them out of Poland, around Denmark, and finally to the French or Belgian coast, you’d think we’d get some scene of this. It’s even more unlikely when you consider that in the same time, Eddie has made his way from Paris to Dunkirk on foot with likely regular stops for employment. But that’s really the only big stretch of imagination this show has asked of us, so I’ll just have to let it go.
Notes
The newspaper shown in the first scene between Douglas and Robina is dated Tuesday, May 28th. If we’re to use the night scenes, Lois and Connie’s change of clothes, and Tom’s mention of the HMS Keith as a reference, then this episode takes place over four to five days, ending around the date the HMS Keith sank, June 1st.
Eddie playing his trumpet while waiting along the outskirts of Dunkirk is one of my favorite images of this episode:
Resources and Further Reading
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-dunkirk-evacuations
https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-14B-HMS_Keith.htm
http://dunkirk1940.org/index.php?&p=1_187
Photographs
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205194325
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205194324
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Pop Culture Paganism: A Mental Exploration
My own personal thought experiment regarding a mental exploration of Pop Culture Paganism and Witchcraft. Don’t like it, you don’t need to read it. Flamers will be ignored. Constructive discussion and rebuttal is encouraged.
It’s worth noting that I’m a fairly recent “convert” to a pagan setting. I consider myself an eclectic polytheistic pagan witch. I worship a number of gods from different pantheons, and have a generally mixed Eclectic spirituality. I’m still learning and experimenting and discovering my craft and my path. I am not an expert by any means, and the following are my personal opinions. The only reason this post is not Private like most of my entries on this blog is because I feel this discussion may be validating for some who are put down for their faith.
Now without further ado, if you’re interested, check under the Cut. ;)
I’ve been doing a lot of research recently. It started by my looking up if it’s offensive to the gods to watch/enjoy/associate them with pop culture. Is Hades offended by my love of the Disney version of him? Would Bast or Serket be offended by my using images of them as they appear in video games like Smite?
I’ve come to answer myself with; it depends. It’s going to require experimentation, meditation and asking each specific god their preference, but in general, I think the answer is mostly no. If you have the proper intent, I think the gods appreciate it all the same.
I found an interesting Reddit Thread in which their was a discussion about Pop Culture Paganism. I didn’t realize that was even a thing, but reading the discussion was fascinating, and validating. While some are offended by the mere thought of not strictly following the old ways as closely as we can, others argue that myths of the old gods began as stories.
It’s doubtful that if these gods existed as real people or divine beings before humans, that these stories we know of them are one hundred percent accurate. Humans are fallible, we embellish, we exaggerate, and even when trying to be as accurate as possible, we still insert personal bias into everything. We can’t help it, it’s in our nature. So any story, true or not, is going to, at it’s core, be subject to the bias both of the original first-hand account, by every subsequent retelling, and by the person hearing it.
Therefore, why is it offensive to the gods to follow a new retelling of them? a modern version of a god, like, Loki and Thor, for instance, should be just as valid. It’s doubtful that the comic writers and film producers over at Marvel have consciously been contacted by Loki and Thor to tell them how to depict them, but does that mean that the gods weren’t influencing their own stories? Could Loki not have inserted the ideas, placed sources of inspiration into the lives of the writers? Of course he could have.
Another point that was brought up was that new gods spring up all the time. There is a new goddess being worshiped in India by the Dalit community. There are authors who have unwittingly created new gods or religions with their writings. There are sects of people who worship the Valar from Tolkien’s universe, the Jedi Way is a recognized religion now, Lovecraftian monsters are widely accepted as actual ancient beings and have permeated so many areas of culture. Some Celtic deities are traced back to seeming works of fiction.
Some people use pop culture figures as associations for their gods; more tangible, relate-able and realistic than their ancient stories. I recently made a strong association between Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Thoth. I’ve also used a Tolkien Mantra of sorts to honor Anubis; Patience being a struggle for me, and one of His attributes, I will occasionally find myself thinking of Treebeard’s signature philosophy, “do not be hasty.”
Some do actually worship fictional characters, even those not intended to be deified. Some use archetypal characters for worship and find pop culture associations for them, but some literally worship Batman or Sailor Moon. Some use fictional characters in spirit work, or create spells around them. The concept of the energy, the love and adoration, the living and breathing history and collective thought poured into and about these characters, this whole process makes absolute sense to me. I’m not sure if I’ll go quite so deep into it, though perhaps. Vi has already mentioned potentially worshiping Clavicus Vile. I’d be okay with that.
Given that many works of fiction draw from real life mythology, legends or properties, a lot of fictional deities and characters have some real-life counterpart. One can find strong correlations to the Gems in Stephen Universe having similar properties to their real-life crystal and stone counterparts. Many fictional deities are amalgamations of real gods. Hell, many “primary” sources of old gods are works of fiction in and of themselves, such as the works of Homer. While there may be truth the stories, they are embellished and theatrical to make it interesting to read, and are at best an artist’s interpretation of events.
I saw another post today that was so validating. Can’t find it right now, or I would link it. Basically it said that a god becomes a god when someone believes they are one. It could be a single person. They are a god. The older the god, the more energy put towards it, the more followers they have, the stronger they become. So in my mind, old gods like the Egyptian, Roman, Norse, Celtic, ect. gods, those of ancient civilizations, most of these will be far more powerful than a new god with a small following. Millions of people did and still do worship Anubis. There are probably only a select few who worship Dipper Pines (though given GF’s cult following, I’m sure I’d be surprised at that number-). Therefore Anubis has more influence and power as an established god, able to reach out even to those unaware of him at the time, and sometimes bring people to the fold this way. Versus Dipper, if deified, would have a harder time calling to a random new child to join the cult of the Mystery Twins.
My concept, which I originally considered a sort of excuse or explanation of my odd and unusual spiritual beliefs, is that energy is a force, it’s neither created, nor is it destroyed. If magic is just channeling one’s will into existence, expending your energy and maybe using other energy aids (a burning candle, a charged crystal, stored energy in plant matter, ect) to yield a desired effect, then why can’t the same concept be put towards anything? If we can will the spirits to read our futures, if we can will two people to fall in love, or will the universe to cause someone bad luck or harm, why can we not will a new being into existence?
In the same way that offerings, prayers and even uttering the name can strengthen older, established gods; in the same way, why can I not make offerings, prayers and epitaphs to Smaug, or Winnie the Pooh, or any fictional character?
Personally, the concept of pop culture magic is also fascinating to me, and that makes even more logical sense to me. If we take a character like Ash Ketchum. A character of indomitable spirit, fierce determination, immortality, and innocence; a character beloved by millions, who’s journeys have inspired generations of children, even shaped the lives of some - there is magic there. There is so much collective thought, energy, love, adoration there. So many know his name, his image, his stories. There are myths and legends about him, theories about other adventures, other possibilities. Artwork is made, statues created, there are buildings dedicated to his world, his friends and family, the animals and creatures of his world.
Even if you don’t see the correlations to a god from an outside perspective, that amount of power centered around some pixels on a television screen is real. It’s there, it exists. No witch or magic user should be able to deny that. Using that stored energy in a spell would be simple when looking at it from this perspective. In the way we can take an animal, look over all its aspects, and channel it into our spells. In the same way we can invoke Mother Bear for strength, maternal protection and love, we could invoke a character like The Doctor for wisdom, compassion and a drive to do what’s right.
The other angle here, is that anyone who subscribes to the Many Worlds Theory can’t really deny the possibility of most of this. This theory proposes there are an infinite number of universes full of infinite possibilities. There is a world where the Roman Empire never collapsed and we’re all living under the new Caesar. There is a world where modern day man is still living alongside dinosaurs. There is a world where ours does not exist. There is a world exactly the same as this one, except that you ate cereal for breakfast today instead of scrambled eggs. There’s a world where dogs are the dominant species and keep humans as pets. There is a world where the Avengers are fighting against Thanos. One where Luke Skywalker is teaching younglings in the Jedi Temple. One where Ash and Pikachu are traveling to another new region in the Pokemon world. One where we live in a giant computer simulation. Infinite. Possibilities.
I’m not here to convince anyone, I may or may not even practice any of this, it’s just some interesting thought exercise. I like thinking about things like this sometimes. I also think that in a world where we are beginning to pave our own Paths; we’re inventing identities for ourselves, discovering new genders, sexualities, magics, gods, everything; that we should be kind to each other as we discover these new avenues. To each their own, and live and let live <3
Blessed be, everyone, and may you all find whatever Path you wind up on fulfilling and full of joy.
#pop culture paganism#pop culture pagan#pop culture magic#pop culture witch#theology#pc paganism#thought exercise#an exploration#my journey#beliefs#spirituality#pop culture witchcraft#pc witch#pc witchcraft#pc pagan
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So... I’m a few days late for this, and I apologize. I was busy making birthday presents for the best friend and lost track of time.
And if people can’t use this because it’s late, they of course don’t have to. But...
This is what KH means to me... My thank you to the KH team...
I would have loved to write something for them, but I don’t know if they’d be big on getting fanfiction for their own work. I also could have done a digital manipulation or gmv for them... But IDK. Maybe them getting their own work back to them in a fan-edited way wouldn’t seem good at all? Because you didn’t do most of the work there. They did. You just edited it. And maybe you even edited in a way they wouldn’t approve of, and they see your work as copyright infringement?
So that leaves drawing, but I’m not the best drawer yet...
So screw it. I’m just going to write an essay about what this series has meant to me, the last seventeen years.
(Warning. This will be long. And probably emotional.)
Where do I even begin... I discovered this series when I was nine-years-old, right after the first game had come out. And seeing the advertisements for it on Disney channel made me want to have it so very badly.
I actually didn’t have a PS2 at the time... And while my sister and I did want other games alongside KH, yes, it was mainly for KH that we wanted a Playstation 2... So we begged our parents for one for Christmas, and they were gracious enough to get us one and quite a few games... and, of course, Kingdom Hearts with them.
We actually didn’t start with that one, though (even though I wanted to). My sister wanted to somewhat save the best for last, I guess... And when we did finally end up playing it, I had actually caught a bit of a cold (and it was only the promise that we’d finally play Kingdom Hearts, that day that got me to game. Even though I had been every day before, and had enjoyed all the other games--don’t get me wrong--but I was feeling that crappy, and it took the incentive of Kingdom Hearts to get me to agree).
And to say that I fell in love with it from the get-go would be an understatement. The opening cinematic pulled me in, it’s true (and already, I could tell this was different from the other games based on movies that I’d played), but it was mainly the Dive to the Heart section that really captured me (and made me forget my illness). That atmosphere still gives me chills and wonder, and calls me back to give it a go again years and years later. And I’m glad something like it has been included in games since, like in KHII, KHIII, Re:Coded, and what have you.
I was nine... So I stumbled my way through a lot of this game--and I mean stumbled--I had no idea what I was doing most of the time. In the fights, a lot of the ways I’d let Donald and Goofy do all of the work... and it took me a whole month to find Maleficent in Hollow Bastion. But I did end up beating the game, and understanding all of it.
I also ended up getting deep thoughts about it--as it is a mystery series that leaves you thinking--and I know I used to annoy people by talking about it. Haha. But this series got me thinking in a way that nothing else had... And that I honestly don’t know if most other kids my age could have... at least without something like this in their lives.
At this point, the series owned my soul. It touched me more than any other piece of media ever had, and ever will--and I’d had plenty pieces of media I really liked back then, such as Sailor Moon and yet they didn’t even come close. And while I’d shipped other couples before, such as Usagi and Mamoru from Sailor Moon, Sora and Kairi was the first one where I really felt like “These two have to be together”--and my life became about waiting for the next game (it still very much is, as sad as that might be to say).
I remember I would go to the store, and often times ask people who worked in the game section if they knew anything about a Kingdom Hearts II (this was before I had the Internet), and I recall being really sad one time when one of the workers told me maybe there never would be. LOL And to be clear, this was the time even before Chain of Memories.
Eventually, I saw Chain of Memories advertised on Cartoon Network and then begged my parents for a Game Boy Advance, so I could play this sequel. And for the Christmas that year, they complied as well (gosh, I have the best parents in the world). But I was saddened when I realized I couldn’t really play it with my sister (and her best friend) who I’d played the first game with. So my sister just told me to play it, and then tell her everything that happened. Which I did... With notes, and everything. Oh, yeah. I kept notes on KHI, CoM, and KHII, I think. I was that level of crazy (in a good way!).
Around this time, I was also subscribed to Disney magazines... And when I eventually got one that had Kingdom Hearts II in it: the one that revealed Sora’s new outfit as Beast’s Castle as a world--the first I’d ever heard of it, and the first I realized that Chain of Memories wasn’t the “true sequel” (as much as I did like Chain of Memories, I was glad to hear this. And even moreso that it was coming back to consoles, so I could experience it with my sister and her best friend again), I legitimately screamed so loud, you don’t even know. It’s a good thing I was home alone that day... And screaming about anything Kingdom Hearts related has pretty much become a trend of mine. Oops.
...So then I ended up pre-ordering Kingdom Hearts II from GameStop, with all of the cool things that came with that (like the special edition strategy guide that had four different covers, based on Sora’s Drive Forms. I have the Valor/Brave Form one), and I asked my mom to pick it up for me while I was at school so I could come home the day it came out and immediately start playing it. It came out near the beginning of that year’s spring break, and I beat the whole game in that time... You couldn’t have pulled me away from my Playstation 2 that break if you had tried.
I also know that I tried out for my school’s show choir the time that Kingdom Hearts II had just come out... Something I really should have cared about, but I didn’t as much as I could’ve... And while my mom had gotten busy talking to someone, waiting for me to come back from my audition, when I got back and she was still talking to them... I sort of wanted her to hurry along, so I could get back to my game... Something I think my mom even admitted to that person (but in as nice a way as possible)... Oh my gosh.
I also know that one day, I was thinking about KHII in class--I’d left off on the half-way mark of the game, with the 1000 Heartless battle and all that--so it was heavy on my mind... Our teacher was asking us about our weekends, and someone else in class started talking about how they started playing Kingdom Hearts II, and I gasped loudly--to which everyone stared--and I said that I had the game, too, and loved it... My teacher then said that was the most emotion they’d ever gotten out of me.
Ahahahahaha. I have many other embarrassing stories that I could admit with this series--particularly with KHII, and I have on past accounts--but you know what? I’m going to save myself some humiliation and keep them to myself.
But KH... It means the world to me. How can it not? It’s been a constant joy in my life for so many years: That’s been with me through just a little before my double-digit years, all of my teens, and into my adulthood.
I’ve made many friends through this series, too, either by convincing my friends to give it a try or making friends with people I know love the saga.
It’s a constant light for me, and always has been, that reminds me of my childhood (for so many reasons. The Disney for sure being one of them) and simpler times: And that there always is a light at the end of the tunnel...
In fact, the KH characters even feel like friends I’ve had for a long time--that I can always count on--and who I’m always happy to see.
And even now, that feeling hasn’t faded away (it probably never will). Since the way I reacted to KHIII, is pretty much the way I did KHII: Even fourteen years later, and as an adult now.
Kingdom Hearts even introduced me to all the things I love. I found YouTube--after I finally got Internet--when a friend told me I could watch the Kingdom Hearts II secret ending there, as I hadn’t unlocked it myself (and since I had doubts in myself as a gamer back then, I wasn’t sure that I could. Even though I had unlocked the one for the first game. And did eventually do so for the second game... and all of them, except for KHIIFM so far). And YouTube, amvs (a lot of them for KH) is how I found my love for video editing.
And moreover, I’m a writer. And it was in Googling stuff about Sora and Kairi that I eventually discovered fanfiction (that I actually, stupidly, thought was official stuff by the actual writers at first, because I found fanfiction on sites that weren’t called that), and through that started it myself and honed my writing skills. My writing style is probably even inspired by KH, in a lot of ways--like how I handle mystery and when I deliver information to the reader, and all.
KH also did simpler things, like getting me into other Square Enix games (Final Fantasy, The World Ends With You, Bravely Default), and gaming in general.
I wouldn’t be the person I am today without Kingdom Hearts, and that’s just the facts.
I’ve even bonded over it with my dad. My dad doesn’t know the series at all, God bless him, but he’s always willing to talk to me about it and ask me questions since he knows I love it so much. He always asks me when the next game’s coming out. Or if he knows one’s coming out, he’s aware of how happy that must have made me... Or if I’m playing it around him, and he hears a long song begin to play, he knows I must have beaten it. He also went to the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra with me:D
My mom also knows the series through me. A bit more than my dad, since she used to come up and watch us play it some (my dad also did a few times). But I felt it’s more fitting to mention my dad here, since he actually knows it less... And still admirably does this stuff, and is still this in the know about how much it means to me.
...I’ve admitted this before (like in an official survey to Square Enix)--even though I don’t like to, for obvious and personal reasons (and this is for sure something my parents don’t know and never should)--that in really rare, dark times of mine... Kingdom Hearts has saved me from suicide: Those times that I struggle with depression, and felt like I really had nothing else to live for... And yet wanting to be alive to finally see the end of Sora's story, drove me to give life another chance.
And I don’t really think I can say much more than that, or go deeper, to express just what this franchise is to me.
So Kingdom Hearts team... from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.
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youtube
I found this video on my YouTube feed. Beautiful. You might want to lower the volume if you don’t want a blast of lo-fi anime music. This channel has a lot of asthethic compilations of anime, like effects, food, liquid, etc..
I found it quite relevant for my actual project since I’m really interested in the concept of magical transformations, but also aesthetically, I think that there’s many things to draw from here. All the liquid light efects and and fluid representations of the body are a language that i might potentially want to use.
I found this essay by Nicole Chan fron the university of New york Sahnghai. 2017.
about the paradoxical relationship in the magical girl subgenre between female empowerment and the male gaze and objectification of woman in anime. Is really interesting how it dives in japanese culture and the progesive subversion of the traditinal femenine roles.
Scholars have already begun questioning whether magical girls are truly empowered figures. A significant trope in magical girl subgenre is the transformation sequence that enables the protagonist to become battle ready. Present day standards for this sequence hail directly from Sailor Moon, who famously had a two-minute transformation sequence. In this scene, Usagi’s body is silhouetted and dissected by the frame as her clothing shatters off and her new battle armor pops on or is otherwise wrapped on her figure. In her final form, Usagi dons a shortened version of the iconic Japanese high school uniform. Anne Allison notes the transformation scene in magical girl anime is significantly different from the transformation scenes one experiences in series like Power Rangers because the heroine in magical girl anime experiences “more of a “makeover” than a “power-up.” Apart from empowerment, that is, transformation also beautifies girls, fostering personal attractiveness, romance, and dreams”5 (Allison, 139-140). This observation is perhaps best summarized as all the Sailor Scouts literally shout, “Make up!” in order to transform into their magical selves. The presence of the male gaze is therefore not subverted by merely having strong female characters, as the incorporation of highly suggestive transformation sequences can easily satisfy scopophilia.
Magical girls anime places immense importance on physical appearance. Sailor Moon uses the word ‘pretty’ to both activate and describe her empowered self. In another highly popular magical girl series, Card Captor Sakura (カードキャプターさくら Kādokyaputā Sakura) (1998), Sakura Kinamoto, the main character does not need to magically transform to activate her powers, so instead another character provides lavish, frilly costumes that she must wear while saving the world from catastrophe. In other words, even when completely unnecessary to the plot, the transformation sequence is, in itself, substantial to the subgenre. Costuming does admittedly play a significant role in the general superhero universe, however the magical girl outfit framework seemingly implies power can only come when interlinked with a specific image of feminine gender performance. The message is that magical girls can only and will only fight evil forces while in mini skirts and dresses.
I also found this article revieweing the empowerment of queernes through magical transformaition in anime:
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1. Media room.
Okay, granted I've never mapped this out but mental plans ftw! Large screen on the wall, no/minimal wires seen. Good height but not too high, enough so it's not level with eyes. You'll have to elevate your chin some. All in one TV as well, internet streaming services (honestly? do I wanna pay $300/month for channels I don't watch? had enough of that at parents' home) and internet capability. I wanna see YT and Twitch on the full screen. Built in-the-wall sound system that's part of the entire house. I love music (and if I want the house thumping that's my prerogative) and I love that movie theater surround sound experience. Which also means? Great sound for video games! And with video games means those seats that connect to your game and vibrate with certain actions. Yes please. I wanna immerse myself for a couple hours, blink and it's 6 hours later lmao. Two seats built in (...or custom so they can be slid to the side of the room when not in use???) At least one portable gaming chair with wheels. Comfort here, especially if you just wanna watch something without gaming.
Bookshelves. Lined about three quarterd of wall space, about half my height. Filled with movies, video games, cartridge boxes, controllers, accessories, and OF COURSE memorabilia. Sailor Moon stuff. Pop figures. Why do I want the bookshelf height so short? Picture space. Potential floating bookshelf space. Drawings from friends. Movie posters. Random knick knacks to showcase what I love. No clutter but lots of organized chaos. A beanie baby or two, if those things are around anymore.
One day? I will frame a Kelly Clarkson vinyl AUTOGRAPHED with concert tickets and security wristband thingy and set list. Put it on my wall. That will be my football trophy don't judge me.
I'd love to do some type of art piece with ticket stubs? So I can keep adding to them? No clue but ideas!
MINI SNACK BAR FOR MOVIES.
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Thanks For the Memories: 20 Years of The Big O
Many anime fans remember their very first taste of anime, whether it was Robotech after school, Fullmetal Alchemist on Adult Swim, or streaming My Hero Academia here on Crunchyroll. For fans of my generation, Toonami was crucial, bringing together classics like Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Trigun, and my personal favorite, The Big O, in a single afternoon block. Today marks the 20th anniversary of The Big O in Japan, and it's the perfect show to be nostalgic for, since it's all about a city haunted by a forgotten past and the hunt for lost memories. There was nothing quite like it at the time in 1999, and there's still nothing quite like it today. Younger fans may have missed the hype on this uniquely stylish mecha noir entirely, so it's the perfect time for a drive down Paradigm City's memory lane. Big O... it's showtime!
The Big O is the story of Roger Smith, the Negotiator of Paradigm City, a seemingly post-apocalyptic domed city barely holding it together after a mysterious event 40 years prior in which everyone lost their memories. What a "Negotiator" is is never precisely defined, but Smith acts as a private eye, superhero, and giant robot pilot for events that the city's military police are too ill-equipped to handle. People have gone on living without memories by reconstructing identities from whatever old photographs, books, and films might still be around, but there's still a gnawing hunger in many to know what cannot be known. Mysterious android girl R Dorothy Wayneright acts as Roger Smith's companion as he faces down the secrets of the past that can't stay buried. Along the way he meets Angel, an amnesiac femme fatale whose lust for memories of the lost past surpasses all others, and mad journalist Michael Seebach, anarchic Joker to Smith's Batman, who thinks Paradigm City is built entirely on lies and worse, seems to be right. Above it all is Alex Rosewater, head of the Paradigm Corporation and de facto dictator of Paradigm City who seems to know more than he lets on. And of course, when giant war machines of the past show up on the city streets, Roger Smith calls "Showtime" and engages in brutal robot combat that threatens to tear the entire city apart every time.
"Part James Bond, part Bruce Wayne, part giant robot," the old Toonami ads promised, but this was a pre-sakuga age when the only widely known director was Hayao Miyazaki. Were I to try and pitch The Big O to the generation that missed it on Toonami and have heard little of it sense, I would draw their attention to the incredible team assembled for the series. The Big O was animated by Cowboy Bebop's Sunrise, previously subcontracted to work on Batman: The Animated Series, which accounts for the show's influence on The Big O's singular look. The director was Kazuyoshi Katayama, storyboarder and animation director for Giant Robo, another classic robot epic about gigantic steampunk leviathans. The script was by Chiaka J. Konaka, the prolific writer in charge of many other canonized 90s classics like Serial Experiments Lain and Magic Users' Club. And the Western cultural touchstone I would most compare The Big O to is Twin Peaks, not only for its noirish sensibilities and surrealistic tendencies, but also for its premature cancellation and miraculous continuation years down the line.
Like its Toonami brethren Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, The Big O is a pastiche of various Western elements done in a way that we haven't really seen before or since. The Batman vibe is obvious (Roger Smith even has a butler), but The Big O also pulls from other noir private eye stories of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. The retro-robots pull from the pioneering sci-fi works of Isaac Asimov, including the "R" title designation for android citizens. The robot combat obviously pulls from Giant Robo and the tokusatsu shows that inspired it like Johnny Socko and Super Robot Red Baron. And in case the show seems almost too claustrophobically moody from these influences, I should note the show channels the very best elements of Scooby Doo when Roger Smith investigates seemingly supernatural phenomena, always maintaining a certain level of whimsy and theatricality in the show's world. One of my favorite episodes, directed by Mononoke and Gatchaman Crowds' Kenji Nakamura, even has villain Beck constructing a screaming replica of Roger Smith's head in order to lure Big O off of a cliff into an ocean.
The Big O was originally scheduled for 26 episodes in its Japanese broadcast run but was canceled after only 13 due to low viewership. The show somehow still found its way to Toonami, and the popularity of the show despite its cliffhanger ending (the series literally ended on To Be Continued) let to Cartoon Network funding a second season in 2003. This would not be the first international co-production nor the last, but what was striking was The Big O team going for a challenging, confusing, and surreal storyline that it seemed impossible for Western executives to have greenlit, yet they had. After years of Sailor Moon's lesbian guardians being rewritten into kissing cousins and digipaint bikinis being added to Tenchi Muyo, here was shocking proof that Western companies could involve themselves in anime production without the end product being altered.
I still hear some old fans talk about wanting a Big O season 3, and apparently Cartoon Network had an option for more that was never followed up on due to the middling ratings for the second season. But as it is, The Big O has been in my top 10 anime since the 1990s and it will probably always remain there. Offering definitive answers to the show's mysteries would be a betrayal of the show's themes about identity and uncertainty. We have the symbols and images we were provided, and we have to construct meaning from what we have. The denizens of Paradigm City always looked down on the robotic citizens as less than fully human despite the fact they clearly envied the simple programming that gives a robot immediate meaning in its existence. The Big O acknowledges the real struggle of trying to step out of our environment and be our best possible selves, and should be remembered as a highlight of the post-Evangelion period of experimental anime series.
Did you watch The Big O? What are your favorite parts of the show? Let us know in the comments!
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Thomas Zoth is a features writer for Crunchyroll, blogs occasionally at Hungry Bug Diner, and appears on podcasts at Infinite Rainy Day. You can follow him on Twitter at @ABCBTom.
Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!
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Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic-con was held in Los Angeles, CA this past weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center. I attended all three days of this event and was so smitten with it that this may become a regular on my yearly convention circuit. Here is the break down of my experience and a bit of why YOU should attend next year.
Friday
After opening ceremonies the convention was available to the public at 1 PM. I arrived with my counter part (the other half of ThermoCosplay, who assisted me that weekend with video/photography) around 1:30 following a half mile walk from our parking spot. NOTE: Parking in L.A. is either very expensive (close proximity to the convention) or a very long walk (farther from the convention). We opted to reserve our parking last month using a ParkWhiz app which saved us about $15 every day. If you have never visited L.A. then parking close may be your best bet. Thankfully, I had two very good guides helping me around the city.
Once inside the convention center on Friday I was surprised by the lack of attendees. It seems that Friday for this event is more like a preview night that a full event day. Despite low attendance, the people I interacted with were AMAZING! Here is a shot of Lina and I chatting with some fellow con goers as we entered the convention proper…
Friday was Twi’lek day. Being a Twi’lek at a convention does two things: draws a crowd and generates great discussion/conversation. We were able to become more familiar with the regulars at this event because of our Star Wars outfits and it better prepared us for the mass increase in people on Saturday.
Darth Samurai and Twi’lek
Twi’leks with Amidala
Twi’lek’s on Camera
Saturday
When I say MASS increase in attendance on Saturday I mean HUGE increase. We arrived at 10:30 AM (the convention opened at 10 AM) and the halls were already filled with curious onlookers, excited fans, fantastic cosplayers and incredible guests. It was so overwhelming that we had to take a set of stairs up to the second floor to get our bearings. That is one thing I need to compliment this event on. They have spaces where people can “step away” and get some quiet. There were little alcoves inside and outside that were meant for a break. There is also an abundance of food, seating and snack vendors available throughout the day. Bonus points for proper organization and anticipation of attendees L.A. Comic-con.
Venue aside, I spent the day watching a panels presented by Over 30 Cosplay, the remaining main cast member of Quantum Leap and a very obscure view of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s head from the Main Stage as he spoke about Jumanji (and made a joke about his possible presidency). The Main Stage was a popular spot throughout the convention. They even hosted the costume contest there on Saturday (which was SO MUCH FUN to watch). Overall…Saturday was magnificent.
Chain Saw Masacre Cosplayer
Rule 63 Sailor Moon
MLP Cosplayer
Sunday
As the last day of con I decided to stay dressed down so I could capture images of Stan Lee’s panel in the morning and more video for all of you to enjoy. Unfortunately, I only spent a couple hours wandering the vendor hall on Sunday but I managed to snag a great hoodie from Akumu Ink Clothing before taking the long drive home to AZ.
Here are some things I would like to note about this event…
The Cosplay is GLORIOUS. Cosplayers tend to hang out in the atrium near the entrance.
The panel schedule is a bit tricky to figure out BUT panels are posted at each panel room.
The guest are AWESOME and the Main Stage helps you see them better by projecting them full screen.
The venue is LARGE and requires several hours of exploration. Since this event has short hours I recommend AT LEAST a two day pass.
The weather is gorgeous.
Uber/Lyft is EVERYWHERE so don’t be afraid to commute or use them to get to your parking spot.
Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic-con 2018 is scheduled to run October 26th-28th. If you follow them on FACEBOOK you will be able to track when tickets go on sale next year. I HIGHLY recommend this convention. Whether you are new to cons or a veteran, this caters to all levels and many geeky interests. OH! I almost forgot! Here is our summary video of the event (if you want to see the costume contest footage view our SATURDAY video):
For more photos of this event please check out THIS GALLERY.
For more videos from this event please visit our YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
FanGirl on!
Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic-con 2017 – The Overview Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic-con was held in Los Angeles, CA this past weekend at the…
#fangirl nation magazine#FGNMag#lacc#los angeles comiccon#slacc#stan lees los angeles comiccon#stanleescomiccon
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Meet the artist drawing millions of YouTube views
Ross Tran steps out of his Californian apartment. The sun shines in the sky above and a car idles on the road below. Holding a couple of large canvases, he climbs over a balcony, shimmies down a tree and speaks to camera: “Welcome to another episode of Ross Draws. It’s my graduation episode!”
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He runs to the waiting car. Animated sparks fly. He throws his artwork through the open window, jumps into the driver’s seat and speeds away. The hand-written personalised number plate taped to the back of his Chevy reads: COLOR DODGE.
In just 20 seconds, we see why the 23-year-old artist’s videos have earned nearly two million views on his YouTube channel: the quick cuts, the playful tone, the breathless, almost hyperactive presenting style; whistle-stop tours of his art school, apartment and various locations around California; interviews with the smiley, unbelievably healthy-looking friends and teachers who populate those places…
And, of course, the thing that underpins the channel’s success, Tran’s art – bright, stylised, painterly, with tutorials explaining how to paint his work. What you’d never know by watching these videos is that the channel “came from a dark place.”
“A piece from my Astro Series. It’s a collection of portraits involving some kind of white garment and shapes as the influence.”
Personality is key
Tran is a recent graduate of Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design. He won his first concept artist job at the nearby West Studio when he was just 17. A couple of years later, he worked as lead character designer on his first feature film – creating Echo for the 2014 animated movie Earth to Echo. He now counts among his clients Disney, Samsung and Microsoft, and has since worked on the upcoming Halo Franchise and several more films.
How did he win so many big jobs at such a young age? “You have to personalise your portfolio so it represents what you really want to do,” he says. “For instance, if you love character design and want to get hired for it, make your portfolio and online presence character-based. I’ve seen a lot of people put too many types of work in their portfolio. It makes them look disposable. The last thing you want to be is a robot. Show the world who you are and what you want to do.”
“This was one of the few pieces I did in my year off art to pursue acting. I just loved to paint and felt the need to express myself artistically.”
He says some people may be familiar with his earlier work, but most of this success has come through Ross Draws, the YouTube channel that he started at the end of 2011.
“I actually grew up really shy,” he says, an image very different from the boisterous character he presents in his videos. “I had a lot of insecurities growing up. I think Ross Draws represents a side of myself that depicts transformation and self-growth. I consider myself an introvert, but one who’s learning extroverted skills.”
“This was from the third episode on my YouTube channel, drawing Nidalee from League. She’s one of my favourite characters and I had to draw her!”
Even after earning a place at the prestigious ArtCenter College of Design, Tran says he felt something was missing in his life. He was passionate about art, but also loved making people laugh. So he took a year off and pursued an acting career.
Tran juggled art school and auditions. He took extra classes in improv and scene study. The nearest he got to a big break was an audition for a pilot on the Fox network.
“My work has recently taken a more stylised, graphic approach, while still pertaining to my painterly roots.”
The small part called for a designer who freaks out a lot. “My perfect role!” Tran says. The producers of hit shows Psych and Scrubs were in the audition room and he made them laugh. They gave the part – which the script labelled “Asian Best Friend” – to a white person.
“I’m not sure the pilot even got picked up,” he says. “But it was a great experience. I also auditioned for a lot of commercials.”
“I always got tons of requests to draw my dog and found a perfect opportunity – to celebrate one year on YouTube.”
How to draw and paint – 95 pro tips and tutorials
Branching out on YouTube
“I grew up watching The PowerPuff Girls and wanted to do my take on it. I was bringing my love of graphics in the piece.”
A friend suggested he start a YouTube channel combining the two things: art and making people laugh. “I hesitated, thinking it wasn’t really my thing. Prior to the channel, I felt like I had no purpose. I was waking up and feeling really unmotivated to do anything. Uninspired, unwilling, defeated.
“Acting helped me to commit. Because, in acting, you have to commit 110 per cent or else no one will believe you, not even you. You can’t be in your head. Going on those auditions and to classes helped me to commit to the moment and just do it, no thinking. It’s a practice I’ve also taken into my art. If you have an idea, don’t be afraid to voice it.”
“This piece is quite special to me. People often mention that this was one of the first episodes/pieces they saw when they discovered me.”
When Tran reinvented himself as Ross Draws, it shook up his personal life and kickstarted his career. But the success of the YouTube channel brought new problems. “My schedule is different every week, every day,” he says. “Sometimes I feel I overload myself. I’m definitely what they call a night owl. I go to sleep anywhere from 2 to 5am. As my channel grows, so do my opportunities – conventions, signings, gigs – and it’s been harder to have a set schedule. It’s still currently a learning curve. But most of my week consists of editing my videos and painting.”
Growing up, Tran was into TV shows like Pokemon, Sailor Moon and Power Rangers – you can see those influences in his art and on his channel. He has a few key rules when making videos. Our attention span is getting shorter and shorter, he says, so he keeps footage under the six-minute mark. It’s also important to be yourself, connect with your audience and collaborate with other people. He’s made videos with artists he looks up to, like Dan LuVisi and Anthony Jones, but also collaborations with non-artists, such as Jimmy Wong and Yoshi Sudarso, who plays the Blue Ranger on the new Power Rangers show.
“This was another one that sat in my folder for about two years. I never knew how to finish it, but one day I opened it up and let the story breathe.”
The YouTube channel brought Tran new confidence, which was mirrored in his art. When he started at ArtCenter College of Design, he knew he was a capable painter but felt his work was too heavily influenced by his favourite artists. Then he painted a piece called Journey – a landmark in which he found his own voice and techniques.
Tran works with Premiere and After Effects for his videos, Photoshop and Lightroom for painting. Using all Adobe software helps him easily switch between apps. One website recently labelled him the “Master of Color Dodge.” The blend mode creates extra depth and makes colours really pop off the screen, an almost glowing effect that’s present in much of Tran’s work.
“This has been sitting in my WIP folder for about three years. A lot of my pieces sit there until I can see the piece turn into something unique to me.”
It’s not cheating
Tran hadn’t always used such techniques. “At a young age, I thought that using certain methods as cheating, only to realise now that it doesn’t matter. You can learn from anything, any method, anywhere. Have an open mind and you can absorb information easier and faster.”
After graduating college, Tran left the apartment that features in many of his YouTube videos. He now rents a house with friends, a place just outside Los Angeles. “We call it The Grind House,” he says. The Grind House? “It’s where we’re going to grind on our stuff for a year and decide what to do from there. There’s not much of an art scene in my area, but I love the motivational energy that the house has.”
“This piece was commissioned for the deviantART+Blizzard Campaign ‘21 Days of Overwatch’. It’s probably my best seller at my first convention, Anime Expo.”
“Motivational energy” is a perfect term. It’s in everything Tran says and does. You can still see his influences in his work. There’s a bit of Jaime Jones in there, some Craig Mullins and Claire Wending. But despite his youth, he has found a style, voice and motivational energy of his own – and, perhaps most importantly, a platform on which to share it. That’s the one piece of advice he’s keen to get across: do it your own way, on your own terms.
“My videos are funded by my amazing supporters on Patreon. I’m blessed to have fans who love what I do and who want the exclusive content that comes with each episode. Patreon is definitely a career option for artists.” Tran’s endorsement of Patreon comes with a caveat, however: only launch when you’re ready. “I held off on making my page until I knew I had quality content for the people who supported me.
“There’s always a whimsical element to my work, either in the colours or the composition.”
“If you do what you love, numbers and finance shouldn’t matter,” Tran adds. “I have friends who absolutely love their studio jobs and want to be surrounded by people. I also had friends who quit those jobs, made a Patreon and earned less, but loved what they do.
“I think it’s about finding your own instrument and how to operate at your fullest potential. In today’s industry – and society – we too often compare ourselves to others, which fuels our inner self-critic. We’re all on our own journey at our own pace. We all have different inspirations, a different drive that propels us forward.”
This article was originally published in ImagineFX magazine issue 140.
Related articles:
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How to create a vivid fairy queen
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Week 13 - Homage Project Reflection
Black Box, White Noise (2017). CRT TV, laptop, digital video. Installation view (temporal) at CNM Office, 11-12 April 2017.
Black Box, White Noise (2017). CRT TV, laptop, digital video.
youtube
Video work for Black Box, White Noise (2017). 1min 10s.
Process
Using Don DeLillo’s quote from White Noise as a starting point, I began to think of ways to communicate the anxiety and panic from informational saturation -- something that communicated the trepidation in the almost Beckettian wait for a catastrophe. Building upon what I’d set out to achieve with Task 1, where this saturation of media was applied to the idea of individual identity, I wanted to apply this concept more generally to human experience. Whereas the work I created for Task 1, Don’t leave me to my own devices, existed purely in the digital realm, I wanted concepts to manifest in physical form for Task 2.
As such, I began thinking of ways in which it could take physical form -- I mentioned Nam June Paik during class discussions, and feedback was that his installations tended to rely on density and mass, something I could not replicate with limited resources.
Another point brought up was the means in which I could communicate the emotional experience to the audience -- how do I convey this anxiety? Thinking about these issues raised led me to look to Nam June Paik’s more pared down installation works, such as TV Buddha, which relied on choice of objects as opposed to mass of objects. I also decided to rely upon the use of sound to communicate the anxiety -- perhaps unpleasant, static noises could be weaved into the installation, building on the idea of white noise.
With these ideas in mind, I came up with a simple sketch of how the installation could take form.
I then began obtaining materials -- a CRT TV, a laptop, and something that could serve as a plinth. Wooden apple crates would serve as plinths (the processed wood acting as an interested material counterpoint to the electronic equipment). Several rounds of experimentation were needed for this process -- to get the equipment working, placement of the materials, wires, adapters, plugs needed, even repurposing an old PS2 as a DVD player because of its portability.
After being certain of the workability of the physical installation, I moved on to creating the video. This involved the use of video editing software and the use of found footage from Youtube.
The choice of videos to splice into the video work was selected on the basis of its visual texture, colour, and greater implications. These implications or symbolisms were meant to be as eclectic as possible -- news programmes, cooking sequences, entertainment programmes, images of nature. A juxtaposition of serious or neutral with the banal, mindless or facetious. The list of videos are as such:
TASTY COMPILATION PART 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88WTy6pgrQE
Chhattisgarh TV Anchor Supreet Kaur Reads Her Husband’s Death On Live TV (FULL VIDEO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCuZyFld-GU
Ping Pong Trick Shots 3 | Dude Perfect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeG1ftTmLAg
Blue Ocean Waves Slow Motion - Free Stock Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGhsX1GDibM
YAMIL ASAD 2015 - Media Punta - Volante Ofensivo.mp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRyB4K1asqw
The Mummy - Official Trailer #2 [HD]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzorZUuZqEI
Sailor Moon Opening 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Rvwu8Wykw
After splicing the videos together, I began to corrupt the video’s data -- a process of databending using Audacity. Importing the video footage as raw data and editing the content allowed me to produce authentic glitch effects.
The process of glitching itself required several rounds of experimentation, and I edited the glitched footage in with the original. Now that I had the footage, sound was another aspect that I had to create. This was synthesised through the use of sounds from old dial-up modems and static -- a sufficiently disturbing and otherworldly combination of sounds.
And finally came the installation process -- putting the artwork in place at the CNM office.
Lugged everything over to the office with a mini trolley and finally set everything up. The installation was then left for viewing until the morning of the next day.
Brief Write-up
Black Box, White Noise
2017
CRT TV, laptop, dual-channel digital video
An ephemeral installation/video work paying homage to the concept of brain fade as outlined in Don DeLillo’s White Noise, this work emerges from a fascination with the concept of informational saturation. Emphasising the “incessant bombardment of information” faced by the modern individual vis-à-vis mass communication, the work’s utilisation of moving image, databending and sound serve to communicate the unceasing “panic, noise and interference” engendered by these incessant flows; a dialogic back-and-forth of images, graphics, tragedies, statistics, data, and flows as a consistent, inescapable process from old to new.
Part of a submission for NM3205 Digital Art and Culture by Professor Flude, Marcia Nancy Mauro.
Full Write-up
Black Box, White Noise (2017) is a video work and ephemeral installation emerging from my fascination with the concept of informational saturation; paying homage to the concept of brain fade as outlined in Don DeLillo’s White Noise. Emphasising the “incessant bombardment of information” faced by the modern individual vis-à-vis mass communication (66), the novel suggests that the constant stream of data, images, and media has textured human life to the extent that an almost spiritual dependency upon the digital is forged within the individual.
Because we’re suffering from brain fade. We need an occasional catastrophe to break up the incessant bombardment of information. [...] The flow is constant, [...] Words, pictures, numbers, facts, graphics, statistics, specks, waves, particles, motes. Only a catastrophe gets our attention. We want them, we need them, we depend on them (66).
The electronic and the artificial become us – it both comforts and alienates. The novel conveys this ironic dichotomy by creating an atmosphere of unceasing anxiety, an unending trepidation that accompanies the overall impotency of the modern individual in coping with this saturated existence. So frighteningly expressed that one can only imagine the extent to which these feelings may have grown with the rapid growth of new media – and the scale of the catastrophe this necessitates before we are shaken from brain fade.
In his lecture, Black Box, Black Bloc, Alexander Galloway describes the hypothesis of the “fully programmed and also re-programmable” biological bodies of the cybernetic city – an eerie prediction of society that seems mere continuation of DeLillo’s expression of modern being (2). How does one integrate such incessant progressions and flows into a bearable form of existence? Galloway states the appropriate response to such a cybernetic city: “panic, noise, and interference” (2). It is a revolt that relies on a specific invisibility, a non-invasive blackness. Almost akin to observing a black box – the mystical cypher “without windows”, waiting to be decoded, deciphered, revealed to be rational (3). It is a “new approach to knowledge” – where only inputs and outputs certain, we allow the object to remain “opaque”, and we make every judgment based on observation, with “no access to our or anyone else’s inner life” (5-6).
My artwork thus draws on both concepts – of panic, noise, interference, and of looking, gazing, observing – in an attempt to engage with the incessant flows causing brain fade. The viewer is made to watch; to observe images that come in fragmented splices, but fill and overwhelm the screens unceasingly. They move across the frame, almost screeching with static and noise, as if to announce their appearance, a looping video that flickers between states. It is, as Olia Lialina suggests, an “infinite séance”; a looped screening that exists for however long the artwork is installed. It becomes a “formless story” about the modern individual’s relationship to the unending streams of information. More literally, a stream of water cuts through the images presented; flowing through as representational expression of the flows of information. Just as financial flows are symbolised by water in Hito Steyerl’s Liquidity Inc., so are informational flows represented by the same element in this work. The stream is panicked and churning – communicating the same urgency as all the other flickering, fragmented images. They cut into frame at different speeds, interfering – clambering to be seen, heard by the next, a communication of unceasing anxiety.
Figure 2. Charles Lim, SEA STATE 7: sandwich (2015). Single-channel HD digital video. 5 minutes.
In terms of formalistic reference, the video work draws upon Charles Lim’s SEA STATE 7: sandwich, which utilises a similar aesthetic of spliced moving image to communicate the complexity and constancy of an issue. Using images of water and the seaside, it uses ever-shifting landscapes to communicate the same sense of contested meanings of space and territory in relation to Singapore’s use and importation of sand. Movement in my work is thus an expression of the trepidation; an anticipation of the catastrophe that is to come, heightening a sense of anxious escalation.
Even more salient is its physical form as installation, which utilises a television and laptop facing the other directly, locked in an almost dialogic loop of moving image. This ceaseless cycle is reference to Nam June Paik’s TV Buddha, though facing the box of the TV is instead now a laptop, the “splayed open” black box instead of the image of the Buddha (Galloway 3). Images of the spiritual are not present – the black box perhaps becomes the intermediary for a spiritual experience.
Figure 3. Nam June Paik, TV Buddha (1974). Installation with closed-circuit video camera, monitor, and sculpture.
Works Cited
DeLillo, Don. White Noise. Penguin, 1999.
Duvall, John N. "The (super) marketplace of images: Television as unmediated mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona Quarterly: A journal of American literature, culture, and theory 50.3, 1994, pp. 127-153.
Galloway, Alexander. “Black Box, Black Bloc.” Culture and Communication, 2010, cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/pdf/Galloway,%20Black%20Box%20Black %20Bloc,%20New%20School.pdf.
Lialina, Olia. An Infinite Séance. 2007, art.teleportacia.org/observation/infinite-seance.html.
London, Barbara. "Time as Medium: Five Artists' Video Installations." Leonardo 28, 1995, pp. 423-426.
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Meet the artist drawing millions of YouTube views
Ross Tran steps out of his Californian apartment. The sun shines in the sky above and a car idles on the road below. Holding a couple of large canvases, he climbs over a balcony, shimmies down a tree and speaks to camera: “Welcome to another episode of Ross Draws. It’s my graduation episode!”
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He runs to the waiting car. Animated sparks fly. He throws his artwork through the open window, jumps into the driver’s seat and speeds away. The hand-written personalised number plate taped to the back of his Chevy reads: COLOR DODGE.
In just 20 seconds, we see why the 23-year-old artist’s videos have earned nearly two million views on his YouTube channel: the quick cuts, the playful tone, the breathless, almost hyperactive presenting style; whistle-stop tours of his art school, apartment and various locations around California; interviews with the smiley, unbelievably healthy-looking friends and teachers who populate those places…
And, of course, the thing that underpins the channel’s success, Tran’s art – bright, stylised, painterly, with tutorials explaining how to paint his work. What you’d never know by watching these videos is that the channel “came from a dark place.”
“A piece from my Astro Series. It’s a collection of portraits involving some kind of white garment and shapes as the influence.”
Personality is key
Tran is a recent graduate of Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design. He won his first concept artist job at the nearby West Studio when he was just 17. A couple of years later, he worked as lead character designer on his first feature film – creating Echo for the 2014 animated movie Earth to Echo. He now counts among his clients Disney, Samsung and Microsoft, and has since worked on the upcoming Halo Franchise and several more films.
How did he win so many big jobs at such a young age? “You have to personalise your portfolio so it represents what you really want to do,” he says. “For instance, if you love character design and want to get hired for it, make your portfolio and online presence character-based. I’ve seen a lot of people put too many types of work in their portfolio. It makes them look disposable. The last thing you want to be is a robot. Show the world who you are and what you want to do.”
“This was one of the few pieces I did in my year off art to pursue acting. I just loved to paint and felt the need to express myself artistically.”
He says some people may be familiar with his earlier work, but most of this success has come through Ross Draws, the YouTube channel that he started at the end of 2011.
“I actually grew up really shy,” he says, an image very different from the boisterous character he presents in his videos. “I had a lot of insecurities growing up. I think Ross Draws represents a side of myself that depicts transformation and self-growth. I consider myself an introvert, but one who’s learning extroverted skills.”
“This was from the third episode on my YouTube channel, drawing Nidalee from League. She’s one of my favourite characters and I had to draw her!”
Even after earning a place at the prestigious ArtCenter College of Design, Tran says he felt something was missing in his life. He was passionate about art, but also loved making people laugh. So he took a year off and pursued an acting career.
Tran juggled art school and auditions. He took extra classes in improv and scene study. The nearest he got to a big break was an audition for a pilot on the Fox network.
“My work has recently taken a more stylised, graphic approach, while still pertaining to my painterly roots.”
The small part called for a designer who freaks out a lot. “My perfect role!” Tran says. The producers of hit shows Psych and Scrubs were in the audition room and he made them laugh. They gave the part – which the script labelled “Asian Best Friend” – to a white person.
“I’m not sure the pilot even got picked up,” he says. “But it was a great experience. I also auditioned for a lot of commercials.”
“I always got tons of requests to draw my dog and found a perfect opportunity – to celebrate one year on YouTube.”
How to draw and paint – 95 pro tips and tutorials
Branching out on YouTube
“I grew up watching The PowerPuff Girls and wanted to do my take on it. I was bringing my love of graphics in the piece.”
A friend suggested he start a YouTube channel combining the two things: art and making people laugh. “I hesitated, thinking it wasn’t really my thing. Prior to the channel, I felt like I had no purpose. I was waking up and feeling really unmotivated to do anything. Uninspired, unwilling, defeated.
“Acting helped me to commit. Because, in acting, you have to commit 110 per cent or else no one will believe you, not even you. You can’t be in your head. Going on those auditions and to classes helped me to commit to the moment and just do it, no thinking. It’s a practice I’ve also taken into my art. If you have an idea, don’t be afraid to voice it.”
“This piece is quite special to me. People often mention that this was one of the first episodes/pieces they saw when they discovered me.”
When Tran reinvented himself as Ross Draws, it shook up his personal life and kickstarted his career. But the success of the YouTube channel brought new problems. “My schedule is different every week, every day,” he says. “Sometimes I feel I overload myself. I’m definitely what they call a night owl. I go to sleep anywhere from 2 to 5am. As my channel grows, so do my opportunities – conventions, signings, gigs – and it’s been harder to have a set schedule. It’s still currently a learning curve. But most of my week consists of editing my videos and painting.”
Growing up, Tran was into TV shows like Pokemon, Sailor Moon and Power Rangers – you can see those influences in his art and on his channel. He has a few key rules when making videos. Our attention span is getting shorter and shorter, he says, so he keeps footage under the six-minute mark. It’s also important to be yourself, connect with your audience and collaborate with other people. He’s made videos with artists he looks up to, like Dan LuVisi and Anthony Jones, but also collaborations with non-artists, such as Jimmy Wong and Yoshi Sudarso, who plays the Blue Ranger on the new Power Rangers show.
“This was another one that sat in my folder for about two years. I never knew how to finish it, but one day I opened it up and let the story breathe.”
The YouTube channel brought Tran new confidence, which was mirrored in his art. When he started at ArtCenter College of Design, he knew he was a capable painter but felt his work was too heavily influenced by his favourite artists. Then he painted a piece called Journey – a landmark in which he found his own voice and techniques.
Tran works with Premiere and After Effects for his videos, Photoshop and Lightroom for painting. Using all Adobe software helps him easily switch between apps. One website recently labelled him the “Master of Color Dodge.” The blend mode creates extra depth and makes colours really pop off the screen, an almost glowing effect that’s present in much of Tran’s work.
“This has been sitting in my WIP folder for about three years. A lot of my pieces sit there until I can see the piece turn into something unique to me.”
It’s not cheating
Tran hadn’t always used such techniques. “At a young age, I thought that using certain methods as cheating, only to realise now that it doesn’t matter. You can learn from anything, any method, anywhere. Have an open mind and you can absorb information easier and faster.”
After graduating college, Tran left the apartment that features in many of his YouTube videos. He now rents a house with friends, a place just outside Los Angeles. “We call it The Grind House,” he says. The Grind House? “It’s where we’re going to grind on our stuff for a year and decide what to do from there. There’s not much of an art scene in my area, but I love the motivational energy that the house has.”
“This piece was commissioned for the deviantART+Blizzard Campaign ‘21 Days of Overwatch’. It’s probably my best seller at my first convention, Anime Expo.”
“Motivational energy” is a perfect term. It’s in everything Tran says and does. You can still see his influences in his work. There’s a bit of Jaime Jones in there, some Craig Mullins and Claire Wending. But despite his youth, he has found a style, voice and motivational energy of his own – and, perhaps most importantly, a platform on which to share it. That’s the one piece of advice he’s keen to get across: do it your own way, on your own terms.
“My videos are funded by my amazing supporters on Patreon. I’m blessed to have fans who love what I do and who want the exclusive content that comes with each episode. Patreon is definitely a career option for artists.” Tran’s endorsement of Patreon comes with a caveat, however: only launch when you’re ready. “I held off on making my page until I knew I had quality content for the people who supported me.
“There’s always a whimsical element to my work, either in the colours or the composition.”
“If you do what you love, numbers and finance shouldn’t matter,” Tran adds. “I have friends who absolutely love their studio jobs and want to be surrounded by people. I also had friends who quit those jobs, made a Patreon and earned less, but loved what they do.
“I think it’s about finding your own instrument and how to operate at your fullest potential. In today’s industry – and society – we too often compare ourselves to others, which fuels our inner self-critic. We’re all on our own journey at our own pace. We all have different inspirations, a different drive that propels us forward.”
This article was originally published in ImagineFX magazine issue 140.
Related articles:
10 sci-fi and fantasy art painting tips
How to create a vivid fairy queen
Tips for developing exciting book cover character art
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from Brenda Gilliam http://brendagilliam.com/meet-the-artist-drawing-millions-of-youtube-views/
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