#I think I sketched this back in 2020 when I first played the game

[blazingjackdaw]

If I stay perfectly still, perhaps a resplendent butterfly will bless my nose with a landing. 🦋

I’ve been getting back into Stardew lately, so I coloured an old sketch as a warm up :d

#stardew valley #stardew valley elliott #sdv elliott #sdv #elliott #blaze draws #I think I sketched this back in 2020 when I first played the game #poor thing has been gathering dust for so long #I should have done more with the background but carpal tunnel is kicking my ass atm

[datura-tea]

holy shit this year marks 10 years of this blog and moz!! i can't remember the exact date i started posting here - my archive says i have one post from november 2013 but let's disregard that - but i do remember it was around late 2014/early 2015 :)

^ one of the very first moz art pieces i ever drew, for fallout week 2015!!

memories and art through the years under a read more bc it got long

2014 → baby's first rpg!! i started playing fnv on my cousin's jailbroken xbox late 2013 and finished mid 2014 and i loved every minute of it. i remember waking up at 8am and playing almost nonstop until 2am the next day haha!

i didn't play moz on my first playthrough - but i did start creating a character that would eventually become her: a shorthaired ex-boxer who punched her way through obstacles when diplomacy failed. i remember she spent a lot of time with boone. i liked him then, because he saved my ass more times than i can count. but i digress. this is draft 1 moz essentially

2015 → this is the year that i was doing my thesis so i could graduate but i was so depressed and stressed about it that i distracted myself by replaying fnv on pc, where i played through the dlcs for the first time. i fell in love with the dlcs' oversarching story; particularly ulysses, who i became obssessed with, especially since i couldn't find any content of him at the time. in the game, i played as moz; i had most of her personality and choices down, but her backstory was still up in the air.

fun fact: this was an existing sideblog that i remade to be a fallout blog so i could look for ulysses content, and when i couldn't find any, i made some myself, featuring moz as my main courier six. originally, i didn't ship them, but eventually i ended the year as a courier/ulysses otp shipper.

this was the year i started drawing digitally - my uncle let me borrow a drawing tablet and i used an old copy of photoshop i pirated hehe

2016 → i graduated this year!! and promptly fell deeper into my depression. this was the year that it got so bad that i had to be medicated. through it all, this blog and moz and ulysses and my fandom friends were with me. and for that i am truly grateful :) this was the year i figured out how to lock transparent pixels so that i could color my lineart lol

2017 → i started hammering out moz's backstory this year i think. there's a lot of sketches of her and her family in my files. i experimented with shading and backgrounds here but that experimentation was pretty short-lived

2018 → i started using references seriously!!!! i did a lot of oc on oc kissing this year, featuring mostly moz and many friend ocs haha

2019 → didn't draw much this year. actually this year was a blur and i can't remember much from it except from it being the year of my terrible no good bad copywriting jobs... anyway i did manage to continue my courier/ulysses brainrot and make this piece, which i'm still proud of

2020 → pandemic time. i spent a lot of time asleep at home and i think this was also the year i started doing commissions?? shoutout to anyone who has ever commissioned me - thank you so much, i truly appreciate it!!

2021 → i switched from my old-ass pirated photoshop to clip studio paint and never looked back. also i did a bunch of commissions for my grandmother's surgery, which failed, and i distracted myself from the sadness by drawing my ocs over and over and playing disco elysium

2022 → by this year, i've got moz down pat and have started vaguely developing other ocs instead. but she's still always at the back of my mind

2023 → i bought new brushes from true grit texture supply and immediately found new favorites that i started using for everything. i tentatively started incorporating background elements in some pieces!

2024 → while it's still too early to say where this year will lead me art-wise, i will say that i started experimenting in realistic paint studio (which i bought in 2021, the same time as clip studio paint) a few days ago and i'm liking the results so far. we'll see!

all in all, these last 10 years have been quite a ride, but i'm glad i stuck around and i'm glad you guys stuck around too!! much much love 💖💖💖

#shh peri shhh #god. look at that old art... i took the ones that i still kinda liked but the rest... #well i don't hate them. but they're old and of their time and i wish i could redo them lmao #my art #moz

[charlybird]

I started this game in late 2020 and rage gave up on it with little progress made.  This October 2022 I went back and managed to beat N Tropy, Oxide AND Velo in the time trials ^_^ very happy with my progress as this game is really difficult and hurts my hands to play because there’s so many buttons to press. The Oxide sketch with the t-shirt joke is just a silly sketch after I beat Velo, I play as Oxide a lot and the original joke was going to say “lousy decal” but I don’t think the decal itself is bad I just think it’s a lousy reward for what you have to do lol :P Also the first image is a joke because it’s how I feel when I win anything in this game lmao it also is just very Oxide energy. Like cheering and celebrating when I unlocked the ability to race N Tropy on Oxide station - and cheering and celebrating when I beat an easy dev after like 400 ish attempts. This game makes me feel both empowered and pathetic and the same time I’m not continuing the dev times I’m too tired now lmao but still

#crash bandicoot #crash bandicoot nitro fueled #Crash Bandicoot CRT NF #CTR NF #CTR #crash team racing #emperor velo #nitrous oxide #n tropy

[earthwormjimnocontext]

How did you get into Earthworm Jim in the first place?

Oh it is a long and bittersweet story.

Spring of 2019, I was in 6th grade. I was at my mom's house, this was back when my best friend Tom, was dating my mother (that's how we met and became friends), and was watching some sort of WatchMojo countdown on my TV in my room (I think it was for funniest game endings) and Earthworm Jim appeared on #2. It immediately caught my attention. Something in me immediately wanted to know more about it. So I went downstairs and asked Tom (he was a twitch streamer so I figured he knew the most about video games) "What's Earthworm Jim?"

Tom was so excited he jumped up and told me "I'll tell you in the morning!" And so the next morning, he set up his Xbox One and sat me down to play Jim HD. I fell in love with the game immediately, I've only ever really played this kind of game I only affiliated it with Mario and DuckTales (I was a Wii U baby) and it felt more like DuckTales with the 2D animation. It spoke out to be as being unique being weird being funny I could use a gun, I can use myself as a whip! And it was challenging the levels were memorable. When I struggled my way to the end for the first time, I was so mad because I found out that Tom set the difficulty to me to easy so I didn't get the ending, that by the time he got home he heard me cursing and yelling from outside "FUCK YOU, I'M BEATING IT ON ORIGINAL." I played the game all over again.

Then, Tom showed me the cartoon in the summer. I was already into stuff like the Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain because it was on Hulu, so the Earthworm Jim cartoon hooked me. Not only did I love something but I love something with a friend, this was me and Tom's show, whenever mom would be sleeping for work (night shift), the two of us would go out to Popeyes, pick up some chicken (she prefers KFC), some root beer, (there is a local brand that has the absolute best and it was made with honey) and then watch the show together all throughout the summer. I very frequently borrowed his DVD.

Then it became fall and I was a 7th grader. I had the worst English teacher I could have possibly had, she wanted everything on paper if you go over to her to get some revisions on a computer she would demand that you print it you print it and then she points out the revisions so you have to type it out again and then you have to print some more. she tried to force paper on everybody including the parents, it was a nightmare. So while she had an audiobook on I started to doodle. And what was on my ASD laced mind?

This. I wrote it down on tests and papers to let myself know that I was doing a good job. My doodles were not very good at first and I never really considered art because I just hated coloring originally. Then Christmas came, and I got given an Earthworm Jim lunch box, and it was my favorite Christmas present of that year. That Christmas was the last Christmas with Tom and my Mother...

And then came January of 2020. I went to Magfest on an invitation from Tom, I got to play the original version on a Super Nintendo and my mom was just laughing at me failing everything because even though I could beat the HD version easily I never touched the original. One night I accidentally left my journal at the dinner table and Tom found it, it was filled with Jim sketches. He immediately brought it to me and gave me constructive criticism and praise, I felt absolutely proud because I never really got complimented on that kind of thing before on something that wasn't math. One last grace before...

February of 2020. Tom and Mom broke up. Their relationship didn't work out for a number of reasons, and Tom had to leave to go somewhere to find a job. Before he left, he gave me his copy of the Earthworm Jim cartoon, installed Jim 3D on my mom's computer, and I gave him some traces I did of the Jim 3D bosses.

Then the pandemic happened right on my birthday, and right at the perfect age of turning 13, and having the ability to interact with the internet.

I'm sorry for the long ass story that's genuinely what happened.

[realityhelixcreates]

Some days ago you wrote a post saying that you were writing something using elder scrolls lore? I think? What's that about? Are you writing some au? I'm a bit lost on your most recent fanfics (I'm waiting until I have some free time so I can give nexus a try, I'm just a bit intimidated cause I know next to nothing about DC) but I love reading about your ideas and characters, they all sound so genuinely interesting and we'll writen.

Ohhhh yes, okay so!

Wayyyyyyyy back in the day, there were a bunch of Riddler ask/art/rp blogs, that all portrayed their respective Riddler in very different ways. Some were based on official material (YJ is from the 2011 Young Justice animated series, Arkham from the Arkham City video game, Detective was originally based off the 1992 Batman: the Animated Series, but became highly altered as their storyline continued) some, like Narci, Puzzles, and Nash, were original takes on the character. Swag stared out as a parody that became a solid character as time passed. All of these interacted with each other, and developed into a found family.

Helix (My OC) came along a little later, and began interacting with them. None of us really expected how inextricably involved she was going to become, since she's much more of a high fantasy character, than a DC character, but it all happened pretty organically, and was a lot of fun.

Back then, I started a bunch of creative projects I wanted to share with the writers of these blogs, but I had just ended my relationship with my ex-fiancee, moved back in with my parents, and was working in a pretty toxic environment, and it just slaughtered my creative output. If I were to point you to my old blog, which I shan't, you would see that I drew maybe five or six things in as many years, when previously, I had drawn almost every day.

All of those blogs eventually went silent, the last interaction being between Helix and Narci. Since then, some of them have even been deleted entirely. I forgot about the things I was going to do, and they lay ignored for years. Then I stumbled across my old harddrive, where all these ideas still existed, barely sketched out, partially begun, and it all flooded back. Yeah, those blogs are done, some of the writers have disappeared, it's all over. But those stories are still there, and so am I.

I am in a much better place than I was. I have some writing practice under my belt, and, most importantly, I have inspiration again. I can make the art I always wanted to. I can write the stories I always wanted to. I can finish what I wanted to start.

That all being said, One of the things I started a long time ago, was an elder scrolls crossover. I had also started playing Skyrim at around that time, and it was an idle idea that I thought would be fun. When I found that harddrive, the first chapter had been partially written out, and I ended up taking the ideas there, and going in a different direction with them. I now have an over thirty chapter, ongoing story involving Helix and Swag stumbling their way through Cyrodiil, told entirely through Swag's POV. I've been posting it on my main/RP blog rather than here, because I felt that Helix and Swag's relationship hadn't been well enough expressed in the Nexusverse yet. Almost all of the Nexus stories so far take place in 2011-2013, and this crossover story takes place in 2020, so there's a lot in between that I haven't gone into yet, you know?

But considering that I've been posting some of the later Nexus stories out of chronological order, I might just start posting it anyway. I think it's kinda obvious by now how some of Helix's relationships pan out, so it might be okay. What do you think?

Also, you are very sweet, and I'm glad I've been able to express some of my ideas in a way that others can enjoy them with me. I will warn you, the stories that are from Helix's POV can be a bit challenging to follow; she doesn't experience reality in the same way as most people, which I've expressed with synesthesia and the repetition of consonants, syllables, and vowel sounds in a freeform poem/prose manner. If you do start the Nexus stories at their beginning, you'll see why.

Don't be too intimidated though; most Nexus stories are only 1-2000 words, with the exception of Orbital Unresonanace, which is, admittedly, a chonker. But you've been reading Lasa, so I know you can handle unreasonably large stories.

[gb-patch]

How long did it take to develop OL1?

"I was wondering, how long did you work on OL1, from initial ideas to a finished game (minus the DLCs)? And how did you decide on the concept of following a group of characters through different life stages? I can't think of many games that do that, the timeline in games is normally either nonexistent or a continuous line from point a to point b without significant breaks within."

[We got two asks about a similar topic. I hope you don't mind me putting them together.]

The earliest I can track is the summer of 2017 because I still have some docs from then and that's when the first design sketches were made. But it had to have been earlier in 2017 or even 2016 when I first started thinking about it.

The script was started in 2018, though it was more of a back burner project. 2019-2020 was when it was the number one thing I was working on and the original version released November 16th, 2020. We've been working on the DLC expansions for almost two years at this point, aha.

And I decided to make a story about growing up from one stage of life to another because it was the kind of game I wanted to play ^^

FAQ    

Ask Archive    

Update Only Side Blog

#our life #our life beginning and always #ask #gb patch games #gb patch

[daily-rayless]

5 Years of Aloy

Continuing my character appreciation series, it's time we turned to Aloy.

August 2018. Pretty sure these were my first sketches of her.

I started Horizon Zero Dawn in May 2018 – I can always remember, because it was very appropriately Mother's Day. I think it was the first open world game I'd ever played, and I just found the whole universe to be so engrossing – a mix of postapocalyptic sci fi, the Iron Age, and cavemen vs dinosaurs.

September 2018 (trying to draw a Watcher)

But of course Aloy herself was a big part of the appeal. Can I relate to her? No, I'm not a genius prodigy with no friends. But I can admire Aloy – her smarts, her bravery, her utter fed-up-edness. She's always fun to follow alongside as a protagonist.

January 2019

Playing HZD fell around the same time I decided I wanted to get back to posting online regularly again. This 1/19 picture was one of the first things I posted. I was so surprised and pleased when Guerilla Games reblogged/favorited it on Tumblr and DeviantArt.

June 2019 (Aloy and her early concept horse)

So I associate Aloy and HZD with a pretty positive time in my life.

October 2019 (Aloy on an original unicorn machine, because why shouldn't we have unicorns in the postapocalypse?)

And one thing I especially liked about Forbidden West is that it highlighted Aloy's faults. There were times in Zero Dawn where things came so easily to Aloy and it felt like she was always unilaterally in the right, the one sane person in the universe. Forbidden West showed that she was far from perfect, and I welcomed that.

November 2019

Aloy is generous, self-sacrificial but still aware of her own worth; powerful, driven, and always planning ahead. But she's emotionally short-sighted, inflexible at times, and I think she could actually be cruel under the right circumstances. As with Elisabet, her altruism is a love that “bruises”.

December 2019

She's intriguing and inspiring, so it comes as no surprise that I ended up drawing her a fair bit, especially given the fandom still felt so new and vibrant.

January 2020 (trying to draw a Stalker is harder than trying to draw a Watcher)

Also her hair is glorious.

January 2020

Drawing Aloy presents a number of consistent challenges for me. First of all, she's based on a real person. That makes it a lot harder for me to fall back on stylistic shortcuts. Even if I'm not a realistic artist, I still want to catch something of the “soul” of the actor and leave her recognizable.

March 2020

For another, all of Aloy's costumes are intricate. Sometimes I use references, but more often I'll put her in an outfit of my own design, throwing in elements from the different in-game tribes – as I think people would really do, if these cultures really existed. And certainly something that I think “Aloy Despite the Nora” would do.

February 2021

The designers at GG once congratulated themselves that one of Aloy's virtues is that she doesn't care about stereotypically “feminine” things like make up and clothes and jewelry. Along with that just being a bad take on a number of fronts, I've never believed it. The evidence doesn't bear it out.

June 2021 (I think this was right around the Forbidden West trailers started showing up)

The games themselves show Aloy wearing excessive jewelry and make up, tons of different outfits, being totally maximalist with her beads and layers and dinosaurish headdresses and now body paint on top of everything else (or under everything else). Is her appearance the most important thing in her life? No. Because she's currently saving the world. But it's clear she cares about her appearance and there's nothing wrong with that.

December 2021

Moving forward into Burning Shores (which I haven't played yet) and Horizon 3 (which I'm eagerly awaiting news on), I don't know what my specific hopes for Aloy are.

February 2022 (and then Forbidden West finally came out)

I want to see her remained flawed, but then I also want to see her grow. I'd to see her grow happier, whatever form that takes.

April 2022

Maybe a stress-free vacation sometime? I'd say the beach, but bad things happen when she goes to the beach.

May 2023

Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

#aloy #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #character appreciation #art progress #meta #horizon zero dawn spoilers #long post

[ehilikeshoney]

Actually, it all started in the summer of 2019…

when I decided to replay some PS2 games (since I was super bored during the summer break). I suddenly remembered that I own GTA Vice City Stories and San Andreas, so I decided to give them a try too (since I played them, but never managed to complete them [since I was in, what, primary or middle school at that time, I don’t remember exactly]). I started with VCS (since that’s the first one I got) and completed it in 2 days, but when it came to SA, it took me approximately 1 month and a half. I used to play day and night, non-stop, so you can tell how fascinated I was :)

Then, I managed to get my hands on the other GTAs too, and played them (obviously lol) and I slowly grew into a fan. And then, it happened… “What if the protagonists were girls? What if they all met and lived together? How chaotic would that actually be???”

So, I created an AU of my own, and this is how my fem versions were created:

This is an oversimplified sketch of them I did sometime in 2020, when I was thinking how they would look like and how they’d behave (also, yeah, I chose a wrong name for Luiz back then).

Then, once I had the sketch, I decided to draw each of them more detailed (but stopped at CJ because I got bored and gave up).

And this is basically my story… yeah :)

#gta #genderswap #genderbend #drawing

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress #32-33✨

buckle up cause I actually did a lot the past two weeks lmao

Weekly Progress #32

Came up with mushroom jam rpg idea

Initial ID rest of SYVNH work

Thumbnail 10 SYVNH BGs

Designed new SYVNH sprites

Updated P-M expressions

Spooktober discussions

New list of P-M work to do

Thumbnailed 15 SYVNH CGs

Made VF jam outline

Finished VF jam script

Found music and sound effects for VF Jam

Attended Spooktober meet and greet

Thumbnailed VF art

Sketched VF sprites design

Fin 1 VF sprite

omg where do I start...

I'm not planning to join Mushroom Jam wait, it's like 3 months long?? I just might... but I had a mini-idea where I can test out Wolf RPG Engine so I might as well write down the idea and potentially make it--... I'm joining this jam in a couple months, aren't I? (derp) So far, I just have the concept idea in. I'll have to learn how to make what I want to do first. It'll just be a simple puzzle game.

All the remaining SYVNH pre-work has been done! Now to do the actual work...

I sped drew 10 BGs and 15CG thumbnails during lunch at work. Don't ask what happened with the Deli there. I had an image in mind, but the space started looking empty and then the angle got twisted to the top. I'll fix it when I start drawing digitally.

And some new sprite designs! :) ...That is all I'll say for now. Save the surprise for the full game. Or when I run out of advertising ideas at the end of the year.

P-M is short for a short game I've been working on and off (mostly off) since 2020. The full name will be Pre-Make. All the major work has been finished, but it got pushed to the side for a long time. The gameplay for P-M is actually the original test run for the gameplay I planned for SYVNH.

(The last update was 2021... I think that predates this blog...?!)

Hmm... My coloring style was pretty different back then...

And then, towards the end of the week, I found Velox Fabula jam. After a few hours of lamenting with other members of the devclub... I came up with a short idea for the game. I'll probably be writing a post mortem next week to better explain the thought process behind the game, but here are some concept art for the game :)

Weekly Progress #33

Finished VF sprites, BGs, CGs

Coded VF game

Finished VF gamepage

Found mushrooms I want to draw for mushroom jam

I squished it all together, but there were two sprites, 3 BGs, and 3 CGs finished from scratch this week.

You can play my entry, one last time. in browser here!

#vnlink #visual novel #indie dev #vndev #syvnh #p-m #olt #mushroom jam project #someday I'll fix all the tags #but not today #thanks for reading!

[squidhominid]

Splatoon 3 thread, 2/21/2022

(NOTE: This thread was posted on February 21st, 2022, prior to Splatoon 3's launch. It is a COMPLETELY inaccurate attempt at plot speculation, and is reproduced here for HISTORICAL reasons only)

It's been a while since I've had a nice, long thread about something. That's weird.

So, let's talk about why the Salmon Run: Next Wave trailer is WEIRD if you've been following Splatoon lore stuff.

So, for a while now Nintendo has been hinting that Grizzco isn't to be trusted. Literally the first time you play Salmon Run in Splatoon 2, the game outright tells you that working for them 'seems pretty sketch'.

And, on inspection, OF COURSE it is - they deliberately try to convey Salmonids as wild animals to make Inklings more comfortable with harvesting their eggs, when we KNOW this isn't the case.

We ALSO know Octarians and Salmonids have a trade relationship (why power eggs are in Hero Mode) but refuse to trade the resource we're harvesting, Golden Eggs. But why?

Power eggs aren't fertilized. Golden eggs are. To quote rassicas, "refin[ing] fetuses into gasoline"

Because of this, people had speculated for a while that Grizzco would be the villain of Splatoon 3, see my Gnoggin video from early 2019. And, the early promotional material seemed to go along with this idea - "Save Our Salmons" from the New Years 2020 art, for instance.

People also suspected Grizzco had some connection to humanity, because of the "Active Bear Area" signs in Ruins of Ark Polaris, in English. And, wouldn't you know it, Splatoon 3's story mode is RETURN OF THE MAMMALIANS. People reasonably thought this could mean humans...

This angle seemed all but confirmed with the Return of the Mammalians trailer, which showed a rocket fueled by a mix of power eggs and golden eggs (remember the Salmonids won't trade golden eggs), and ended with a clip of the Grizzco laugh.

But, then Nintendo threw us a curveball - Salmon Run: Next Wave.

Why would we STILL be working for Grizzco on the side, if Grizzco was the villain of the story mode? And not only that, but both Grizzco and the Salmonids seem to be escalating in force…

(NOTE: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS BASED ON A MISTRANSLATION. This is NOT talking about Big Run, and is ENTIRELY INACCURATE.)

Based on posts Nintendo has made since releasing this trailer, Salmonids seem to be pushing into Inkling territory as a direct response to the golden egg harvesting in Splatoon 2. And as Grizzco gets more money, they seem to be expanding their efforts as well...

As rassicas put it, it's turtles all the way down. The conflict between Salmonids and Inklings has existed for so long, it's unclear who started it, or why. But Grizzco seems to be pushing the line ever further… It would be odd for us to KNOWINGLY participate in this.

If Grizzco were the villain of Splatoon 3, it would be at odds with New Agent 3's character for us to participate in Salmon Run. So, Grizzco is clearly still a villainous force, but we won't see that come to fruition just yet.

But then, what does that mean?

I think we can safely assume that Octavio isn't the villain again. The Return of the Mammalians art has Octavio among the 'good guys', suggesting he's working WITH the player to save his people from...whatever happened to the furry Octotroopers.

There's also the question of what working with Grizzco implies about the relationship between New Agent 3 and their smallfry 'Little Buddy'. That's something that I can't speculate on, unfortunately; I just thought it deserved acknowledgment in the thread.

Back on topic, this is about to get speculative, but… When the Fish Stick appears in the new trailer, a song plays reminiscent of the music from the Tower Control stations / the blender scene, in Octo Expansion. Credit to ardnin and rassicas for this discovery.

Also, power eggs appear in OE. These two points link Kamabo Co. to Salmonids, but leave that relationship ambiguous. Plus, while TARTAR is gone, Kamabo Co. is only "in disarray". And we saw jellyfish harvesting tech from the NILS Statue during the Final Fest...

Also, in the Return of the Mammalians trailer, we see a dried squid, which was later referenced by Splatoon's Japanese Twitter as being related to the 'Squid Research Lab', until now a metanarrative entity that represents the developers…but also represents… Humans.

Not only that, but we already know Kamabo Co. has access to genetic manipulation technology, see the blender and sanitization. So, they're a likely candidate for the creators of the fuzzy ooze and the furry Octotroopers we see in the RotM trailer.

But if Kamabo Co. are indeed implicated in the RotM plot... What is their relationship to Salmonids? How did they get their hands on golden eggs? Wouldn't this frustrate diplomatic relations with the Salmonids? What are their goals? Why do they want to launch a rocket?

Now, this is all speculation on my part. We have no idea whether Kamabo Co. has any relation to RotM at all. In some ways, this theory may even be a reach. We can't even be sure humans are involved!

But, with the Grizzco angle out the window, anything is possible.

And, that's my ultimate point. We thought we had a clear understanding of where Splatoon 3 was going narratively, and 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢.

This game could be 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.

I hope you're just as excited as I am. Because, not knowing what's going to happen, and being back to square one on speculation, is FAR more interesting than what we've had until now, a false sense of security thinking we understood the game Nintendo was playing.

We thought we had Nintendo in check. But, it turns out 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴.

(credit /u/scurlocc's "Top comment picks the next move, legal or not" series on /r/AnarchyChess for this glorious photo)

#Splatoon 3 #splatoon #splatoon spoilers #splatoon salmon run #rambling #long post #Twitter thread archive

[3rddimension]

I am just here to say that I am loving Smosh lately. I subscribed in 2019, which was right before the weird 2020 era. But since Arasha, Angela and Chanse joined its been really good. I LOVE Kimmy but I don’t find her funny personally, and I love her work behind the camera. I thought Arasha didn’t fit at first but I love her now. Angela and Amanda have become some of my favourites. I am not a fan of the old Smosh games, I think the Spencer era of Smosh games is the best. Love when Keith, Noah or Olivia show up on videos. This is a mess but I just want to say that I am very happy with how the channels are looking currently. I was never a fan of the sketches or the “gamer” Smosh games so I am glad we’re just seeing the same cast with different levels of scripted comedy or improv. I think they’re killing it! My favorites are Shayne, Courtney, Angela and Amanda. But I genuinely love everyone right now

I forgot to add!! I HATED games when it was edited twitch streams. It didn’t flow as well and they pay way too much attention to chat. I have a live hate relationship with streaming. Some people are able to play and chat very well and others not so much. The quality of the videos is a lot better currently in my opinion

I also think the current Smosh is probably the best of them all too. (Even set aside the Shourtney stuff) I'm always a fan of semi-improv or full improv skits with something like SNL and others and I think bringing in Patrick, Jeremy & Janie is the best decision Smosh ever done so far even though most of them are part-timer now. It changed the core of the company to be what Ian always wanted which is the platform for people and comedian to shine and showcase their talent.

There's some up-and-down with the hiring process which confused the fan for quite awhile but I think it does make the cast gel even faster than just come in and introduce and then gone in a month or something. Also of course all the new cast are amazing and Angela is definitely my current favorite now.

Also really liking the direction of Smosh Games taking so far as well. I think old Smosh Games was fun but it doesn't really match with the identity that Ian try to move onto that I previously said so it's probably for the best that they move on to their own way. All the OGSoG stuff is looking awesome and I recommend to check those guy out if you missed them!

Also since i'm a Funhaus fan. It's very fascinated for me that Spencer already know people from Funhaus back in Defy day. (On "All Good No Worries" episode that Smosh Games was featured) It caught me off guard when Elyse (Funhaus) said on the episode that she always see Spencer riding the bike to go to work on Defy Media building. The world is smaller than I thought. lmao

[haaztre-the-goat-supplier]

A big gap in time.

Near the end of 2020, I had come up with simple sketches and plans to make a whole goat family, names and all. My motivation and ideas felt like they were running dry. I was already not drawing as much as I used to and spent less time thinking about art. Once the new year had come around, 2021, and the end of February was near, I made my last proper sketch for the next few months.

Afterwards, I mostly focused on classes or played games. I stopped doodling and drawing, nearly all my motivation had dropped. Later in March and April a couple more sketches were made, then, nothing for nearly half a year.

During that time, I spent any of the creative energy I had on Minecraft or model kits. I seemed to have lost all my creative energy and spent my time doing practically nothing. I graduated high school and spent my summer doing nothing and playing video games. Later in August I went to college and had a pretty rough time mentally and creatively, but at first it was alright. When I got back into classes I had gained some motivation to draw again and made quite a few sketches and pieces in August, but I wouldn’t make as many sketches as I had used to.

During the rest of my fall semester, I found a new hobby, miniature painting, but I quickly lost interest after a month or two.

Between December of 2021 and May of 2022, even less sketches were made. I would just post older art that I hadn’t posted before instead. The summer passes with absolutely nothing to show. During the summer, I made plans to move out of my parent’s house and move in with some friends. Again, nothing was made art wise, but some fun summer memories were made at least. Don’t go to Ohio, it’s boring.

#art block #art #goat oc #sketch #baphomet #Babs #d&d kenku #kenku oc #dungeons and dragons #mini painting

[sesskagevents]

SessKag Fandom Appreciation Week - Day 6

Artist interviews - Elevenharbor

@elevenharbor​  was nominated by @animehusbandno1​

What was your first introduction to SessKag?

Tales from the House of the Moon by Resmiranda.

How long have you been a part of the fandom?

been a lurker since the early days of HotM (~'04). Only recently became active in the community (Discord, Tumblr & other sites) since May 2020, around the time the sequel-from-hell was announced. I was so mad, confused and had all kinds of mixed feelings about the whole thing, and one internet search led to the other. The rest is history.

What is your writing/art process like?

Unconventional. I get inspired primarily by listening to music, which turn into plunnies, which then turn into wanting to write a story. I then outline in my head and also create a kind of mental music playlist for each scene/part, and if the compulsion is strong enough, I jot it all down on Scrivener/Google Docs. I also have a growing art/writing playlist that I just blast and play on loop while I'm immersed in my work.   I know I am not well-versed with words and storytelling in general so oftentimes I try to illustrate instead. I daydream of creating webtoon/comic strips from said plunny that I want to showcase, but I get frustrated with the lengthy process (and my limited skills in my arsenal) so I just pick a scene and draw that. Then the rest is just going through the motions (rough sketch, make separate folders for each character, line art, base color, shading, endless layering, and final effects). Lately I've been adding the original song that inspired me to the final art piece, so I utilize instagram/Tiktok for these and post there first. Each art piece actually has a backstory to it. Sometimes I'll write a snippet if I have the energy to wrestle with words, but most times, I let the art & song speak for itself.

If you could let your fans know one thing, what would it be?

I am very shy, hypercritical of my stuff and I think it's never good enough (Impostor Syndrome is strong, but I am a work in progress), but know that I really do appreciate each like, each comment, each reblog, and each interaction I have with others in the fandom. Cherry on top is when others feel moved/inspired enough to create something of their own based on what I've made. It really makes my day.

Do you have anything you're working on right now that the fandom can look forward to?

I have many WIPs. Even more plunnies. More recently I have a Squid Game-inspired piece and a SessKag cyberpunk piece that I started, but I'm focusing on my mental health and dealing with IRL stuff at the moment.

Since when do you ship Sesskag?

Since 2004, roughly.

What got you into that ship?

Like many others, Tales from the House of the Moon by Resmiranda was my gateway drug and I never looked back. Despite the critiques, I think it's one of the most iconic and well-written SessKag stories out there and I still love it to this day. It's also one of the fanfics that leave me emotionally spent by the end. I love angst, and I love stories that really make me think and read between the lines.

Where do you get inspiration from?

songs, primarily. I'm almost always listening to music. Tiktok has been my recent source of music/art inspo lately too!

What’s your favorite fanfic?

I have too many, but here are some of them right off the bat: HotM by Resmiranda, Beside You in Time & Once and Future Taiyoukai by RosieB, Flowers on the Moon by troubleinshangrila, When Comes the Rain by Drosselmeyer, Binded by Lucy Morningstar, Running Up That Hill by TheHatterTheory...and this is barely scratching the surface. Thank you for the nomination! <3

#SessKag #sesskag fandom appreciation week 2021 #skfa2021 #skfa artist interview #skfa2021d6

[finalfantasyix]

Meet The Team Working On A Final Fantasy 9 Remake You’ll Never Get To Play

Final Fantasy 9: Memoria Project is a fan homage like nothing we've ever seen before. “It is no secret that fan projects get shut down all the time,” Dan Eder tells us about Final Fantasy 9: Memoria Project, a fan-driven love letter to the classic JRPG. It isn’t aiming to be a playable remake of the epic adventure though - instead, it’s an aesthetic homage to its timeless world and characters.

It’s somewhat anomalous in the world of community creations, but Eder wants to use this distinct identity to craft something truly special, even if many obstacles stand in the way of making it a reality. But the team keeps moving forward: “Without a doubt, some of the most frequent comments we get from naysayers is ‘have fun with it while it lasts’ or ‘cease and desist incoming’”, Eder explains. “People are understandably skeptical of the longevity potential of yet another passion project. The key difference is that, unlike those projects, Memoria is essentially an elaborate piece of fan art, nothing more - it will have no actual gameplay, will never be released to the public, and is nothing more than a ‘what-if’ scenario. [It’s] no different from any other fan-made piece of artwork. We have never, and will never, make a single dollar out of this project, and are basically doing this for the personal gratification of the fans.”

The genesis of Memoria Project dates all the way back to Eder’s younger years, with dreams of a potential FF9 remake entering his imagination soon after the original game’s launch. That’s no great surprise - millions still regard Final Fantasy 9 as the series’ finest hour. “While it's true that the project really started to pick up steam a few months ago, it wouldn't be a stretch to say I've been planning it since high school,” Eder explains. “I remember scribbling ‘FF9 remake’ on my notepad during classes and writing imaginary new features and battle system mechanics, starting online petitions to remake FF9 for the PS2, sketching drawings depicting scenes from the ‘FF9 sequel’ and whatnot. I could confidently say that my life would probably have been completely different had my older brother not borrowed this game from his friend in the summer of 2000.

“As a non-native English speaker who had never played an RPG up until that point, my first playthrough was a challenging experience to say the least, and I can honestly say that I understood literally nothing of what was going on the first time I finished the game (how I even managed to beat it is a mystery in and of itself). It didn't really matter to me though, since I was absolutely enamored with the incredible cast of characters, jaw-dropping FMV sequences, mesmerizing music, thrilling gameplay, and just the overall atmosphere and charm it exuded at every step. My unconditional love for this game persisted throughout my entire childhood and adult life, and it is one of the central reasons why I chose to become a 3D character artist in the video game industry. In short, this project is my way of thanking this game for everything it has done for me over the past 21 years.”

Eder’s passion for this game can be found across several industry professionals who grew up with games like this and wanted to replicate them, or create something entirely unique to live up to their brilliance. This is very much how Memoria Project found its feet, beginning life as a trivial side activity before blossoming into something infinitely more ambitious. It still has a long way to go, but there’s little urgency to reach the finish line, so the team can take their time and just enjoy the nostalgic indulgence of it all.

“Memoria actually started unofficially as a side project when I reached out to Colin Valek [of] Sucker Punch Studios in early 2020 after I came across his fanart of an environment from FF7,” Eder says. “I had already modeled Princess Garnet, and thought it could be a fun idea to combine our talents to reimagine the opening area of Alexandria. Initially, it was progressing at a snail's pace - we were slowly chipping away at it for over a year without making a lot of progress. While Colin continued modeling the buildings, I created another character - Vivi.”

This glacial pace received a resurgence of sorts in January when the Alexandria scene was finally complete, with Eder and company finally being able to see how much potential the project had if it was opened up to a larger range of creators. “When I posted that WIP screenshot, the response from fellow FF fans was overwhelmingly positive, more than we could have imagined,” Eder remembers. “Very quickly, other people from the gaming industry started reaching out - environment artists, animators, riggers, concept artists. That's when I decided to turn this side project into a full-fledged modern reimagining of the original game, while always making sure to emphasize the fact that this is a non-playable proof-of-concept, since we never have any intention of doing anything to violate Square Enix's copyright. Four months after officially announcing the project, we've grown from a couple of FF fanboys to a huge team of over 20 industry veterans working collaboratively to honor this masterpiece, fueled by our love and adoration for the source material.”

Now, the project has over 20 developers from Sucker Punch, Ubisoft, Rare, Unbroken Studios, and more all diving into this labour of love in their spare time, with composers and voice actors also contributing their talents to help make this glimpse into the world of Final Fantasy 9 worth celebrating. But Eder is aware of being overly enthusiastic, knowing that fan projects like this often doom themselves by undertaking something that isn’t feasible with so few resources.

“One of the most common traps for these kinds of fan projects is being overly ambitious,” Eder says. “Since all of us are actively working in the video game industry, we understand the importance of milestones, short term goals, and taking things one step at a time. For now, we are focusing our efforts on the opening sequence of the game, which mainly revolves around Vivi and his exploration of Alexandria. Where we go from here is still being discussed, but one thing I can say for sure is that Vivi will not be the only main character we're planning to include.” I’m told that Memoria is aiming to look indistinguishable - at least from a graphics perspective - from something you’d see in a triple-A blockbuster, and it seems the team has the pedigree to back that claim up.

Visuals are the entire point after all, since turning this project into a playable piece of media would require far more resources to create. By narrowing its focus, Memoria is able to deliver something special while also hopefully avoiding the ire of Square Enix. “The fact that this is a non-playable project definitely makes it easier for us to tailor the experience in a way that would truly allow the audience to be fully immersed in the world without having to worry about technical limitations,” Eder tells me. “Creating actual functional gameplay is a completely different ball game, one that we never had any intention of even discussing given the copyright limitations. This gives us a lot of leeway with how we are going to portray the world of Gaia in terms of character interaction, camera movement, [and] scene transitions. We have a lot of cool plans for the near future - please look forward to it!”

As for the sad truth of fan projects like this often being wiped from existence by publishers throwing out cease and desist letters, Eder is confident that Memoria occupies a niche where this won’t happen. It’s not a commercial or even playable product - it’s a piece of fan art, albeit an endlessly elaborate one. If the tides were to change, Eder believes companies should welcome the enthusiasm for experiences like this.

“If I were to be completely honest, I think it could be a potentially brilliant decision by Square Enix to do something wildly unexpected and invest in a project like this,” Eder states. “There's a considerable amount of hype, talent, motivation, and pure, unadulterated passion behind it. It's not something I would expect, but I think it could be incredibly helpful in regaining some of the trust and reverence that this legendary company was known for during its golden years.”

(source)

#final fantasy ix #memoria project #final fantasy 9 #ffix: memoria project #article #news #interview #long post #very long post!

[path-of-my-childhood]

The Story Behind Every Song on folklore - According to Aaron Dessner

By: Brady Gerber for Vulture Date: July 27th 2020

The National multi-instrumentalist spoke to Vulture over the phone from upstate New York a few hours after the surprise release of Swift’s eighth studio album. (“A pretty wild ride,” he admits, sounding tired yet happy.) He was clear that he can’t speak on behalf of Swift’s lyrics, much like he can’t for The National frontman Matt Berninger’s either, or the thinking behind Jack Antonoff’s songs. (Here’s a cheat sheet: Jack’s songs soar, Aaron’s glide.) But Dessner was game to speak to his specific contributions, influences, and own interpretations of each song on folklore, a record you can sum up by two words that came up often during our conversation: nostalgic and wry.

“the 1″

“the 1” and “hoax,” the first song and the last song, were the last songs we did. The album was sort of finished before that. We thought it was complete, but Taylor then went back into the folder of ideas that I had shared. I think in a way, she didn’t realize she was writing for this album or a future something. She wrote “the 1,” and then she wrote “hoax” a couple of hours later and sent them in the middle of the night. When I woke up in the morning, I wrote her before she woke up in LA and said, “These have to be on the record.” She woke up and said, “I agree” [laughs] These are the bookends, you know?

It’s clear that “the 1” is not written from her perspective. It’s written from another friend’s perspective. There’s an emotional wryness and rawness, while also to this kind of wink in her eyes. There’s a little bit of her sense of humor in there, in addition to this kind of sadness that exists both underneath and on the surface. I enjoy that about her writing.

The song began from the voice memo she sent me, and then I worked on the music some and we tracked her vocals, and then my brother added orchestration. There are a few other little bits, but basically that was one of the very last things we did.

“cardigan“

That’s the first song we wrote [in early May]. After Taylor asked if I would be interested in writing with her remotely and working on songs, I said, “Are you interested in a certain kind of sound?” She said, “I’m just interested in what you do and what you’re up to. Just send anything, literally anything, it could be the weirdest thing you’ve ever done,” so I sent a folder of stuff I had done that I was really excited about recently. “cardigan” was one of those sketches; it was originally called “Maple.” It was basically exactly what it is on the record, except we added orchestration later that my brother wrote.

I sent [the file] at 9 p.m., and around 2 a.m. or something, there was “cardigan,” fully written. That’s when I realized something crazy was happening. She just dialed directly into the heart of the music and wrote an incredible song and fully conceived of it and then kept going. It harkens back to lessons learned, or experiences in your youth, in a really beautiful way and this sense of longing and sadness, but ultimately, it’s cathartic. I thought it was a perfect match for the music, and how her voice feels. It was kind of a guide. It had these lower register parts, and I think we both realized that this was a bit of a lightning rod for a lot of the rest of the record.

The National’s Influence On Swift

She said that she’s a fan of the emotion that’s conveyed in our music. She doesn’t often get to work with music that is so raw and emotional, or melodic and emotional, at the same time. When I sent her the folder, that was one of the main feelings. She said, “What the fuck? How do you just have that?” [laughs] I was humbled and honored because she just said, “It’s a gift, and I want to write to all of this.” She didn’t write to all of it, but a lot of it, and relatively quickly.

She is a fan of the band, and she’s a fan of Big Red Machine. She’s well aware of the sentiment of it and what I do, but she didn’t ask for a certain kind of thing. I know that the film [I Am Easy To Find] has really affected her, and she’s very much in love with that film and the record. Maybe it’s subconsciously been an influence.

“the last great american dynasty”

I wrote that after we’d been working for a while. It was an attempt to write something attractive, more uptempo and kind of pushing. I also was interested in this almost In Rainbows-style latticework of electric guitars. They come in and sort of pull you along, kind of reminiscent of Big Red Machine. It was very much in this sound world that I’ve been playing around with, and she immediately clicked with that. Initially I was imagining these dreamlike distant electric guitars and electronics but with an element of folk. There’s a lot going on in that sense. I sent it before I went on a run, and when I got back from the run, that song was there [laughs].

She told me the story behind it, which sort of recounts the narrative of Rebekah Harkness, whom people actually called Betty. She was married to the heir of Standard Oil fortune, married into the Harkness family, and they bought this house in Rhode Island up on a cliff. It’s kind of the story of this woman and the outrageous parties she threw. She was infamous for not fitting in, entirely, in society; that story, at the end, becomes personal. Eventually, Taylor bought that house. I think that is symptomatic of folklore, this type of narrative song. We didn’t do very much to that either.

“exile” (ft. Bon Iver)

Taylor and William Bowery, the singer-songwriter, wrote that song initially together and sent it to me as a sort of a rough demo where Taylor was singing both the male and female parts. It’s supposed to be a dialogue between two lovers. I interpreted that and built the song, played the piano, and built around that template. We recorded Taylor’s vocals with her singing her parts but also the male parts.

We talked a lot about who she thought would be perfect to sing, and we kept coming back to Justin [Vernon]. Obviously, he’s a dear friend of mine and collaborator. I said, “Well, if he’s inspired by the song, he’ll do it, and if not, he won’t.” I sent it to him and said, “No pressure at all, literally no pressure, but how do you feel about this?” He said, “Wow.” He wrote some parts into it also, and we went back and forth a little bit, but it felt like an incredibly natural and safe collaboration between friends. It didn’t feel like getting a guest star or whatever. It was just like, well, we’re working on something, and obviously he’s crazy talented, but it just felt right. I think they both put so much raw emotion into it. It’s like a surface bubbling. It’s believable, you know? You believe that they’re having this intense dialogue.

With other people I had to be secretive, but with Justin, because he was going to sing, I actually did send him a version of the song with her vocals and told him what I was up to. He was like, “Whoa! Awesome!” But he’s been involved in so many big collaborative things that he wasn’t interested in it from that point of view. It’s more because he loved the song and he thought he could do something with it that would add something.

“my tears ricochet”

This is one of my absolute favorite songs on the record. I think it’s a brilliant composition, and Taylor’s words, the way her voice sounds and how this song feels, are, to me, one of the critical pieces. It’s lodged in my brain. That’s also very important to Taylor and Jack. It’s like a beacon for this record.

“mirrorball”

“mirrorball” is, to me, a hazy sort of beautiful. It almost reminds me of ‘90s-era Cardigans, or something like Mazzy Star. It has this kind of glow and haze. It feels really good before “seven,” which becomes very wistful and nostalgic. There are just such iconic images in the lyrics [“Spinning in my highest heels”], which aren’t coming to me at the moment because my brain is not working [laughs].

How Jack Antonoff’s Folklore Songs Differ From Dessner’s

I think we have different styles, and we weren’t making them together or in the same room. We both could probably come closer together in a sense that weirdly works. It’s like an archipelago, and each song is an island, but it’s all related. Taylor obviously binds it all together. And I think Jack, if he was working with orchestrations, there’s an emotional quality to his songs that’s clearly in the same world as mine.

We actually didn’t have a moodboard for the album at all. I don’t think that way. I don’t really know if she does either. I don’t think Jack... well, Jack might, but when I say the Cardigans or Mazzy Star, those aren’t Jack’s words about “mirrorball,” it’s just what calls to mind for me. Mainly she talked about emotion and to lean into it, the nostalgia and wistfulness, and the kind of raw, meditative emotion that I often kind of inhabit that I think felt very much where her heart was. We didn’t shy away from that.

“seven”

This is the second song we wrote. It’s kind of looking back at childhood and those childhood feelings, recounting memories and memorializing them. It’s this beautiful folk song. It has one of the most important lines on the record: “And just like a folk song, our love will be passed on.” That’s what this album is doing. It’s passing down. It’s memorializing love, childhood, and memories. It’s a folkloric way of processing.

“august”

This is maybe the closest thing to a pop song. It gets loud. It has this shimmering summer haze to it. It’s kind of like coming out of “seven” where you have this image of her in the swing and she’s seven years old, and then in “august” I think it feels like fast-forwarding to now. That’s an interesting contrast. I think it’s just a breezy, sort of intoxicating feeling.

“this is me trying”

“this is me trying,” to me, relates to the entire album. Maybe I’m reading into it too much from my own perspective, but [I think of] the whole album as an exercise and working through these stories, whether personal or old through someone else’s perspective. It’s connecting a lot of things. But I love the feeling in it and the production that Jack did. It has this lazy swagger.

“illicit affairs”

This feels like one of the real folk songs on the record, a sharp-witted narrative folk song. It just shows her versatility and her power as a songwriter, the sharpness of her writing. It’s a great song.

“invisible string”

That was another one where it was music that I’d been playing for a couple of months and sort of humming along to her. It felt like one of the songs that pulls you along. Just playing it on one guitar, it has this emotional locomotion in it, a meditative finger-picking pattern that I really gravitate to. It’s played on this rubber bridge that my friend put on [the guitar] and it deadens the strings so that it sounds old. The core of it sounds like a folk song.

It’s also kind of a sneaky pop song, because of the beat that comes in. She knew that there was something coming because she said, “You know, I love this and I’m hearing something already.” And then she said, “This will change the story,” this beautiful and direct kind of recounting of a relationship in its origin.

“mad woman”

That might be the most scathing song on folklore. It has a darkness that I think is cathartic, sort of witch-hunting and gaslighting and maybe bullying. Sometimes you become the person people try to pin you into a corner to be, which is not really fair. But again, don’t quote me on that [laughs], I just have my own interpretation. It’s one of the biggest releases on the album to me. It has this very sharp tone to it, but sort of in gothic folklore. It’s this record’s goth song.

“epiphany”

For “epiphany,” she did have this idea of a beautiful drone, or a very cinematic sort of widescreen song, where it’s not a lot of accents but more like a sea to bathe in. A stillness, in a sense. I first made this crazy drone which starts the song, and it’s there the whole time. It’s lots of different instruments played and then slowed down and reversed. It created this giant stack of harmony, which is so giant that it was kind of hard to manage, sonically, but it was very beautiful to get lost in. And then I played the piano to it, and it almost felt classical or something, those suspended chords.

I think she just heard it, and instantly, this song came to her, which is really an important one. It’s partially the story of her grandfather, who was a soldier, and partially then a story about a nurse in modern times. I don’t know if this is how she did it, but to me, it’s like a nurse, doctor, or medical professional, where med school doesn’t fully prepare you for seeing someone pass away or just the difficult emotional things that you’ll encounter in your job. In the past, heroes were just soldiers. Now they’re also medical professionals. To me, that’s the underlying mission of the song. There are some things that you see that are hard to talk about. You can’t talk about it. You just bear witness to them. But there’s something else incredibly soothing and comforting about this song. To me, it’s this Icelandic kind of feel, almost classical. My brother did really beautiful orchestration of it.

“betty”

This one Taylor and William wrote, and then both Jack and I worked on it. We all kind of passed it around. This is the one where Taylor wanted a reference. She wanted it to have an early Bob Dylan, sort of a Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan feel. We pushed it a little more towards John Wesley Harding, since it has some drums. It’s this epic narrative folk song where it tells us a long story and connects back to “cardigan.” It starts to connect dots and I think it’s a beautifully written folk song.

Is ‘betty” queer canon? I can’t speak to what it’s about. I have my own ideas. I also know where Taylor’s heart is, and I think that’s great anytime a song takes on greater meaning for anyone.

Is William Bowery secretly Joe Alwyn? I don’t know. We’re close, but she won’t tell me that. I think it’s actually someone else, but it’s good to have some mysteries.

“peace”

I wrote this, and Justin provided the pulse. We trade ideas all the time and he made a folder, and there was a pulse in there that I wrote these basslines to. In the other parts of the composition, I did it to Justin’s pulse. Taylor heard this sketch and she wrote the song. It reminds me of Joni Mitchell, in a way - there’s this really powerful and emotional love song, even the impressionistic, almost jazz-like bridge, and she weaves it perfectly together. This is one of my favorites, for sure. But the truth is that the music, that way of playing with harmonized basslines, is something that probably comes a little bit from me being inspired by how Justin does that sometimes. There’s probably a connection there. We didn’t talk too much about it [laughs].

“hoax”

This is a big departure. I think she said to me, “Don’t try to give it any other space other than what feels natural to you.” If you leave me in a room with a piano, I might play something like this. I take a lot of comfort in this. I think I imagined her playing this and singing it. After writing all these songs, this one felt the most emotional and, in a way, the rawest. It is one of my favorites. There’s sadness, but it’s a kind of hopeful sadness. It’s a recognition that you take on the burden of your partners, your loved ones, and their ups and downs. That’s both “peace” and “hoax” to me. That’s part of how I feel about those songs because I think that’s life. There’s a reality, the gravity or an understanding of the human condition.

Does Taylor Explain Her Lyrics?

She would always talk about it. The narrative is essential, and kind of what it’s all about. We’d always talk about that upfront and saying that would guide me with the music. But again, she is operating at many levels where there are connections between all of these songs, or many of them are interrelated in the characters that reappear. There are threads. I think that sometimes she would point it out entirely, but I would start to see these patterns. It’s cool when you see someone’s mind working.

“the lakes”

That’s a Jack song. It’s a beautiful kind of garden, or like you’re lost in a beautiful garden. There’s a kind of Greek poetry to it. Tragic poetry, I guess.

The Meaning Of Folklore

We didn’t talk about it at first. It was only after writing six or seven songs, basically when I thought my writing was done, when we got on the phone and said, “OK, I think we’re making an album. I have these six other ideas that I love with Jack [Antonoff] that we’ve already done, and I think what we’ve done fits really well with them.” It’s sort of these narratives, these folkloric songs, with characters that interweave and are written from different perspectives. She had a vision, and it was connecting back in some way to the folk tradition, but obviously not entirely sonically. It’s more about the narrative aspect of it.

I think it’s this sort of nostalgia and wistfulness that is in a lot of the songs. A lot of them have this kind of longing for looking back on things that have happened in your life, in your friend’s life, or another loved one’s life, and the kind of storytelling around that. That was clear to her. But then we kept going, and more and more songs happened.

It was a very organic process where [meaning] wasn’t something that we really discussed. It just kind of would happen where she would dive back into the folder and find other things that were inspiring. Or she and William Bowery would write “exile,” and then that happened. There were different stages of the process.

Okay, but is it A24-core? [Laughs.] Good comparison. 

#Aaron Dessner #interview #vulture #about taylor #taylor swift #folklore album #folklore era #songwriting #producer #the national #bon iver

[straighttohellbuddy]

📓 !!

Okay im so excited please know I think about How The Light Gets In's world every day still, and so anyways here is a side story I want to write but there's a lot of set up regarding the reader and eef becoming friends again. For context, they were incredibly close around 2014-2017, but people were getting creepy and invasive and demanding about their friendship (think 2012 toxic side of the Phandom, if that makes sense), and a lot of the reader's relationships were strained at that time because while they had been successful before, they were absolutely blowing up after their first album released and they became far more mainstream. They felt like they were bothering the people they had become closest to, both because they're worried that they're a bother, and because gossip rags and paps would harrass their friends looking for a scoop, and so they ended up just completely cutting off contact without warning one day right before they went on their first tour. the start of HTLGI is about 3 years since they'd been in proper contact with any of the creators they were close to at that time.

DON'T LOOK AT ME on their 2017 ep Hyperfocus was a more general song in response to everything that had been happening in their life around that time, with a focus on how they stop associating with anyone for a while, without outright addressing it, but on their latest album n o s t a l g i a, read at 5am ft. Troye was specifically written at the start of quarantine, when the reader was getting back into YouTube, about their feelings regarding how their friendship with ethan ended, as they spent a lot of this time looking back of their YouTube career, and he was the person they were closest to for a very long time, before they iced everyone out.

OKAY SO THERES MORE OF THE BACKGROUND OF THE WHOLE FIC AND THE READER BUT

Werewolf Ethan & Mark. I'm sorry I don't make the rules. They have golden retriever energy you cannot change my mind. But also because this is the HTLGI you know that supernatural characteristics are able to be activated rather than just triggered by the full moon. What I'm trying to say is since this is set in the year of Unus Annus, they film a video together that's like, you know that show where a person has to try and outwit a professional tracker? Except its the reader being tracked by two werewolves at night in a national park. Reader is wearing some sort of night vision camera on themselves so whenever it cuts to them the audience can't actually see how they're using their powers, if that makes sense.

Also the reader agreed to this knowing it would probably be when they ended up telling Mark and Ethan about them being a demon.

Video is titled Hunting Down An Old Friend

A few Moments that the boys edit out:

The reader using their stupidly sharp prehensile tail to swing from tree branches, though they leave in shots where the reader's tail can't be seen.

Knowing that with the werewolves having advanced hearing, the reader would give themselves away by talking to the camera, they take a few minutes having flown up to a high tree branch, to pull out a notebook and do a little sketch of how Mark and Ethan appear in their Demon True Sight, and holding it up to their camera.

Werewolves being one of the animals who can kind of sense demons without being able to identify them, essentially like dogs can sense natural disasters and are often good judges of character, this can be heightened on command for werewolves. There's about 15 minutes of footage cut out of the boys discussing or mentioning how this place has awful vibes and that they should have done this during the day. It gets worse as they get closer to the reader, who didn't realise that the boys hadn't thought to ever use that particular power around them before.

("I say this with so much love and appreciation for you, dude," Ethan yells, looking up at you from the base of the tree they'd finally found you in, "but I- this is making me anxious I feel like something terrible's gonna happen, and we should probably get out of here and film the rest of the video back at Mark's." And behind him, Mark's nodding, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, eyes scanning the trees for whatever was most likely the cause of this terrible impending doom.

Oh. It's you. And they don't know its you.

Now or never, you suppose.

"Can you cut the cameras for a second? You're going to be fine I promise," you called back, and though they obligingly did, they both seemed antsy. You cleared your throat awkwardly, "that... that terrible feeling, that's not the park or anything in it- well I mean, it is, but it's just- it's me."

and later

"Dude your wings smell like rotten eggs."

"To YOU Ethan! And no they don't!"

"If it makes you feel better they smell like burning and rotten eggs."

"It does not."

(for reference, when enhancing their sense of smell werewolves can kind of distinguish various supernatural creatures, or parts of supernatural creatures. Some creatures have an inherent scent, but some, like angels and demons, only have distinct scents when they've activated certain attributesor abilities; demon wings smell like fire and brimstone, which unfortunately means burning and rotten eggs. I like to think angels wings are like the love potion in Harry Potter that smells like the things you love the most. Mark and Ethan usually don't enhance it around each other because they smell like wet dog to the other)

This gets about 2k notes on tumblr. The reader likes it:

Ethan finally finding Y/N at the end of Hunting Down An Old Friend (2020) Colourised.

Other things to note regarding all this:

It takes a while to rebuild their friendship to the point where they're comfortable enough to be on camera together (eef and reader specifically).

However, the Unus Annus video is the first thing they properly do together, and the reader, in an effort to connect more and make up for the past, will join in multiplayer gaming streams if asked.

Impromptu duet in proximity Among Us of Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy, which has their respective chats and fandoms losing their minds, except it stops abruptly after the first chorus as they both remember the opening lines of the second verse (make it easy, say I never mattered -- those lyrics hit a little too close to home)

But also the reader convinces him to join him for a proper cover in like, February of 2021, and it's something deeply sappy (I'm thinking Bon Iver by mxmtoon because I think its sweet and fits them well)

Also Ethan being reminded that the reader is kind of a much bigger deal than when they'd been friends before.

designed to hurt (touch me) from their ep Working On It is nominated for a Grammy for Track of the Year, and n o s t a l g i a wins Best Pop Album (because it's my fic and I said so)

FIRST OF ALL designed to hurt (touch me) is a beautifully produced song about Corpse (which people do not know) and the title itself is literally making fun of something he said IMAGINE his reaction to it being Grammy Nominated 😂😂😂 God he'd be proud but lowkey fuming, meanwhile the moment the nominations are announced the reader tweets:

me: here is an album where I processed my entire world view including heartfelt explorations of the trauma of existing and oversharing in the public eye from a young age without the traditional barrier between audience and entertainer

the grammys: that's cute BUT you know the song you wrote to bully your boyfriend and also be horny on main for him before you guys were even dating? THAT deserves its own recognition.

meanwhile Ethan's like..... this is the same person who I filmed a video with playing cards against humanity, and you laughed so hard you almost threw up. I am very proud but deeply confused.

The Hot Meme of Late April 2021 is "2 time Grammy Award Winning Artist Y/N" with a gif, still, or quote from the reader where they're just being an absolute chaos gremlin.

Of course we have "If I bleached my asshole for charity I'd do it tastefully."

2 Time Grammy Award Winning Artist Y/N speaking to their actual boyfriend in the year of our lord 2020: You are being executed for Clown Crimes.

ethan posts a short video to twitter simply of his screen where he's renaming a folder from "Never Before Seen Images of Grammy Award Winning Artist Y/N" simply changing it to 2 time Artist. The reader responds specifically to his tweet with a video of themselves asking Google how to hard reset someone else's computer.

So many screenshots from old videos surface that week.

I miss this world. Sorry this is rambly!!

#shut ur pretty mouth #how the light gets in #corpse husband x reader #your local homosexual with no chill #htlgi