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#also btw these are some really basic fundamental tips to help you get started
myhoneststudyblr · 3 years
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my masterpost | my studygram | ask me anything
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[transcript under the cut]
Other advice posts that may be of interest:
How To Study When You Really Don’t Want To
How To Do Uni Readings
Active Revision Tips
don't neglect any of the key skills
We all have our strengths and there will definitely be a skill that you find easier. It is really tempting to therefore do more of that skill because it is not as difficult or to only focus on your weaker skills. But you should try to develop all of them simultaneously because they will only enhance one another. Each of the skills will teach you vocab, structures and grammar that will be transferable.
read children's books
Reading is a great way to learn new vocabulary and challenge yourself. However, often in your enthusiasm in learning a language, you choose a book that is way too complex. In doing this, you’re not giving yourself the chance to develop good reading habits because if you are constantly stopping to look up new words you won't get into the flow of a native text. You also won’t be able to pick up words via context if most of the language is way above your head. Therefore, it is best to read children's books at first so you can develop your reading and language skills so that when you are at the level to begin reading books you actually want to read you can tackle them effectively and successfully.  
strive to understand grammar
Regardless of the language, grammar is always tricky for non-native speakers. Even in your own language, grammar is often difficult and needs to be practised. Because we know this when learning a language, we often fall into the trap of just doing exercises and drills to simply memorise grammar. But this is incredibly unhelpful because in normal situations and conversations you won't know when to use it. Therefore, try to understand WHY the grammar works that way and how it impacts a sentence and the words within it.
use different sources
Read articles and check dictionaries - this method improves your vocabulary and learn how a word is used in a sentence. Listen to the radio or watch TV shows - it's best to listen to dialogues than songs, unless you want to learn to sing because this will help you get used to the rhythm of the language and how it normally sounds. Talk to anyone in any possible opportunity even if you are worried about sounding weird because speaking to natives if one of the best ways to learn and you get to communicate with new people! Using visual elements is also one of the best methods to learn new words, as they cause associations in our head, making it easier to remember permanently, not just learn by rote.
don't try to understand everything
When you learn a foreign language, it’s needless and virtually impossible to remember ALL the words - even native speakers don’t use them all. As you become more equated with the language you will quickly learn the most frequently used words. Verbs are often very useful to learn because you can't have a proper sentence if you don't have a verb. Furthermore, while for nouns it is relatively easy to describe or use synonyms, if you don't have verbs, it often stops you in your tracks. So google the most common verbs in your target language and spend some time getting familiar with them. Also, practice techniques for dealing with words you don't know by trying to figure out the meaning from context or examining the word's prefix, roots and suffix for clues to the meaning.
don't just learn common phrases
If you take a look at all language learning books, you will find many similar stock phrases. However, do you really use those phrases in your real life? Not really. And just learning these phrases limits you because you are just parroting rather than understanding. Therefore, it is important to learn the basic building blocks of sentences - the kind of words you will actually use - so that you can start to have a conversation at the very early stage of your learning journey.
Learn the following:
Question words/structure
Basic tenses (past, present, future)
Numbers
Day and time
Frequently-used verbs
Pronouns 
try to use the language in your everyday life
Have imaginary conversations in your head using the vocabulary you are learning. Narrate your day. On the way to work or school, in the car, whenever! It'll get you used to using the language for real, and you'll get familiar with the syntax. It will also help you practice finding a way to reword things if you don't know the word and find out what words you want to use often so that you can look them up.
don't just learn the language 
When you learn a language, you also need to learn about the culture or you won't get very far. Language is rooted in culture and vice versa so you can't really learn one without the other. Take some time to get to know the culture, history and people of the country (or countries) that speak your target language. This is one of the great joys of language learning because it gives you a passport to another world of understanding.
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yeonjuins · 2 years
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Hi!! Sorry to bother but do you use ae for some of your gfx? I’ve already got experience in psd, ai and id and I want to expand my knowledge since I’ll be studying graphic design in uni. I really want to make some moving gfx like others on tumblr but im soo lost on where to start😭🥲
Any good tutorials you can suggest/link me too, your advice too would be nice! So sorry if this is a hassle,
I love your work btw!☺️
WHAAA firstly, hello fellow future graduate !! i'll also be attending uni for design soon (": secondly i cannot believe you've come to ME for this advice ;; am honoured truly esp since u alrdy have experience in psd, ai and id (indesign still makes me lost sometimes)
yes, i do use ae for practically all the motion graphics i make !! (excluding my ulkin yj edit and my fairy of shampoo edit, those include 3d renders i did in another program)
i'll write some recs / tips down below !!
my biggest starter tip for anyone getting into ai or ae is: learn how to do typography (thats how i learnt to even use ai and ae)... it'll teach you generally the fundamentals of each program and yes... you may need to do some extra googling for short cuts or how to's but i think it's a very good starting point
i've recommended this channel before but i think animotion has extremely amazing tutorials for typography effects and also displays them in such a modern/retro unique way !! highly recommend going through their channel to get your foot through the basics !! (bonus points because they teach you the keyboard shortcuts to each command as well <3)
this may come off odd but i mean this esp if u want to start using ae... make an fmv or amv (like.. assuming ur a fellow moa... yj's 6ft tall and super strong edit... yeah edits like that)... no joke... there are so many amv tutorials out there that teach u video transitions to working w motion graphs and i garuntee you, you'll even learn typography transitions from an amv when learning to use ae
the first time i used ae, i followed this tutorial and did all the transitions to know how ae generally works (guarantee you, you will use none of those transitions in your gfx work but it's pretty much good knowledge to know)
ae is a very complicated program... so being frank, ur not going to know how to use everything !! ive been using ae for a couple years now and i still google tutorials all the time <3 pls don't stress out if you're unsure about something... if one of the tutorials you followed didn’t work, search up another one ! 
from there, it's pretty much 80% of where your creativity takes you !! as i said above, you're not going to know the entire ins and outs of ae (neither do i, i feel unqualified to give this advice tbh PAHAHA) but its how you use what little you know and create something with it (":
pls let me know if theres anything else i could help w or even specifics i love giving advice in terms of design ((":
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belphegor1982 · 4 years
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How about the first chapter Tommy appears?
[Pick any passage from any fanfic I’ve written, and stick that selection in my ask/fan mail/submission box. I will then give you the equivalent of a DVD commentary on that snippet!]
Thanks a lot!! (Also I answered this kind of ask about a passage from chapter 2, if you want to take a look - it’s all spoiler-free!)
Here’s Thomas Sean Ferguson’s grand introduction, then :D Oh god, it’s kind of awkward, because like with Blake there’s a certain amount of early installment weirdness. Also I go on and oooooooon (sorry about that). But let’s go!
_________
Quite lost in his thoughts this time, [Jonathan] barely registered that he was walking past the Museum (where Evy is, right now, negotiating the Cairo Museum “lending” the Diamond of Ahm Shere to the British government - which kickstarts the plot) before somebody knocked into him, hard enough for both of them to crumple, breathless, on the ground. It took Jonathan thirty seconds to get his lungs in working order again and, instinctively, check his pockets for anything missing.
A lot of this commentary risks being “this used to be [thing] before I tweaked it in the rewrites”, and a lot of it is because I’ve gained some insight in the past twelve years. Jonathan’s first thought being checking his pockets (which - and I made it explicit in the second or third paragraph of the story :D - comes from his being a skilled pickpocket himself and knowing how it works), however, was there from the very beginning.
“So sorry I bumped into you, mate, didn’t mean to,” came the voice of the attacker. Jonathan’s eyes widened at the sound of this voice and he squinted up at its owner.
And cue Tom Ferguson :D He wasn’t my first OC, far from it (that dubious honour would probably belong to the buttload of OCs I created for my Marauder era story which died when Order of the Phoenix came out), but he was the first I got to really explore and develop, and he ended up one of my favourites ever. Em, I answered an ask of yours way back in 2015, “introduce us to two of your OCs” :o) The first was him, the second was Marguerite LeBeau.
“Tommy? Is that you? Tommy Ferguson?”
The diamond is the reason the O’Connell-Carnahan gang goes to Egypt, but without Tommy, there’d be no plot. Hamilton would probably still find a way to “retrieve” the diamond from the museum, only without Evy and her family getting personally involved and then having to go back to the UK saying she failed her mission. and then cue the end of the world about a week and a half from there, but shhh - spoilers!
The fellow shook his head, still looking a bit dazed; then his own eyes, round and brown, (so he’s the opposite of Jon in almost every way, physically speaking. Like I said in the aforementioned OC ask, I designed him as a foil for Jon, fundamentally different in some ways but very similar in others. Physically speaking he’s basically Sean Astin (with some James Corden thrown in) with brown eyes, blond hair, and a Liverpool accent.) went even rounder as he stared at Jonathan. “Jon! What the hell are you doing ‘ere?”
For the longest time Tommy used to call Jonathan by his last name here (and Jon’s earlier line used to be “Ferguson? Is that you? Tommy Ferguson?”). I changed it quite recently. I think I wanted to convey the idea that school friends at the time often called each other by their last names; but since he calls Jonathan “Jon” 100% of the time - and is the only one to do so, which I have Feelings about - I went back to correct it.
“Glad to see you too, old chap,” laughed Jonathan, standing up and dusting himself off before offering a hand at the man on the ground, who accepted it gladly.
Heh. Look, one of the staples of Mummy fanfiction was and still is the old school friend of Evy’s who follows either the siblings (TM time) or the whole family (TMR/post-TMR time) to Egypt and falls in love with Ardeth Bay. I’m not throwing stones here; I’ve read a couple I really liked. There’s the odd Jonathan/OFC romance, too. What I set out to do as a baby writer (I was 21 at the time!) and unsuspecting ace was to write something completely devoid of romance (except the odd Evy/Rick snuggle and, of course, all-encompassing love for each other). And then, as I reread the story for rewrites a decade and a half later, I became more and more convinced that Jonathan and Tommy used to be more than friends, and then when Elizabeth came along the three of them got together as a thruple and very happy for a while. (For some reason I couldn’t work this explicitly into FTaH, though - it felt too much like hinting at this huge story I was never going to write and might have made FTaH much too crowded. So it’s up to the reader to decide, really. Personally, I like both options.) So here’s 37 year old me shipping Jon with a female OC and a male OC, and quite enthusiastically, at that. *chuckles* Wonder what my 21 y-o self would think of it…
He hadn’t seen Thomas Ferguson since some time after the end of the war, what felt like ages ago. They’d made quite a pair at Oxford, the two of them – the scrawny, foppish Southerner with the quiet grin and the sticky fingers, and the broad-shouldered, round-faced Scouser with the laughing eyes and the deceptively innocent face. They’d rowed for the Dark Blues for a bit, got properly pickled on Boat Race Nights, and helped each other out of many a tight spot. Oh, for the halcyon days of youth.
One of the reasons I picked up FTaH again is because the second half of 2019 was very, very British for me. I saw (and read) Good Omens for the first time in early June and my feelings exploded; July was very much about discovering the delights of P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster (TV show and books). Halfway through that month I remembered my everlasting fondness for the characters of The Mummy and realised the protagonists and Bertie were the same generation, more or less, and I started imagining a crossover. By the time August rolled in I was fully into TM/TMR again, reading fic and my fingers itching to at least correct some iffy parts of FTaH. This last sentence, about Jon’s and Tom’s Oxford days, would never have come out that way if I hadn’t read Wodehouse.
As soon as Tommy was on his feet he was wringing Jonathan’s hand with all the energy he’d been famous for as a boy. “Sorry, Jon, mate, I was a bit stunned –” After all these years, he still retained some of that accent, too! “– En’t everyday you bump into a pal from Oxford in the middle of Cairo! How’d you get here, for starters?”
…Tommy’s accent. *sighs* I’m not a fan of writing accents phonetically in the first place. When I write Newkirk (Hogan’s Heroes) and his Cockney accent, there isn’t much except the odd “me” for “my” or things like “d’you”. I did have to make it obvious Tommy had an accent, though, if only because later Jonathan is surprised when he tones it down to speak with the curator. (This is something his 18 year old self found incredibly difficult, btw.) @thisstableground oversaw the first chapter and gave me very valuable tips, including “en’t” (// “ain’t), which was super helpful in giving Tommy’s accent its own specificity and meant that I didn’t need him to drop “h”s and “g”s all over the place. (which he does do, but hopefully not in a way that takes you away from the story.)
As for why he’s from Liverpool as opposed to, say, Manchester or the East End of London, the answer is very simple. I’d discovered the Beatles a year or two prior and they remain one of my favourite bands in the whole world ♥
“Well, I followed my sister,” Jonathan replied, grinning. In fifteen years or so, he had not realised how much he had actually missed this accent. “She’s giving a hand to the curator of the Museum of Antiquities – she’s something of an authority now, as a matter of fact.”
“Oh aye? That’s fantastic. I en’t forgotten how you’d talk about her, y’know. On and on and on. I’m curious to see what she looks like.”
Somethingthat didn’t change after rewrites is the idea that Jon was verysecretive about his Oxford years. Tom and Evy never met before this,and Evy hadn’t even heard about Tom before.
Jonathan stole a glance at the entrance steps of the Museum, and turned to Tommy with a smirk. “Really? Well, if you really want to, I suppose I could…”
His sister had just appeared on the stairs, accompanied by the curator, an elderly man with greying hair and whiskers. The curator, Dr Fahad Hakim, has a somewhat larger role later on, but this is just a cameo to let you know he exists :o) There’s another mention earlier, too. Tommy followed Jonathan’s gaze and looked at them, goggling at Evy in particular.
“Jon – are my eyes mistaken, or is this gorgeous woman Doctor Evelyn O’Connell? I’ve read about her, she’s famous in my line of work… According to what I’ve read, she was one of the first people to make it out of the City of the Dead alive –”
He doesn’t say what his “line of work” is, but we (and Jonathan) can infer it has something to do with archaeology or Egyptology. And, incidentally, I’m setting up the first alarm bells here because, as Evy points out in the following chapter, at the time her name was “Carnahan”, so how come Tommy didn’t seem to make the connection between Jon’s bookish sister and this English librarian with the same name? The answer is: because he’s nervous (because he’s in Cairo on secret Chamber of Horus business) and as delighted as he is to see Jon again after so many years his brain went “YOU KNOW NOTHING” then backpedalled and went “…OKAY, YOU KNOW SOME THINGS.”
Jonathan’s grin widened as he nodded. “Yes, that’d be her.”
Tommy rambled on as they walked closer to the stairs, “That’s bloody amazing! I thought she’d look, you know, like in the pictures in the paper, the bookish type with glasses – your typical Southern spinster,” he added with a wink. They waited for the curator to bid her goodbye, and Jonathan, greatly enjoying the situation, crept up on his sister to kiss her on the cheek.
“Hey there, old mum – how’s your day been?”
Evy started, then her expression shifted from slightly irked to a smile at her brother’s laugh. She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Jonathan, the things that amuse you…”
SIBS!!! I love writing siblings, and those two in particular. One of the things that I find amusing/endearing is how comfortable they are with each other, physically (and emotionally) speaking. It’s all gentle touch here, light slap there, running hand in hand, lots of things you wouldn’t expect from two Very English siblings from the first half of the 20th century.
“You’re just miffed that I startled you. C’mon, I’d like you to meet someone – an admirer,” he added with a grin to Tommy, who stood there, his eyes wide. “Thomas Ferguson, an old school friend of mine. Tommy – Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell, my famous baby sister.”
There’s a couple of instances where someone introduces Tom as “Thomas”, or Tom introducing himself as such. Most of the time, though, he’s “Tommy” - until chapter 9, where we spend some time in his head for the first time and see he thinks of himself as “Tom”, and when we go back to Jon’s PoV in chapter 11 Jonathan made the mental switch to “Tom”, as well, to separate the boy from his youth from the man he’s become. I actually spell it out in chapter 17: “A lot had happened since that late afternoon in Giza when his friend had pointed a gun at him and stopped being ‘Tommy’. ‘Tommy’ was a warm memory of loud laughter, daring escapes, bright eyes over pints clinking in the comfortable darkness of a well-loved pub. Tom, on the other hand, was a fairly decent man chucked into a complex situation, who had a wife he loved dearly but lied to about his job, who had not wanted to bring harm to an old friend but had done so anyway.”
Evy held out her hand, which Tommy grabbed and shook heartily. “So you’re the old scoundrel’s sister? No wonder he talked about you – though you don’t quite fit the description now…”
“What exactly did you tell your ‘school friends’ about me?” asked Evy, warning in her voice, though the twinkle in her eye did not quite disappear. Nevertheless, Jonathan preferred to ignore her question, earning a hard nudge in the ribs.
He bragged, actually. A lot. Since he thought Tommy and Lizzie would never meet Evy, Jonathan considered himself free to speak quite enthusiastically of his baby sister’s achievements and how bright she was. Of course, he also complained a good deal, because even at 12 Evy had a penchant for being bossy that came out even in letters.
“So, what did you say your ‘line of work’ was?” he asked Tommy.
“Well – don’t laugh. I work at the British Consulate in Cairo, specialising in antique stuff. Oh, I’m sorry, Dr O’Connell,” he stammered with a glance at Evy who had an eyebrow raised, “I mean I’m one of the chief agents in the British Antique Research Department.”
No he’s not! He’s actually a secret agent, kinda :D And not remotely close to a “chief agent”, at that. Tom Ferguson is deeply in love with his wife and nothing will ever change that state of affairs, but he might have a little intellectual crush on Evy, which leads him to… wanting to impress her a little bit.
“I’ve heard of you!” exclaimed Evy. “At least of that Research Department. They’re gradually cutting off public funds – encouraging individual financing – but that won’t do any good for scientific research! Such a stupid decision is only going to –”
“So you lot are the ones she kept fuming about for half a year!” Jonathan snorted. The infamous Ferguson rotten luck struck again.
I still regret I didn’t find more opportunities to showcase how ridiculously unlucky Tommy could get sometimes. Ah well.
Tommy looked dejected. Evy must have seen this, because she bit her lip and said, in softer tones, “Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you. But as my brother said, I’ve been… rather upset over this. There’s been some pressure on the British Museum lately by private patrons who threatened to pull out their funding on some… sensitive collections. Without the Crown to back us up, we might have to cave in to their ridiculous demands.”
Before the rewrites, Evy’s speech used to be a lot more “private funding is bad” without much nuance or justification. I changed it to something that hopefully makes sense and justifies her previous outburst. 
“I’ll – I’ll tell my superiors about it,” said Tommy, still looking unsure. “See what I can do. I’m sure it won’t be much, but… Well. I’ll have tried.”
“That’s nice,” Evy said cheerfully, taking Jonathan’s arm and starting to walk. See what I mean about physicality? She doesn’t even ask him with a look, just takes his arm and that’s that. And he lets her, because he’d do the same thing. “Look, the two of you – I’ve had something of a rough day, so I’ll go home, if you don’t mind. You can –”
“Brilliant idea!” said Jonathan, flashing a grin at his sister. “I thought of going to the Sultan’s Casbah, but you might find it a tad – let’s say – dingy, my good friend.”
The Sultan’s Casbah, in the novelisation of the film and my personal headcanon, was the bar Jonathan patronised the night before the first time we see Evy and where he stole a valuable-looking puzzle box from an unsuspecting drunk American. 
“Worse than the Turf?” Seeing Evy’s puzzled look, Tommy explained, “Sorry, private joke. I mean the Turf Tavern, that’s where I saw him for the first time. Me family didn’t ‘ave much money, so I used to work there to pay for my studies. Very nice pub, didn’t deserve the reputation.”
The Best Beloved and I took a trip to Oxford in the spring of 2003 (by bus - 20 hours to get there, same to come back home) and while we were so broke we had to settle for a soup and some rice in a lovely Thai restaurant we did go for a drink at the Turf. I remember a dimly-lit room with dark wood, and I think either they changed a lot of it or my memory isn’t that good because it doesn’t really look like that on the Google Maps pics. Still, I liked it, and when I needed an Oxford pub for the story it’s the one I worked in. Incidentally, there was a lot of illegal gambling going on in there in the 19th century, hence Tommy’s mention of the pub’s bad reputation.
“I’m sure you did indeed see a lot of my brother there,” Evy slipped in slyly. Jonathan threw a mock glare at her.
“To think you are almost my only family. What a shame.” Then, as Tommy looked uncertain, he added, “Carry on, Tom.”
“All right. So I was one of the only students who needed a job, and there were some others who thought that it was – how’d they put it? – a ‘disgrace’ to our university.”
“Preposterous,” said Evy sternly. “As if money could take you further than talent.”
Jonathan bit back on the cynical comment that crossed his mind. Sometimes Evy’s naïveté baffled him.
“Right,” said Tommy uncertainly, glancing at Jonathan. “So, one day, a little bunch of lads come in, and Jon here was sometimes hanging with ‘em at the time –”
Because Jonathan likes to gamble with people with deep pockets :P
Evy glared at Jonathan in advance, and he threw his hands in the air. “Don’t look at me like that! I haven’t done anything!” Evy’s gaze softened, and Jonathan finished, “…Yet.”
That earned him a playful slap on the arm, and a laugh from Tommy, who went on, “Anyway, one of the blokes orders somethin’ or other, and starts to poke fun at me. Well, I was used to it, so I let them be. Then they continued, and I finally noticed that skinny lad in the corner who was makin’ fun of them for making fun of me. Didn’t quite understand what the hell was going on – oh, sorry, Dr O’Connell – what was happening.”
While John Hannah is not “skinny” by any stretch, he is rather svelte, and one of my unimpeachable headcanons for Jonathan is that he was skinny as a rake in his youth - until he went through basic training (then WW1) and his shoulders filled out a little. It’s more or less what happened to the Best Beloved, so I feel quite secure in this headcanon’s plausibility. Plus, picturing 18 year old Jonathan as a mix of awkward gangliness and skinny limbs and aristocratic poise is just funny. (and I find the comparison with Tommy - who at that point was soft and a little chubby but already had broad shoulders - rather endearing.)
Evy smiled. “You’ll have to watch your mouth in front of my son, but otherwise it’s fine. And please, call me Evelyn.”
Tommy beamed. “Right, uh, Evelyn. So, uh –”
“What he didn’t know at that point,” interrupted Jonathan, “was that I had my eye on that fellow – what’s his name – Farbow. He owed me quite a bit of money, but wouldn’t repay me. So I was looking for a way to get him back for it.”
“And get the rest of his wallet in the process, of course.”
“Evy, he owed me seventeen pounds. (Which used to be £70 until I did some research and saw that £17 was A Bloody Fortune a the time.) And he was not what I’d call a ‘decent bloke’ – nasty, disdainful piece of work he was, and his little friends with him. Always a dirty word about the Scouser who worked at the Turf Tavern, just because he didn’t belong to his snobby little world. I did the community a favour, really.”
What he doesn’t say is that Edwin Farbow also had a lot to say about “half-Egyptian mongrels” who thought they belonged in those ancient walls. Too bad I couldn’t find a way to work it in this particular fic. If I ever manage to finish at least Tommy’s part of One-Step, Two-Step, Waltz, the first chapter of Pirouette features the whole scene.
“Don’t push it, Jonathan,” warned Evy.
Tommy carried on. “Well, I was glad there was at least one person who didn’t think like Edwin Farbow – nice change. Then Farbow said something – I don’t remember what it was about, I just remember it made me really angry, really. An’ it’s not a pretty sight when I’m really angry at someone.”
It’s always the quiet, genial ones, isn’t it.
Jonathan remembered, but thought it wise to keep his mouth shut.
Both because what Farbow said was pretty damn offensive to Tommy’s character, background, and lineage, and also because Farbow’s rant included “It’s bad enough they let inpeople like Carnahan, who only exists because a glorifiedgrave-robber shagged some darkey and didn’t even have the decencyto pretend otherwise –” and he really doesn’t want to bring this up in front of Evy, who’s had to deal with her own share of this kind of racist bullshit and doesn’t need a reminder.
“An’ – an’ I just lost it, y’know? I dropped his tea over his ‘ead –”
“I say, that one was pretty funny,” Jonathan said, smiling widely at the memory. The strangled yelp that had followed had definitely been one of the best parts.
“So they all leaped for me, obviously – began to punch me, the five or six of them – hey, I still managed to get back at them!” Tommy added quickly, as if defending his honour. Evy hid a smile, and it occurred to Jonathan that that last sentence had something very Rick-like about it. “But I en’t a fool. I know a losing fight when I’m in one.”
“Don’t tell me. Jonathan bravely threw himself into the fight to take on as many attackers as possible.” There was mischievous laughter in Evy’s voice, and her eyes were twinkling. If anyone other than her had quipped that way about him, Jonathan would probably have taken offence, or at least pretended to. But they knew each other enough not to cross the line.
Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Well, that wasn’t quite Jon’s style – I don’ know, might’ve changed since then. But yeah, he did. One moment I was squashed under five or six, the next I found out we were two on the floor.”
This was perhaps the biggest suspension of disbelief I’m asking the reader to make - which, in a story where governments have secret agencies to keep an eye on magical ancient artefacts and a diamond has magic powers, is saying something. Jonathan throwing himself into a fight because someone he loves (ie. four people in the whole world that we know of) is in danger? Yep, that checks out, that’s what he does both in TM and TMR. But an (almost) complete stranger? I needed one hell of a justification. Which ended up… 60% Farbow’s money and 40% Farbow being a giant arsehole who had no business making decent bartenders look like that.
Evy began to laugh. “Why, Jonathan? My Jonathan, in a fight, for someone he barely knew?”
At that Jonathan cleared his throat, a mite embarrassed. “I told you, I was looking for Farbow’s wallet. That was the perfect diversion – you should’ve seen that twit looking in every corner for his lost wallet afterwards. It was three months before he gave up.” And it’s lucky you didn’t see me then. I was a bloody mess. “Why’re you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing.” Evy smiled. “You never told me that.”
To be fair, there’s a LOT of things he never told you, old girl ;o)
“Should I have?”
“I don’t know, it’s – it was nice of you to do that, even for the wrong reasons. I’m proud of you.”
Jonathan felt an unexpected lump rise in his throat. Not a very big one, but enough to keep him from talking for a few seconds. It was always like this whenever she said something really nice to him. It caught him off guard each and every time.
Look, it took me years to realise it, but I’m a sucker for validation. Sometimes it bleeds out on characters I write.
After a little while, Evy stopped in front of a door and announced, “Well, we’re home.”
“Nice house,” commented Tommy, taking in the sand-coloured neat front and the curtains at the windows.
“Our ‘old haunt’ since the family moved to Egypt,” Jonathan said, opening the door and stepping aside to let his sister in. “Evy wasn’t even walking then.”
In the first film, Evy, Rick, Jonathan and the remainder of the American party go straight to Fort Brydon, and the next thing we see is Evy emptying her suitcase while Rick tries to fill it. Since both Carnahan siblings actually live in Cairo, I thought they would live in an actual house, and from there I extrapolated that the family had one house in England (the manor we see in TMR) and a smaller pied-à-terre in Cairo.
“I do believe I was,” Evy protested.
Jonathan snorted. “Oh, you weren’t. You crawled.”
si b l i n gssss ♥♥ And like, you can always count on a big sib to remind you that you could be ridiculous as a kid. I should know, I’m the big sister :D
Evy seemed to resist the urge to slap her brother and walked into the living room, her nose in the air. She was greeted by two simultaneous voices:
“Mum!”
“Hey, hon.”
Rick’s first words in this story, and it’s greeting his wife ^^ I didn’t do it on purpose, but it’s. Y’know. There.
Jonathan waited a few seconds, then walked into the room in turn, and grinned at the sight of his nephew looking genuinely eager to see him. He was not fooled, however – as soon as Evy wasn’t looking, Alex mouthed the words “Got one?” and frowned as his uncle shook his head. No, he still had no present for Mum’s birthday.
Evy’s birthday mainly originated as a device to get characters (especially Jonathan) moving. It’s the reason he’s roaming the streets of Cairo just before he bumps into Tommy, and why he and Alex go to the bazaar in chapter 5. It also pops up further on in the story, but I’m not saying anything because spoilers.
“Uncle Jon? Who’s that?”
“Who, him?” Jonathan pointed at Tommy behind him, looking uncomfortable at the family reunion, and Alex rolled his eyes. “Tom Ferguson, he was in class with me at Oxford. I ran into him by chance today.”
Tommy stepped past Jonathan and held out his hand to Alex, nearest to him. “Hi – glad to meet you. Jon’s nephew, eh?”
“Yeah,” said Alex, eyeing him with all the suspicion of a ten-year-old who’d seen what he had seen. Behind him, Rick’s eyes spoke loads about his own distrust. But mistrust towards Jonathan and everything related was par for the course on his part, and, admittedly, reasonable.
Alex has Seen Things. This may sound tongue-in-cheek, but it’s true. After what happened in TMR, he’s 100% entitled to being suspicious of strangers. As for Rick, I took my cue from one of his first lines to Jon in TMR being “What did you do this time?” implying that the weird shit happening right now, with the men in red and the sexy lady waving snakes around isn’t exactly unheard of. Hence the “and, admittedly, reasonable”, which I added in the rewrites.
“Thomas Ferguson, British Antique Research Department,” said Tommy, holding out a hand towards Rick, who shook it slowly, still reluctant.
“Rick O’Connell.”
“So you’re Dr O’Connell’s husband? Pleasure to meet you, sir. I’m impressed, you’ve no idea.”
Rick raised an eyebrow. “Impressed?”
“It seems I’m rather famous in the Research Department,” said Evy, laughing.
“Make that infamous,” quipped Jonathan.
“The Department owes your wife a great deal. She was the one who uncovered a huge amount of our information about some obscure periods of Egyptian history, as well as the major part of serious knowledge we’ve got on Hamunaptra,” Tommy pointed out, and Evy blushed. “She’s a legend – one of the original three who managed to go to Hamunaptra and live to tell the tale! But… I assume you’re another one?”
Oh, Tommy. MATE. You’re saying you know three people made it out of Hamunaptra alive, one of whom a woman with the exact same first and last name as your best friend’s sister who had a passion for ancient history, but you had no idea he was one of them as well? 
Incidentally, the early installment weirdness I mentioned earlier mostly consists in Tommy being a lot more energetic and innocent-looking than he later proves to be (which is a little more grounded and pragmatic than Jon). In fact, he and Jonathan’s first couple of scenes together give the impression that he’s the red and Jon’s the blue in the “Bue oni, red oni” trope, when later chapters show Jon as a little bit more of a disaster while Tom struggles to make better choices and be more sensible. Which in the end would make them shades of purple, really.
“Yeah,” said Rick, looking a bit nonplussed. Jonathan definitely didn’t regret bringing Tommy in. Seeing Rick O’Connell confused was a very rare occurrence, too rare to be missed.
“I never knew – who was the third one?”
Jonathan was now struggling to keep a straight face. Rick blinked, and pointed at his brother-in-law. “That was him.”
“You!?” God, the look on his face was priceless. “You were at Hamunaptra?”
“Yes,” risked Jonathan, laughter rising in his voice. “And believe me, it wasn’t exactly a picnic. Oh, by the way, there were four of us, not three.”
Meaning Ardeth, of course. My take is that Tommy - and by extension the Chamber of Horus - know about as much about the Medjai as Evy knew about the Book of Amun-Ra prior to the events of TM: a non-negligible amount of information, but all of it second-hand and some of it a bit dicey.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Rick roll his eyes and grinned, undaunted. This was proving to be a fun evening.
Make the most of it, people, because it’s all going to go downhill fast…
Thank you ♥♥♥
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memedokies · 7 years
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(almost) every anon ask since fall 2016
if u havent noticed i am BAD at answering asks so here’s a Big Dump of most of the asks i’ve gotten in the past few months
ps; i’ve excluded pokemon suggestions bc i plan on getting to them at some point
Hihihi!!! What brushes do you use in fire alpaca??  i dont do much in firealpaca (esp not lately lol) but when i did use it a lot i just used the fill bucket and the standard/default brush to fill in gaps n such lol! i dont really draw in it, i used flash/adobe animate for the lineart and just fill in color in firealpaca :3
when did you start animating?   uhh when i was around 11 or 12 when i started digital art i guess? i just used photoshop for the longest time then got flash when i was like 15 or so
 How did you get flash?  i got the creative cloud dealie, its technically required for my school :—-0 
 hello!! what are you majoring in in vcu?? im thinking about going there for college  im in communication arts! omg cool lmk if u come here ill tell u where to get the best bubble tea
 how many fps do you use for your wiggly animations? i work at 24 fps in flash on twos but just end up using photoshop’s 0 second frame delay/ “no delay”?
 Hey love your animations! What do you animate with?  adobe animate 2017! (previously flash) 
You mentioned a YouTube channel but I can’t seem to find a link to it? Do you post processes on there? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCovvoZxlQjFaIA7A3w_94Zw theres not much atm but i plan on posting a lot more, including process/speedpaints! 
i really like your art style gosh darn!!! everythings so fluid and stylized and nice aaa (also ur animations are goals) do u have any tips for someone still developing their artstyle????  WAH TYSM!!!!! compile art you already like and incorporate aspects from their styles into yours, BUT dont limit urself to one style! if u like something then try it out! do straight up copies (as PRACTICE, DONT CLAIM IT as your own ofc) of stuff you like to see how they work and what you’re clicking with. spending time on fundamentals is MEGA helpful so keep going back to that too! USE REFERENCES!!! draw …from ur soul…what makes u ..FEEL good
 how do you make that burn effect on your lineart? it makes it your pieces look sharper and even more interesting, it’s super cool!!  when i used to use flash for lineart and firealpaca for coloring a lot, setting the lineart layer on BURN with the coloring layer seeping a lil past the lineart would get this effect automatically 
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(like on the whiskers. u can see it gets a brighter brown(?) and the warmer yellow on the ears)
but since then i’ve been using sai+photoshop more so i just do it manually! i’ll use this funny pic of me and my cat as an example lol
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^i select the lineart/everything i want the funky color around
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^slam that INCREMENT button a couple times
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^make a new layer under the lineart
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^fill that puppo with ur preferred color! something brighter works best, or even straight up white
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that’ll give you something like this
then i open it in photoshop
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and i mess with the pink line layer’s blending mode..color burn usually does the trick but depending on the Look you’re going for, saturation, multiply and overlay have some similar effects that look cool. 
i also usually get rid of the outermost edge of pink line that’s visible around the lineart, just so it looks a little cleaner? to do that you just select around your lineart, increment/expand selection, and delete/erase in the selection of the pink line layer
uhh yeah! lmk if anyone needs clarification on this, i have some other #TIPS on makin ur art look crusty and funky so…lemme know if you’re interested :—3
What do you use to animate? And, a more specific question, how do you make transparent animated gifs? adobe animate 2017! (previously flash) i export my animation from flash as a png sequence then open it in photoshop, where the background will be transparent and save it as a gif from there nyaaa
if anyone needs more clarification lmk and i’ll make a proper walkthrough :-0
 Hello!! Ur art is rlly pretty and so inspirational and nice to look at!! ��💗 I was wonderin’ if ya had any tips on choosing shapes for characters? Like, when you draw shapes for a certain character, it looks rlly like it fits with the character’s personality n stuff!! ( e.g: Your Love Live! drawings!! The characters look so good in your style.) I’ve always admired how u did that n was hoping for some tips maybe?? Anyways, have a good day!!💛💖💟💜💝💞💖 HOOGA!! TYSM!!! and YEA you basically guessed it, i mainly just think about the character’s personality and translate that into a shape or Pheeling… 
especially for anime characters i look at the Very Subtle differences in the character’s original design..or possibly canon implications…for example kotori has slightly different eyes (it also says on her wiki page she has soft droopy eyes!) so i make sure to incorporate that Detãile
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 anime wiki pages that have details like that is nice, for love live they have cute lil “charm points” which is really cool n helpful! listening to how a character is described in their world can give clues to what differentiates them which you can make more clear in your design
taking into account each characters context is good too, what they do/hobby/personality and how that could affect their appearance/posture/attitude
 YEAH its really fun to figure out certain characteristics and make it evident in their appearance! or. idk thats just what i do lol. hopefully this helps!
Have you ever seen the anime jojos bizarre adventure? alas i have not..i have some friends whom are into it so i’ll prob end up watching it sometime lol
sorry if this is obvious but!! are you the creator of Fork and Knife: Food Fighters?? your gif of fork is super cute btw!! yes i am!! wah tysm!!
Hey my little sister found your animation on an online art gallery and she really loved it! omg cool, thanks so much!!
Your style is so lovely!! OHG thanks!
your blog is so precious i love it a lot! your art is so cute too ^u^ waa thanks!!
Your art and animations art really cool! Keep up the good work! You are amazing!! aahg thank you!! :’333
 your art is fuckening amazing hh broe…tysm
 Oh my gee, I used to follow you on Deviant Art, and now here I am, finding you on accident. You’re still as talented as ever. =w= b hUIOpugh deviantart, my homeland..my origin.. thank you!!!
- O mg I love your art! 💕💕💕 thank you!! heart emojis!!! 💖💖💖
- your art and animations give me so much inspiration, thank you! everything about your style is so fun and it cheers me up omg this validates my top tier goal in life, im so glad!! thank you SO much!
Your style is so charming and adorable ;__; thank you!!
ur art is so gross in the best way possible this is the biggest compliment ive gotten thank u so much. i love making gross squishy awful drawings
IM SO HAPPY I FOUND YOU!!!! IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOR AGES!!!!!!!!! I LIVE FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL ART!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! BHOLY CRAP THANK YOU!!!
 your art style is very cute ! 🌱 oohg thanks!! thanks for the little sprout emoji, i love her
GOOD ART!!!! good art good art good art EVERYWHERE I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! OHHGG THANK YUO
how do ya draw such cutely its driving me nuts Nuts NUTS !!! I LOVE SPARKLES AND BRIGHT COLORS AND FUNNY ANIMALS..its my lifeblood..thank u.. 
You’re a really rad artist! I’m Glad there’s some cool artists that are local! Have a good time at VCU! oh wow thanks!! 
Ur shapes r so good thanks i LOVE a nice wholesome shape!
I rlly like ur art style my dude thanks!! 
hi! just wanted to let u know that you’re wonderful and i wish u well in everything u do this is making me bVERY HAPPY THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
 Im love You!! IM L OVE YIOU
that meowth boy is so good. i love him as he is my son THANK YUO i too, love meowth a Lot
 I love how your art is basically lines and curves, it’s very cute oo thanks! 
i love your art style so much!! it’s so zesty? i cant think of a better word to describe but its like. zesty & refreshing & rly rly cool !!! THATS A BEAUTIFUL ADJECTIVE I LOVE IT thank u so much!!!
You seem like you would watch Osomatsu-san. I could see you drawin dem bois in you hella rad art style. osomatsu was the wildest ride of my life. tho i dont think i could physically be able to sit down and draw them seriously ever… 
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 Pls make more angry cat comics theyr so halarious plllls 👀 more are on the way!!!!!!
Have you done a meet the artist i sketched one when the meme was still poppin..is it too late lol? maybe i’ll still do it
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faizrashis1995 · 5 years
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9 Things Java Programmers Should Learn in 2019
Being a Java developer and the author of a Java blog, I frequently receive requests from Java programmers from all over the world asking how they can improve themselves.
In the past, I have shared my 10 tips to become a better programmer, and every tip in that article still holds true, but given that it’s a new year, I have decided to jot down new tips for Java programmers to improve themselves, enhance their knowledge of Java programming, and increase their value for future career growth.
So without wasting any more time, let’s see my nine ideas for Java programmers in 2019. You can take inspiration from these ideas to create your own goals.
By the way, folks, In this post, you will not only find what to learn but also where to learn as many of my readers often comes back to me that how they can improve certain skills, where to start, etc.
1. Learn Java Performance Tuning
In the last a couple of years, I have taken more than 50 interviews for senior Java developers, and one skill that I clearly see lacking is knowledge and understanding about JVM internals, GC behavior, and Java performance tuning.
Learn JVM Internals
As your Java experience grows and you become a senior Java developer with more than 5–6 years of experience, it’s expected from you to know both the big picture and the small details about Java’s fundamentals.
If you can’t profile an application or cannot figure out why it’s slow or how to make it fast, then you should read a good book on JVM internals and performance tuning, e.g Scott Oaks’ best seller Java Performance the Definitive Guide.
I have been reading it for years and still refer to it whenever I get time. My goal is to read it again this year.
If you prefer online courses over books, then I suggest you take a look at Understanding the Java Virtual Machine series of courses on Pluarlsight, which explains memory management, class loading, Security, and Reflection.
2. Code Everyday for 2 hours
Another thing I noticed last year is that as your experience grows, you spend your time on coordination, replying to emails, being a catalyst, troubleshooting, mentoring, and generally being a project manager kind of person.
 Code, Code, and Code
What you left behind is coding, which is the single most important skill for a programmer.
If you feel that you are not doing enough coding, then make a resolution to code every day. At least, write something, be it on your project, an open source framework, a library, or a utility.
Since starting is the most difficult thing, I suggest that any time you feel resistance, start reading and refactoring code for fun. You will enjoy that and, in the process, you will also write code.
You can also solve problems given in Cracking the Coding Interview, 189 Programming Questions. This will not only make sure you’re ready for an interview, but also improve your knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and programming logic.
Cracking the Coding Interview: 189 Programming Questions and Solutions
I am not a recruiter. I am a software engineer. And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant…
www.amazon.com
3. Profile Your Java application Once a Month
This tip is attached with the first tip about reading a good book on JVM internals and or join a course on Java performance tuning. Btw, Just reading the book or joining a course will not be enough. You have to apply that knowledge in your live project.
 I suggest you profile your Java application, at least once a month and spend a good amount of time understanding and analyzing the results.
You can also take a heap dump of your Java process, or, if you had a recent crash, then take that heap dump and find out which object is taking most of your memory. Is there a memory leak in your Java application?
What is the cause? What will happen if other 100K new clients access your application? If you can answer all these questions comfortably, then you are in good shape. If you need some guidance on solving memory and CPU issues, I suggest you take a look at Understanding and Solving Java Memory Problems by Richard Warburton.
Understanding and Solving Java Memory Problems
Course Overview Hi everyone, my name is Richard Warburton, and welcome to my course: Understanding and Solving Memory…
www.pluralsight.com
4. Participate in Coding Challenges
 This goal is, again, somewhat related to our second resolution — write code every day for 2 hours. Let’s face it, sometimes, you don’t have enough chances in your live project to code.
If you are starving for challenging code, then there is nothing better than participating in programming and coding challenge.
There are many websites on the internet that host programming challenges and give you the opportunity to test your skills, but TopCoder is simply the best.
If you are looking for some tough programming challenges, then you can also check out my list of good websites to practice coding.
5. Learn Network Programming in Java
One more thing I have learned from interviewing people is that Java developers need to improve their socket programming and networking fundamentals.
I have asked many questions from my list of Java networking programming questions, but most developers fail to answer most of them.
Some of them even struggle to outline the key differences between TCP and UDP, which I thought was too basic to ask any Java developer of 2–5 years of experience.
If you feel that you have not gotten enough opportunity to learn socket programming in Java or that you don’t need to because you are Java web developer working with JSP, Servlet, and JSF, then I suggest you read at least one good book on Java networking, NIO, and socket programming.
One book I highly recommend is TCP/IP Sockets in Java, Second Edition, Practical Guide for Programmers. It’s easy to read, interesting, and a good way to learn the fundamentals of socket programming.
6. Java 12
Last a few years have seen a couple of big releases, and one of them was JDK 12. I have yet to start with JDK 11, forget about 12, but this is the first thing I am going to look into in 2019.
If you want to learn new features of Java 9 like Jigsaw, Reactive Streams, API enhancements, etc., then the Java 9 MasterClass is a good course to start with.
Similarly for Java 10 features like var for local variables you can check a good course on Java 10 like The Complete Java MasterClass which is also most up-to-date and recently updated for Java 11 as well.
Complete Java Masterclass (Updated for Java 10)
You've just stumbled upon the most complete, in-depth Java programming course online. With over 260,000 students…
click.linksynergy.com
7. Spring 5.0
Another big release for the Java world in 2017 was Spring Framework 5.0. With lots of exciting features, e.g. reactive programming model and adoption of Java 8 and 9, Spring 5.0 adoption is going to speed up in 2019, and that’s why every Java developer should learn it. If you need some help, Spring 5.0: Beginner to Guru is a good course to start with.
 8. Spring Security 5.0
Another interesting release of 2017, which I am going to learn in 2019, is Spring Security 5.0. Spring Security 5.0 was a major release, and they rewrote a couple of modules and fixed several hundred bugs.
The most interesting part is the OAuth 2.0 module. Unfortunately, there are not many resources to learn Spring Security 5.0 at the moment, but thankfully, Eugen has updated his Learn Spring Security to cover version 5.0 and also added a new module on OAuth 2.0.
Learn Spring Security: The Master Class
The definitive video guide to secure your Java application
courses.baeldung.com
9. Unit Testing
If you want to become a better developer in 2019, then you should work on your unit testing skills. And not just unit testing, but automated testing in general. This also includes integration testing.
You can learn JUnit 5 and other advance unit testing libraries like Mockito, PowerMock, Cucumber, and Robot Framework to take your unit testing skill to the next level.
Mockito is really powerful and allows you to write a unit test for complex classes by mocking dependencies and just focusing on the objects under test.
If you are a beginner in unit testing and want to learn it in 2019, then the JUnit and Mockito Crash Course from Udemy is a good starting point.
Summary
That’s my advice! If you are a Java programmer with a couple of years of experience, you can also take inspiration from this list to set your goal. Some other things you can add to this list are learning Android, Docker, and Spark, as those are essential for any Java programmers.
I have purposefully kept this simple and achievable because I personally believe that small successes lead to big successes.
Setting small goals and achieving them is better than setting big, impractical goals and failing before kick-off.
So what are you waiting for? Write down your goals for this year and share them with us. At the end of the year, you can come back here and tell us about how much you achieved.[Source]-https://medium.com/javarevisited/9-things-java-programmers-should-learn-in-2018-3f0b2207dfc4
We provide best Java Training in Navi Mumbai, navi mumbai. We have industry experienced trainers and provide hands on practice. Basic to advanced modules are covered in training sessions.
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martechadvisor-blog · 6 years
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Essential Hard and Soft Skills of an Email Marketing Manager
Email is a proven conversion and revenue driver (see box for more) – but its evolving faster than we can keep pace! The email marketing manager’s role is going from operational to strategic because email is a marketing tactic that almost every marketing team will want to leverage. But what makes CMOs want to celebrate their email marketing manager? A combination of some hard must-have skills and a few softer skills that will help get the job done better. Here they are:
Btw, are you looking out for some interesting email marketing hacks? This will help.
The hard skills
We all know we love stats and facts in this world of data-driven everything, so here are some:
Automated emails get 119% higher click rates (Source: Epsilon)
B2C marketers who connect with customers through automated emails see conversions as high as 50% (Source: eMarketer)
The number one reason for top marketers to use email marketing automation is to increase revenue (Source: Gleanster)
Companies who automate emails are 133% more likely to send messaging that coincides with the purchase cycle of their customers (Source: The Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups)
1 - Awesome knowledge of the tool!
Undoubtedly, your organization uses some sort of marketing automation tool to execute email marketing campaigns. Given that, it’s quite the fundamental to ensure that not just the email marketing manager but everyone on the email marketing team has a good grip of the tool. But the email marketing manager has to go above and beyond and be the expert on every aspect, function, trick, workaround, and secret of the email marketing tool. This is about optimizing outcomes from email marketing and driving better results with a deeper knowledge of the email marketing tool.
ProTip: As an email marketing manager, start getting under the skin of as many of the most popular email marketing tools as you can. Not only will you then become strategic to the tool selection process, you will not be restricted to working on one tool and will gift yourself mobility across the industry.
2- Analytical ability
Analytics is the modern-day marketers’ favorite term, when its not data. The ability to breakdown and make good sense of all those numbers is crucial. The skill should go beyond open and click rates and move to a deep assessment of bounces, unsubscribes, the rate at which the subscriber list is growing. Like I said all these are basics- what is beyond these basic metrics?
An email marketing manager who can really understand the right analytics and impact it could have on campaigns will help drive success. Its not just about how many people clicked or opened an email but how many conversions happened as a result of the campaign! Its also about connecting the missing pieces and dots, for instance, a low complaint and unsubscribe rate can also directly lead to better delivery rates, while improving the sender’s (yours) general reputation.
3 – Solid knowledge of databases
According to practicalecommerce.com , the most important email marketing metrics include:>
Open Rates
Click-through Rates
Unsubscribe Rates
Soft Bounces
Earnings or leads per Click or per Email
Delivery Rate
Inbox Placement
Complaint and Abuse rate
Forward rate
Churn rate
Email outcomes are only as good as the list of recipients. No one wants an email marketing manager to simply shoot out bulk emails anymore. In order to ensure better delivery, the onus lies on the email marketing manager to work around the roadblocks. So what skills help most here? For starters, the ability to build and maintain fresh lists. The return on email marketing is known to be fantastic, but obviously not if you have inactive subscribers.
Besides playing with ways to avoid getting emails into a recipient’s spam folder, an email marketing manager must know how to build an engaged mailing list (this does call for some broad marketing skills and a good understanding of what your target audience wants and what they do once they come to your website), ideating on ways to get more people to sign-up and lots more.
Gone are the days of only being expected to analyze open and click rates or the length of the subject line. It’s time to think beyond, to come up with faster page load tricks for instance!
4 – Knowledge of segmentation and targeting fundamentals (to deliver some great personalized content maybe!)
Why would marketers keep talking about hyper-personalization if it wasn’t that big a deal? Now that they are, this also means that the one size fits all (read: Mass email to a common subscriber list) is not going to cut it anymore. Different lists, audience segmentation will help an email marketing manager to reduce opt-out rates and (boost revenue!). Working closely with the marketing manager who can provide the basis and insights for audience segments and the targeting logic will help the email marketing manager drive best results
5 – Knowledge of testing/email hacks
An email marketing manager who has prompt answers to questions like the following will always have an edge:
-What works/ what doesn’t with email in general- the classic best practices and trends -What’s working for others/ competitors -What subject lines extract maximum responses -What content length works -What call to action works best -The optimum time to send an email -The worst time to send an email -How to best arrive at answers to the above  
Pro tip: The stronger the ability to test campaigns quickly and efficiently with the aim to optimize outcomes, the better it is for everyone!
6 – Awareness of compliance and security
Email marketers MUST keep a tab on country-specific marketing regulations. In general, email marketing that takes place within Europe is regulated at the EU level. The EU Directive requires marketers to ask for and receive explicit confirmation before receiving direct marketing material. Besides this, an opt-out or unsubscription must be available always.
These parameters differ for every region. It is definitely crucial for an email marketing manager to know which basic protocols and regulations to adhere to basis the location of their audience.
7 - Mobile-friendly email marketing - mobile optimization
Given that the highest open rate for email marketing is on mobile, the ability to maintain mobile responsive templates that display wells across screens is a key skill. More importantly, knowing the unique nuances of email marketing via mobile is certainly a differentiating skill.
8 - Interactive email marketing
Real-time engagement (including interesting quizzes, polls, surveys, trivia!) is important today. Creating stickiness through content that makes readers stay is the ultimate challenge of every (email) marketer. Interactive can also mean video email marketing- an area seeing increasing interest and GIFs, memes and other formats that drive stickiness/ shareability quotient.
The Soft skills
Proper planning, prioritizing and alignment – In most cases, an email marketing manager will be expected to manage simultaneous campaigns for multiple teams within an organization. Without some strong self-discipline, the overall execution will suffer.
Copy and creative check – If an email marketing manager doesn’t develop an eye for these, it might impact campaigns. Since this is the person who (usually) views the campaign collaterals together right before it is finally sent, a closing proof-read, formatting check, link check and more should be part of the routine to prevent minor errors.
Communication skills – The ability to give the right reports to the right stakeholders at the right time while maintaining a transparent process is important of course, but also being able to communicate effectively and discretely to various stakeholders about what works and doesn’t work in order to build overall effectiveness is a skill worth developing. Helping internal teams learn from one another is also a role the email marketing manager could bring to the fore.
Adapting to changing consumer and industry trends – Keeping abreast of latest technologies like machine learning and AI will help an email marketing manager to know what it could do to improve future campaigns.
If you are an email marketer or are contemplating a career as one, start with building on these areas – they will not just help you drive real business results but also to evangelize email marketing as a strategic tool in the marketing arsenal. Most important though - these skills will help you become the kind of EMM that CMOs will celebrate, treasure and retain!
This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor
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