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fizzingwizard · 10 months

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Went to see Across the Spiderverse so I can fiiinally join in the hype hahahaha.

It was fantastic. The whole time I kept thinking how much I wished there had been a movie like this when I was a teen. I loved it as an adult, but as a teen I'd have been like next level obsessed.

Spoilers in between general squee

So Miles Morales is officially the coolest Spiderman. Well, at least he has the coolest movies, haha. Take your pick what Spiderman you like but seriously, I can't get over how this movie is conceptualized. Of course I felt the same with the first one, but this one lit up even further. It's artistic, it's musical, it's action-packed, it's comedic, it's full of heart, and somehow it balances all of that - never seeming too sentimental or too callous or too rushed or too cliche. It could have been any of those things, but instead of running from it, the movie embraces weakness and takes advantage of it. Heck, the core concept of the movie - that there's a "canon," a destiny, which must be fulfilled - could be a metaphor for how a story doesn't feel cliche no matter how many times it's been told if the characters have individuality and agency of their own.

The whole thing was good but the art and music, THE ART AND MUSIC. As for the art, it's so creative, such an innovative marriage of comic book style and computer animation. It doesn't say "This is too much, we won't be believable." Because it's not afraid of itself, neither is the audience. I think what makes it great is that it's got a clear idea tying all the different styles together, that idea being that this is a celebration of art styles throughout the decades, the same way the story is a celebration of our shared human experience.

The music is very Now. It's interesting and fits really well with each character and each scene. When Hobie appeared and it got all awesomely punk rock I could barely resist banging my head hahaha.

Also Hobie is THE BEST. From his character design to his personality to his role in the story, he's just so, so memorable and cool. He's got a small role, but he takes full advantage of it.

Loved Pavitr too, adorable, charming, annoying sweetheart. Really hope we haven't seen the last of him. "This is your daughter who I do not know" x'DDD My one complaint about this movie: I wanted more of Hobie of Pavitr so badly!!

Also Jess!! Pregnant, riding a motobike, and fighting evil. This movie pulled zero punches.

My favorite was Gwen. Gwen was everything. I was so super into her. Anecdote time: When I was growing up, I loved action and adventure stories. My favorite characters and ships almost exclusively involved boys and not girls. I felt bad because I wasn't supporting female characters - but I couldn't help that I didn't like them, or at least not as much as the boys. And I hated any time it seemed someone treated me like a "fan girl" who's just "in it for cute boys." But here's the thing. I did like female characters... in shows made for girls. Like Sailor Moon, CardCaptor Sakura, Utena - in all those shows my favorites were girls, and my ships were het or FxF. But the shows for girls weren't as popular as the shows for boys, because girls would watch both but boys mainly wouldn't. So the boy shows had bigger fandoms and more content and lasted longer.

What I'm trying in a roundabout way to get at is: Gwen Stacy is the proof that I, and many other unfairly labeled "fan girl" types, were really just desperate for great female characters in action shows that were popular with boys too. Your choices back then were: the love interest who is mainly a cheerleader, the love interest who does have some cool skills but never as cool as the boys, the love interest who is really cool and interesting but the story is only told from the boy's perspective, or the strong independent woman who doesn't need a man (aka a horrible, one-dimensional, token example of a "strong female character"). But Gwen. Gwen is none of that. She's strong, she's vulnerable, she needs help, but she's independent, she's fierce but also soft, and she's so far very much got her own natural, organic role in the story. She's hands down my favorite. And if there had been more female characters like her when I was a kid, I'd have loved them as well. So there. Fuck everyone who says otherwise, lol. And I know that there is a theory that Gwen is trans, and if so I will support it for all the same reasons. Just make characters who are fleshed out and real, whether they are boys or girls or trans or nonbinary. Just make them all like that and we won't have to have silly arguments about it! :P

Anedcote over. So, I love that Gwen got her own mini-movie in the first bit. I love the storm clouds in her relationship with Miles. It's not the usual stuff - I mean it is, but it's done in a way that feels really fresh. Her story almost predicts Miles's, or what Miles's could be. She's already lost a Spiderman, and when her father, a cop just like Miles's, discovers her identity, he isn't supportive. So when she hears that part of her canon as a Spiderman may mean her father dies, she's so heartbroken and depressed that she accepts it must be. When she tells Miles that in every universe a relationship between Gwen and Spiderman ends badly, and he responds something like "Then let's make this the first which doesn't," omg. My heart. I love them so much.

And more on Gwen. When it was clear that she was more or less betraying Miles, "for the greater good," I was a little disappointed at first. I loved her bit in the beginning so much and felt sad that she was then degraded to "girl from the wrong side of the tracks who needs to be saved by the hero." But that doesn't happen! Of course she's inspired by Miles, he's a big part of why she's able to stand up again. But he's not all of it. When Miguel throws her into the machine to send her back to her reality, I was so afraid she was going to cry and plead for another chance. But again, she doesn't. She just fights, and when she can't fight anymore, she says "We're supposed to be the good guys." And when she gets sent back, the thing she most feared, she discovers what can change when you take a risk on a second chance. And I think she realizes that her resignation was really fear. A false sense of control felt safer than accepting that our world is really chaos. That's where Miguel, I assume, is still... interesting to see what will go down with him in the future.

And last, Miles. He's just the perfect hero for this movie. He feels deeply. He's got conviction. I never believed The Spot was his real nemesis, so when it turned out to be his doppelganger in the other reality, I was like, omg so fitting. Yeah, it's overdone, but it doesn't feel like it is! Because it fits so well with what the story is trying to do. Miles was able to resist Miguel's rationale in a way the others couldn't because he has those deep convictions and that raw human hope in the future. But for that same reason, if things go wrong, if he fails when he's staked his whole heart on succeeding, the danger is losing his sense of self and turning into Miles the Prowler. It's such a great analogy for grief and suffering and why we struggle through our hard lives.

Just every moment was good. I kept waiting for one that I'd think well this could have been done better, but it didn't come. Maybe Gwen's dad was a little too quick to be ok with the whole portal jumping thing, lol. I really don't care. Such a fun movie and incredibly well made. I know the music and art made a huge difference for me - one reason why I feel like I could stand to watch it again, when I really haven't bothered to rewatch any other superhero movies. (Except the first Avengers, I think I'd still enjoy that if I watched it again.) It just never got stale and held my interest the whole time. And I gotta say: MilesxGwen 5 ever. Hahaha. Idk what the future holds for them (I mean Margo is also a sweetheart and nothing lasts forever...) but anyway I SHIP IT!!!

#spiderman #across the spiderverse

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metalmiku · 2 years

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Hey I love your art, characters and ideas. I am curious where does the inspiration come from for designs?

Thank you very much!

It would be easy to answer by just saying that "everything inspires me!" (movies, games, books, music, life). But I will try to explain my design process (and I will try being honest!).

I started to enjoy designing the characters in my teens. At that time, I thought that every character in Japan was like Darkstalkers or Street Fighters (very cool and recognizable). So, I put the design bar quite high as a teen and tried to reach this “utopistic goal”. Later I found out that these characters were quite iconic (and they still are), and there was a team of designers behind them.

I have developed a habit of picking everything that catches my eyes, and sometimes I take photos or make notes from interesting shapes, ideas, and details in my Notebook (or saving to my hard drive), which I will later use for my future characters. I Mostly design the characters just for myself, and the human body is a quite dominating thing in my art. And that makes it easy to fit any kind of shape on the character’s body (like when designing armors). When I do artistic research, it always starts to pay off (and gives me extra ideas for the other stuff). The more I do research, the more I realize what kind of stuff I really like. The ideal design situation is when my new idea involves something that I have always liked, and now I have an excuse/reason to use it!

My ideas are usually like a continuum from the previous ones with some new things that I have learned. Sometimes the ideas are born when I get excited about something, or something that has started to annoy me. And sometimes I want to see something that doesn't exist (or so I think!), Like “it would be cool if“ this ”and“ this ”were compound. Usually, those things are quite opposite from each other, and sometimes those kinds of things give freshness and dynamic to the design (and I like to put familiar things into the new concepts).

Sometimes the first version of my idea might be quite simple or silly, but usually, it starts to develop with time and when I'm working with it. When the concept starts to be ready, I test it by doodling different variations from it (before I think it looks right to me). When I got the new character’s design ready, I like to make a series of variations from characters, so I will get many characters: D (I like creating groups). And one thing that has helped develops my ideas and bring new ones, is when I have the Privilege to have a discussion with someone about them.

One of my ideas that started as a Silly concept, was my Neon Knights world. First, I was just planning to make some kind of danmaku- dating sim game that would have been filled with cool spaceships and handsome (alien?) Princes from different planets (at that time I did listen to a lot of Eschatos ’soundtrack). Well, then it did develop to a bit deeper than that.

One idea behind the Neon Knights characters ’designs was that if I would see them in the toy store, I would want to buy them! I wanted to wake up the same kind of feelings in me when as a kid I had my little ponies and Sweet Secret doll (admiring and treasuring beautiful objects and playing with them). And that gave me a nice challenge because now the Neon Knights ’characters are semi monsters. So, for me, it's like combining tokusatsu monsters and Riyoko Ikeda's manga.

For the last few years, I have been watching older movies. They have some clever ideas and interesting solutions (and they are technically easy to read). And sometimes it's good that they are not too close to my taste, because it gives me more space to go with the idea in my own direction

I think that creating ideas is as like any other skill, you can develop it while practicing and doing it.

I did put some examples few ways how I might design a character + some art-related books that I purchased (I am a fan of catalogs!).

And here is my character art history in compact form:

"Developing my taste":

And how my character might develop:

And something from my bookcase:

#character concept #character analysis #art babbling #character creation #character design #character development #original character #character art #characterdesign #originalcharacter

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disadinosaur · 2 years

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So... Jujutsu Kaisen

I'm currently listening to random playlists on youtube and if that isn't a great start idk what is. (note the sarcasm) Grammarly is shouting at me and I'm ready to play with fire.

Jujutsu Kaisen is mid.

I don't hate the anime or manga, mind you. I actually really liked it in the beginning! But- then I started reading the manga because I am nothing if not impatient when I find something new that catches my attention and... Well it didn't meet expectations. What I was expecting wasn't what I got. Which isn't usually a bad thing; in this case sadly I couldn't help but feel let down.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! I complain about the manga randomly so if you haven't read do not continue through this post!! <----------------------

My youtube playlist would never lie to me, okay? My late night vibe ain't vibing with Jujutsu Kaisen which I will affectionately name actionanimeangst#94 or A3#94. It starts out great. Concept: Interesting. Protagonist: Pink hair boyo gives you fuzzie flower reaction.

There is this man who almost everyone either says "owuga owuga" or >:P. Either "Daddy Gojo-sensei!!" or "daddy gojo-sensei~~~~~~." Which fair valid, have a nice day. The mans funny and has nice eyes I'll give him that. But it makes me kinda feel that those were the main selling points? Weak, boring, missed opportunities, sadge.

The idea of curses is creative enough in this day and age where everything you thought or created has probably already been created before or similar enough to something else that it gets criticized ruthlessly.

Protag gets possessed by eating a crusty beet-looking finger with amazing nails after centuries which is not fair as my nails just break. Slay I guess. We got some cursed energy that powers up people giving them abilities to fight these negative nancys. Apparently, you can't defeat curses without cursed energy which is then proven to be FALSE when we are introduced to emo hitman- which settle down guys. I can already hear it; he fights with cursed weapons meaning he uses cursed energy >>>:((((

Simply hush, not only is that a huge plot hole in my eyes it is irrelevant because my point still stands that he himself doesn't have cursed energy and yet is able to go toe to toe with 28-year-old Casper the morally grey man child aka giga chad of all sorcerers (why is that so hard to spell.)

Protag has to have the Vingt des doigts de la main meal while Sasuke-look alike's dilf just exudes Saitama vibes and KOs the art class color wheel god. I see how it is. At least he has respawn mechanics and in round 2 he teaches the man how to create secondary colors. Too bad emo kid's middle school OC is physically allergic to the visible spectrum and combat logs only to reappear later in front of his son on a totally missed out "Luke I am your father" scene. He needs to keep his K/D ratio and decided it was a good idea to change careers from a hired gun to a kebab cook.

Back onto what I was saying, Protag possessed- and BOOM cursed energy acquired time to fight fire with fire which is what the plot basically is especially when you learn Dori-bro ain't exactly all that human and it related to curse-human people like what you would see on those pairings if they had kids posts. So like he's only like half a regular guy?? Or what?? Maybe I missed that part when I was speed-running the manga... hmmm...

Suskuna comes into the picture and apparently, that was one of his 20, count it, 20 fingers that apparently are spread across Japan because although he's the king of curses he never actually left the country to pursue his dreams of world domination because his parents wanted him to become a lawyer.

Protag, Side farming tools, and daddy Young Yoda person acquired!! Now have some cool fights and get slowly introduced to the plot that will become irrelevant after season 1 of the anime because Blindfold and pronouns gets trapped and everything goes to s c h i s t.

Blooming bromance relationship with misunderstood movie review ends, angst and dubstep ensue with many fights afterward that lead to n o t h i n g b u t f i l l e r.

But that's a little harsh, isn't it? There is some character development and new techniques learned. There are cute moments and since everyone wields literal cursed energy it's not really a big surprise when the story is also cursed at some points.

We get backstories, more elements added, new characters replacing old characters as well as Attack on Titan flashbacks (no I will never watch that show to completion because it kept killing all my favorite characters and I don't need any more of that.)

And the anime has some really well-animated scenes that are just to die for and ruin older animes for me ;-; As an artist, sometimes an amazing art style and good animation are what draws me in. That makes me very picky when it comes to manga and anime in general so I miss out on a lot. And unpopular opinion... I like the anime's art style better than the manga's which is actually rare.

If that didn't make much sense, which it shouldn't since I'm just letting my fingers type without thinking much about it, basically here's a summary that should be more... coherent.

Basically, what I expected to be the whole plot of the show isn't actually the plot because there is a greater overarching one! Which I didn't even bat an eye at in the beginning because not all stories are what they seem in the beginning. The characters weren't all black and white but actually very unstable in the brain which is always fun and they actually had personalities (even though some are basic the story makes it feel more natural or gives a reason to them instead of leaving them as is. You aren't meant to completely understand them because you simply aren't them. They aren't like us.) Which leads to a natural disconnect for most people.

I loved the different use of weapons! Nobara using a hammer and nails is so cool to me because it's so subtly eccentric to me. Out there in a completely different sense than literal curses. The main characters play off each other well and open many opportunities for ships to blossom. (No we will not mention more because that is a fire I am not willing to play with rn.)

The story has so much potential and I am sticking with it to see where it goes cuz I won't give up on it. But. And its a major but. Sometimes less is more. I believe for now until my mind is changed that some things were forcibly rushed causing a subtle domino effect to take place for me. The story itself feels rushed. Unnaturally so that I got whiplash from reading the manga which you can read at your own pace. There are choices that I would have delayed or changed completely. Characters I felt were either unnecessary or didn't live up to their full potential.

But please note that this is just my first impression of the series. I've read almost all the manga chapters that are currently out rn and nothing else. I haven't read any side bits or notes from the author or anything like that. I'm probably missing information that would change my opinion in the future, but that's exactly why I'm sticking with it. It might get better, I might start to understand more choices the author made. Mostly I watch anime and read manga for the worlds and not the main story. You could do so much with a world full of curses and world build to your heart's content with the excuse that it's just an au. Really stories are just what you make of them. The author doesn't choose how you perceive it. You do. And I choose to perceive an exciting world to dip my toes into and funny characters to mess with.

So for now, my opinion is that Jujutsu Kaisen isn't reaching its full potential thus leading it to be mid. But its not my creation and all I can do is be along for the ride :)

Anyways enough of that. This totally didn't take me like 2 hours to write pshhh what are you talking about? Now that that's out of my system and I've finished praising and critiquing A3#94 (no, I did not forget)

How would people react if I just... made an au on how I would have handled the story and characters? Its fine~ Its just an Au :). I might make the au, might not. Sounds like a lot of work and who knows if I'll attract some unwanted attention :/

Grammarly is furious with me but also telling me my tone is informative, assertive, optimistic, formal, and informal. At least it isn't the Duolingo owl :). With that thought, I'll probably revisit this in a different post in which I might give my updated opinion. For now though I leave you with one final message.

If you actually read through all of that you either have endless patience or run purely off of spite which fair valid, have a nice day.

D I S A E N D

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skullchicken · 2 years

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I posted 9.082 times in 2021

164 posts created (2%)

8918 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 54.4 posts.

I added 420 tags in 2021

#shadowrun - 121 posts

#my art - 54 posts

#ttrpg - 53 posts

#urban fantasy - 44 posts

#artists on tumblr - 38 posts

#inspiration - 31 posts

#cyberpunk - 22 posts

#self-reblog - 21 posts

#oof - 19 posts

#dwarf - 17 posts

Longest Tag: 126 characters

#thinking back to my old workplace where i used photoshop on a mac and it sometimes sounded like a plane was about to lift off.

My Top Posts in 2021

after every job interview I feel like I've had to be A Person 120% so now I need to be 20% Person for a while to recharge.

67 notes • Posted 2021-05-04 08:56:51 GMT

I had some thoughts about shadowrun and the time periods it's influenced by.

The gist is this: Shadowrun takes place in the future, but the franchise is from the 90's, heavily inspired by the 80s. So we have some Retro-futurism now, which is cool, but also kind a ridiculous. Our expectation of the future has changed, it doesn't look like neon lights and greebles anymore (even though that aesthetic is very fun), more like an iPhone advertisement (which some people like, some people hate. I'd say it's fine in small doses). And you can't retcon the universe every time a new aesthetic of the future comes along! Or new tech! We have smartphones now, it would be weird if the Cyberpunk-Future uses fax machines and pay phones, wouldn't it?

So! How about we apply a LotR-strategy: In the Lord of the Rings movies, the further away from the Shire you get, the further back into the past the set-design goes. One of the big topics of cyberpunk (and shadowrun especially) is the stratification of wealth. So how about the top 1% live in the iPhone future from the 2010's onwards and the further down you get in terms of class, the further back the concept of the future gets (stopping in the 80s).

To me, this has the following advantages:

a) you get the everything. You get different fun aesthetics to play with, with your player characters probably spending the most time in the (nowadays considered trashy) 80's to 90's cyberpunk-sphere.

b) It's plausible. Until a few centuries back, e.g. fashion styles trickled down slowly from the wealthy to the poor. In a socially and wealth-terms immensely stratified cyberpunk society, the same happens with fashion and tech.

c) It slots pretty neatly into the world building. It just so happens that the 80's and 90's tended to have a very gritty vision of the future which suits itself well to the exploited and impoverished classes, the 2010's a very plastic-y fun kind more suited for the (vanishingly small) middle- to upper middle class and then slowly morphing into the self-important, way too sleek, slick, hygienic iPhone aesthetic that you might expect from a bunch of corporate executives.

I, at least, enjoy the idea a lot.

76 notes • Posted 2021-08-01 14:06:25 GMT

133 notes • Posted 2021-04-05 14:48:26 GMT

Gentle Troll - Street Pigeon Punk Mage

Get yourself a man who looks at you the way this guy looks at his pigeon. (Btw he's talking to it via magic, hence the sparkles.)

Full-size, frameless version on my patreon (skullchicken) for free ^^

200 notes • Posted 2021-10-20 11:01:23 GMT

Random socializing tip: Tell people when they’ve had a positive impact on your life!

e.g.: “Hey, remember when I asked you for advice on X? That was really helpful, I tried it and now (insert what has improved)”

“You kept gushing about (insert series/book/movie/recipe) and made it sound really appealing, so I checked it out and I really liked it!”

“Thank you for letting me vent recently, telling you what bothered me really helped me to work through it / helped me see it from another perspective / gave me the courage to address it with the person I was talking about.”

It helps people see their own strong points, it deepens your relationships, it makes the people in your life feel appreciated and special and it can give you warm fuzzy feelings!

Win/win all around!

2773 notes • Posted 2021-04-11 11:18:54 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #Long post

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king-mera · 3 years

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Rant/ramble about Phoebe since she's been on my mind a lot:

( Disclaimer: this is not very well written because I'm in a bad headspace right now, but I wrote it anyway because I needed to get it off my chest. I'm also really nervous that people will get the wrong idea and assume I like a young character for creepy reasons. I want to assure you that's not the case. If anyone was doing weird stuff with the Afterlife kids, I would be the fist to vibe check them to Oblivion. )

Why did my brain decide to latch on to Phoebe and make her my favourite character? Well, it's probably because I like stories about kids going on supernatural adventures in general, so combine that trope with GB and it's a winning formula in my book. Plus, the reason GB resonates so much with kids is because it's about using science & teamwork to combat the supernatural! Instead of telling kids they shouldn't be afraid because the boogieman isn't real, it acknowledges that they have active imaginations and gives them the tools to fight the boogieman. So yes I know people have their reservations about giving a little girl a proton pack but I say go for it! She's taking that concept and actually putting it in a movie which is cool!

Not to mention the fact that she's so frickin cute. I was already attached to the character before we even knew her name or what she looked like but when we saw pictures of her for the first time my brain went BABY!!! I wanna wrap her in a blanket. She looks so much like Egon too ;_; I wonder how much of that will play into her character development? Will it be a situation like Young Frankenstein where she struggles with her grandfather's legacy? Will she find some balance between living up to expectations and... IDK, self acceptance? Self-fulfilment? I hope so. I really hope she's well written and likeable.

Yeah I know I'm the guy who made up an evil version of her but that's because I want to see her overcome her inner demons! I like Phobia but what I really want to see is Phoebe kicking her ass!

The problem is that Afterlife isn't even out yet. I can't watch her on the big screen, I can't watch clips of her outside of the trailer, I can't read comics with her in them, there's no fanfiction about her, she has no merch, I cant even read the trivia section on her Wiki page. She doesn't even HAVE a Wiki page.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing all the fan content out there, fan art, cosplays, roleplays, etc. You guys are all amazing. I just wish we had more official stuff, because for the most part, if I want to see something specific with Phoebe I have to make it myself. I'm happy to do that, but it takes a lot of effort! That's hard to do when I'm tired and depressed and I just want to see the funny ghost girl. I know I have to be patient and wait until November, but it's hard.

TLDR: Sony help me I'm suffering

#blithering nonsense #ghostbusters afterlife #phoebe spengler #I'm sorry I can't make brain smart words today #I just #hhhhhhhhhh #I care her #a lot #help me

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purity-town · 3 years

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Little late getting to these -- that's fully the fault of a class project I spent all of Monday/Tuesday and most of Wednesday working on -- but I finished my project and wrote up some long replies to these!

(Apologies for any funny formatting -- I'm trying out the beta for the new post editor!)

Absolutely not.

Nope! There are a few people who do know (other guides Andrew's met before, the Dryad, and I'd imagine the Witch Doctor knows something's up even if he doesn't know why), but none of them live in Purity Town proper, and the Dryad and Witch Doctor aren't the kind to participate in rumors or spread what isn't theirs to share. The old man is also aware just because he and Andrew have talked about their curses, but he's 1) not currently in town and 2) not going to share even if he were.

Most folks don't know much about Andrew in general; Becca probably knows the most out of the townsfolk, knowing a little bit about his family and where he's from (he has some pretty specific skills as a hunter that betray this, but he doesn't talk about his exact town of birth), but no specifics and certainly not time periods.

Andrew is good at keeping things quiet; he has to be.

I would actually appreciate if you didn't post to Pinterest -- usually I'm fine with people reposting with credit (several of the things I've posted to my DeviantArt have found their way to Instagram, for example) but Pinterest has something of a reputation for stolen art (things being reposted from another Pinterest post without credit this time, or credit being hard to view for users not logged in or just viewing through Google). So reposting elsewhere is fine (though if you repost to Reddit or Instagram, tag me at u/Ariibees or @Ariibees)! I'd just prefer my works stay off of Pinterest.

The terminology related to The Guide/Andrew/The Guardian/The World’s Core/The WoF is all confusing because on some level, they’re all the same being. Kind of like trying to talk about Jekyll and Hyde -- same guy, different looks/actions, haha.

For all intents and purposes, references to the WoF being the barrier/core/whatever behind or within which the spirits of light and dark are contained is equivalent to saying “these spirits are held trapped by the magic of the Guardian, who when summoned appears as the WoF.” I do break slightly from the official lore in how the WoF/Guardian/thing holding back these spirits works (mostly because I don’t really like the idea that the Hallow is a “temporary guardian” or whatever), but the basic concept of “these are trapped by [thing that makes up the WoF]” remains unchanged.

If “loony cultist” is a reference to something, I’m so sorry, but I’m lost on it. If you’re just talking about the lunatic cultist in a funny way, then yes, they’re in here as a very plot-significant character!

I had to google what meme you were talking about, but it did make me laugh.

Andrew’s most annoyed by the nickname because people do like to call him Guide, and for someone who’s dedicated his whole life to his role, it can get tiring. He doesn’t really *mind* being called Guide -- it’s fine, that’s what he is and as long as people are respectful of his job he’ll take what he can get -- but at the same time, he’d like for people to stop thinking “Aah! Monster!” or “Weird academic know-it-all” and just...treat him like a normal person sometimes. So he fights to be called Andrew. And...Malik comes along and gives him a nickname that he doesn’t like and doesn’t allow others to use, save for maybe a small group of people of which Malik is not a part. So, not cool, man!

People love to overcomplicate explaining shading/lighting, and if you wanted to you could certainly go on and on about reflections of light off the ground and shading colors and all sorts of things, but as I’m writing this at 1 AM I don’t really care to.

If you really want to get into shading, I see nice ones on DeviantArt or Tumblr from time to time, or you can always watch a YouTube video on it. Really, though, just keep at it, think about how the shadows should look and work, and you'll get better at it eventually and pick up new ideas on how it all works. (And this is coming from someone who is new to making comics and actually started as a painter.)

Purity Town’s shading comes down to this: simplicity. As much as I’d love to spend hours and hours redrawing the panels I don’t like and carefully shading every fold of fabric and painting detailed backgrounds, I’m a full-time college student and will be working full-time over the summer -- I don’t have the time. So, I cut corners: I reuse backgrounds or use brushes (see: bricks, trees, clouds) that make certain details easier, and I try not to obsess too much over panels I’m not fully happy with. Shadows go where they feel right, and light on the opposite side.

For shading, this comes down to making things quick and easy. For these last few pages, character shading/lighting has only been five layers. One hard light layer for the bluer soft shadows, one overlay layer for darker soft shadows, one linear burn layer for hard shadows, one soft light layer for soft lighting, and one overlay layer for hard lighting. I’ll often also make use of glow dodge layers for lighting, or change the color balance or add more hard/soft light layers if there’s a very heavy color filter on the scene (such as a celestial event, blood moon, or outdoors at night).

Using all the different layer types is essentially a cheat code to fancier lighting -- don’t want to use flat black? Boom, hard light or overlay or burn will give you colored shadows. Want to make your light brighter? Glow dodge will make it burn your retinas.

Sorry that this isn’t a very comprehensive guide, but in my mind, shading and lighting is really something that you pick up over time and it’s hard to sit down and write a guide for it without making it into a massive essay on art theory that I don't even know proper terminology for because I'm not an art student. Of course with some googling you’ll find *proper* guides for this sort of thing from art majors and the likes, and those can be super helpful and technical! But for Purity Town, I just sort of go with what feels right and what's easy to replicate.

Firstly, I’m happy to hear you’re liking the comic!

Secondly, those buttons are actually there due to the theme! (For those on mobile who can’t see it, I have the theme set to only display on desktop as I prefer the current mobile layout on phone.) I’m using the simple webcomic theme (a quick Google should tell you how to install it for yourself) -- except I’m not actually using it for the webcomic features; rather, it’s a case of “this is the most simple, nice-looking non-default theme I could find.”

The previous/next buttons are added by the theme with the intent that the blog is being used as a typical webcomic website, with nothing but comic pages being posted. However, I post asks and other art here too, and I do so with the intent that people looking at #Terraria or their dashboards in general will see it. So...I use html formatting to make the first/previous/next/last links, along with an index and chapter-by-chapter viewing (using /tagged/chapter##/chrono) so that no matter where you’re coming from, you can still navigate just the pages!

If you want to add just the previous/next buttons, I can’t really help you -- web development is not my area of study in the slightest. But you can check out the theme that they come from and if you want to install only them, you can surely find a tutorial on it somewhere!

(As a side note, the comments section is not from the theme, it’s from a site called Disqus. I don’t expect many people, if anyone, to leave comments, but since I link back to this site a lot and many folks don’t have Tumblr accounts, it’s an option I like to make available.)

Hiya! My hike was pretty nice; it was a short and easy one, but that was quite appreciated as the trail is unmaintained from November to April, and the trail was covered in fallen trees and quite rocky. Still had fun, though!

And for backgrounds, it depends! For indoors scenes (or outdoors scenes with buildings) I don’t tend to use references, outside of looking up things like “which side of a door is the handle on.” I will, however, integrate real-life textures (see: the quilt and rug in Guide’s house, the wood walls on the building in the background of this week’s page), and paint over paintings from the Terraria wiki.

For outdoors scenes, for simple backgrounds (such as foliage-heavy) ones, I typically don’t need references. I like the difference between detailed, lined indoor/man-made object scenes vs. painted, messy outdoor scenes. But for things like mountains, I do sometimes look up references to help with color choices and the likes.

The town’s layout is a bit strange in that depending on the scene, the background could be drastically different. One side of town faces more mountainside, one side faces the orchards/open hillside, and the other two sides face various degrees of open space and more mountainside/forest. References taken on top of mountains are helpful to get an idea of what degree of foliage I should include between the characters and the sky.

Though this is very specific to the town of Purity -- other towns/villages will have significantly different-looking backgrounds, even the foliage-heavy ones.

That said, what's even more helpful than looking at photos is looking at paintings. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is really good for getting an idea of how to draw grasslands and distant mountains, plus Studio Ghibli movies in general!

#purity town #pt asks #terraria #not an update

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limitless-rose · 4 years

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The Signs as things I wanted to be when I grow up

[This has literally been in my drafts since December because I wasn't sure if each option matched with the sign I chose but whatever (it's also a long post again, oof)

Also I didn't really post anything related to 2020 so... Happy New Year, let's hope something good will happen this decade!! 💖]

♈ Aries: Be part of the army. I was quite fascinated by the idea of guns and protecting the nation and actually getting my life together. I was actually thinking about it for quite a while until I realized that in order to get accepted (at least according to the Greek system) you need to have excellent grades (especially maths/physics), to be taller that 165cm and to be excellent in sports. Guess what, I don't understand physics/science/chemistry, I've been about 158cm for the past 3 years and the only two sports I'm good at are badminton and tennis (while you need to be good at running, swimming and things like that I guess 😕)

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♉ Taurus: A chef/baker. Cooking and baking always seemed pretty fun. I would always sit by my grandma whenever she cooked/baked goodies and observe the whole process. I also got inspired by the movies "The Princess and the Frog" and "Ratatouille" and thought that one day I could possibly come up with my own recipes and open my own restaurant. But while growing up I realized that I can't cook properly when I'm stressed/multi-tasking (I'm capable of burning the food AND the kitchen if I get slightly distracted, ooof)

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♊ Gemini: A TV presenter or a weather woman. My mom told me that from the age of three I would always pretend to talk to an audience and answer questions from the callers or announce news/talk about the weather. Maybe that explains why I talk to thin air (as if I was a YouTuber) about anything and everything when I'm alone. Though it sounds cool, I don't really think I could do it now because I have social anxiety.

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♋ Cancer: A writer. I really like writing, I don't know why. Authors have been inspiring me since my childhood, I remember I used to read so many books and try to write something of my own based on it. 😅 I like taking notes and then re-writing them more neatly. I like re-doing old homework in a different style and see if I have improved. I really like writing in a diary/a bullet journal too, I feel like it's much better than bothering others with my problems anyway. I also love coming up with random scenarios/stories/characters and writing about it but I don't know if I should share it. Idk, sometimes I feel like my writing is a bit boring or that it's nothing that impressive. So, honestly, if more people took writers seriously instead of thinking it's a hobby as it doesn't always pay well (when did the world even start revolving around money that much, oml) and if I was more confident about my work I'd definitely chose to become a writer/author (I'm still keeping it as a hobby no matter what I end up doing, lol).

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♌ Leo: A model. Omg, I honestly don't know why I even thought of it. Probably because I really liked watching ANTM when I was younger (and I specifically chose the American version because the one we have in my country makes me cringe a lot, just hearing girls from my school talking about it is painful). My friends also liked the outfits that I put together or how I would always pose for pictures (a few years ago, I'm too awkward now asdfghjkl). Looking at it now it's just so funny. There's literally so much competition in the name of beauty, the community can get kinda toxic sometimes and the standards are pretty high. Also I'm way too short and I still can't walk like a normal person when wearing high heels lol.

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♍ Virgo: A teacher. Specifically, a teacher for elementary or even kindergarten. Back then, the concept of teaching seemed pretty fun to me and I had lots of ideas about how to make class more interesting. The thing is that I have good chemistry with most kids and I actually kinda dislike teenagers because of how rebellious we can get when it comes to school (idk but like teens in my country are like pretty rude to everyone 😐). I'm not so sure about it now, though it's still an option.

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♎ Libra: A psychologist. I always liked helping others out and offering advice when they're having a tough time and I was also curious to see what makes each person feel angry, sad or stressed and the way they respond. It's also interesting because you can learn a lot about someone's personality, preferences and way of thinking or understand what caused someone to commit a crime. I still really like psychology and it's one of my main options for uni. The only problem is that psychology is pretty much overrated in my country so people say it's best to choose something else. 😒

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♏ Scorpio: A criminologist. And, surprisingly, I still want it. I was always intrigued by things that required research, was interesting in learning what caused a murder/crime to be committed and I would always watch crime thrillers with my dad. I also like it because it's a field of Sociology which is one of my favorite subjects. I'm just hoping finals aren't super difficult so I can get accepted in the college that I want on the first try lol.

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♐ Sagittarius: A flight attendant. Back then I found it kinda fun, as I was always curious about what going on a plane is like. It could also be because of their outfits (like the ones you see in movies or in Britney's MV for Toxic, idk why 😅). Plus I would get to travel around the world without paying as much as the passengers. But then, at the age of 14-15 I got on an airplane 4 times and I saw that it wasn't really like the movies and that literally everyone ignored the flight attendant so yeah, it's not an option anymore. ✈️

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♑ Capricorn: A fashion designer. So because I would always draw and constantly ask for new crayons/markers and other art supplies, my mom bought me a few coloring books that focused on fashion. It came along with stickers, stencils, ideas for Victorian dressses, advice for how to design lace or mermaid tail dresses and I was so impressed. A few years later, my grandma showed me a few dresses that she had made for my mom when she was younger (which were so gorgeous like I'm definitely going to wear one of them on my graduation day) and taught me sewing. I also got to see these small floral designs that you usually see on lingerie and it was so pretty, I wish I could do it as perfectly as her. I decided to follow my grandma's advice and keep it as a hobby instead (because she ended up doing nothing but designing clothes and repairing them which she regrets 🧵🧶).

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♒ Aquarius: An astronaut. This was pretty random, I have to admit. I guess I really liked space and looking at at the stars in the night sky. I read a few books about space and learned a few things about NASA back in elementary too, though I realized that it's something I could never really do, as you have to sacrifice a lot. I'm still fascinated by this profession but there's no way I could ever do it, since I can't even understand basic physics or mathematics. 🤷‍♀️

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♓ Pisces: An artist. Honestly I didn't really care if most artists didn't get recognition/fame or if they didn't earn enough money, I just wanted to make art because I liked it. It's also fun because while you are expressing your thoughts through an art piece, another person might interpret it differently, based on their likings and thoughts. Art also plays an active role in my life: I've been drawing and painting since I was 5 and I would always watch the show with Bob Ross on TV with my grandma. Instead of completely giving up on this idea, I thought that I could choose another profession (also my family didn't really like the thought of me doing art for a living 😐) and keep art as a hobby.

#astrology #zodiac #aries #taurus #gemini #cancer #leo #virgo #libra #scorpio #sagittarius #capricorn #aquarius #pisces #me and my thoughts #yeah idk #for fun ig #at least for me #random

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jamesdyecg · 3 years

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Research & Enquiry: Reflective Post 1 - What must I understand about Sci-Fi vehicles, in order to perfect my craft?

- Thoughts whilst modelling -

Whilst modelling away during the Red Vs Blue assignment I started to think about the different shapes that made up this Aircraft, why the artist Daniel Simon had decided on these shapes, and why it was so believable as a futuristic looking aircraft.

- What does Daniel's work tell me about this? -

It is important for artists to use as much real world reference as they possibly can when concepting ideas. Nothing screams believability like an actual working aircraft, so by taking inspiration from different real-world sources you can begin to create a believable artefact.

"Daniel’s admiration for high speed jets gave a first direction" to this aircraft, however "The director desired a craft with an elegant and graceful flight attitude, and a large cockpit to allow for various scenes on board" "which ultimately resulted in a more glider-like architecture" as well as "folding wings to echo carrier-based aircraft"

These quotes, taken directly from Daniel's website shows just how his thought process worked whilst concepting this aircraft. combining the large wingspan of glider type aircraft, with the folding wings of carrier-based aircraft, and a little touch of creativity Daniel was able to create this stunning looking vehicle which fits the world of Tron excellently.

So what exactly makes a vehicle look Sci-fi? I've covered how to help sell the realistic features, but what determines a modern day vs a futuristic vehicle? The easy answer, laser beams... Seen in every Sci-fi movie and video game from Star Wars to Halo, laser guns are everywhere. But not just laser weaponry, anything that glows excessively! Sci-Fi vehicle creators love their big glowing engines, or warp drives or in the case of Tron, glowing blue lights all over the vehicles...

however, any artist can stick glowing lights all over their spacecraft, a futuristic looking Ion cannon or any other space-bending tech that doesn't exist. But this can lead to an incredibly 'Artificial' feel about the ship.

In Game Informer's article titled "Building a better Sci-Fi Game" Jeff Marchiafava discusses many issues relating to just this. He talks about creating "A ship with soul" and goes on to say.

"Television shows like Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, and Star Trek all feature believable vessels because they sell the sense that people actually live in them -- in part by showing what happens when things go wrong. Not only should your game's spaceship contain all of the facilities sci-fi fans would expect to see, but they should be simulated on some basic level as well. If your shields go down during a fight, you know there's probably something wrong in the engine room."

Jeff talks about functionality, a vehicle cannot look or feel realistic, if it would not work in real life, yes we can pretend the crazy technology makes sense, but crew still need to eat, use the bathroom, relax between duties, etc. This is why it is important to take an approach as one of the crew members, how the ship would really work, not just what looks cool.

This can also be seen on the Light Jet from Tron. as the entire body is designed so the 3rd passenger can be transported to the back where the turret is located, a lazier or less informed artist may have just stuck the rear turret on as an afterthought. But not Daniel.

- Important to remember -

This is why as artists, it is important for us to look beyond what we think is cool or right, and gain a deep understanding of what makes brilliant art.

- Citations -

Daniel Simon, 2020. Film Design: Tron Legacy. Available from: https://danielsimon.com/film-design/tron-legacy/ [Accessed 1 October 2021].

Jeff Marchiafava, 2011. Building A Better Sci-Fi Game. GameInformer, Available from: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/02/25/building-a-better-sci-fi-game.aspx [Accessed 1 October 2021].

#research&enquiry #reflectiveposts #redvsblue

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