#but i’m not good at replicating them so i just winged it LMAO

[sootnuki]

artists

#sam and max #my art #these are vaguely based on little snm doodles hidden in the telltale games #but i’m not good at replicating them so i just winged it LMAO #hopefully this still gets the vibes…love is real

[caelan0d]

Tell me about your LW's relationship with thr Little Lamplighters, though specifically MacCready! My gal, Wanda, is a sniper and a softy so I imagine she kind of took the kids under her wing. That being she made sure they had enough food and could properly defend themselves. I headcannon that she's the one who taught Mac how to use a sniper rifle, and eventually ended up watching Duncan for him when he moved to the Commonwealth.

Awe I love the dynamic you have with them and Wanda that's super sweet!

Dawny has a soft spot for children and is very protective over them. Unlike Val, who takes up the big sibling role often by default because he was used to doing that for his own siblings, Dawny was an only child, but I think he learned how to really deeply care and take care of others from his father and especially Amata. Dawny looked up to Amata like a big sister growing up and deeply loved her in a familial way, so he tries to replicate that when he is around anyone younger, especially young children. He also lets out his goofier side that he keeps hidden underneath a seemingly composed exterior around kids. So needless to say, he really cares about all of the kids in Little Lamplight and would set them up with whatever they needed and probably would visit a couple times both in game and post game.

When Dawny and Butch first show up to Little Lamplight, Maccready is obviously like "fuck off hags" and Butch goes "listen here you little shit-" and then Maccready, this 12 year old, proceeds to roast the shit out of this 20 year old man and it's fucking hilarious. Dawny has to keep Butch from punching a 12 year old before making a very funny "your mom" joke, winning over the tiny mayor lmao.

Dawny has a real soft spot for Bumble especially. He sees a bit of himself from when he was young in the vault in her and it makes his heart ache just a bit. He sits and lets her talk to him and just nods and does that thing adults do where they go "Whoa really? that's so interesting" but not in like a demeaning way.

When Maccready and Dawny reconnect in Fo4, Dawny still goes full protective parental type on him, even though they only have like an 8 year age difference, which Maccready outwardly will be like "Stop it sheesh I'm not 12 still." and stuff like that, but you know he finds it nice that someone genuinely cares about him. When he starts to open up to Dawny about what has happened since they last saw each other, it breaks his his heart. Dawny was nearly his age when the events of 3 happens, so he know how it feels on a deep level to go through so much loss and turmoil in such a short time. When he hears about Duncan, being a doctor he is like "Let's go get him right now I will do everything i can to help you find a cure for him." also again being like "Oh my god this poor child." but also "oh my god this poor father" because at this point Dawny is also a dad with 2 9 year old twins and he can't imagine the absolute heartache he would feel if anything happened to them. By the end of the game, Dawny and Butch have essentially adopted Maccready and Duncan into their family (along with synth Shawn.) and they're one big family. Butch still hasn't forgotten the absolutely devastating roast Maccready gave him back in Little Lamplight and the one time he brings it up Maccready has like totally forgotten about it because he must have insulted hundreds of adults back in the day LMAO. They fight sometimes but uts all good natured and aaa I love to think about all of them living together raising the kids together, the twins having two extra siblings now to just have the most fun play sessions ever and grow up to be the coolest adults, all still very close knit. cries.

#dawny tag

[lake-lilac-goth]

Could you show us the progression of your character sprite? I’ve been following for a while and it’s cool to see how far she’s come!

Agh, I’ll try to the best of my ability. Do know that I despise looking at my old icons with a burning passion, so you guys are lucky that I’m doing this.

Just a quick warning, it’s gonna be a long one, so hang tight.

Let’s start with the OG.

See this bitch?? Stage 4 baby-itis. She rocked that bisexual haircut though and y’all know it. Here, she was some 18-year-old college student who refused to talk to anyone else, besides Daniel. Sis didn’t even know she was a dhampir, let alone supernatural.

This was also my first attempt of drawing in the show’s art style. Does it suck? Yes. Did I try? Absolutely. This was long before I watched Queenie’s helpful tutorial on making not-so-time-consuming icons. I reckon you guys check it out.

I hate how CLOSE her face is. A g h.

Now, we dive into this look.

Truth be told, I was in love with Wonder Woman’s hair style in DC Superhero Girls, so that’s where I got the inspiration from. I also gave Octavia this hair style on her birthday to show that she’s healed from a certain part of my her trauma. I should’ve explained that sooner, but that’s on me.

Next, we’ve got the iconic hairstyle most of you recognize her by.

After the bit of backlash I received from the second style, I wanted to try and do a bit experimenting with her hair. Thus, I came up with this. Her hair looked boring, so I gave it a bit of style and added a bow to it.

Now this...this is where I began to really thinks bout Octavia as a character.

As many of you know, one of my favorite things about Octavia is, much like me, she likes to test and bend the rules to her liking. She grew up with some hella strict parents that refused to let her show any bit of skin and for quite some time, she had major body image issues because of it. However, she eventually learned to love herself and that her body wasn’t inherently bad, so she wanted to show the world that she’s comfortable in her own skin and wears whatever she feels like wearing. She doesn’t wear her outfits to “get attention,” she wears them because it’s what she’s comfortable with; this is her way of expressing herself.

Here, I wanted to design an outfit that said that, and I did. The icons aren’t zoomed in (she finally learned personal space lmao) and they’re more expressive. I was doing a bit of experimenting here before I picked up on the method of icon-making I have now. I even made some minor adjustments to her face; the tattoo on her cheek being a prime example. Notice how saturated it was in her early icons? I toned it down. You’re welcome.

Let’s move onto this one.

This one is gonna be a bit shorter.

This took place in December, if I recall correctly. Behind the scenes, I was experimenting with Octavia’s hair, because I wanted to see what she’d look like with streaks in her hair. If you saw the sheet I made with different colors, you’d know there were a LOT; I had red, I had purple, I had blue. You name the color, I probably tried it out.

I was close to being set on light blonde, but decided to go with white instead.

If you really know me, either IRL or personally, you’d know that I have some pretty fuckin’ dark hair.

I wanted to give that dark hair to Octavia.

I was curious to see what she’d look like with her hair color being similar to mine, so I tested it out, and immediately fell in love with it. Of course, with her hair being darker, I had to readjusted the color of her eyes too make them cooler.

With this look, and at least, in my opinion, she gives off the vibe that she’s goth. It fit the overall aesthetic better, because the gothic style is all about cool and dark colors. A lot of people in the past used to think Octavia was wearing lipstick due to the shade of pink I used, so I made her lip color look more “natural.”

I’m sorry to those who were convinced that she was wearing lipstick. That was my fault.

Here, you can tell that I watched Queenie’s icon tutorial.

Drawing in the show’s art style is a fucking nightmare, and I admire those who can replicate so well that it’s scary.

Again, another science experiment. I wanted to get back into the swing of drawing in my own art style and wanted to try something new. As you can style, I took quite the amount of inspiration from the anime style, but added my own spices to the mix.

This brings us to her current design: Momtavia!

For those who aren’t aware, Octavia’s pregnant. That being said, I wanted to give her a look that said “soft mom who will give you cookies and comfort you, but will not hesitate to roundhouse kick a mf into the sun.” I think I did a pretty good job.

Now, the process itself was super tough, I’ll admit it. I went through a lot of trial and error, but I’m happy with the final result. I gave her a more mature look, and made her left eye (her left, your right) a more amber color to give off the idea that yes, this is the daughter of Penelope Priss. I got the outfit inspiration from Jinx (Teen Titans) and the hairstyle from Elsa’s final look in Frozen 2. However, her hair looked boring without the bow, so I went on Pinterest to get some hairstyle ideas. That’s when I stumbled across a M/HA meme captioned “bad bitches only ft this hairstyle.” The moment I saw Nana Shimura’s cute little hair bun, I immediately thought “holy shit, OP’s right.” After I added the little braids on the side, I was satisfied.

At this point, the white in her hair isn’t dye anymore; it’s natural. This is due to the fact that she’s the daughter of Dracula (my version, anyway). Everyone on her father’s side of the family gets some white streak in their hair as a “coming-of-age” thing, including wings. She has yet to figure out she has any, but that’s for another time.

I hope you enjoyed this extremely long and wordy evaluation of Octavia’s “evolution.” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna sit in the shower and cry over having to relive the nightmare that is Octavia’s old icons.

#🖤 —𝕎𝕖𝕝𝕝 𝔸𝕣𝕖𝕟'𝕥 𝕀 𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕖 | (ask) #🖤 —𝕀 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕒 𝕍𝕠𝕚𝕔𝕖 | (anonymous) #🖤 —𝕀𝕥'𝕤 ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕄𝕖 𝕋𝕠 𝔹𝕖 𝕊𝕠 𝕄𝕖𝕒𝕟 | (ooc) #pregnancy m #body dysmorphia m #long post

[shinygoku]

Top 10 CSatM Episodes (1/2)

Ahhh, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons...! Probably only Second to Thunderbirds when it comes to the most popular and beloved Supermarination programme, with only Stingray able to compete for that coveted Silver Medal. But for me, it’s my Favourite!

I could go on and on about it, but for now I’ll go over my personal picks for a Top 10, which may give some insight into what about the way the series ticks makes it so enthralling.

Without further ado, let’s jump in! I’m not ordering them by preference, but rather the Episode order as I watched them on my DVDs (tediously the ep listings never seem to be consistent :T) Spoilers for all eps covered! ✂

Winged Assassin

Starting off my Favourites is the 2nd episode of the whole show, featuring a good condensed version of the events of Ep 1 if ya missed it and probably the best explanation on the workings of Retrometabolism that canon media is ever gonna grant us. The plot is fairly straightforward, but what elevates this is the aforementioned Exposition, which feels more organic than it did last episode, the interactions between Scarlet and Blue, and even the shocking twist at the ending, where the mission that had been going so well falls at the very last hurdle, in spite of Spectrum’s best efforts.

One of the most chilling visuals in the series is a surfaced shard of a downed passenger plane floating up from the sea, before the camera pans out to show the duplicated plane flying through the air, and another dark shot later on, of Scarlet’s limp hand with blood running down after he died in the effort to prevent the massive explosion that occurs regardless.

Winged Assassin sets a lot of standards of things to follow; traits like massive collateral damage just as part of the Mysteron’s grander scheme, the close partnership of Scarlet and Blue, Scarlet’s seldom used Sixth Sense and even the occasional downer ending, where the Mysterons manage to sneak a victory in and actually kill or destroy their stated target.

White as Snow

This episode shines a very interesting light on the dynamics between Col. White and Scarlet. It’s obviously one of a superior giving orders most of the time, but in a twist from the somewhat strict nature of Jeff Tracy over his sons who show respect to their father by not arguing back, with these two there’s actually the occassional spark of friction, that Scarlet will voice when he doesn’t like the commands and will only reluctantly go through the motions in the situation. I’m referring mostly to the first Mysteron attack, where a satellite is on a collision course with Cloudbase, but Scarlet unsubtly opposes the plan as there’s the possibility of innocent people on board who would get killed if Spectrum shot it down first. However, he’s overruled... and it turns out that it was indeed a trap, the people on board had been exploded hours ago and what was shot down was a Replicant copy. And that’s just the first half of the episode! But I find it interesting that again, back in Thunderbirds, the call to not remotely destroy something like that on the offchance it was populated would be the Correct course of action, but in this show pragmatism is needed, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Anyway, the episode has another Mysteron attack aboard a submarine, with plenty of tension... but yet, there’s something of a comedic bend to the episode, such as a furious White shouting at the currently dead Scarlet, much to the Naval crew’s confusion, and the scene at the end which I’ve taken the picture from. The weakest part of the episode is probably Blue in charge of Cloudbase, as he doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing and I feel they coulda done more with him. Oh well! At least we got the fantastic music insert, which is also titled White as Snow.

Operation Time

Probably ranking in my Top 3, Operation Time is pretty remarkably both one of the most tension filled... yet an extremely funny episode. I guess some of that’s just due to my own odd sense of humour, though some moments are clearly intentional. Both the operation scenes, the Mysteron’s pursuit of the Doctor, and finally Spectrum chasing the Mysteron!Doctor are all played very suspensefully, and I find myself holding my breath. But then the funny scenes, like everything with Magenta and how hilariously pissy and unsubtle the Fake!Doctor gets leave me in stitches! [pun unintended lol]

I dunno, maybe some of the amusement effect is enhanced by the strong contrast between the scenes. Also we get a very grisly death for the Fake!Doctor and this episode establishes weaknesses for the Mysterons that will come up in future instalments. There’s a lot this ep has to offer, even something of an insight into 60′s medicine (though the series is set in 2068). While an extremely minor point, both the scenes with operations have the pssssshh.....fsssssshhhh sound that I associate with ventilators even though they ain’t being used, what’s up with that? But it’s another thing to add to the Atmosphere so s’all good, man.

Odd that I can’t think of much else to put here, I love it so much but maybe it’s so solid in the couple of things it does that’s all there really is to say? I’m feeling frustrated at how I don’t seem to have written enough for it, but trust me when I say it’s excellent and that it’s absolutely a Must Watch if you’re giving the series a look. (Though again, I’m spoiling each ep covered so uhh... read at your own risk if you’re using this to judge it!)

The Heart of New York

An interesting tale that I’ve actually Heard more than I’ve watched, as the audio adaptation is a free sample on the official Gerry Anderson site! [At least at the time of writing lmao, it’s worth a look anyway. This message was not paid for.]

This story is somewhat unique in that the Mysterons’ plan is pretty tame by their standards. They want to blow up... a Bank. Sure, it contributes to the long game they play, causing disruption and destruction, but compared to the casual massive collateral damage they inflict as part of a more focused murder attempt (again, see Winged Assassin and the passenger plane) this is small potatoes. But still, they end up feeling more moral in this episode than the actual ne’er do wells, a trio of would-be Robbers. These guys are pretty assholish, deliberately using the horrible cosmic war that’s already taken lives in the triple digits to hide behind while they take their pickings from a vault. Captain Black locking these morons in with the explosives feels like poetic justice, that they really did get what they wanted and are punished in kind.

Maybe this feeds the Mysteron’s point, that humans are aggressive, corrupt and selfish... though Colonel White challenges this view at the end of the episode, stating the robbers aren’t indicative of humanity as a whole. The whole shebang is a lot like The Twilight Zone, honestly. All we need is Rod Serling to open and close the episode...

Point 783

This episode is a bit harder to go into depth on, to be honest, it’s not one with a particular gimmic that makes it more memorable, but it’s a very solid ep all the same. There’s still a fair few layers that keep me thinking, like how it seems one of the Methane Trunk drivers had seemingly been Mysterionised offscreen to enable the Mysteron’s main pawns to me made. Then the first attempt to kill the Supreme Commander is thwarted by Scarlet’s (somewhat inconsistant) Mysteron Sense and perspex tubes that take their sweet time to descend and don’t even prioritise the actual target lol

Anyway, the meat of the episode is focused on the guest vehicle, the Unitron implacable unmanned Tank that can be controlled remotely by human operator or programmed to destroy something particular, and it will not stop or slow down no matter what’s thrown at it. Something something Proto-Drone Warfare commentary. The Mysterons’ last big attempt to assassinate today’s dude has one of their Mysterionised guys from earlier become the target, unknown to everyone else until he draws his gun inside the SPV (who even points out the 6th sense didn’t activate!). Scarlet gets shot 3 times but manages to eject himself and the Supreme Commander, which leads to the above scene, which offers a nice, human response.

Mr Supreme Commander later chews Blue out as it emerges instead of Scarlet going to a Hospital within 10 minutes, Spectrum insisted on waiting for one of their Helicopters to pick him up, which took 3 hours. Poor Blue has to try reassuring the army guys that Scarlet will be fine, truuuuust hiiiim. It makes me wonder if Spectrum is making things easier or harder overall by keeping his Retrometabolism under their hats, though I can understand they’d have reservations, but just trying to gloss over it with a ‘no no, it’s fine, he’ll get better.’ type answer doesn’t seem all that convincing. But I enjoy that it’s semi challenged here. And this episode summary ended up longer than expected cause all the Thinking I’ve done, haha!

=======

This has gotten a lot longer than expected and will be Two Parts! Find the second half here~

#Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons #Captain Scarlet #Supermarionation #Gerry Anderson #CutCat Top Lists

[bigskydreaming]

thatninja replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

Gambit is 100% riding on his charm and looks. Plus Rogue could punch a hole through just about anyone that could argue that, which is prolly some kinda factor.

someothermonstra replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

isn’t… isn’t that canon?

LOL it actually varies pretty wildly depending on who’s writing him. I mean, good luck finding consistent characterization with any popular comic book character that’s at least three decades old, but all kidding aside, I do love the guy and Gambit in particular is a frequent target of character assassination. There’s even a trope named after him, though I forget its specific name at the moment. 

But its basically the idea that certain male characters who end up more popular with women than male comic book writers expect, or understand - like as in they don’t understand what about them appeals to female readers so much, or misunderstand the basis of that appeal - there’s this weird trend where some of them basically take it out on the character and kinda...do their best to sabotage them? Idk, its like, it frustrates certain dudes who have rigid expectations of what women want in a ‘ladies man’ type character, that when faced with characters who get that reception not because of how these writers WOULD write them, but for reasons they just...can’t put a finger on.....they basically get butthurt about it and are like ‘well what’s so great about this guy anyway.’ 

I mean for sure, being jealous of a comic book character - let alone one you yourself are getting paid to write - is pretty pathetic, buuuuuuut lbr, that describes a lot of dudes in that industry and I mean....there’s a pretty obvious and proven track record of characters like Gambit and Nightwing and the other well known ‘lotharios’ of the Marvel and DC universe regularly getting tanked in various runs and written as vapid airheads or thuggish jerks (not to mention cheaters), in ways that really don’t make any kind of sense from even a basic storytelling perspective and really seem to only exist to make them look bad. 

One writer that always stood out in this regard for me with Dick Grayson was Chuck Dixon, who wrote his Nightwing solo comic for a long time in the 90s, as well as adjacent titles. And to be clear, it was always pretty obvious that Dixon WANTED Dick to be received by readers as a ladies’ man.....but for reasons and ways that Dixon wanted. Like Dixon was a pretty right wing, conservative d-bag at the best of times, (and also the one who made Dick a cop, which tells you all you need to know about what I think about him, lmao)....and so its not hard to guess what he THOUGHT an ultimate man’s man, macho but suave lady-killer James Bond kinda guy SHOULD look and act like, and how female readers were meant to like...swoon at his take on him.

Except....that’s not remotely Dick’s appeal, and why he’s so popular with female fans. If anything, that’s pretty much the exact OPPOSITE of the times he’s most popular with women, and like....you can kinda see throughout the course of Dixon’s Nightwing runs where that just baffles and frustrates the hell out of him....and with him then all of a sudden throwing curveballs into his OWN long-term character work and storylines, just to be kinda like ‘well what do you think of him NOW, huh?’ In particular, I’m thinking of this one infamous stand-alone issue, I think it was an annual or whatever, and it was a flashback issue that was written late in the 90s but meant to take place right before Dick was supposed to get married to Kory back in his Titans days. And it involved Dick going to see Barbara one last time before his wedding, and talking about their romantic history together and hand delivering to her the invitation to his wedding with another woman....and then she’s like wtf....and that somehow led to them sleeping together.....and then him waking up the next morning in bed with Babs and being like, well that was great, I’m off to go marry Kory now!

Seriously. That actually happened. That issue was thankfully considered non-canon by most readers and other writers and never referenced again (outside of occasional references to Dick being a cheater, but as I’ve talked about before, that BS existed long before that story and stems from the crap with Mirage).

But like....it made ZERO sense. In story, in context of the characters, in terms of how Dixon HIMSELF usually wrote both Dick AND Babs, which he’d done a LOT of....like he also wrote Birds of Prey for a long time? With Babs front and center in that? And forget about Dick even for a second, in what universe would SHE sleep with someone who was about to go marry another woman?

Like, it came absolutely out of NOWHERE, and made zero sense whatsoever, and tbh, Dixon didn’t even really try and justify it within the actual narrative, it was kinda a wham bam, well here you go, this happened, DEAL WITH IT. That story’s only purpose really was to make everybody in it look bad, b/c Dixon’s the kind of dudebro to throw a temper tantrum within his own work b/c his female readers don’t like Dick for the reasons HE thinks they should like Ultimate Ladykiller Fantasy Man Dick Grayson, but for reasons that don’t make sense to him and he CAN’T replicate because of that.

Its the same trope with Gambit. And it actually kinda originated with him, even though Dick is a vastly older character, because don’t forget, a good fifty years of Dick’s history was as a preteen and a teenager. He was only growing into that persona of the character with mass romantic/sexual appeal at the time that Gambit was created.....and right from the bat, Gambit’s creation and reception kinda threw writers for a loop.

B/c Gambit, as Claremont initially conceived him, was not SUPPOSED to be sexy. Like, he had really longterm, complicated and convoluted plans for Gambit originally, and how he was connected to Mr. Sinister and other characters, but like....in Claremont’s own words in past interviews, he’s basically said that like....Gambit was supposed to be more obnoxious than charming. Like, he kinda meant for him to be taken as this greasy, weaselly kinda sleazebag who was only ‘charming’ because of something to do with his mutant power, that much referenced but little canonized ‘charm’ ability he’s always been rumored to have in addition to his kinetic energy powers.

Except....between how artists throughout Gambit’s early years actually portrayed him, and the ways Claremont and other early writers wrote him and the things they had him saying all being taken entirely differently than they intended....Gambit was pretty much an instant hit, with female readers in particular....and just like Nightwing in later years to follow, this frustrated the SHIT out of certain writers, because they just DID NOT GET IT.

And so with Gambit, just like with Dick, half the time you have writers who are total fans and just want to show off those characters (and other characters that fit this particular niche archetype) to the best of their abilities, highlight just how competent and skilled and intelligent they are....with fans of course usually being very receptive to this and upholding these particular runs as iconic and fave portrayals, enjoying the characters here for the reasons they’re ‘naturally’ appealing to a lot of fans, etc. 

Which of course, in turn, just kinda frustrates and annoys that Certain Dudebro Writer Type all over again. And thus the next time one of THEM gets their hands on these characters, there’s all these little digs built into the stories and the characters making mistakes that ‘reveal’ them as the kinda insensitive assholes they are, the jerks who don’t deserve the kind of acclaim they get, just like....Those Popular Jocks That Don’t Know How To Treat Women Right, Not like A REAL Nice Guy Like Me Would, and are really just kinda dumb airheads anyway and why do people even like them, ugh.

Anyway. So yeah. That’s definitely a thing that’s stood out for a lot of fans and readers over the years and been noted and talked about pretty extensively, with again, there even being a trope named after Gambit because of it. This weird, self-defeating obsession some guys have with making sure that like ‘Well if women aren’t going to like these Male Power Fantasy Characters for the reasons WE think they should like them, then we’re gonna make sure they just don’t like them at all.’

#thatninja

[comicteaparty]

April 4th-April 10th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble  chat that occurred from April 4th, 2020 to April 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is something you’ve improved with in regards to writing or comic creation thanks to working on your story?

carcarchu

Oh this one i can answer definitively. it's 100% lineart. forcing myself to have to do lineart for hours everyday is definitely a way to force yourself to get better at it while i still don't like it it's something that i can do now without being scared about it

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Colouring. I had to get really creative in expressing emotion and hinting plot devices with colour. Also got much better with drawing gesture drawings due to looking at a lot of references!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Either writing dialogue or drawing/painting backgrounds... I used to be particularly awful at writing dialogue. It was too stiff and formal, and sounded a lot like old prose. Now, because of writing a comic and going through several scripts, the dialogue is a lot more natural, and the pacing is more realistic to actual conversations. And the other: backgrounds. I really used to not even draw them at all, and doing a comic forced me to have to think about environments in scenes. So I went from drawing floating characters to having to consider where they are and how it affects the story/mood.(edited)

Feather J. Fern

Paneling! That was my main focus to figure out how to do good paneling to have clearer pages

Deo101 [Millennium]

Honestly? Everything. It's all gotten better and I've learned so much. I would say my biggest improvement is probably in my time management, and art wise is probably composition and layouts. But it's hard to pick because I've grown so much in every aspect!

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Biggest thing I learned was to keep the story small and focused - and that the smaller, more human struggles are much better in creating tension than the whole default "the world's gonna end!" thing. Mind you, I still love a good "world's ending" story, but you gotta make people CARE about the people in that world first!

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

ohohohoooo I have done more drawing in photoshop in this short time I have worked on Wayfinders, than the rest of my life! That has given me some skills for sure! Coloring is another one, and generally just efficiency and flow in a comic

Nutty (Court of Roses)

For me it's been my use of color, and getting more confident in experimenting with it to really drive home a scene's mood!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

The clearest improvement I always notice is my layouts - I’ve gotten more adventurous with panel shapes and placement as time has gone on, experimenting with more interesting designs for the whole page. Some of those experiments haven’t been totally successful but it always feels like a worthwhile try. I’ve gotten some really, REALLY cool layouts out of these experiments, and I love seeing how dynamic the panels have become compared to my first chapter. Also speed. I’m so much faster now. Thank gooooooodness (edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@LadyLazuli (Phantomarine) I've definitely noticed the experimental panel layouts! They're really cool.

AntiBunny

Planning. Book 2 is when I started using sketchbook thumbnails to plan ahead. The luxury of that first draft meant I could rethink panel layouts and how to best express the events happening if I first had an idea of what was happening laid out.

Also digital art by necessity since I switched to digital during the current arc. I was decent at lineart already, but other aspects have really challenged me to grow as an artist. I had to totally rethink the way I create backgrounds for instance. During this time the background quality actually declined a little while I got used to a new method, but experience has improved my skills greatly as I force myself into new methods.

DanitheCarutor

Hmmm maybe paneling, speechbubbles and backgrounds? My current project is my second real attempt at doing a comic, but I have learned a lot of stuff from the community and general art and story tutorials. Backgrounds and bubbles were the worst for me when first starting out, I only read manga before starting so the speechbubble shapes did not fit with how English is written. Plus I've only drawn wooded fantasy settings before making my comic, so using a ruler, figuring out perspective points and drawing buildings was very new to me. I still hate drawing cities and such, but I've gotten a lot better at it and it is easier to do now. Since I mostly stuck with B&W before my current project, coloring also kind of improved? Depending on who's looking at it. Lmao If I were to think about story/characters/dialogue, I have no idea if I've improved. Honestly, I don't pay much attention to the quality. Also my brain kinda says it's all bad regardless of what I make.(edited)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

For my Improvements: I'm getting better at my comic panels, as I adjust to the vertical style. Before I've always drawn the standard format. It's more than just boxes, I try to keep a variety of sizes. I'm picking up roughly how much 'gutter space' I need per 2-3 panels.etc I'm also improving on choosing colors that fits my love of detailed linework.(edited)

OH! I'm also learning about Clip studio shortcuts, how to use the assets they provide which makes the process, abit easier on me. Things I need to change, is I want to get a good speedy coloring style, without referring to my usual coloring.(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

the more I worked on the comic, the more I feel ambitious in making different angles and perspective. So it's really hitting me out of my comfort zone which is good! lol Though I'm trying to keep in mind of my speed, what I feel like I've improved a bit is trying to keep in mind of paneling and dialogue.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

Process! Space and i have definitely figured out the most productive way to produce content at the rate and quality that also provides us with time for our own projects. Comics are a useful tool that helps you discover ways to better organize your creative workflow for sure!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I think probably scenery. I used to dread drawing inanimate objects but now I feel more confident in filling in a scene & even look forward to it sometimes. Maybe also page composition and paneling but I still have a lot to learn there

eli [a winged tale]

One of the reasons I embarked on the webcomic journey is to push myself to improve not only storytelling but also utilizing art to create a reader experience that would be difficult to replicate with just words. I’d like to think that 9 months into making A Winged Tale, I’ve improved on deciding when is a good opportunity to invest more into backgrounds vs character dynamics and when should be focused more on sequences of panels and composition. While the comic is written in a four panel format, more and more I’m finding areas where the story could be told by breaking those rules (attached pic). It’s a balance and I hope going forward I will improve more in pushing the limits of panels and find ways to express the story in fun and interesting ways.(edited)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Wow that's a very good description @eli [a winged tale] I look forward to reading more of your story journey

eli [a winged tale]

Thanks so much Joichi! I’m eager to keep learning~

Capitania do Azar

I'm gonna go with planning and actually getting it done. I'm so much faster because now the process is much more streamlined to me

kayotics

My whole comic was started s an exercise to just get better at comics generally so I’d probably say every part I’ve improved at? The biggest things are probably colors and the upfront planning process

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

Ooof hard question. I think my main improvement lies with page and speechballoon layouts and writing natural feeling dialouge. I'd say maybe also character acting?

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I'm slowly learning how to create more engaging comic narrative. I read and research in the polished prem webcomics to see what makes them engaging? Like I'm going to challenge myself by creating a series of short stories with a reoccurring set of characters. Every new comic series I create is an experience, trial and error. Sometimes I skip the writeup and just go in blind, trust my own instincts. I'm glad to reach out and talk about it than in my own head. I hope by this year, I'll have at least 2 chapters of Hybrid Dolls out.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I've definitely gotten better at planning/ outlining multiple chapters ahead of time. I did not even do this when I was doing the first 10 something chapters. (I did attempt an outline before I began the comic, but the story changed significantly from the outline by the time I started the comic, and I did not try to do it again for a long while.) I can't remember when I started, but I do recall having a lot of trouble the first time I tried to do it. It's gotten a little easier each time, though. In fact, I just spent the past few days outlining the next few very important chapters, de-tangling some big tangles. I'm really glad my outlining (and overall writing) skills had leveled up, because HOO boy, I don't think my 2014-2015 self could have done this!

I also became friends with enviros. I had already become somewhat comfortable drawing perspective when HoK started, but I had a sort of mechanical approach to it, like "oh I need some enviro for these establishing shots, guess I'll draw them." But now I LOVE drawing enviros! (some types anyway...) It's my comfort activity, something I treat myself to after a long day! In the thumbnails for my next few pages, there's a few enviro-heavy panels that I have to remove, because I drew too many of them (and the pacing got too slow as a result). I have to stop myself from drawing too many of these.

My biggest improvement is probably I've come to understand my characters and my themes much better, but that's more of a "I got better at making HoK" than a "I got better at making comics." There's definitely a difference between the two.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) ah I totally understand I tried the outline method before I start but my story changed alot after I drew it. So it start to feel like a waste of time for me, but I'll still write an outline to make sure to plan where my story heads(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah! I needed to draw those first few chapters to understand the direction of my own story.

The drawing part is an essential part of self-reflection, to try to understand what it is that I want out of the story. The answer has always been there in my heart, but I'm not able to see it clearly from the get-go.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I end up breaking scenes and put them in for future episodes, since I want to get a certain flow in the story.

It could be tricky to see what it is you want out of the story until you are in at least 3 chapters in?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I needed way more than 3 chapters -- though granted, my chapters are short, so that could be a part of it

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I see the early first script as testing the water. like a test to figure out the characters personalities. Unless you are bringing in old characters which you knew before?(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Even if the characters have been with you for a while, unless I have made a comic with them, there is a big chance that the characters will completely change, too.

DanitheCarutor

You know, I was thinking about about this, mostly about how I wouldn't have been happy if I was able to finish my comic the day I started. Then I realized I'm happy that I didn't. The first chapter wasn't the best, I was just learning how to coloring a comic, still fleshing out my characters and was still brainstorming small kinks in the story. I also still didn't have as much of an understanding of perspective, or panel and bubble layout. Even though I still have a lot I need to work on, I've gotten a lot better in all those aspects. Even though my use of color is weird, I've definitely gotten much more confident in it, enough so that I experiment and take a lot more risks with style. Even though my panelling can be boring, I have a much better understanding of how I want a page to look. I've improved a lot with my planning as well, like even though my thumbnailing/storyboarding only takes maybe 30, I've learned to step away for a bit if I don't like a layout, or analyzing why I don't like it and brainstorming ways to make it better. If I had magically finished the comic all at once, it would look really bad and may have been less readable.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

That is inspiring to hear about your improvement @DanitheCarutor

Natsu-no-Hikari

Chiming in! Just this week, Miko (my co-creator) and I were discussing how far we've come from when we started our first comic (https://liarsgotoparadise.com/) vs. where we are now. I think there have been a lot of learn experiences, such as art, dialogue, general editing - but especially with pacing and character interaction. We regret that we didn't stop to focus more on that interaction, as we wanted to move ahead in the story...and now we can't change that, except to start now and not allow ourselves to grow impatient. Take our time and enjoy the journey - that's our new motto. There's a time to rush ahead in perilous moments, but there's also definitely a time to catch our breaths and let the characters mingle and speak. It's an improvement that will become more noticeable going forward in Liars and our second comic as well.

#ctarchive #comic #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble #comic tea party #ctp

[katherine-rambles]

@peanutters replied to your post: “@peanutters replied to your post: “hey uuuuh miniature painting is...”:

O nasty but understandable about the residue And thats why i have multiple things going at once (thank u msc 30min wait time)

hah i wish i had more space. i do have a few things happenin’ right now though-- gonna work on a couple needlefelts and also a needlefelt of my fur/feather-sona? which i want to do Really Good Wings for, which requires some research and so on. but those aren’t super great for quick jaunts between drying paint. 

also i’m vaguely afraid that my current energy bubble will burst and i’ll just be left with more unfinished projects BUT i work on telling myself that it’s for fun anyway so who the fuck cares if i have unfinished projects (aside from myself, having to hold onto projects i’ve already spent hours and dollars on and therefore keep around because i can’t bear to throw them out)

but man i haven’t had this much creative energy in... years? i keep remembering projects on my backburner and having to tell myself “well, katherine, you could do that but you have other things you want to work on right now and you can do that later.” plus new ideas and inspirations competing, though those are a bit rarer since idea creation is a bit like a muscle. 

in the past week or so, ideas i’ve recalled/come up with that i’ve wanted to start/restart, many of which i haven’t thought about in years:

my book-librarian dress that i’ve made one of two custom fabric patterns for already

my crystal skeleton repaint/mod of skelita from monster high (currently done with the sculpt and part of a base coat)

a needlefelt Garnet because she’s my Favorite

over four paintings that i have unfinished, but when i tried to work on one i was immediately discouraged because i was never that great at painting, but i still want to try again sometime soonish 

this is why i started art again with a needlefelt Mae-- i was certain that i could do it well. at least i know when i need a confidence boost lmao. PLUS it got some people interested in my nitw vector commissions again even though i wasn’t expecting that

my various lego d&d projects

my intricately planned out toothiana cosplay, which will involve probably hundreds of dollars of two-tone tulle and individually cut out feathers with optionally a sewn-in wire ‘vein’ made of multiple layers of tulle each in order to achieve her natural hummingbird gradient effect + give the longer feathers some posability

re-tooling my bulbabackpack design for more replicability so i can sell it

potentially as a purse

re-setting up my sticker printing projects

my plan to needlefelt a life-sized alien Stitch because??? WHO WOULDN’T WANT THAT

my plan to make a life-size secretary bird because they’re Awesome and basically a Modern Raptor???? fuck yea

any number of poorly-thought-out Lesbian Webcomic ideas

a videogame wherein you are a yarn creature who learns how to knit themselves into different forms Unlocking Abilities. platformer/puzzler for all ages

a videogame where you are a colony of bees and/or a specific bee caught up in hive and intra-hive politics. potentially post-apocalyptic where the bees are discovering how to interpret human language and technology? maybe post-human solar punk earth setting, because a traditional “everyone died and you’re the only intelligent things left” is too fucking tired. plus also hatoful boyfriend did it pretty well already, not sure if i can add to that

of course my amiibo mods, of my splatoon main gal and knight!peach

uuuuh my desire to introduce resin casted parts into my needlefelt creations

the general desire to learn how to sculpt+mold ball jointed dolls

the general desire to learn metalworking

soldering for techy repair stuff

more extensive training to create better frameworks for my needlefelt stuff

 my extensive pokemon quiz idea that requires webscraping code i don’t want to deal with

.... and that’s just in the LAST WEEK

I’ve had more creative, constructive, and social impulses in the past seven days than I’ve had in the PAST SEVEN MONTHS

this is how my LIFE USED TO BE LIKE!!! i wanna keep it this way!!!!!!!!

The other thing is right now I’m in a good spot of balancing these impulses with my rational, don’t-spend-too-much-money side; I can’t tell for certain why but I know when I’m depressed I’ll be excited for projects that require a lot of new equipment and skills I’ve barely used previously.  But in reality, what this means is I spend money and don’t do projects when I’m depressed. (That’s how I ended up with my big “I’ll make stickers!” plan that will probably never pan out, even if the profit margin can be stupid high. I didn’t realize that I a.] don’t draw things that lend themselves to stickers and b.] that an in-home inkjet press was going to create less durable stickers than you can get from, say, Redbubble. And I spent like 500 bucks on a printer and a papercutter for that... though I do plan on using the papercutter anyway for unrelated projects and the printer was a purchase I wanted to make anyway.)

The realistic thing to do is to work on projects with what I have or small test kits, and then upgrade more as I become more familiar and desire better tools for the work I’m already doing. A tablet does not a digital artist make, but it can certainly make a digital artist’s workflow much easier. 

Anyway right now I am cautiously optimistic about life and h---FUCK I FORGOT TO RETURN THE CALL FROM THE PSYCH OFFICE AUGH. 

i am putting a sticky note on my phone now. fuck

#peanutters #conversation #text #present #happy #creative